Champagne Truffles
Makes about 50 truffles
Ingredients:
1 pound plus 5 ounces milk chocolate, tempered
5 ounces champagne
5 ounces cream
18 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
2 1/2 tablespoons invert sugar or corn syrup
1 tablespoon marc de champagne
2 ounces butter, softened
Special Equipment: Polycarbonate truffle mold (champagne corks)
Preparation:
Using a ladle, fill 2 cork molds with chocolate. When they
are full, empty the excess back into the bowl of chocolate. The inside of
the molds should be evenly coated with chocolate. Wipe the lip of the molds
clean and place them upside down on a wire rack over a baking sheet to
drain. Once the chocolate starts to harden, about 5 minutes, use a wide
pastry scraper to clean the edges of each cavity clean. You can place the
mold in the refrigerator for several minutes to help the chocolate to
harden.
Place the champagne and cream into a small saucepan and heat the mixture to
a boil. Pour the hot champagne mixture over the chopped chocolate and corn
syrup and blend until smooth with an immersion hand blender. Add the marc du
champagne and the butter and blend until smooth with an immersion hand
blender. Allow the mixture to cool until it has a thick consistency (thick
enough to pipe).
Place the mixture in a piping bag and pipe it into the chocolate filled
molds. Let set overnight. Close the bottom of one mold by applying chocolate
with an offset spatula. Scrape clean then press the two molds together
evenly. Allow to set.
When the chocolate has set, remove the whole "corks" from the molds.
Source: Jacques Torres
