One Chocolate Truffle Recipe, Endless Variations

Chocolate truffles are a decadent little two-bite treat any time of year. With their exquisite exteriors and rich melt-in-your-mouth chocolate flavor, they seem like they would be difficult to make at home. But truffles are made with a simple ganache center – which is often just melted chocolate and cream – making them effortless to master.

To explain the basic technique of making chocolate ganache truffles, we asked James Beard Award nominated Pastry Chef Caroline Schiff (of Gage and Tollner restaurant in Brooklyn, New York) to share her best chocolate truffle recipe, as well as expert tips for how to take that one basic recipe and turn it into endless truffle flavor variations. You’ll never reach for boxed chocolates again!

“I’ve rolled and dipped thousands of chocolate truffles in my career as a Pastry Chef and a few things always occur to me when rolling out these perfect little mignardises- they’re actually quite simple, yet impressive, and the options are endless when you have the best base truffle recipe in your back pocket. The rich little morsels take on everything from a light dusting of cocoa powder to finely ground hazelnuts with ease, and good chocolate just begs for a shot or two of your favorite spirit, liqueur, or extract. It’s an endless parade of luxurious and impressive combinations. And even better, these truffles want to be made ahead of time, with a long chill in the fridge, which means a gorgeous spread appears at your holiday gathering, without any fussing in the kitchen.”

The Best Basic Truffle Recipe

Caroline’s basic truffle recipe is tried and true, and the possibilities are infinite once you learn the basic recipe. She says, “make simple milk or dark chocolate ganache centers, enrobe them in a hard chocolate shell, add a splash of your favorite booze, pump up the flavor with zest or spices, roll and dust in all kinds of delicious coatings to make your chocolate flavor combination dreams come true! And don’t worry about achieving perfect spheres – in fact, don’t strive for them at all. Chocolate truffles are a confection meant to resemble the prized truffle tuber, and thus should be slightly organic in shape, each with its own character and nuanced surface texture. So go ahead and make these your own in every way.”

There are only a few ingredients needed to make Caroline’s chocolate truffles. So be sure to use good quality ingredients, and especially the best chocolate you can afford. This recipe will yield about 32 truffles.

1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) good quality dark or milk chocolate in large chips, discs, or bars roughly chopped  
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream for dark chocolate, or 1/2 cup cream if using milk chocolate                  
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature                                                   
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Set the chocolate and salt in a deep mixing bowl.
• Bring the cream to a boil in a Saucepan, along with any of the optional flavoring additions noted below.
• When it hits a boil, remove from the heat and immediately pour over the chocolate making sure the chocolate is submerged. Add the vanilla (or any of the optional liqueurs or extracts below). Allow it to sit for 5 minutes and then using a spatula begin to stir to melt the chocolate.
• Add the butter and mix vigorously with the spatula to combine until smooth and uniform, it may look broken and messy at first, but keep going!
• Transfer the smooth ganache to a container and allow to cool to room temperature. Then cover and transfer to the fridge to chill overnight.
• Remove the filling from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature until soft enough to scoop – about one hour for dark chocolate and 30 minutes for milk chocolate. Scoop using a 1/4 ounce baking scoop onto a parchment lined Sheet Pan. Transfer to the fridge and chill the scooped truffles for 1 hour or until firm enough to pick up with ease.
• To finish, dip truffles, or roll in various coatings, transferring to the fridge as needed if the truffles become too soft to handle. Milk chocolate truffles will be generally slightly softer than dark chocolate ones. Chill well before serving.