how2heroes » MIT's Tea-Infused Chocolate Truffles

Dessert & Baked Goods » MIT's Tea-Infused Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate tastes great, no argument there. Warm, cold, liquid, solid -- it's all good. But the Laboratory for Chocolate Science at MIT is not content with ordinary chocolate truffles and infuses them with unique flavors -- like tea. In this recipe, Anna Waldman-Brown, with the assistance of Rutuparna Das, walks us through the paces of how to think outside the ganache and make a truffle like no other.

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Ingredients

Ganache

2 cups chocolate chips, dark, milk, or white
1 cup heavy/whipping cream [reduce to ⅔ cup if using milk chocolate, ½ cup for white chocolate]

Flavor Options - Approximately 2 tsp max for dark chocolate

cayenne pepper
cinnamon
nutmeg
curry powder
blend of spices
Marmite (a vegan savory spread)
2 teabags

Truffle Coating

approx. 1½ cups of additional chocolate chips

How-to

Make the Ganache

Heat the cream over a double boiler until it's almost too warm to the touch or simmering gently at the most
Add the extract of choice until it tastes a little too strong, but be careful not to go above the amounts suggested above, or the ganache will come out very soupy. Add it a little at a time (maybe in ½ tsp intervals), tasting in between, and stop when the taste is right. Remember that it won't be as strong once you add the chocolate, but also that there is no sugar present at this stage and many flavors will be more noticeable once you have added some sugar (in the form of chocolate chips)
Once you have the flavoring, bring the temperature down to such that the top pot is warm to the touch, but not uncomfortably so
Add the chocolate one cup at a time, stirring it until it's all melted in before adding the next cup. If it starts getting gritty, you've got it too warm; turn down the temperature, and if you'd added all or almost all the chocolate you may want to add a little extra
Once it's all stirred in, pour into a bowl to cool and put it in the freezer
Note: To add a tea or some other flavoring that needs to steep and then be removed: Empty it in (that means cut the tea bag and just dump it in, as the cream won't go through the bag). Let it simmer for awhile to dissolve the flavor into the cream. Then, use another bowl/pan to strain the cream into. Try to get as much of the tea leaves (or whatever else you're using) out, but it's not a huge deal if a little slips by you. Once it's down to just the cream, continue as usual

Rolling & Dipping

You'll need a lot of chocolate for this, but how much depends on how big you make the truffles. Use a spoon to scoop the ganache out and roll it into balls. If it's really soupy, then you'll want to dip immediately, and be careful to completely cover the truffles, or the ganache will leak out. If not, then it's generally wise to put the balls onto another sheet and stick them back in the fridge or freezer to reharden a little, as chances are you softened them a lot in rolling them
Once the ganache has re-hardened, melt a decent amount of whatever type of chocolate you'd like to coat them in. Using a fork, dip the truffles into the coating chocolate and cover them completely
Then place them on another tray and put them back in the fridge to harden