Valentine Truffles

Like the good little Japanese wife that I am (ahem), I made some truffles for Valentine's Day this year. No, I'm not trying to put myself down. It's just that many, if not most, Japanese girls will have experienced making chocolate at some point in their lives. Why is that, you ask. What about the men? Will I include an actual recipe this time? Find out after the jump.

First of all, men don't give the chocolates on Valentine's Day. The men have a day of their own, a month later, when they're expected to return the Valentine with either candy or some gift or another. It's called White Day (yeah, I don't understand either. Sounds like some kind of racist statement). Valentine's Day on the other hand, is the biggest event of the year for those girls who have a potential romantic interest, but aren't in a relationship yet. This is how it works:

1. Girl has crush.
2. Girl prepares chocolates for Valentine's Day.
3. Girl hides chocolates while at school for fear that the teachers may confiscate them.
4. Girl finds a moment to confesses her love/crush for the guy by giving him chocolates. This can be done by:
   
   • asking him to meet after school behind the gym and confessing face to face.
   •  shoving the chocolate in either his shoe box (they wear indoor shoes at school) or desk with a note. 
   • finding an intermediary to do the job (not reccomended).
   • other.
5. Guy accepts/declines offering and gives his response, after which they might start dating.
6.  If guy accepted/is nice, returns the favor on White Day. 

 Understandably, the more popular a guy is, the more chocolates he will get. To have the best chance for your chocolates to stand out, they have to taste exceptional, look amazing, or be unique. ...and that's where the whole "making chocolates" business comes in. Come mid-January, everywhere you look they sell little kits for making chocolates.

I however, was a quite unromantic child, strongly upholding the idea that if I was going to spend that much time and effort making something delicious, I was going to eat it myself. And that I did, until college, when I thought it was about time I did something romantic and girly before I was no longer a teenager.

The other thing about Valentine's Day is that brands from the best chocolatiers in the world are specially imported for a limited time, and it's popular for adults to indulge in deliciousness either for themselves, friends, or loved ones. I'm secretly picky when it comes to chocolate. I will eat pretty much anything put in front of me and like it, but I have a very short list of stores that I love and go back to when I want to treat myself, but that is another post entirely.

ANYWAY. Here are the recipes for the chocolate truffles I made this year. They're relatively easy, and are all based on the same idea. You can make them into squares or into balled truffles. If possible, you should use chocolate meant for dessert making (this is different from baking chocolate, which contains no sugar) instead of chocolate bars, since chocolate bars have oil added to make them firmer and less likely to melt. If you can't find culinary chocolate though, try it with chocolate bars. They should work okay. Don't use chocolate chips, since they have the highest oil:chocolate ratio. If you want other flavors, like vanilla or cinnamon, all you need to do is add a little bit of flavoring to the cream before microwaving it, if the flavoring is in powder form, or add it after mixing the cream and chocolate, if the flavoring is in liquid form.  I've made chai flavored white chocolate truffles before, with cinnamon, nutmeg, and some powdered tea, and they were pretty good. Powdered ginger also goes well with white chocolate. Good luck!

INGREDIENTS

Standard Truffles:
semi-sweet chocolate 80g
whipping (heavy) cream 50ml
unsalted butter 10g
rum essence 1 tsp (you can use actual brandy or rum if you want)

Green Tea Truffles:
maccha (powdered green tea) 1 tsp
white chocolate 120g
whipping (heavy) cream 40ml
unsalted butter 10g
hot water 2 tsp

Coffee Truffles:
semi-sweet chocolate 80g
whipping (heavy) cream 40ml
unsalted butter 10g
kahlua liqueur 1 tsp (optional)
instant coffee 2tsp
hot water 2 tsp

coating stuff:
powdered cocoa
maccha
icing sugar
dipping chocolate (if you can't find dipping chocolate, you can temper chocolate yourself, but it's a hassle so maybe just stick to the powdered stuff. Here's a guide to tempering chocolate: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/08/tempering-choco/ )

MAKING THE GANACHE
1. take the butter out of the fridge to let it come to room temperature. chop the chocolate as finely as possible.
2. if making coffee or maccha truffles, dissolve the maccha or instant coffee in 2 tsp of hot water.
3. microwave the cream for 1 minute.
4. add the chocolate to the hot cream with the dissolved maccha or coffee. Just the chocolate if you're making standard truffles. Stir until all of the chocolate is melted.
5. add the butter and kahlua/rum and mix well.

SHAPING THE GANACHE

A. making round truffles
1. pour the ganache into a bag for squeezing out whipped cream (any non-leaking bag will do, actually)
2. leave in fridge for approximately 20 minutes, or until the chocolate is squeezable.
3. snip the corner of the bag and squeeze out onto wax paper into little mounds (whatever size you like)
4. leave in fridge for at least 3 hours
5. roll into balls and leave in fridge for another 15 min.

B. making squares
1. line a square or rectangular container with wax paper.
2. pour ganache into the container so that the ganache is about 1cm thick (this can be thicker depending on what you want)
3. leave in fridge for at least three hours.
4. remove the ganache from the container and cut into squares or rectangles with a warmed knife (run a knife under hot tap water and wipe the water off), and leave in the fridge for another 15 min.

DECORATING
1. either dip the chocolates in dipping chocolate with a fork and let dry on wax paper, or dust them with powdered stuff, depending on what you like (maccha, cocoa, or icing sugar)