‘Tis The Season For Treats
I love this time of the holiday season. This is treat season. This is the time when I start planning what treats I am going to make to hand out to the people who mean a lot to me to thank them for services rendered or to thank them for just being a positive part of daily life.

So far my daughter and I have made our traditional Ginger Cookies.  (That first batch is always a sacred ceremony for everyone in my family.) Last weekend we made a batch of addictive and decadent caramels, a King Arthur Flour recipe, to hand out to a teacher who refers to them as holiday gold. We plan to continue the treat making this weekend with some more cookies. Shortbread? Check. Sugar cookies? Check? Gingerbread? Check. But I want to do something else a little special this year.

About 16 years ago I took a chocolate class to learn how to make truffles because I wanted to recreate the gorgeous treats that Joseph Schmidt was producing at that time. I quickly learned that tempering chocolate is no joke. It takes patience, and time, and passion for the art. While I had the passion, I was lacking in the other attributes. But, one of the recipes we made in that class is easy enough for anyone to do. I haven’t made many truffles since then. And, this year I wanted to make those basic ganache truffles. The biggest challenge was finding the recipe.

I have this drawer in my kitchen that holds all of my loose recipes that I have either printed off the internet or were part of a recipe packet from a class. I can’t tell you how many pages are in that drawer—but I can tell you that it is probably time to cull the heard. I can also tell you that the chocolate packet wasn’t in there and I sort of panicked because, after that many years, it’s not like I can call the place and get another one.

The elves took pity on me…I found it! My office is a revolving door of cookbooks and recipes. And, I happened across the chocolate packet while looking through a dessert binder I made after yet another cooking class. Yee Haw!

These truffles are so easy to make and you can choose to flavor them or not. (Adding a little espresso or Chambord liqueur can be a tasty thing)

Chocolate Ganache Truffles
Yields about 25 truffles

Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz. good quality Bittersweet chocolate (like Valhrona or Guittard)

Directions
Make the ganache
Melt the chocolate over a tightly fitting double broiler or in a microwavable bowl with
short bursts in the microwave. Cool to warm.

Bring the cream to a boil then remove it from the heat. Cool to warm.

Mix the cream and the chocolate together in a bowl and thoroughly incorporate with a whisk. Add the flavoring (if using).

Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

Make the truffles
Use a small scoop to scrape across the surface of firmed ganache to create balls of the desired size. Eject from the scooper and quickly roll between your hands to round out the form. Place the ganache balls on a plate. Repeat until the ganache is all rolled into small balls.

Roll each piece individually in cocoa until covered and place on another plate. Or dip the
truffles in melted chocolate.

Store covered in the refrigerator.