Recipe - Complicated Truffles

1 cup Cream
One half Vanilla bean
12 ounce Bittersweet chocolate
2 teaspoon Butter
1 One half teaspoon Lemon zest
1 tablespoon Cognac
Powdered sugar

COATING
8 Sugar cookies
1 One fourth cup Toasted slivered almonds
1 One fourth pound Bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup Creme fraiche or cream
1 Vanilla bean
12 ounce White chocolate
1 tablespoon Cognac
Powered sugar
1 One fourth pound White chocolate

VARIATION
One half cup Sugar
3 teaspoon Water
One fourth teaspoon Lemon juice
Three fourths cup Plus 2 teaspoons of cream
One half Vanilla bean
10 ounce Bitter sweet chocolate
2 teaspoon Butter
2 teaspoon Dark rum
1 One fourth pound Bittersweet chocolate
3 cup Alkalized cocoa powder
1/3 cup Sugar
One fourth teaspoon Water
1/8 teaspoon Lemon juice
1/3 cup Toasted hazelnuts chopped
Three fourths cup + 2 teaspoons of cream
One half Vanilla bean
10 ounce Bittersweet chocolate
3 teaspoon Hazelnut liqueur (Capella,
Frangelico)
10 Sugar cookies finely chopped
1 cup Finely chopped hazelnuts
1 One fourth pound Milk chocolate

Prepare as above coat with two layers of tempered white chocolate.

Make a ganache: heat cream with split vanilla bean until boiling. remove
bean. Add chocolate. mix until smooth. add butter, zest, cognac. (They have
a step in here to chill and then soften again which I don't do.) Beat on
high in mixer 3060 seconds until lightens in color. (don't over beat it
will get grainy and your work is ruined.) Pipe out little balls with a
pastry bag. Chill. make the balls perfect and roll in the sugar and let
them sit to for 3060 minutes to form a thin crust (I don't bother with the
sugar)Now coat: Temper chocolate. Coat all balls with a thin layer of
chocolate. (dab some chocolate in palm and roll ball around messy but
works). Mix the cookies and almonds into the chocolate. Give all the balls
a second coating. (i've tried to use dipping forks the coating is too
thick)

Variation:

Make a dark carmel from the sugar, water and lemon juice. cool, chop up in
your blender until fine. Then proceed as above, adding caramel to other
truffle ingredients while cooking the mixture.

Temper chocolate, coat each ball once. Then coat each ball again and after
coating roll in cocoa.

Variation:

Make dark carmel from sugar, water, lemon juice when you take it off of the
heat add the hazelnuts. Cool, chop up fine and proceed as above.

For the coating, temper chocolate. Make 1 coating on each ball. Add nuts
and cookies to tempered chocolate, make another coating on each ball.

Recipe by: mrd@ddd.prepnet.com (Michael DeCorte) Posted to MCRecipe Digest
V1 #537 by kmeade@ids2.idsonline.com (The Meades) on Mar 22, 1997