CHARMING TRUFFLES

Sensuous, Decadent & Oh So Very Modern

You know the problem. It usually begins around the first of December and spreads like a rampant virus through the very essence of your being, leaving you about as energetic and coherent as a sack of wet gym clothes when it's run its course.

I'm talking (of course) about the holidays. Christmas. Kwanzaa. Hanukkah. Some druidic turn-of-the-year celebration. Whatever you choose to observe, it somehow invariably involves food. And entertaining. And decorating. And often gift-giving. Which brings with it an entirely new set of problems to keep you up at night: to whom do you give a gift? What do you give? Where you get what you give? How do you wrap what you give in the most interesting, unique-yet-festive-and-certainly-not-generic manner? The list goes on.

And despite all efforts to counter-act this annual attack of holiday anxiety - a "phenomenon" widely reported as "news" by our ever-vigilant media (who appear completely unaware of the fact that their time would more usefully be spent reporting stories that demonstrate just how fortunate we are to have such a "problem" in the first place) -- it's virtually inescapable.

Which is precisely why, dear modern girl, I have a perfectly modern solution. Truffles. Yes, that pinnacle of chocolate indulgence, that extravagant bon-bon of a delicacy, that most decorous of all small-sized sweets!

And no, I haven't lost my mind. They are easy - FUN, even - to make - and there's practically no limit to the array of flavours, textures and combinations you can create. Just host a viewing of that gorgeous Juliette Bincoche/Johnny Depp film Chocolat to get you in the mood, then set about creating some chocolate covered magic of your very own.

What You Need

- Two 16oz bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips (the highest quality you can afford - Ghiradelli is ideal)
- Two 8 oz bars of dark, milk or semi-sweet chocolate (again, Ghiradelli is perfect - just make sure it is at least 60%)
-1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
- Two 8oz bars of the highest quality white chocolate you can afford
- "Fillings" like ground almonds or hazelnuts, candied orange peel, crystalized ginger, coconut and glace cherries
- Liqueurs like creme de menthe, creme de cassis or creme de cacao
-Icing for decorating (you can also use more melted chocolate - it depends on how competent you are with a piping bag!
-A cake tester or long, thin skewer
-A double-boiler or two saucepans, one small enough to fit inside the other (this is what I use!)
- A couple of cookie/baking sheets, some wax paper and, if you want to get fancy, a couple of silicone ice cube trays in different shapes (like hearts or shells).
- A few small mixing bowls (cereal bowls also work well)

What You Do

1. Just fill your large saucepan about half full of water and bring it to a boil (or simply fill your double-boiler and get it going). Place the smaller saucepan inside the larger one doing your best not to let it touch the water (at the very least, it should touch only minimally).
   
2. Put 1 bag of the milk chocolate chips into the small pan along with a drop of cream to help the chocolate loosen and melt. It is very important to remember that it is far easier to make the chocolate more liquid than it is to make it more solid! Aim to get the chocolate loose and smooth with the consistency of a thick milkshake.
3. Place one of your "fillings" in a small mixing bowl - 1/2 a cup full of crushed hazelnuts, for example, or 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut and some chopped glace cherries.
4. Add a few tablespoons of melted chocolate to the filling. Think of the chocolate as the "glue" that will pull the filling together -- in other words, the ratio should be about 2 parts filling to one part chocolate. The mixture should come together quickly and easily into a small ball, much like dough. Don't freak out, give up and eat it all if you don't succeed with this at first -- although that's always a tempting alternative -- instead, just keep adding small amounts of filling until it thickens up.
5. Now you have a choice: you can either form the mixture into small balls with your hands (use 1 tablespoon, roughly) and place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, or you can fill the cavities of a silicone ice cube tray with the mixture (this will help you to form the truffles into decorative shapes like hearts, shells, pears, even penguins if you're so inclined -- of if that's the only ice cube tray in the freezer).
6. Place the tray or baking sheet in the refrigerator for a few minutes until the chocolate sets.
7. In the meantime, take another small, clean, dry saucepan, place broken up pieces of the solid chocolate bars (either white or dark) into it and melt it over the double-boiler. Because this is a higher percentage/quality chocolate than the chocolate chips, this chocolate will melt a lot faster and will have a much more velvety-smooth consistency. You should NOT add cream to this chocolate.
8. Remove your trays from the fridge. If you're using ice cube molds, pop the chocolates out from the cavities. Skewer each one and gently dip it into the chocolate you've just melted, turning carefully to ensure full coverage.
   
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11. Gently place the truffle on a waiting sheet of wax paper to set.
12. Decorate by piping melted chocolate over the top (use white chocolate on dark and vice-versa), or use small pieces of nuts, ginger or swirls of colored icing -- the sky's the limit.
13. Place in miniature cupcake cups, arrange in a small gift box or my favorite, a red Chinese takeout carton. Give these as gifts to friends and co-workers (if they're really, really good friends, pair them with a good bottle of red wine for the ultimate in modern girl gift-giving chic).
    

Note: Truffles can be stored in the fridge for up to one week - at which point they need to be eaten. Completely. No questions asked. (If you reach this juncture, go ahead and drink the wine while you're at it - you may as well go all the way if you're going to indulge).