It's been over 4 decades since Alice Medrich started selling her handmade truffles in Berkeley in the 1970s, and now, I've finally hopped onto the Medrich bandwagon.
Making truffles is usually a messy affair, but Alice's tips really do speed up the process and minimize fuss. I did this batch in Singapore, where the climate is so hot, I just might spontaneously burst into flames myself. If this can be done in Singapore, it can be done anywhere. Summers in Melbourne ain't got nothing on us.
One word of caution: Alice suggests putting everything into a food processor and then blending until everything becomes satin-smooth. Her food processor must have been giant. My food processor required me to split the mixture into three batches. I've changed the recipe here to reflect that I combined the ingredients in a saucepan before putting it into my food processor. I finally splurged for a stick immersion blender (from Kmart though, cause I'm on a tight budget), which is a much better tool.
My House Truffles, 4.0 by Alice Medrich
Adapted from Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts
Makes 64 1-inch truffles
Ingredients
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
450g (1 pound) semisweet chocolate (no more than 62% cacao), coarsely chopped
140g (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/8 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt
115g (1/2 cup water), boiled
25g Unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably natural) for dusting, or more as required
You Will Need
A strainer
A food processor, or a handheld immersion blender
8-inch square baking pan, lined with foil on the sides and bottom
=== Steps ===
1) Prepare a rectangular pan lined with baking paper. If making round truffles, choose a smaller container so each cut truffle would be square, and easier to roll into spheres. If you want delicate thin pieces of truffles à la Royce chocolate, choose a wider pan.
2) Boil a kettle of water. Set aside and let cool. You'll need half a cup of just-boiled water, but don't portion it out now, as it'll cool down too rapidly.
3) Put the egg yolks in a small metal container. Beat the egg yolks and place the container into a larger bowl filled with warm water to gently warm up the eggs.
4) Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over the smallest flame on the stove. When the butter has melted, add salt and chocolate. Stir continuously until the chocolate has melted, taking the saucepan away from the fire for brief periods of time if you're afraid the chocolate might burn. Remove from heat once the chocolate has melted and mixture is warm, about 49-55C. If you want to be cautious, you may wish to use a double boiler, although I never had a problem with burning chocolate when I start with melting butter first.
5) Measure out half a cup of the just-boiled water, and slowly pour the water in a steady stream into the egg yolks, stirring constantly with a fork. The final temperature should be at least 71C (160F). (This is where I thought I stuffed up the first time I made this recipe, because I used freshly boiled water and most of my egg yolks curdled. It still turned out great though, but 71C is quite a low temperature tbh and so I moved the 'boiling the water' bit to the first step.)
6) Place a strainer over the chocolate mixture and pour the egg mixture into the chocolate. Tap the strainer against the bowl to let the more-fluid egg mixture through, but do not press on the cooked eggs. Stir the mixture well.
7) Pour the mixture into a food processor (make sure not to overfill!) and pulse for a few seconds. Scrape down the sides of the food processor, and blend again for 20-30s, or until the mixture becomes smooth, like a chocolate pudding. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and let come to room temperature. Then cover and refrigerate until firm, for at least a few hours.
=== When ready to shape the truffles ===
Crank up the AC! Clear a space in your freezer so you can pop uncut truffles (cutting board and all) into the freezer whenever the truffles get too warm to handle.
Turn out the truffle sheet and remove the baking paper. Cut into 1-inch squares. If you want square truffles, dust with cocoa powder* and refrigerate immediately.
If you prefer round truffles (and this is instructions particular to hot climates), cut the truffles as quick as you can, and place the cut truffles into a wide pan. Pop into the freezer to chill straight after, as the truffles may get too warm to shape properly. Chill for about 5-10 minutes, and then roll the individual squares into balls after dusting your hands with cocoa powder. Chill again in the freezer. Then coat each chocolate truffle in cocoa powder (as below).
A common alternative method to shaping truffles is using two spoons, scooping directly from the baking pan, but I find cutting first and then shaping by hand is a superior method. When I scoop using a spoon, air can be trapped inside each truffle, particularly when the truffle is still firm when taken straight from the fridge. These air pockets ruin the otherwise smooth texture of these truffles.
*To coat truffles in cocoa powder
Don't use your hands! It's messy and wasteful of the chocolate that melts away. Alice offers a far superior method:
"Using two bowls, place 25g of cocoa powder in one bowl, and add several truffles over the cocoa powder (about 4-6, depending on the size of the bowl). Pass the chocolate truffles and cocoa powder from one bowl to another until the truffles are well-coated." Shake off the excess cocoa powder using a strainer (Alice's recommendation) or hold a piece of truffle using tongs and tapping the tongs against the edge of the bowl (what I did).
=== To serve ===
Remove the truffles from the fridge 10-15 minutes before serving. Sift a little extra cocoa before serving if required.
The truffles, if tightly covered, can be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks, or in the freezer for up to three months.
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