Chocolate Truffle Tutorial with pics

Truffles are a nice way to take your medicine! Remember what Mary Poppins said? Just a spoon full of sugar, right? :D How about chocolate and budder too?

Today we are making dark chocolate-espresso ganache and using that as centers for hand-dipped chocolate truffles.

First you will need to make cannabutter and cannacream. These are simple!

Start with 16 fluid ounces of HEAVY cream. It must be heavy cream, not half-n-half or light cream. Grind and de-seed enough brickweed to yield 16 grams of ground, de-seeded bud. Put these two ingredients in a quart mason jar. Swirl to fully wet the weed, but DO NOT SHAKE (you don't want it to turn into butter). Your dosage assuming fully efficient extraction will be standardized at 1g equivalent per fluid ounce.

For butter, take a stick of butter and add 16 grams ground, de-seeded brick. Put these in a crock pot set on its lowest setting, or in the top of a double boiler set to simmer gently. Leave it for an hour or so, stirring frequently and making sure the water in the double boiler does not run out. The dosage on this will be 2g equivalent per tablespoon.

Put the lid and ring on the jar of cream but DO NOT SEAL IT!!! Sink it up to the level of the liquid in hot water in a stock pot. Set the contents of the pot to barely simmer for about an hour, stirring or swirling the contents of the jar regularly.

Strain the butter first. You will have good recovery of product if you first pour the butter and plant material into a manual potato-ricer and SQUEEZE the liquid out. Then you can strain it through a permanent coffee filter.

Do the cream second, the same way.

Remember that it is better to get traces of butter in your cream than traces of cream in your butter~

This is a general term for a confection of cream and chocolate, and sometimes butter, in a ratio that depends upon what you would like to use it for.
Ganache can be anywhere from quite soft and silky to stiff enough to mold by hand into shapes, although it is difficult and melty to work with.
The softest ganache, used between cake layers, will be a 1:1 ratio, by weight, of cream and chocolate, often chilled and then whipped like frosting. A stiffer one contains more chocolate, the stiffest one being 1:3 cream:chocolate and being used as a glaze, poured on while still quite warm, and allowed to harden.
We are going to make something in between.

Take a 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips and put the chips in a heatproof bowl. I like enamelled-steel camping dishes. These also make EXCELLENT makeshift double-boiler tops. The better the chips, the better the ganache. Dark or bittersweet chips from a reputable choclatier are fine. You may also get fancy and instead use a chopped-up bar of your favorite munch. White chocolate works for ganache but the ratios are different and you will have to experiment. Set your chocolate aside for the moment.

You are now going to flavor your truffles. We want a coffee flavor, but chocolate and water do NOT mix in baking or candy applications!!! So we are going to use instant coffee or espresso, dissolved in our canna cream.

Measure out 8 fluid ounces, or one cup, of the cream you have just made and place it in the HEAVIEST saucepan you own. Add 2 tablespoons of your strained cannabutter.

If you do not have a saucepan that you could bean a burglar with, do this step in your double boiler or crock pot, because you do NOT want to scorch the cream! Over very low heat on the stove, or over boiling water in your double boiler, heat the cream with enough instant coffee or espresso to make the equivalent of a pretty strong cup of coffee. Personally, I like my coffee thick and my chocolate dark and dank, so I would use nearly twice what the instant espresso package suggests. Get your cream really hot but NOT BOILING. You should see a bubble or two; stir it around constantly to avoid scorching and blend in the coffee. Now before it boils, take it off the heat and pour it over the chocolate in your heatproof bowl.

Let it rest a few moments and then start stirring it to blend the cream and melted chocolate. Stir it well.

Set it aside, in the fridge is a good place. It needs to cool and thicken.

These pics may be confusing- the whitish-green shit is some white chocolate truffle filling I made this weekend at the same time as the dark.

Skip forward a few hours and your ganache is cool.

