Bailey's Chocolate Truffles

The perfect sweet treat for your Valentine. These truffles are a ganache center, kept simple with a dusting of cocoa or powdered sugar to finish. You could also dip them in chocolate if you’re feeling particularly loving, and then finish with sprinkles or a festive topping. The ganache by itself is also great warmed, over icecream. You can thin it out slightly with a little more Bailey’s or a splash extra of cream to use as a sauce.

Chocolate Ganache is an emulsion- which means it’s a delicate balance of fat and liquid. It can be a bit sensitive to temperature and it can “break” if there’s not enough liquid or air to force the two together. When an emulsion “breaks” it looks grainy and oily. The good news is that when ganache breaks, it can be fixed, you just need to remember a few key things.

When in doubt, keep stirring. The mixture may be too hot which can also cause it to break. You want to keep stirring until you get a thick, shiny ganache that has the texture of chocolate mayonnaise. If your chocolate isn’t fully melting into the cream, microwave the mixture for 15 seconds and try again. Boiling the cream will cause some of the water to evaporate and may throw off your balance slightly. If you boil it for too long you may need to add a splash of warm cream when stirring everything together to keep your mixture the right proportions. Not enough cream/liquid could also result in a really hard ganache that is too difficult to scoop and roll into balls.

Similarly, your chocolate matters here. In a professional setting, you’d have great quality chocolate that has minimal stabilizers and a high cocoa butter content, but that kind of chocolate is a) expensive and b) not commonly found in most grocery stores. When I’m making these at home, I prefer to use a chopped bar of chocolate over chocolate chips for this reason. To get chocolate chips to maintain their shape at high heats, lethicin is added to the chocolate and can create a gummy texture in a ganache or make your mixture harder than intended. These are my favorite grocery store chocolates to use for truffles, in this order:

1. The dark chocolate “pound plus” bar from Trader Joe’s

2. Any dark chocolate bar (not the “baking chocolate squares”) that is marked as 60%+ cacao on the wrapper. Usually on the candy aisle vs. the baking aisle.

3. Ghiradelli 60% or 72% Bittersweet Baking Chips (if all you can find are chips)

Once you’ve found a chocolate that works for you, the rest is a breeze!

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Bailey's Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

• 5oz heavy cream
• 2oz Bailey's Irish Cream
• 12oz chopped dark chocolate
• Cocoa powder for rolling

Instructions

1. Chop the chocolate and set aside in a medium bowl.
2. Bring the heavy cream to a gentle boil over medium/low heat in a saucepan.
3. Once bubbles cover the surface of the cream, but it hasn't yet boiled up the sides of the saucepan, remove from heat and immediately pour over the chopped chocolate. Allow to stand 2-3 minutes, making sure that all of the chocolate pieces are submerged.
4. Add the Bailey's to the mixture and stir until all chocolate is melted and the ganache is shiny and smooth. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
5. Using a melon baller, small cookie scoop or two spoons, portion out the truffles. Roll into balls and coat in cocoa powder or powdered sugar to finish.

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