Delectable Chocolate Truffles

National Chocolate Truffles Day

It’s the National Truffles Day today, and what better day to celebrate this delectable French tradition than today. Chocolate truffles have been said to be invented by Louis and Antoine Dufour in Chambery, France in 1895. Many historians believe that the Prestat Chocolate Shop in London was the first to popularize the chocolate truffles beyond France and to the world. Well, either way, chocolate truffles are now as popular as ever and devoured all over the world.

Essentially chocolate truffles are bite-sized round petit fours that are made from a mixture of dark chocolate and cream. They have a creamy ganache filling, and are covered with a topping like cocoa, coconut or drizzled chocolate. Though there are many variations of truffles now, basically ttechnique for making truffles can categorize them in three main varieties:

1. American Truffles which are a mixture of dark or milk chocolates with butterfat.

2. European Truffles which are made with syrup and a base made up of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other such ingredients to create an oil-in-water type emulsion.

3. Swiss Truffles which are made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter, which is poured into molds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder.

Homemade Chocolate Truffles

Homemade truffles are fairly easy to make and you can add a variety of flavors and ingredients to add a twist to the traditional chocolate truffles. Here’s our pick of chocolate truffles recipes to try at home:

• Traditional chocolate truffles recipes
• Dark chocolate truffles recipes
• White chocolate truffles recipes
• Oreo truffles recipes
• Espresso truffles recipes
• Champagne truffles recipes
• Irish cream truffles recipes

As delicious as they are, chocolate truffles also make the perfect personalized gifts with Cinco de Mayo coming up this week, add these to your Mexican holiday chocolate menu. Or wait till next week, and these chocolate truffles will be a perfect homemade gift for Mother’s Day!