Armenia PC brings all the volunteers in for a conference around the time of Thanksgiving, and the volunteers gain access to the kitchen to prepare a Thanksgiving feast. This year, I decided to throw in my favorite dessert along with the traditional pies.
Ah, Truffles! Is there anything better?
I tracked down dark chocolate bars, 35% cream, unsalted butter, but alas, no light corn syrup. My recipe, gathered from the Tartine cookbook, calls for the syrup for texture. Having none in country, I made a simple syrup from brown sugar.
When finished, I poured the liquid truffles into plastic molds which had previously held cheap, Armenian chocolates. 2 days later, a few hours before dinner, I moved the truffles into a freezer to stiffen them up (they were far creamier than my US attempts), and popped them out.
How did they turn out? They were awesome. A bit melty in the hand, but delicious. And now I'm ready to start prepping for homemade marshmallows.
UPDATE: So, over the winter, I wanted to make them again, but was annoyed at the mess and the use of my brown sugar (has to be shipped from the US) and modified the recipe. But, the good news is it's even easier and made a superior truffle.
So:
500g (~ 1lb) dark chocolate, approximately 75% is what I use.
400g (1 can) of sweetened, condensed milk
100g (7 tbsp) of butter, unsalted and cubed
Set up a double boiler, and melt the chocolate. Cut the butter while the chocolate melts, and stir in until completely melted and mixed. In quarter can amounts, pour the milk in while stirring. As soon as the mixture is well mixed, it's ready if you'll be using molds. If not, wait until stiff enough to roll into balls. Makes approximately 70 truffles.