at Mon, 24 Jan 2005 17:27:48 GMT in <1106587668.929666.66950
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, (SC) wrote :

>I am trying to get some interesting truffle ideas for Valentines Day.
>I'd love to try a peanut butter Milk or white chocolate truffle.

White chocolate won't work with all flavours because many will overwhelm
its subtle flavour. However, there are some flavours that do work with
white chocolate. Almonds and almond butter are a match made in heaven.
Unroasted almonds are better than roasted ones in this case because their
milky flavour perfectly harmonises with the white chocolate. Lemon (the
zest, not the juice) works well, used sparingly . Rosewater is also a great
choice. You can also make dark chocolate rosewater truffles - perhaps the
most seductive, Valentine's day-appropriate, chocolates possible, and in
this application you should use Guittard Colombian/Chucuri.

>I know the easiest way would be to melt peanut butter chips with the
>chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache. But, I somehow think real
>peanut butter will taste a lot better (and have a much better mouth
>feel) than the chips.

Most peanut butter chips have vegetable shortenings in them, making their
mouthfeel and taste distinctly poor. The exception is Sunspire, whose chips
don't have vegetable shortening, but in any case chips use defatted peanut
butter, which leads to a poor texture. Besides, chips have added sugar, and
this isn't what you want, because peanut butter isn't a strong flavour,
and, diluted by the sugar, it will be washed out in a truffle. Furthermore
the resulting truffle will taste *extremely* sweet.

If you want to have an actual truffle filling that is mixed chocolate and
peanut butter, you need to be sure to balance the fat contents. Peanut
butter is about 50% fat. So use a high-cocoa-butter milk chocolate, a firm
ganache base (2:1 chocolate:cream), and the heaviest cream you can find. It
may also help to add a little butter. Stay away from milk chocolates with a
pronounced fruity tone, such as Guittard Soleil D'Or or Bonnat Asfarth.
Good nutty chocolates are best - such as Guittard Orinoco or Bonnat Java.

Mix up the ganache first, allow to cool until the consistency matches that
of the peanut butter, then stir the peanut butter in. Ideally the ganache
will be warm but not hot. It's best to use pure peanut butter rather than
the commercial brands (Jif, Peter Pan, Skippy) because these commercial
brands contain additives and sugars that affect the result.

>I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor,

A risky move. Trying to chop up chocolate in a food processor is an
invitation to melting it. Better to manually grate or chop.

> add
>the PB and then blend as I pour in the hot cream. This should get
>everything well mixed and emulsified.

A food processor does a poor job of blending because it wasn't designed for
this purpose. The blade spins round and doesn't really mix things in, and
the bowl shape is wrong. Food processors are designed for chopping, not
mixing. The proper tool for the job you're envisioning is a stand mixer
with the paddle attachment. It will achieve your blending result much more
quickly and satisfactorially.

Meanwhile, trying to add hot cream to peanut butter and chocolate already
placed in a bowl isn't the best tactic. What happens is: the cream sort of
bounces off the peanut butter and pools in various places. It doesn't
incorporate as well into the chocolate and you have a big risk of
everything separating.

Instead of making milk chocolate peanut butter ganache, another way is to
surround peanut butter with ganache, then dip the whole thing in chocolate.
With firm ganache this will work quite well. You make a ganache nest, fill
with peanut butter, spoon a little ganache over the peanut butter, and roll
briefly. Then dip after chilling.

Using peanut butter alone as a filling for a chocolate shell may sound
unglamourous, but it's delicious. The best of our local chocolate shops,
Essential Baking, makes a chocolate like this - the "Carter", and it's
superb.

>What does everyone think? Has anyone tried this before?
>I also hope the filling is soft and creamy but firm enough to either
>dip or mold with a chocolate coating.

Peanut butter generally causes a much softer consistency. It will not firm
up as much by chilling, either, because peanut butter remains soft when
chilled. So a blended peanut butter ganache filling will be softer even
after chilling than a pure ganache. However, as I already talked about in a
previous post, it looks as if in any case you may be seeking a softer
consistency anyway and if so the shell-moulding method will be the one you
should use anyway.

--
Alex Rast

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