Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Chocolate Truffles


annachan

Recommended Posts

The Mr. and I are thinking about trying our hands at making truffles for Valentine's Day. We are thinking about making heart and rose shape truffles w/ different ganache fillings.

We are currently in search of a few good books that would lead us in the right directions. I've had my eyes on Chocolate Obession (Michael Recchiuti, et al), Pure Chocolate (Fran Bigelow, Helene Siegel) and Chocolate Chocolate (Lisa Yockelson), but not sure how useful they will be as resources for truffles.

Also, we've been looking around for molds and transfer sheets to play around with. Anyone know of some good resources online or in the Bay Area?

We'll also appreciate any recipes that people have success with. Recipes without alcohol would be great.

TIA :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have this little spiral-bound book titled "Oh Truffles by Au Chocolat" by Pam Williams and Rita Morin, published by Stein & Day in 1984. Of course it's out of print now, but keep an eye out on ebay or amazon.com and you might find a copy (I found mine on ebay a few years ago).

The book won't wow you with gorgeous pictures in full color or inspire you with artistic flair. Rather, it's about 120 pages of chocolate truffle recipes, variations of cocoa truffles, ganache truffles, buttery truffles, luxurious truffles, rich european truffles and french truffles. all sorts of flavors and combinations. It's not the cutting edge of chocolate today, but it's good solid truffle information and recipes.

Good luck to you with your new endeavor in the new year,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will definitely be ordering Chocolate Obsession and Oh Truffles by Au Chocolat (I found it online for $9!) The websites recommended here both looks great. I'm sure I will be making some purchases there soon. Thanks everyone for your help.

Happy New Year! :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Little late to chime in for Valentines day, but "Truffles, Candies and Confections" by Carole Bloom is an excellent source of recipes. Copies should be available in Abebooks.com. Particularly note the recipe for Krokant. Great chopped up in molded chocolates, tastes like Toblerone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a few books on this subject and was just wondering which of the following would you guys suggest:

(1) Jean Pierre Wybauw's Fine Chocolates, Great Experience

(2) Roger Geert's Belgian Chocolates

(3) Ecole Lenotre's Chocolat et Confiserie Tomes 1 and 2

I'm leaning towards JPW's book, only because it was recommended by the guys at Callebaut.....not so sure bout the rest though.

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i don't know about #2 and #3 but i have the jpw book and think it is great. i also saw him do a demo and i feel like he is one person i have learned NEW things from (with regard to chocolate). so i would get this book (actually, i already have :wink: ).

i ordered it from a canadian company and with the exchange ended up getting it cheaper than other places.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a few books on this subject and was just wondering which of the following would you guys suggest:

(1) Jean Pierre Wybauw's Fine Chocolates, Great Experience

(2) Roger Geert's Belgian Chocolates

(3) Ecole Lenotre's Chocolat et Confiserie Tomes 1 and 2

I'm leaning towards JPW's book, only because it was recommended by the guys at Callebaut.....not so sure bout the rest though.

Thanks!

I have all 3 and find them all useful for various purposes.

JPW is more current, great pictures. Intersting recipes.

Geerts covers all the classic belgian chocolates, recipes make huge amounts and call for a lot compound flavourings and some ingredients you will have to figure out (things get lost in translation). The index in Geerts sucks, you end up looking through the whole book each time to find the picture of what you want. Should be cross indexed by flavour or something. I don't use it much anymore for recipes as I find the chocolates all very similar, not very highly flavoured. I look for more 'wow' in my recipes, as in "wow, that sure tastes like mango'.

Lenotre is excellent at covering the range of confectionary, but has limited numbers of recipes for each catagory. In general the recipes turn out well, but again some ingredients may elude you.

Alanamoana's suggestion to buy from Chocolat-chocolat in Canada is a good one, bought all mine there for a lot less than even amazon. Of course I'm in Canada so there are no cross border duty issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I second Kerry's comments. I too have all three and hhave been inspired and educated by each. I must admit, though, that I don't actually use ANY of the recipes. I have used the recipes as inspiration and gone off on a related tangent or modified the recipes or just looked at the pictures. The Wybauw has more technical information than the other two.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like Truffles, Candies & Confections by Carole Bloom also. It's nice for a novice because she explains about types of chocolate,tools to buy, how to temper..etc.

Alot of interesting truffle recipes..and the brittle recipe is very good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm afraid I haven't seen Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet so I can't comment on the truffles.

