CAMILLE GLENN’S KENTUCKY BOURBON TRUFFLES

Kentucky Bourbon Truffles

Recipe type: Snacks

Cuisine: American

Serves: 24 truffles

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound dark semisweet chocolate*
• 1/2 Cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons finest Kentucky Bourbon
• Droste cocoa powder

Instructions

1. *Callebaut, Lindt, Tobler or any fine imported chocolate.
2. Break chocolate into small pieces. Combine it with the cream in the top of a double boiler over simmering hot water (not boiling). Stir the chocolate and cream constantly until chocolate has melted and ganache is smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When the ganache has cooled, stir in Bourbon.
3. Pour the mixture into a small bowl. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight or several days if desired.
4. When ready to make the candy, line a baking sheet with foil.
5. Working with a small amount of the ganache at a time, using about 1 1/2 teaspoons each, form into balls. Place them on the sheet. (Work quickly, using your fingertips and not the palm of your hands to help keep the mixture from becoming overly soft.)
6. Keep the chocolate balls cold, if possible, by placing them a few at a time on a tray in the refrigerator. Leave the chocolate balls lightly covered in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight, if desired.
7. Sprinkle a pastry sheet with cocoa. Roll each ball into the cocoa, covering them well. Refrigerate at once and leave until the truffles are quite firm - several hours or overnight.
8. Place each truffle in a fluted silver or paper cup in a tin box and keep refrigerated.
9. Serve very cold. Will keep several weeks under refrigeration.

Notes

Glenn writes: "All the world loves chocolate, and chocolate truffles are the world's most luscious trompe l'oeil. We have no clue as to the name of the clever cook who first created these candies so beautifully camouflaged in the shape of a truffle, but it would be a very safe bet that he was a Frenchman - and from truffle country.

"In contrast to most hand-dipped chocolates, which, to a great extent belong in the province of the professional candy maker and should look precisely turned out, chocolate truffles are supposed to look somewhat rugged. If they looked too neat and evenly rounded, they wouldn't resemble their namesake - the knobbly real-life Perigord truffle.

"No pig is needed to sniff around in the deep forest of the Perigord to find where these truffles grow! All one needs is a small kitchen space, a double-boiler of sorts, a spoon or two, a baking sheet, and a cold spot to let the candy chill."

"In every phase of the culinary arts, flavor is everything; and premium ingredients must be used to achieve the subtle counterpoint of flavors that are possible with the candies given here.

"The ideal way to store or to prepare truffles as gifts is to place each one in a tiny fluted silver or paper cup made for the purpose, then fit them in single layers in a tight tin box. Wrap the box as happily as you wish. Few gifts could say 'Have a Merry Christmas!' any better.

"Bourbon whiskey has a great affinity for chocolate; however, no whiskey or liqueur can be added directly to any chocolate; it hardens it beyond repair. In using liqueurs when making chocolate candies, frostings, etc., the alcohol must be combined with cream first. The French call the combination of chocolate and cream a 'ganache' and that is the base of many candies, especially truffles."

From Camille Glenn's 12/01/93 "Flavor to Taste" column called "Visions of Sugarplums: These Truffles and Candies Just Shout 'Merry Christmas'"