prep 50 minutes, plus 45 minutes chilling, makes about 20 truffles
For the ganache:
- 125ml fresh double cream
- 2 whole vanilla pods
- 250g dark chocolate, finely chopped
For the shell:
- 200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 200g dark chocolate, grated
- 50g unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
Special equipment:
- bain-marie or a heatproof bowl
Place the cream in a heavy-based pan and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, run a very sharp knife along the vanilla pods to open one side, add them to the cream and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and remove the pods. Using your thumbnail, gently push out the seeds from the pods into the cream. Cover the cream and vanilla mix with a cloth for a further 5 minutes.
Put the finely chopped chocolate in a bowl, pour over the still hot cream and stir until fully blended. This is your beautiful vanilla ganache. Put it in the fridge to chill.
The next stage is to prepare the shell. The tempering process takes 10 minutes; time it so the ganache has had 30 minutes in the fridge by the time the tempering is complete.
Melt the roughly chopped chocolate in a bain-marie or a heatproof bowl over a pan of water that boiled 5 minutes earlier and is now off the heat and cooling. Stir occasionally until smooth.
Once melted, pour two-thirds of the chocolate onto a cold kitchen work surface (marble is ideal) and move/spread the chocolate with a spatula until it cools to body temperature (test this by putting a spot of chocolate on your lip - it needs to feel neither hot nor cold). Return the cooled chocolate to the still-warm chocolate in the pan and mix gently for about 1 minute. This is now ready for dipping your ganache.
Remove your now-firm ganache from the fridge and use a teaspoon to scoop out a small amount for hand-rolling into balls. Do this quickly so it doesn't soften too much in your hands.
Once you have made all your balls, use a fork to dip them into the shell chocolate and then roll them in your chocolate gratings, or leave them to harden at room temperature and roll in cocoa powder
Place the balls on some greaseproof paper and leave them to set at room temperature, or chill for 15 minutes in the fridge.
Variations
There is a never-ending list of variations, but the broad choices are either to omit the vanilla pod, or leave it in and supplement it with other flavours.
Ground powders are easiest to work with. Start with something such as ginger powder and move on to raiding those little jars of spice at the back of the cupboard that never get used for anything; then work up to more unusual combinations such as Indian spices.
Another way to add flavour is to add food-grade essential oils. Only ever add one drop at a time and keep tasting as you go along - the warm ganache will generally taste twice as strong when hard and at room temperature.
