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The Baking Sheet

The Baking Sheet - Holiday 2009

Let us light up your holiday season, with our biggest, most inspiring collection of original recipes ever! The Holiday Baking Sheet is a whopping 32 pages long, jam–packed with ideas for the Thanksgiving table, Chanukkah, and Christmas. Every Baking Sheet recipe is tested by us, and is published with complete nutritional information. Many have easy–to–follow step–by–step photos and illustrations. Welcome your family and guests to feast on Onion–Apple Stuffing, Potato Rolls, and Early Colonial Bread. There's a blend of traditional and unusual for Channukah, with Whole Wheat Challah and Grated Apple Fritters. Get ready for Christmas with our gift–giving feature, Dutch Christmas Bread, Italian Christmas Cutout Cookies, and Toffee Fruit Squares. That's just a taste of what you'll find in this huge, colorful issue.

Holiday 2009 issue

Head for the kitchen to take care of your Christmas list. We have recipes for Cardamom–scented Cranberry Sweet rolls, Double Frosted, Double Shot Bourbon Brownies, Absurdly Easy Chocolate Truffles, and Yummy Toast Spread, all of which make marvelous gifts. Give yourself or a baker you love the best gift of all: a whole year's worth of great recipes. Subscribe today!

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Truffles

Absurdly Easy Chocolate Truffles

Truffles Every December I make up a batch or two of this candy and pack it into pretty gift bags from the craft store. I stash the wrapped chocolates in a cool cupboard and grab one every time I suddenly need a last–minute gift – something to bring to a party's hosts, a treat for a friend who drops in unexpectedly, or a little surprise for my mail carrier.

Don't, however, be tempted to scrimp on the chocolate! Use the best quality you can get your hands on and the truffles will taste like something you bought from a fancy candy shop. The chocolates will keep at room temperature for a month or more – but can be frozen, uncut, in a zipper bag for much, much longer. Thaw the frozen chocolates overnight in the fridge before cutting to avoid condensation. –Rebecca Faill

Editor's note: It will take at least overnight for the chocolate to set; if it's still too soft to cut, put it in the refrigerator for an hour or so. You can also use a teaspoon scoop to shape the truffles, forming round balls that you can roll in cocoa (see sidebar).

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds good-quality bittersweet chocolate
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
  • 2 14–ounce cans sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk!)
  • 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, soft
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) liquor of your choice (optional, such as Brandy, Grand Marnier, Kahlua, Amaretto)
  • Unsweetened cocoa powder for rolling

Directions

Prepare a jelly–roll pan, or a 13" X 17" cookie sheet pan with at least 1/2� high sides, by lining it with parchment paper.

If your chocolate isn't already in bits – chop it up into small pieces. The best way I have found to accomplish this is to set the chocolate on a flexible plastic cutting board and cut it with a serrated knife. Push the knife straight down for every cut, with one hand on the handle and one on the end of the blade (keep a folded towel between the knife and your off hand to prevent cuts if the knife slips), instead of �sawing� back and forth. Once the chocolate is chopped, you can lift the whole cutting board and pour the bits right into a bowl.

Combine all ingredients except the cocoa powder in either a microwave–safe bowl or the top of a double boiler. Melt, using either the double boiler or the microwave and stirring frequently, until everything is evenly combined and there are no lumps of chocolate left. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth out and level the chocolate with a spatula.

Let the pan sit at room temperature in a cool place for several hours or overnight, until the chocolate is firm to the touch. The longer the chocolate �cures�, the easier it is to cut.

Run a butter knife between the chocolate and the edges of the pan.

Cover the chocolate with a second piece of parchment paper. Invert a large cutting board, or a matching cookie sheet, over the parchment and chocolate. Flip the whole stack over, quickly. The chocolate should pop out in one big piece – if it doesn�t, flip the whole mess back over and run the knife around again.

Peel the parchment from the side of the chocolate that is now facing up. Put a handful of cocoa powder onto a large plate. Using a long, sharp, knife cut the chocolate into bite–sized pieces. Gently toss the pieces in the cocoa powder to coat any sticky spots. It can help to dip the knife in cocoa between each cut to keep it from sticking.

Store on parchment in a single layer until ready to package or serve. Yield: 100 1/2-ounce truffles, using a teaspoon scoop to shape them.

Nutrition information per serving (19g): 88 calories, 5g fat, 1g fiber, 3g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 9g Carbohydrates, 5mg Cholesterol, 11mg sodium, 1g protein, 8g sugars, 0mg vitamin C, 1mg iron, 28mg calcium, 0mg caffeine.

Weight Watchers Points®: 2

Ways to customize

  • The only limit to how you can customize truffles is your imagination. Try flavoring some of the mixture with one liqueur, and some with a different flavor. Some ideas:
  • Flavor with coconut liqueur or flavoring, and roll in with coconut milk powder.
  • Flavor with Amaretto, walnut or hazelnut liqueur, and grind whichever nut you used with an equal amount of cocoa powder; roll the truffles in this mixture. If you use Amaretto you can simply roll the truffles in toasted almond flour.
  • Some flavored liqueurs can be expensive; see what the liquor store has available in airline sized mini bottles; that way you can afford to try different flavor combinations without ruining the budget.
  • Flavor the chocolate with mint and roll it in crushed candy canes.
  • Finally, for those with the �Martha� gene, temper chocolate and dip the truffle centers in it with a candy fork. Coating disks, which are easier to work with and don�t require tempering, are also an option.