Note: Disco dust is non-toxic, but (like many other cake decorating products) is not classified as edible. Here is some information for you to consider before making this at home!
Hello, star-crossed sparkle ponies! This Valentine’s day I thought I’d improve your life by sharing a couple secrets of the universe with you. (Or maybe some obvious, indisputable facts? Perspective is everything, friends.) Ready? Here goes:
- Chocolate is an all occasion food. You can eat it whether you’re happy or sad, single or partnered, in love or anti-love. I was recently gifted a bedside table, and the first thing I did was fill the tiny drawer all the way to the top with chocolate. If you haven’t considered this possibility in your life yet, I highly recommend it.
- Homemade truffles are the best and they’re also super easy to make! They’re just balls of chocolate ganache with more chocolate outside. You can add fancy flavors, fillings or elaborately decorate the outsides… but truthfully, you don’t even need to. It’s chocolate! It’s going to taste good. Everyone wins under all circumstances.
Because my main objective in life is to make things as gay as possible, I recently made a batch of truffles coated in a form of non-toxic glitter known as “disco dust.” Behold the glory:
Just in case you wanted to make a batch (you do! you do!), I’ve written up the recipe for you below.
Homemade Sparkle Truffles
base recipe is “Robert Linxe’s Chocolate Truffles” via Smitten Kitchen
Ingredients
- 11 ounces of semisweet chocolate (the original recipe calls for 56% cacao, Valrhona brand)
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- Cocoa powder for dusting (optional)
- Disco dust for dusting (optional, but, you know, this is where the sparkle comes from)
Instructions
- Finely chop eight ounces of your chocolate. This is the most tedious step. I tried using a grater, but it wasn’t much faster. Just stick with it. Note: the original recipe calls for Valrhona, 56% cacao. They didn’t have that in my grocery, so I did an equal mix of 46% and 70% cacao. On previous occasions, I’ve used Scharffen Berger 62% cacao, and Icelandic Chocolate 56% cacao. All versions were delicious. Follow your heart.
- Put your finely chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl and set aside. Measure out 2/3 cup heavy cream and bring it to a boil on your stovetop. Let it cool and repeat two more times.
- Pour the cream over your chocolate and whisk into a smooth looking ganache. (It’s okay if there are still little chunks; nobody’s going to see the inside of your truffles anyway. But a smoother texture is generally more enjoyable for eating.) If you wanted to flavor your ganache by, say, pouring in a bit of liqueur, now would be the time. I generally don’t bother.
- Let the ganache cool to the point where it can hold shapes. (Mine took the length of one episode of Jane the Virgin, about 45 minutes.) Then put latex gloves on and mold little balls out of the ganache. Place on parchment paper to solidify. I left mine alone in my somewhat chilly living room for three more episodes because I got sucked in. You could also just pop the tray in the freezer for 15 minutes. If you wanted to add nuts or brownie chunks or whatever else you like inside truffles, this would be the step for that. I’m a fan of just straight up chocolate, so I didn’t add anything.
- Once your truffles are firm, get a little bowl and melt the remaining three ounces of semisweet chocolate. Set up your dusting assembly line:
A.) Tray of frozen truffles
B.) Bowl of just-melted chocolate, with a spoon or small spatula in it
C.) A fork and little bowls of disco dust, cocoa powder, or whatever you’re coating the truffles in
D.) An empty, parchment-lined tray
Put on latex gloves and going down the line, lightly coat a truffle in melted chocolate, swirl it in the dusting bowl of your choice for coating, then place it on the empty parchment-lined tray. Repeat until you’ve coated all the truffles. Put in the fridge for a few minutes to let the outer chocolate coating cool all the way before eating. (Or don’t; you’re the boss. But I think the textural difference is very nice when you bite into it.)
I’ve found that the easiest way to get a delicate coating of chocolate is to plop a ganache ball in your hand, spoon some melted chocolate over it, then roll the ball between your fingers to smear chocolate all over it. If this seems sexual to you, that’s because it is. Truffles are very sexy. Also I got those multipurpose latex gloves at Babeland. -  Store your truffles in the fridge, or plate them up all cute and give them to someone special. That person can be yourself.
Eat with gusto.
