Easy Coffee Truffles
These easy coffee truffles were created for Week 45 (Fairy Tale, Novel, or TV Show) of the reddit 52 weeks of baking challenge. My creation? Miracle Max’s Miracle Pill.
We know that Miracle Max’s pill is covered in chocolate. “The chocolate coating makes it go down easier.” And it has to be melt in your mouth smooth, because Westley wasn’t exactly able to chew and swallow.
But the secret ingredient in this ganache-filled miracle pill? Coffee. What else could wake up someone who is mostly dead?
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Tips and tricks
Making the ganache
Honestly, the coffee ganache center is so very easy to make. You’ll want to chop your chocolate somewhat so it melts relatively evenly.
Heat the chocolate and cream together in a double boiler over low heat until the chocolate melts (Panel #1). Remove the insert from the pan and stir them together (Panel #2).
Remove the insert from the heat and add the corn syrup, butter cubes, coffee liqueur, cocoa, espresso powder, and pinch of salt (Panel #3). Stir until smooth (Panel #4).
At this point, you can either chill the ganache in the bowl for a couple of hours to scoop and form balls with your hands. This will give a more classic appearance of your truffles.
Or you can pour it into silicone molds like the one below. Hint: this is the easier way!
Coating truffles in cocoa
Once the ganache has been cooled and shaped, you will want to coat the ganache centers. After sampling one or two, of course.
Covering them with cocoa is classic and easy, but it does require you to keep the coffee truffles refrigerated. To do this, all you need to do is gently drop the ganache centers into a bowl with a mixture of cocoa and sugar, toss them, and shake off any excess.
Coating truffles in chocolate
The alternative is to dip the ganache centers into chocolate. Using tempered chocolate takes practice and time, but it will allow you to store your coffee truffles at room temperature.
I’m still practicing how to temper chocolate. You can see the slight streak of bloom on the surface of mine (below), although they had the crisp snap of tempered chocolate. If you’re interested in learning how to temper chocolate, there are a lot of good resources, including this one from King Arthur Baking or this one from Epicurious.
FAQs about this coffee truffle recipe
Yes, they absolutely can be if you chill the ganache in a mold and you coat the ganache center with cocoa.
Chocolate truffles were named because of their resemblance to the other truffle, which is a fungus found among the roots of certain trees.
Like I wrote when I made my chocolate peanut butter bonbons, truffles have chocolate ganache centers, often rolled in cocoa or dipped in nuts. Bonbons are chocolate-encased and can include any sort of center. There seems to be a discrepancy whether the Venn diagram has truffles as a subset of bonbons or whether the sets are non-overlapping.
Yes, if you’d like. The corn syrup is there to prevent crystal formation, giving you the creamiest and smoothest ganache center. But it isn’t essential if you’d prefer to skip it.
If you’ve coated your truffles in tempered chocolate, they can be kept at room temperature. Otherwise, chocolate truffles should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to a few weeks, although I doubt they’ll last that long!
Related recipes
Check out other Ugly Duckling Bakery coffee-containing recipes, like my tiramisu cake or coffee and walnut loaf cake, this gin espresso martini or creamy espresso martini with Baileys, or even my sweet brown bread, which has coffee or cocoa to give it color.
Easy Coffee Truffles
Equipment
- silicone candy molds optional
Ingredients
Coffee ganache centers
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened and cubed
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
- ¼ cup cocoa
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
- pinch salt
Cocoa coating
- ¼ cup cocoa
- ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
Instructions
Coffee ganache centers
- Add the chopped chocolate and cream to a double bowl insert or metal bowl set over a pot with about an inch of water (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). Heat the water on low and stir intermittently until the chocolate has melted completely.8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, ½ cup heavy cream
- Remove the insert or bowl from the pot and set it on a dry kitchen towel.
- Add the corn syrup, cubed butter, and coffee liqueur and stir gently to mix.2 tablespoons light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened and cubed, 1 tablespoon Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
- Add the cocoa, espresso powder, and salt and stir.¼ cup cocoa, 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder, pinch salt
- If using molds, pour or spoon the ganache into the molds. Otherwise put the bowl directly into the refrigerator. Chill for at least two hours.
Cocoa coating
- Combine the cocoa and confectioners' sugar into a small bowl.¼ cup cocoa, ¼ cup confectioners' sugar
- If using molds, release the ganache centers from the molds into the bowl containing the cocoa mixture.
- If forming truffles by hand, use a small cookie scoop (#70) to scoop one tablespooon of ganache. Then roll it in your hands to form a rough ball and drop it into the cocoa mixture.
- Use a fork or candy dipping scoop to remove the truffles from the cocoa, shake off the excess cocoa, and transfer to a storage container.
- Cocoa-coated truffles should be stored in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
What’s next?
If you make these coffee truffles, please leave a comment!
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Previous challenges
Week 1: New Year new recipe – blueberry galette
Week 2: seasonal – Smitten Kitchen’s grapefruit pound cake
Week 3: Great British Bake Off – Kate’s sticky toffee apple caramel cake
Week 4: Australia – sausage rolls
Week 5: bite sized – bite-sized cookies
Week 6: Chinese New Year – mushroom bao
Week 7: new tool – baguette baker
Week 8: chocolate – chocolate peanut butter bonbons
Week 9: timed bake – under 1 hour! chocolate chip scones
Week 10: allergy/diet restriction – macarons
Week 11: quick breads – kale bread
Week 12: signature bake – purple cow bread
Week 13: enriched breads (kale and cheese babka fail)
Week 14: childhood favorite –fudgy triple layer chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting
Week 15: decorating challenge – purple velvet cake
Week 16: crispy crunchy – bacon cheddar popcorn
Week 17: p52 of a favorite cookbook, or your favorite blog – chocolate peanut butter drip cake
Week 18: pâte à choux – bacon cheese puffs
Week 19: veggies turned sweet – red velvet beet waffles
Week 20: plating – mini chocolate chip cookies
Week 21: Birthday Party! – chocolate orange cake
Weed 22: Scandinavian – Swedish apple cake v sourdough apple cake
Week 23: Layers – Pecan apple oat bars (post is pending)
Week 24: Tarts – rainbow fruit tart
Week 25: Bagels and donuts – maple donut cake
Week 26: Surprise inside – surprise heart yeast bread (pending)
Week 27: Local favorite – Rainier cherry crisp
Week 28: Seasonal ingredients – blackberry lemon bread
Week 29: French dessert – peanut butter banana clafoutis (a classic with non-classic flavors!)
Week 30: Savory baking – Ooni pizza dough recipe
Week 31: Unusual ingredient – juniper lime drizzle cake
Week 32: Gelatin (homemade marshmallows) and 33: Picnic – peanut butter Rice Krispie treats
Week 34: Brunch – spinach and feta muffins
Week 35: Laminated dough – puff pastry cinnamon twists
Week 36: Friendship challenge – chocolate chip marshmallow cookie bars
Week 37: Sweet and salty – salted caramel chip chocolate cookies
Week 38: Decoration challenge – royal icing
Week 39: Buns and biscuits – challah buns
Week 40: West Indies – mini banana muffins with coconut
Week 41: Pantry challenge – chocolate chip pound cake
Week 42: Celebrity or tread – ube crinkle cookies
Week 43: No oven – salted caramel pudding
Week 44: Diwali – rose syrup for burfi and a rose syrup French 75
Next week: Alternate sweeteners
