Cooking On The Range: Dark Chocolate Champagne Truffles

These truffles are rich and aromatic, with the delicate taste of the champagne woven in. I used them as a birthday gift for another friend, and I think she liked them. The recipe makes about 50, so there's plenty to go around, and if you like dark Chocolate, I'd say this is definitely a recipe that you should try out! They look gorgeous with glitter or gold dust, or decorated any way you choose

Ingredients: (Makes about 50)

250g Dark Chocolate (at least 70% Cocoa solids), chopped
200g Milk Chocolate (at least 40% Cocoa solids), chopped
150ml Double Cream
50g Unsalted Butter
100ml Champagne, or other sparkling wine
1 tbsp Brandy
700g Dark Chocolate (at least 70% Cocoa Solids), tempered (See in recipe)
Icing or Confectioners sugar for rolling
Icing sugar, edible glitter or gold dust

Grease an 8" / 20cm square baking tin and line with cling film. Line a separate baking tray with greaseproof paper or baking parchment. Put the 250g of Dark Chocolate and 200g of Milk Chocolate into a heatproof or glass bowl and put to the side. Put the cream and butter in a small saucepan and heat over a medium heat until its just before boiling. Keep gently stirring the mixture so that it doesn't burn. Pour this over the chocolate in the bowl and add the champagne and brandy. Whisk quickly by hand until the mixture is smooth. Keep going as long as possible, but if there are still lumps then remove them, as you wont be able to pipe the mixture later. Then pour this into the cling film tin, and leave until it begins to harden slightly (About 30 minutes). Then fill a piping bag half full with the firmed mix and pipe into even blobs onto the baking tray using a plain nozzle, and put the tray in the fridge for about 60 minutes.
This is the messy bit, and the longer you can leave the truffles in the fridge, the better. They melt fast so handle them as little as possible and using icing sugar, roll the blobs into small balls and put back on the tray. Return the tray to the fridge. This is where you need the tempered chocolate. It's used so that the chocolate looks smooth and glossy. This is how to do it (Use this method only for Dark Chocolate, as White and Milk need different temperatures. You will also need a sugar thermometer for this);

Put about 2 thirds of the chopped Dark Chocolate into a heatproof or glass bowl.
Put the bowl over a double boiler, or heat some water in a saucepan until simmering. Don't get any water into the chocolate, as it will ruin it.
Rest the heatproof bowl on the saucepan and place the sugar thermometer on the side of the bowl. Melt until the chocolate is 30-35'C or 104-113'F. Keep gently mixing with a wooden spoon.
Now take the bowl off the pan, and put on a folded kitchen towel and add the rest of the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to cool down to about 27-28'C or 80-82'F. Keep stirring until nearly all the pieces are melted. It may take up to 30 mins.
Now put back on the pan, and bring the temperature back up to 31-32'C or 88-89'F

Once you have the tempered Chocolate, use two spoons to take each of the refrigerated truffles, and dip them in the mixture. Allow them to drain slightly, and put them back onto the baking tray. I did attempt to put them onto a cooling rack, but they stuck solid so I had to re-dip them a second time. Put them back into the fridge for about an hour. Now you can use your edible glitter or gold dust to coat the truffles, and Enjoy!! Alternatively, you can streak the melted chocolate over the truffles with a fork for an interesting effect
You will have a lot of chocolate left over, but this can be used in any other recipe :)

So cover the tray with this, but it can rip when scraping so be careful

Using a glass bowl is a good idea, as they're easy to look at and you can cool them down quickly

Putting the Butter and cream into the pan

Pouring the cream over the chocolate, it looks awesome as it melts down

Whisk quickly to try and melt down all of the chocolate pieces as fast as possible, and it's quite tempting to try!

If there are still any lumps, then remove them, as it won't allow you to pipe the mixture

Now add the champagne and brandy and being to whisk again

This will make the mixture even more amazing, but it will be very rich, so don't eat too much!

Put the mixture into the prepared tin and spread with a spatula so it is relatively even

Half fill either a pastry bag, or a makeshift bag with the mixture. If you'd like to know how to do this, leave a comment, and I'll make a tutorial

Pipe the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Some of these didn't go to plan as I hadn't removed all the unmelted pieces, so I eventually just had to use a spoon to get lumps of the mixture, but I'd fix this if I do it again.

Now using lots and lots of icing sugar, dust your hands, and roll the refrigerated blobs into balls. Here, some of them are done

Here are all the rolled truffles before dipping

This is how to Temper the Chocolate

Put the 2/3 of the chocolate in the bowl

Attach the thermometer on the side, it should be about 2" deep in the chocolate. But read the instructions about the thermometer

This is the bowl on top of the saucepan with simmering water. Use a wooden spoon to slowly start mixing the chocolate to help with the heating

It should start to melt relatively quickly, so keep an eye on the temperature so that it doesn't overheat. Check the saucepan to make sure it's not overboiling