I do have the Rechutti book, it is first new chocolate book I've bought in a while and the one thing I have taken away from that one is the caramelized cacoa nibs. I have some el ray nibs I bought a while back and never really got excited about until now. I make a molded chocolate with the caramelized nibs in a milk chocolate ganache that is fabulous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i like medrich's books for her baked recipes...her chocolate ganaches tend to be very basic. you can definitely learn from her books though, so if you want something that offers more than just truffle recipes, it isn't a bad buy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm afraid I haven't seen Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet so I can't comment on the truffles. 

I do have the Rechutti book, it is first new chocolate book I've bought in a while and the one thing I have taken away from that one is the caramelized cacoa nibs.  I have some el ray nibs I bought a while back and never really got excited about until now.  I make a molded chocolate with the caramelized nibs in a milk chocolate ganache that is fabulous.

Hi Kerry,

Any chance you can share the recipe with us...it sounds intriguing.

Thanks!

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm afraid I haven't seen Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet so I can't comment on the truffles. 

I do have the Rechutti book, it is first new chocolate book I've bought in a while and the one thing I have taken away from that one is the caramelized cacoa nibs.  I have some el ray nibs I bought a while back and never really got excited about until now.  I make a molded chocolate with the caramelized nibs in a milk chocolate ganache that is fabulous.

Hi Kerry,

Any chance you can share the recipe with us...it sounds intriguing.

Thanks!

Chris

Chris,

I'd be happy to share this recipe. Make the caramelized nibs as per Rechutti, but toast the nibs first in the oven until they smell like brownies baking. Make a ganache with one part room temperature butter and 2 parts melted and cooled milk chocolate coverature. I mold these in a cocoa bean mold that I have painted first with dark chocolate then lined with milk. I put a couple of nibs in the mold, pipe in the ganache, back off with milk.

I found a couple in a container downstairs so I took a picture, but you must forgive me because they are old, don't look so great, but do show the look when the mold is painted first. When young they are lovely and shiny.

Kerry

gallery_34671_2649_20381.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Has anyone mentioned chocolat-chocolat as a source for molds? They have an excellent selection, and I hear if you go to the store in Montreal they have even more. Perhaps a road trip? I am in Detroit if anyone is interested. I have a friend who lives in Montreal, she's heavily involved in Canada's food network, and she comes from a very high end chocolate and pastry background.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone mentioned chocolat-chocolat as a source for molds?  They have an excellent selection, and I hear if you go to the store in Montreal they have even more.  Perhaps a road trip?  I am in Detroit if anyone is interested.  I have a friend who lives in Montreal, she's heavily involved in Canada's food network, and she comes from a very high end chocolate and pastry background.

I've been to their site and love the stuff. However, it asks for your SSN or IRS number for US customers. I'm not sure I want to provide them with either of those things. Unfortunately, I'm a little too far for a road trip to Montreal....

Edited by annachan (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone mentioned chocolat-chocolat as a source for molds?  They have an excellent selection, and I hear if you go to the store in Montreal they have even more.  Perhaps a road trip?  I am in Detroit if anyone is interested.   I have a friend who lives in Montreal, she's heavily involved in Canada's food network, and she comes from a very high end chocolate and pastry background.

I've been to their site and love the stuff. However, it asks for your SSN or IRS number for US customers. I'm not sure I want to provide them with either of those things. Unfortunately, I'm a little too far for a road trip to Montreal....

I emailed them about the request for SSN or IRS number when I ordered a book from them a few weeks ago. They responded

that it helps clear the order through customs but is not required. I omitted it and my order came through just fine. My advice is to leave that blank.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone mentioned chocolat-chocolat as a source for molds?  They have an excellent selection, and I hear if you go to the store in Montreal they have even more.  Perhaps a road trip?  I am in Detroit if anyone is interested.  I have a friend who lives in Montreal, she's heavily involved in Canada's food network, and she comes from a very high end chocolate and pastry background.

I've been to their site and love the stuff. However, it asks for your SSN or IRS number for US customers. I'm not sure I want to provide them with either of those things. Unfortunately, I'm a little too far for a road trip to Montreal....

I emailed them about the request for SSN or IRS number when I ordered a book from them a few weeks ago. They responded

that it helps clear the order through customs but is not required. I omitted it and my order came through just fine. My advice is to leave that blank.

Thanks for the tip. I guess it's time to do a little shopping! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...