Untempered chocolate truffle for gift?

[bake4life]

I want to make truffles for my friend, but the problem is I am apprehensive about tempering chocolate. I don't have a candy thermometer and I don't usually require one, so it would be more or less a useless investment. I have read plenty of articles online about how tempering can be done 'easily' without thermometer, but I know I won't get it right in the first try. So, if it fails, I don't want to waste all that chocolate. Is it a good idea to use untempered chocolate for coating the truffles? I read somewhere that adding a tbsp or so of vegetable oil to the chocolate makes for a really thin coating which can be then rolled in cocoa powder or nuts or dessicated coconut to hold it together. Do you think it will work?

Also, Nestle Milky Bar has no cocoa butter. Does this mean even if I don't temper, it will hold shape at room temperature after refrigeration?

[cdh]

hmmm... first, candy thermometers are for hot sugar work and measure up in the 300-400F range. Chocolate work happens in the 80-95F range, so you've probably got something that can measure the temperatures right already. Your heat source and means of control are more important.

If trying to enrobe the filling seems too much of a risky learning experience to you, why not just make ganache truffles coated in cocoa powder or crushed nuts or smashed up praline, or toasted coconut, or decorative sugar sprinkles, or ice-cream-sundae jimmies, etc. You could do a very pretty variety of options without having to set a single cocoa butter crystal by expert temperature manipulation.

[Jenjcook]

You could use a compound chocolate like Merkens coating that does not require tempering. If you want a thin coat paramount crystals work well to thin it out. Vegetable oil tends to make compound coatings rather soft in my opinion.

[Stover&co]

Another great chocolate you can look into would be Callebaut Classic Coatings. They are formulated to apply a thin layer of chocolate, and do not require thinning with crystals.

They also do not need to be tempered.

[jmacnaughtan]

If trying to enrobe the filling seems too much of a risky learning experience to you, why not just make ganache truffles coated in cocoa powder or crushed nuts or smashed up praline, or toasted coconut, or decorative sugar sprinkles, or ice-cream-sundae jimmies, etc. You could do a very pretty variety of options without having to set a single cocoa butter crystal by expert temperature manipulation.

I agree. There's no need to coat your truffles in chocolate if you don't want to.