Irish Cream Truffles

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

from the book Chocolate Truffles by Carrie Huber.  Making the Ganache:
To prepare ganache, chop or grate chocolate into  small pieces. Place
in top half of double boiler along with cream.  Put hot (not boiling)
water in bottom half of a double boiler, making  sure the water doesn't
touch the top pan. Stir often with wooden  spoon. When all of the
chocolate has melted, beat until well  combined. Remove from heat, let
cool to room temperature. Transfer to  covered bowl and refrigerate
overnight to harden. (Ganache will keep  in this state for a few days
if necessary.)  Take a little ganache at a time and form 1" balls,
using fingertips  (with as little contact as possible so the chocolate
doesn't soften).  Keep unused portion refrigerated as you work. Place
balls on waxed  paper-lined baking sheet; continue until ganache is
used up.  Refrigerate baking sheet until ganache is hardened, overnight
or up  to two days. Allow to set in refrigerator at least two hours
before  loosely covering with waxed paper. Foil can be substituted in
all  cases for waxed paper, but never use clear plastic wrap. It clings
too tightly to the candies and traps moisture inside which discolors
the chocolate. Prepare Chocolate Coating: Chop or grate chocolate  into
small pieces. Heat chocolate and oil together in top of double  boiler
over hot water, stirring until smooth with a wooden spoon.  Insert
candy thermometer and begin dipping the ganache balls when  temperature
registers between 85-90F. If chocolate begins to cool and  thicken
before you're finished dipping, reheat over hot water. Work  with only
1/2 dozen at a time, keeping the rest refrigerated. Drop a  single
ganache ball into the chocolate, turning to coat well, then  lift it
with the fork. Allow excess chocolate to drip back into pan,  then
gently rap fork against edge of pan to remove more chocolate  from
ball. Failure to do this will cause a large dribbly "platform"  or
"skirt" to form around the base of each hardened truffle. (this  makes
it difficult to pack them side by side in a box.)  There are two
schools of thoughts as to the proper method of  depositing truffles
onto the baking sheet: A) If you are conservative  by nature it's best
to gently slide them off the fork with a  butterknife, onto the waiting
baking sheet. B) If you intend to  further decorate the truffle, the
second method, (for the show-offs  among us) involves dropping the
truffle off the fork upside down  directly onto the baking sheet.
Quickly manipulate the single strand  of chocolate, adhering to the
fork, into some glorious shape atop the  candy, like the pros do.
Either way is acceptable, although the  second way requires some
practice and an accurate thermometer to get  it right. If your
chocolate temperature is off by a few degrees,  you're likely to find a
chocolate highway - not a chocolate strand -  adhering to the fork when
that critical moment comes.  The perfect finale for the basic recipes,
for instance, is a  sprinkling of shaved dark chocolate over the top,
or better yet,  gently rolling each newly-dipped truffle in the
shavings to coat  completely.  Refrigerate all truffles after dipping
several hours or overnight to  harden.  When ganache has cooled to room
temperature, add Irish cream before  refrigerating. Roll dipped truffle
in chocolate sprinkles  Posted to Bakery-Shoppe Digest V1 #463 by
Shelley Sparks  <ssparks@mailbox.arn.net> on Dec 20, 1997

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