These amaretto truffles are one of 20 amaretto recipes I have on my site. Amaretto is one of most popular Italian liqueurs. Most people say it tastes like sweet almonds. But little fact here - there's no almonds in it!
These take a little time and love. I make them for gift giving, holidays and special events. It is step-intensive. But it's special because not everyone will make these - NOR do they know how. And it's really not that big of a deal. It's more about waiting for the cooling off between each step. Read below and check it out.
There are many choices of "dipping". (The coating around the candy). And in this last batch you can see I used cocoa powder and hazelnuts. Yes, I realize hazelnuts are slightly excessive. But there were going to expire. And they are a nut we use in many Italian dessert recipes so I was keeping the whole thing authentic that day.
There are other options to roll the truffles in are listed in the section below.
If this wasn't exactly what you were looking for and you want to use amaretto, scroll below to my photo gallery. I have the 20 amaretto recipes there. Just hover over the picture you will see the name of the recipe. If it interest you - click on the picture and you will be whisked away to amaretto wonderland.
Thank you for stopping by -
* 10 ozs. high-quality bittersweet chocolate see below for inexpensive ideas
* 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
* 1 Tbsp. corn syrup
* 1/2 cup heavy cream (NOT Half & Half)
* 1/4 cup amaretto
* 1/2 cup coating or dipping powder - see below for ideas
* 8 oz. bittersweet or a semisweet chocolate for this step is ok
Set aside . You won't be on your feet cooking and stirring that whole time, but there are cooling off periods you need to wait for.
* Place the 10 oz. of chocolate and the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave it enough to melt both and mix together. It doesn't need to bubble, poof or do anything. You are just getting them to mix together. I usually do this in two stages of "zapping". Set it aside.
* Heat the corn syrup and cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Use a medium heat.
* After this simmers pour it over the chocolate mixture. Don't stir it yet.
* Let it sit about 2-4 minutes.
* After this has sat begin stirring from the middle of the bowl moving outward. (You will be less frustrated.) It blends easier this way.
* After the mixture looks creamy and blended - add the amaretto (slowly) and blend.
* Pour this into a GLASS dish that will fit in your fridge. It's time to cool this whole mixture.
* Find a dish where the mixture will be in a layer no thicker than 1/3 of an inch.
* Leave this in the fridge approx an hour. Here's what is happening - the mixture is going to firm so you can scoop it into little balls.
* TIP: If you chilled too long I use these are the little tricks to soften this up and get back on track.
* After the cooling time is over, line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. You will scoop out the chocolate and drop a rough looking little ball onto the waxed paper.
* If you don't know how or what to scoop with...see below.
* After you have the rough looking not-even-close-to-truffles on the cookie sheet - place them in the fridge about 30 minutes.
* After 30 minutes take the truffles out of the refrigerator. You are now going to form them into balls. No way out of it, you have to use your hands.
* Now that they look almost round place them into the refrigerator again.
* Leave them in the fridge until they are totally cooled.
* Put the dipping coating in a small bowl.
* Melt the 8 oz. of chocolate. ( on't get this hot! Just get it barely melted.)
* Roll the amaretto truffles in the melted chocolate first. (Yes it's soooooo messy)
* Then, roll the truffles into your dipping coating.
* Put the truffles on a flat surface so they set up.
* You should be done.
* Put them into some pretty little papers for gift giving or serving. (Or just pop 'em in your mouth and eat 'em yourself.)
You have two chocolate stages in this amaretto truffles recipe. The first one is tastes the best with a "bitter-sweet" chocolate. And really labeling and guidelines don't mean jack-diddly. In a real world where manufacturers didn't lie, a label that says "bittersweet chocolate" would mean a higher amount of cocoa than a "semi-sweet". But there are no official rules or guidelines. And the chocolate monitoring policemen don't exist. So trust your brands and then last but not least see what the manufacturer calls it. Here's some good cheap "bittersweet" chocolate I've really liked.
You know your own store brands best - but go for a high cocoa content. The higher the number the better.
The last chocolate layer will be warm. This is the layer gets rolled in the dipping powder. Here's some ideas:
For that first cocoon stage when you pull out the glass baking dish you are looking at one layer of mass chocolate. Don't be overwhelmed. You are only looking to separate the chocolate into rough shaped balls. This isn't the pretty gift-giving impressive amaretto truffles (yet!). Just separate the mixture. To do that you can use any of the following:
Relax. It's okay:
Not real long. You have milk product in these. I always keep mine in the fridge till I give them away or serve them. Yep, it's a lot of work for something that doesn't keep. Just be smart about it - remember you have dairy in them. Fresh good wholesome dairy. And because it's fresh - you need to eat them fairly soon.
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