Rich decadent Dark Chocolate Truffles seem like they would be difficult to make. In fact, these ganache based chocolate treats are just the opposite. Naturally, gluten free and made up of only 4 ingredients. The rich filling comes together in minutes. The hardest part of the recipe is waiting for the mixture to chill so you can roll them into balls.
Years ago, I learned how to make Dark Chocolate Truffles. This was after I received a box of homemade truffles from my cousin. I was amazed that he took the time to make truffles from scratch. I mean, who does this? Now, granted this was 10+ years ago when I was really diving head first into cooking from scratch! So I learned how to do it and have been making them ever since.
After I mastered the chocolate truffle, I mastered making Oreo Truffles and peanut butter truffles! Truffles are great to make and give as gifts whether it’s for a birthday, Valentine’s Day or Christmas!
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Why this Recipe Works
Simplicity and Balance – A limited number of ingredients often means a simpler and more balanced flavor profile. Dark chocolate truffles typically require chocolate, cream, and possibly a sweetener and flavoring. The simplicity allows the rich, intense flavor of the dark chocolate to shine without being overwhelmed by other ingredients.
Quality Ingredients – Success often hinges on the quality of the ingredients used. High-quality dark chocolate with a good cocoa content contributes to a rich and indulgent taste. Similarly, using fresh and high-fat cream enhances the texture and mouthfeel of the truffles. If your ingredients are of high quality, it’s more likely that your truffles will turn out well.
Proper Technique – Even with a simple recipe, the technique is crucial. For dark chocolate truffles, factors such as properly melting the chocolate, achieving the right consistency when combining it with cream, and allowing the mixture to set at the correct temperature are key. Ensuring that you follow the steps precisely can lead to a smooth and velvety texture in your truffles.
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Truffles do not take a lot of ingredients to make. You really just need two basic ingredients for truffles; heavy cream and the best 100% pure chocolate you can get your hands on.
- Heavy Cream – This is the key to creamy chocolate ganache.
- Dark Chocolate – I have used both 100% dark chocolate which has no sweetener to it at all. OR I go the easier route and use the shaved chocolate above that only contains 57% cacao.
- Salt – I love to put a pinch of salt in my truffles to balance the richness.
- Cocoa Powder – A little cocoa powder goes along way and will help keep the truffle from sticking.
How to make Truffles
Warm the heavy cream in a sauce pan over medium heat. Pour in the shaved/chopped chocolate. Make sure to constantly stir. Do not let the chocolate come to a boil. You simply want to melt the chocolate. As soon as the chocolate pieces are melted remove the pan from the stove.
Pour the melted chocolate (ganache) in a small bowl. Cool the chocolate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator and let sit out for 15 minutes.
Pour cocoa powder in a small shallow dish.Use a small cookie scoop — scoop out ganache.
Use the palms of your hands to shape into small balls (about half the size of a golf ball).
Once the ball is formed place the ganache ball in the cocoa powder. Roll each truffle individually in the cocoa powder; rolling to coat the entire truffle. Return the coated truffles to a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue with the remaining truffles. Once all the truffles have been coated with cocoa powder place each individual truffle in a mini cupcake wrapper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe FAQs
Chocolate is traditionally kept in it’s bar shaped form. Where truffles tend to have an outer shell and made of ganache; chocolate that has been mixed in with heavy cream, and typically have a coating to them. The coating can be in the form of cocoa powder (like my recipe) or a hard shell of chocolate like dark, milk or white. Truffles are also chocolate, just in a richer more decadent form.
Truffles are best served at room temperature; however, to keep their longevity it’s best to refrigerate the chocolate truffles in an airtight container. They will remain fresh in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
The sky is the limit when it comes to chocolate truffle toppings. Here are a few of my favorites.
– Nuts – Finely chopped pecans, walnuts, cashews, peanuts, or even macadamia nuts work great.
– Sprinkles – For a fun festive twist you can roll the truffles in sprinkles. For a Birthday you can use multi-color, Valentine’s Day pink, white, and red sprinkles, and Christmas, red, white and green sprinkles.
– Cocoa Powder – The traditional way to make a truffle is to roll it in cocoa powder.
– Candy Canes – During the holiday I love to roll my truffles in crushed candy canes.
– Chocolate – Yes, you can dip the truffle into milk, dark, or white chocolate to create a hard shell. This is similar to how LINDT, Godiva, and Ghiradelli truffles are like.