NOTE!!! ***If you own a pastry bag, do not allow the ganache to cool all the way; rather, keep stirring it at room temp until it becomes almost too stiff to stir, and then load up your pastry bag. Using the largest round tip, squirt out little lumps of the chocolate onto waxed paper. They should be just slightly larger than a marble. Let them cool undisturbed but do not refrigerate! ****

I assume most of you don't have a pastry bag so you have to do it the dirty way. Using a pair of spoons or a pair of melon ballers, scoop out little lumps of the chilled, stiffened ganache and form by hand into round balls. Set aside on waxed paper. These will be the centers of your truffles.

The following sequence of photos shows scooping, forming, dipping, swirling, and finally dropping the finished truffles onto baking parchment. I'll get to the coating step next but this sequence belongs here.

Gotta prep the chocolate and your dipping tools!
You're going to want a correct coating for your truffles. Candy coatings are available at supermarkets. REgular chocolate does not work unless it is 'tempered' so if this is your first candy-making experience, go with the coating type.

The tool you want to use is a small piece of wire, like a coat hanger, twisted so that one end is a loop about an inch long and curved so that it can retrieve finished cadies from the chocolate dip, and allow excess melted chocolate to run off. A spoon does not work. A fork is a pain in the ass. Make a loop!

Chop up the candy coating into small bits and place in the top of a double boiler. Keep a can of vegetable shortening handy. Do not allow even the smallest amount of water, including food colorings or flavorings, to contact the chocolate. It causes it to harden, even when still hot!

Melt your coating over hot but not boiling water, and when it is completely melted, add shortening until it is the consistency you like. Stir constantly while thinning, and do it gradually. If you thin it TOO much, a small pinch of powdered baking cocoa can help.

Take a ganache center and drop it into the hot chocolate. Swirl it quickly to coat and remove with your loop. Tap the excess coating off and then drop onto a sheet of parchment or waxed paper.

Here's a couple pics of candy coating steps. Again, this is a different flavor of truffle so yeah, it's white... lol!

Find someone else to clean the kitchen as you enjoy your chocolates!

Stinky, you are truly an artist and genius!

Thanks for the detailed and delicious looking post, I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Perfect solution for a replacement Easter egg! :thumbsup:

I'll post up a couple of pics after I've tried it (assuming that mine don't end up looking like misshapen squirrel poop).

Artist, expert grower and master chef. . .Hmmn, do you have a sister too? lol

Lol! Thanks!
I think 'misshapen squirrel poop' would be marketable to tourists SOMEWHERE, as 'moose drool' is in Maine...
Naw, no sister... I'm a one-off.

If you don't have a pastry bag, and don't want to use a mellon baller, you can use a 1 gallon zip lock baggie (or the smaller ones, I'm sure most of us have those ;) ) and clip the corner off to get the right size nozzle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LiquidOC

you can use a 1 gallon zip lock baggie (or the smaller ones, I'm sure most of us have those )

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Lol!!! I only have 'snack size' ... (kidding)
Yup, I've done the ziploc trick, but I cheat wicked bad and use a pastry TIP on it. SO much easier to throw the bag away than to try unsucessfully to clean it out, and end up with the house specialty, Botulism Rum Cake, on the next go-round... :D

Looks like an awesome recipe! Can you summarize/answer the following questions:

- How many truffles does the recipe make?
- How much herb is used (total) for cream and butter?
- I notice the Brickweed being used, what quality is it?
- Recommended consumption?
- Post-consumption report?

Thanks

MVP :stoned:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stinkyattic

Lol!!! I only have 'snack size' ... (kidding)
Yup, I've done the ziploc trick, but I cheat wicked bad and use a pastry TIP on it. SO much easier to throw the bag away than to try unsucessfully to clean it out, and end up with the house specialty, Botulism Rum Cake, on the next go-round... :D

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It is much easier to use the disposable bags, but pastry bags are so useful when you realize their full potential, you can also make yourself one out of wax paper or even just plastic wrap. They're great for everything from filling stuffed chicken breasts with stuffing to putting mashed potatoes on a plate real fancy like. My wife hates it when I put non-candy related things into her bags, but I bought them, and I make dinner....she just makes dessert. These sound awesome though, I'll have to have her make some and get back to you on how awesome they truly were. And remember, the couple that smokes together, stays together ;) :stoned::stoned:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MVP

- I notice the Brickweed being used, what quality is it?

