Ingredients
- 18 oz bittersweet chocolate finely chopped, divided
- 3 oz unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teas pure vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 teas fleur de sel or other fine grained sea salt, divided
- 2 tblsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Preparation
Step 1
1. Place 8oz of the chopped chocolate in a 2 quart bowl and set aside.
2. cut the butter into small pieces and place it in a 2 quart saucepan with the sugar. cook over medium heat, stirring witha ehat resistant spatula, until the sugar and butter melt. raise the ehat to medium high and cook until the mxiture turns amber colored, about 5 minutes.
3. At the same time, bring the cream to a boil in a 1 quart saucepan over medium ehat. Stir the cream into the butter mixture until completely smooth. be careful because the cream will bubble and may splatter when added.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and 1 1/2 teas of salt until thoroughly blended. Immediately pour the caramel over the chocoalte in the bowl. Let it stna dfor 15 to 30 seconds, then stir together until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature. Chill until thick, about 1 hour.
5. Line 2 baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper. Use a 1 inch round ice cream scoop to scoop out the truffles and place them on the baking sheet. Chill uncovered for 20 minutes.
6. Dust your hand with cocoa powder and roll the truffles into balls.
7. Melt 7oz of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over low heat, stirring frequently. or melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on low power for 30 second bursts. Stir after each burst to make sure the chocolate is melting evenly.
8. Remove the top pan of the double boiler, if using, and wipe it dry. Add the remaining3 oz of chocolate in 3 stages, stirring utnil it's completely melted. this tempers the chocolate so it won't have any streaks.
9. Keep the chocolate warm over a pan of water that is 2 degrees warmer than the chocolate. Line a baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper.
10. Place a truffle into the melted chocolate and coat completely. Use a truffle dipper or a plastic fork with the two middle tines broken out to lift the truffle from the chocolate. Let the excess chocolate drip off, then place the truffle on the clean lined baking sheet.
11. After dipping 5 truffles at a time, sprinkle a few grains of the reamining salt on top of each. Let the truffles set at room temperature of place them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Serve the truffles at room temperature.
Store the truffles between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 1 month. To freeze up to 2 months, wrap the container tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and aluminum foil.