Cran Marnier Truffles Recipes

Steps:

• Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife. Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.
• Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the Grand Marnier, if using, coffee, and vanilla. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
• With 2 teaspoons, spoon round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, until firm. Roll each dollop of chocolate in your hands to roughly make a round ball. Roll in confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, or both. These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but serve at room temperature.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine cherries and brandy; cover and let soak for 1 hour or until cherries are softened., Place dark chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Stir in extract and soaked cherries with liquid. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm., Shape into 1-in. balls. Place on baking sheets; cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour., In a microwave, melt milk chocolate; stir until smooth. Dip half of the balls into milk chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set., Melt dark chocolate; stir until smooth. Dip remaining balls into dark chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set. Drizzle with melted chocolate and decorate with pearl dust as desired. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Steps:

• Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife.
• Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.
• Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just boils.
• Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds.
• Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate.
• With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted.
• Whisk in the Grand Marnier, if using, coffee, and vanilla.
• Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
• With 2 teaspoons, spoon round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Refrigerate for 30 minutes, until firm.
• Roll each dollop of chocolate in your hands to roughly make a round ball.
• Roll in confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, or both.
• These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but serve at room temperature.

Steps:

• With a sharp knife, chop chocolate into pea-sized chunks, and remove to a medium-sized metal bowl.
• In a small saucepan, combine cream, orange zest, and orange liquor and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat immediately. Pour cream mixture over chocolate, stir to combine. Add butter and salt. Stir until mixture is smooth and a ganache forms. Pour into a nonstick cake pan, an 8-inch round or a 12-by-6 inch rectangular pan, and refrigerate for at least an hour, up to three, until the ganache hardens.
• When the ganache is ready, use two spoons to begin to shape the ganache into balls. You do this so the truffles will be easier to roll into balls later. The size of the truffles is up to you. Mine are about a third of an ounce each. Place each measured-out truffle on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.
• Refrigerate truffles for five to ten minutes, enough time to allow them to firm up again. Meanwhile, fill a large ziplock bag with ice. It's good to have ice nearby while you roll the truffles, to keep your hands cool and the truffles from melting. With the palms of your (iced) hands, roll each truffle into a smooth ball.
• You'll make a mess, but trust me: this is just about the tidiest method I've found, and I've tried it all. Remember: spoon, refrigerate, ice, roll. Pour about 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder into a bowl, and roll each truffle in it. This will smooth over any rough edges. You can stop here. They're done.
• Or you can get fancy. You can dip the truffles in more chocolate and top them with candied orange peels. Labor intensive, but never a bad idea. Here's what you do: In a double boiler, heat another 12 oz dark chocolate, stirring frequently, until just melted. Remove from heat. Add another 2 oz chopped dark chocolate, and stir until the fresh chips melt and the chocolate begins to cool and thicken.
• This is called tempering the chocolate. It produces a chocolate that will harden to be snappy and shiny, like all really good chocolate is at room temperature.
• If you're using a candy thermometer, once the chocolate reaches 88 degrees, it's ready.
• With a fork, lower the rolled truffles into the melted chocolate. Lift them out quickly, and allow some of the excess chocolate to drain off the truffle before removing to a baking sheet lined with wax paper.
• Sprinkle the dipped truffles with minced candied orange peels, or place a slivered orange peel on top. Your choice! Once the chocolate hardens, you can melt the rough edges down on a warm pan or plate.

Steps:

• In a double boiler or metal bowl over simmering water, heat chocolate and butter until melted, stirring frequently. Whisk a small amount of mixture into egg yolks. Return all to the heat, whisking constantly. Cook and stir until mixture reaches at least 160° and coats the back of a metal spoon., Remove from the heat; stir in the cranberries, orange juice concentrate and extract. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Shape into 1-in. balls., In a microwave, melt candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip truffles in coating; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets and drizzle with bittersweet chocolate. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Steps:

• Very finely chop 12 ounces semisweetchocolate, and sift to remove powderyresidue; set aside in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream, butter, and corn syrup to a full boil overmedium heat. Turn off heat. Add 1 poundchocolate; gently swirl pan to coverchocolate with cream, but do not stir. Let stand, undisturbed, 5 minutes. Stir Grand Marnier into theganache.
• Slowly whisk until combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; refrigerate,stirring every 15 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, mixture will thickenquickly, so stir every 3 to 5 minutes untilthick enough to scoop, 10 to 20 minutesmore. Using two spoons or a small ice-cream scoop, form into 1-inch balls; transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Chill until firm, but not hard, about 10minutes. Remove from refrigerator; rollin palms to form a ball, and press gentlywith fingers to create irregular shapes.Chill until ready to dip, up to 1 week.Place remaining 12 ounces chocolate ina heatproof bowl over a pan of simmeringwater; stir occasionally until chocolatemelts. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
• Removecenters from refrigerator. Using onehand, dip one center into melted chocolate, then roll around in your hand tocoat evenly, letting excess drip back intopan. Place truffle in bowl of reserved choppedchocolate. With yourclean hand, cover truffle with chocolate. Letsit in bowl 20 seconds.
• Lift out, and set on a parchment-linedbaking sheet. Repeat with remainingtruffles. If your kitchen is warm, refrigerate 5 minutes to set. You can storetruffles in airtight containers up to 1week at a cool room temperature.