i'm a chocolatier!!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, that's me being a busy bee. with floor set, traveling to hawaii and finding out i have a job change its all a lot to take on right now:-p good thing cooking is there to comfort me through all the craziness of life!! so the other day i was watching the barefoot contessa's back to basics on the food network. i love ina garten, her whole view on food is so inspiring, her show is one of my favorite to watch because she really focuses on the food and making it not only simple, but delicious!

this is ina garten, i love her denim woven and how she always pops her collar^_^

well ms. garten was doing an entire episode about one of my favorite things in the entire world of sweets...CHOCOLATE!!! she was showing her viewers how to make a chocolate cornucopia filled with different kinds of truffles. now, chocolate has always been a VERY interesting medium for me, not only because of its unique texture, flavor, and color, but because its so darn good!! ever since i was a kid i have always loved the way it melts in your mouth, whether it be peanut m&m's(one of my fave), hersey's kisses, or snickers bars...droool...chocolate just tastes GOOD! well as i was watching ms. garten make a rum raisin truffle i said, "I CAN DO THAT!!" (and, yes, i do talk yo my T.V. sometimes). well the next day i checked my kitchen for all the tools and ingredients needed...

first i had to buy a cookie scoop that was 1 1/4 in. so i headed to kitchen kaboodle...i love working in a mall where everything is right there for you!! i also had to buy the chocolate, now ina says to use chocolate with 70% cacao if possible, but this is just for dark chocolate. of course i didn't realize this when i went to the store looking for milk chocolate that had 70% cacao, that just doesn't exist:-p one more lesson learned for me:) also buy good chocolate, this kind of stuff isn't meant to be used with just any chocolate, i opted for lindt, love the swiss chocolate...

 so this recipe, like many delicious goodies, takes a few days. the day before i actually coated the truffles i prepared the rum raisin ganache, or as i like to call it the "creamy yummy inside". this mixture basically consists of milk chocolate, butter, heavy cream, rum, and golden raisins. let it set over night and then the coating begins...

first i set up my double boiler...all you need is some hot water and a heat proof bowl. not too shabby of a set up if i do say so myself :)

BRING ON THE CHOCOLATE!! this recipe usually calls for milk chocolate, but i liked the idea of contrasting the bitter chocolate with the creamy milk chocolate ganache. i chopped up my dark chocolate placed it in the bowl and turned down the heat. once the water boils i brought down the temperature. you don't want to overheat the chocolate or it won't be the right consistency, you just want to temper it so it gets all shiny and happy!

i'm not going to lie, i took a spoon sample, and it was delicious!

so once the coating is tempered then you start scooping out the cold ganache...

 roll it into a ball, it comes out the size of a walnut or so...

then place it on a spoon in the coating chocolate. use a fork to drizzle the ganache with the tempered chocolate to get an even coat...

 remove with the spoon.

and place on the silpat lined cookie sheet. one thing i learned when i made the first batch was that its a good idea to use the tempered chocolate to make little place dots prior to dipping the truffles in the coating chocolate, this does two things for you. one, it helps keep them in place, and two, it helps give you a thick coat on the bottom of the truffle that could potentially get thinner when placing on the silpat after coating with the tempered chocolate. if it gets too thin on the bottom the ganache could come out of the bottom, making messy truffles:-p

the finished product! the rum raisin was delicious!! at first the rum hits you a little hard, but the creamy milk chocolate and tangy dark chocolate help alleviate that strong rum flavor...i think i am going to try and also make peppermint truffles for the holidays, maybe with some crushed candy cane on top...but that's for another blog:) overall i think these were a success for my first venture into the world of chocolate!

i would suggest checking out the recipe and trying it out for yourself if you want a great holiday gift, not many people can say they made their own rum raisin truffles!!