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Brickweed is just as it is stated, brickweed, usually very cheap compressed weed that was grown in mexico.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LiquidOC

Brickweed is just as it is stated, brickweed, usually very cheap compressed weed that was grown in mexico.

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Thanks for trying to answer but I was asking Stinky, not you, and I would llike to hear her answer. Perhaps people in the NorthEast have a different connotation.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MVP

- How many truffles does the recipe make?
50
- How much herb is used (total) for cream and butter?
I think I listed the pot contents but it is 2g/tablespoon butter and 1g/ounce cream so with 8 oz cream and 2 tbsp butter, that is 12g total
- I notice the Brickweed being used, what quality is it? best damn brick I've ever seen; good aroma and flavor actually, and has a definite indica-hybrid feel when smoked. I pay $300/QP for it since I don't care that I'm getting the dregs of the bale, all broken and mashed up.
- Recommended consumption?
1-2 pieces on an empty stomach is lovely.
- Post-consumption report?
Can't complain! :D Much more head effects than I had anticipated actually, but the high is a very pleasing, warm body stone primarily.

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yum

Hm... this truffles seems to be delicious... and the high is a plus!
Reading its recipe, it seems they are somewhat alike to the brasilian Brigadeiros... so they must be very good indeed! :eat::stoned:

Thanks Stinks,

No offense to LiquidOC; I just know you well enough to anticipate a nicely worded, well detailed description...

MVP :stoned:

You know Coelho, when I saw your brigadeiros recipe I immediately thought of the truffles my mom used to make, which aren't dipped in chocolate, but instead rolled in cocoa powder. That's what got me thinking about this style of truffle.

Oh, wow, this is definitely going on my list of things I have to try at some time this year. :stoned:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stinkyattic

Find someone else to clean the kitchen as you enjoy your chocolates!

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Wow stinky, you're just how I imagined you would look like. LOL

great tutorial. I'll be making some of these for my sicky friends. :thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daihashi

Wow stinky, you're just how I imagined you would look like. LOL
great tutorial. I'll be making some of these for my sicky friends. :thumbsup:

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Hey check out the caramels recipe in my donkey dick log. It's quicker and easier but the results depend heavily on how clean you can get the cannabutter.
And yeah, I have a hard time when I get pulled over- the cops always tell me, "Hey, you can't just draw a picture of yourself on your license! And you suck at drawing!" But then I take off my ski mask and they're like, "oooooh, I'm sorry". :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stinkyattic

And yeah, I have a hard time when I get pulled over- the cops always tell me, "Hey, you can't just draw a picture of yourself on your license! And you suck at drawing!" But then I take off my ski mask and they're like, "oooooh, I'm sorry". :D

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ROFLMAO!!!!!!
:S2::S2::S2:

Hey Stinky,
Do you Think this recipe would be to potent if I used
Some Really good bud?(Something from Sensi seeds etc..)

In my Area I can't find 'Brick Weed" from Mexico,
So I'll have to use some $400 per QP Barn-Grown Shwagg
from Alberta or Manitoba!But Even marijuana of this quality should
produce quality edibles if Mexican Brick does the trick.
I'm pretty sure all of the Crappy weed in my area are Indica Dominant Hybrids,or Premature Sativas.

No, it should be fine. When I am regularly taking down harvests in the future I'll be using 'popcorn nuggets' from low on the plants, that are a PITA to trim, along with whatever Mexi I can scavenge.
When in doubt, make each individial truffle or piece of candy smaller, so that you can dose it out accurately- do a bioassay as soon as they are done. Start with one piece, wait 40 minutes, take another, wait, record how many pieces it takes to 'feel something'. That's the dose on that batch; write it on the jar where you store them.
I find with caramels, 1 piece on an empty stomach actually kills my anxiety while not having any recreational effects, 2 feels awlllll riiiiiight, and 3 is a trip todamoon! It all depends how strong you get the butter.