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at Wed, 31 Dec 2003 04:59:01 GMT in >,
(Conny) wrote :

>Alex Rast wrote:
>
>> at Tue, 30 Dec 2003 16:12:45 GMT in >,
>> (Conny) wrote :
....
>> > I need just powdered sugar to make
>> >truffles.
>>
>> Why do you need powdered sugar at all? The classic truffle ganache
>> uses no added sugar, simply cream and chocolate. ...
>>
>> Still, can you post your truffle recipe? I suspect your best results
>> will come from using no sugar at all.
>
>Thanks Alex for your reply.
>Here is the translated recipe:
>CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES WITH WHIPPING CREAM
>
> ½ lb. butter of good quality with a minium of water
> ½ lb whipping cream 35%
> ½ lb. powdered sugar (w/o cornstarch)
> (500 gr) 500 gr. chocolate

0.5 lb = 227 g.

Typically, butter has 80% fat. Thus, 227 g butter + 227 g 35% cream = 452 g
total dairy, at 57.5 % fat. Roughly, this is equivalent to clotted cream.

It's not clear what percentage of sugar the chocolate has. If the 500g
chocolate is unsweetened, then the equivalent amount of sweetened chocolate
would be 727 g of 68.8 % bittersweet chocolate. Since sugar contains no
fat, and unsweetened chocolate has about 50% fat, the approximate fat
percentage would be 34.4 %. This is a lower-cocoa-butter chocolate, similar
to El Rey's "Gran Saman". In that situation, this would be close to 1.6 : 1
proportions of 70% bittersweet and clotted cream to make a ganache.

That wouldn't be a bad effort, although it would be undoubtedly slightly
greasy, owing to the high milkfat percentage and lower cocoa butter
percentage. It would be rather soft, for similar reasons, and because the
total amount of chocolate is somewhat less than the "classic" 2:1 ratio.

>
> In a pan with thick bottom, bring cream and butter
> slowly to the boil
>and add the sugar
> (donut be in a hurry with this).
> Cool cream to room temperature.
> Stir butter to a cream and add slowly to the cream and
> sugar. DO NOT
>WHIP.

My guess is that the recipe at this point wants you to add the chocolate,
after melting it - i.e. that "stir butter to a cream" means "melt chocolate
and stir to a creamy consistency". This would make more sense in light of
the previous instructions.

> Put the mix into a pastry bag and make little balls on a
> baking sheet
>with baking paper.
> Cool the balls on the sheet in a freezer for about 30
> min. Cover at this stage the balls with white or regular
> chocolate
>confiture.

I assume the word you're looking for is "couverture".

....

As written, the recipe is somewhat confusing. Is it supposed to create
buttery, cream centers with no chocolate in them, surrounded with a hard
chocolate "shell"? Or is it supposed to be creamy, chocolatey centers
coated with the same shell? The first would really be chocolate-covered
clotted cream frosting. The second is true chocolate truffles, albeit with
the shell.

If you're trying to create chocolate truffles, then based on the analysis I
outlined above, a classic-technique 2:1 ganache would work just as well if
not better for fewer steps and less hassle. Get some high-quality 70%
bittersweet couverture, and some 40% fat heavy cream. Use twice as much
chocolate as cream. Grate or chop the chocolate finely. Scald the cream,
and pour it, still hot, right over the grated/chopped chocolate. Stir
gently with a spatula until well-blended. Cool. You can then chill for
centers, if making truffles with a hard shell, or roll in cocoa, if you
prefer the classic presentation.

If you really do want a white, cream center, it might be worth seeking out
clotted cream which will help you avoid mixing butter and whipping cream.
Instead of using powdered sugar, I might suggest using the candy-making
method: dissolve some ordinary sugar in a bit of water, bring to the soft-
ball stage, then pour carefully into the cream. You seem to have a very
unusual recipe - I'm not quite sure what the objective of it was, but it
does seem to me that it takes a rather roundabout route to achieve results
you can get using other, more practical methods (more practical in the
sense that they don't require you to track down esoteric ingredients)
--
Alex Rast

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