Terrific Truffles for Valentine's Day

About a week ago I had a minor surgery which rendered me confined to my couch for a few days. During that time I made a list of dishes that I have been dying to try to create, located the necessary recipes, and then hit the kitchen as soon as I was well enough. The previous post about my childhood favorite pizzagane was one of my desired dishes and so are truffles. During my time off I read a lot about the uses of chocolate ganache because I was intimidated by it and wanted to find out if there was really anything to be afraid of. Of course I discovered its a simple, delicious confection with many uses for your desserts. With Valentine's Day just around the corner and my new ganache confidence, I decided to take all the leftover chocolate and make a variety of truffles for my loved ones this year.

Throughout my discovery, I found out that the better quality chocolate you use for your ganache which will be your truffle, the better your candy piece is going to taste. I suppose that is common sense so my leftover Ghirardelli baking chocolates were the perfect starting ingredient to my:

1. white chocolate truffles
2. mint semi-sweet truffles
3. milk chocolate truffles
4. peanut butter chocolate truffles

Since I didn't go out and buy the chocolates, I had varying amounts. This is important since the ratio of chocolate to cream is 3 to 1. After making my 3 ganaches and my peanut butter melted mix, I let them all set in the fridge from 1-3 hours. Once the chocolate was malleable but still sturdy the fun began - toppings and fillings! Using a small melon baller I scooped the chocolate out and either stuffed in a macadamia nut, hazelnut, fresh peaches sprinkled in sugar and sea salt, dried pineapple, dried cherry, salty caramel, or even nothing at all! The same list of ingredients for the fillings are also for the toppings along with decorative sugars leftover from Christmas cookies to mix and match the different flavors for different candy creations.

After making as many variations as you can by just what's in your cupboard, put each truffle in a cupcake liner and then into a sealed container for the truffles to set for another few hours. When their ready for the final gift packaging, find a cheap holiday themed container. I found heart shaped candy dishes at Walgreeen's for $.99 each! Arrange your truffles to enhance the visual beauty for the eyes before your loved ones wrap their lips around the velvety chocolate to please their palette. Showing your love to all those close to you by giving a handmade confection without spending more $25 is something definitely worth celebrating!