One winter while on break from college I had the brilliant idea of making “Holiday Truffles”.  I talked Lindsay into helping me with the project and in a few short hours we were covered in chocolate with truffles that looked like lumps of crap!!! It has gone down as one of the funnier “Tirrell Sister Moments” and I happily left the truffle making to the experts.  Two Christmas’ ago on a whim, I purchased a truffle recipe book  for Lindsay’s stocking – more or less as a joke.  It turns out it was no joke and Lindsay has become an expert at making the most delicious chocolate treats I have ever tasted!!!!

This past weekend I spent a day making hand rolled truffles with my sister.  She patiently showed me the secrets of her “Truffle Success”.  With my promise to not start producing truffles for family occasions she shared all of her tips.

She showed me that running my hands under cold water and using cocoa powder help keep the ganache from sticking to your hands when you roll it.  We made three kinds of truffles – earl grey, toffee crunch and pumpkin.  Dark chocolate fillings are the easiest, the ganache sets up nicely and stays stiff enough to keep it round.  The pumpkin truffle filling I made used milk chocolate, although it tasted delicious, it was a little soft and therefore more difficult to roll.  I think that these candies are so yummy because of the time and care that is put into them – I find chocolate very intimidating, the tempering thing is something that I have not embraced and find annoying. Lindsay has the patience of a saint!!!

I was able to reciprocate the lesson by showing Lindsay how to make caramel that is the perfect consistancy for rolling!!! So, in addition to the truffles we were able to make soft caramels rolled in chocolate – just like our favorites from the Russell Stover box when we were kids (but much better!).

We finished our day with a 45 minute photo shoot!  I think we had over 60 candies to share throughout the weekend – none of which made it back to Boston, a testament to their popularity!!!

The book that I gave Lindsay is called Truffles: 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats by Dede Wilson and it is available on Amazon.  Lindsay is thinking about tackling molded truffles – so stay tuned.