100% Chocolate is unsweetened chocolate usually found as a chocolate bar or bakers bar with 0% sugar and 100% cacao. Because it’s made from the whole, ground bean, it naturally contains both cocoa solids and fat (it’s about 55% cocoa butter).
High-quality dark chocolate with a cocoa content of at least 70% is recommended for a rich and intense flavor. Choose a chocolate you enjoy eating on its own.
This could be due to overheating the chocolate or introducing moisture. Ensure you melt the chocolate gently and avoid getting any water into the chocolate during the melting process.
While dark chocolate is traditional for truffles, you can experiment with milk or white chocolate. Keep in mind that the sweetness and texture may vary, so adjust other ingredients accordingly.
Tips and Tricks
Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks I’ve found helpful when making cocoa truffles.
- Best Chocolate for Truffles – Make sure you use 100% pure chocolate. Chocolate chips, baking chips, and other varieties will give you a much different outcome. As those varieties contain sugar. 100% pure chocolate contains zero sugar which is also known as unsweetened chocolate.
- Small Pieces – Make sure you use either shaved chocolate (you can buy it pre-shaved which I love because it cuts down the time to prepare). Or chop into very fine small pieces. This will help the chocolate melt.
- Sticky – If the truffles are too sticky you can use gloves. Or scoop with a small cookie scoop on to a parchment line tray, refrigerate for an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour. This will help firm each individual truffle and then you can hand roll each truffle without them being too sticky.
- Creamier – If you want an even creamier chocolate truffle use my recipe and add 2 tablespoons of butter to the cream and chocolate.
Chocolate Gifts
If you want to impress your friends and family you’ll love a few of my favorite DIY Chocolate Gifts you can pair with my homemade truffle recipe.
If you make this easy chocolate truffles recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!
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Dark Chocolate Truffles
Equipment
- Stove Top
- Mini Cupcake Wrappers
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 10 ounces Dark chocolate chopped or shaved
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ½ cup Cocoa powder
Instructions
- Warm the heavy cream in a sauce pan over medium heat. Pour in the shaved/chopped chocolate. Make sure to constantly stir. Do not let the chocolate come to a boil. You simply want to melt the chocolate. As soon as the chocolate pieces are melted remove the pan from the stove.
- Pour the melted chocolate (ganache) in a small bowl. Cool the chocolate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Remove from the refrigerator and let sit out for 15 minutes.
- Pour cocoa powder in a small shallow dish.
- Use a small cookie scoop — scoop out ganache. Use the palms of your hands to shape into small balls (about half the size of a golf ball).
- Once the ball is formed place the ganache ball in the cocoa powder. Roll each truffle individually in the cocoa powder; rolling to coat the entire truffle. Return the coated truffles to a parchment lined baking sheet. Continue with the remaining truffles. Once all the truffles have been coated with cocoa powder place each individual truffle in a mini cupcake wrapper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
- Best Chocolate for Truffles – Make sure you use 100% pure chocolate. Chocolate chips, baking chips, and other varieties will not work for this recipe.
- Small Pieces – Make sure you use either shaved chocolate (you can buy it pre-shaved which I love because it cuts down the time to prepare). Or chop into very fine small pieces. This will help the chocolate melt.
- Sticky – If the truffles are too sticky you can use gloves. Or scoop with a small cookie scoop on to a parchment line tray, refrigerate for an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour. This will help firm each individual truffle and then you can hand roll each truffle without them being too sticky.
- Creamier – If you want an even creamier chocolate truffle use my recipe and add 2 tablespoons of butter to the cream and chocolate.
Srikanth Dudaka
Wow nice chocolate truffle recipe with few ingredients and easy to make. We nust add this delicious chocolate truffles to our menu.
Thank you for sharing.
Srikanth
Katie
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a 5 star comment! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe.
caitplusate.com
These look to die for – so gourmet! And I love how the comments say "X foodies said…" haha cute
Morsels of Life
I like chocolate and balsamic vinegar, but I never thought to combine the two! I'll have to give these a try. 🙂
Danielle
I wanted to let you know that I featured this in my "What I Bookmarked This Week" post today – stop by and see!
While They Snooze
I had 1… okay maybe like 4 of these at the party. They were fabulous!
Rachel @ Not Rachael Ray
These sound fabulous.
Danielle
These sound great!
vanillalemonade.com
Yum! I been thinking of trying Blue Cheese Truffles- I saw it on one of those Fancy Chocolatier Websites. They just sound strange but strange usually excites me! The balsamic twist here does the same!