Description
If you've ever eaten dinner at Stella, you probably recognize the picture above. Our chocolate truffles have turned into an "accidental" signature dish. Brought out to every table as the check is presented, this truffle recipe itself is solid if not simple; why mess with a good thing? The truffle is rolled in dehydrated peanut butter, giving it a bit of a whimsical twist while playing on the tried and true chocolate-peanut flavor pairing. My servers often lovingly describe this little treat as a "reconstructed peanut butter cup on steroids." Please note that all ingredients are measured by weight.
Ingredients
Instructions
Before we get started, I know that you're looking at the yield of "200 truffles" and wanting to cut this recipe down to size. But this truffle base is so versatile, I guarantee that you'll be kicking yourself for not making the whole recipe. Not only is this stuff great as a truffle base, but you can spread it on toast at room temperature, add it to your waffles or pancakes, or even stir it into your morning coffee to make a great mocha on the fly. You might even catch yourself eating spoonfuls, as is, as a midnight snack; but don't worry, it'll be our secret.
To make the chocolate truffle base, combine butter, cream, and glucose in an appropriately-sized sauce pan. Use a rubber spatula to scrape all the glucose from the measuring container, and then use a metal whisk to scrape the rubber spatula. You'll later use this whisk to stir your mixture, insuring the glucose is accurately incorporated into the chocolate truffle recipe.
Glucose is a common ingredient in the pastry kitchen, used to increase sweetness and also added to sorbets, ice creams, and syrups because it inhibits crystallization in contrast to raw sugar. It also adds elasticity, which is a key component to a chocolate truffle's texture and mouth feel.
Place your pot over a high flame, using the whisk from above to occasionally stir contents. Bring to a boil, turn off heat, and whisk in unsweetened chocolate until thoroughly incorporated.
Once the chocolate is completely incorporated, pour into a storage container, like the metal service pan shown below. Place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the truffle base and then cover the entire container with plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator overnight, or until the truffle base has solidified (this will depend on the dimensions of your storage container and batch size). In a pinch, you can place the truffle base in the freezer for an hour or two and then transfer to your fridge.
In the meantime, combine tapioca maltodextrin and peanut butter in a food processor and pulse until thoroughly incorporated.
Tapioca maltodextrin is a light weight bulking agent that has the ability to absorb fat, but will also quickly dissolve in the presence of moisture, like the saliva present in your mouth. This gives your palate the unique sensation of having a "de-hydrated" fat "re-hydrating" back into its original form. Generally speaking, you'll need a 2:1 ratio (by weight) of maltodextrin to fat. To be completely honest though, we never measure. As you can see below, we start by adding the maltodextrin into the food processor and then the peanut butter right on top.
After a few pulses the mixture still looks a little dry, so we'll add in more peanut butter until we get the proper consistency.
After the truffle base has set, remove plastic wrap and scrape off any fat that has risen to the top using a metal spoon.
Dip a parisian baller into hot water and then scoop a round ball out of your truffle base as shown below. Drop chocolate truffle into dehydrated peanut butter and shake gently to coat. Repeat until desired amount of truffles are created.
If you want to get fancy about it, you can buy some paper truffle sleeves as shown below, which will come stacked together, so you'll need to take the time to separate them. Remove the chocolate truffle from the dehydrated peanut butter and gently roll between the palms of your hands to create an even sphere. Place in a paper sleeve (optional) and refrigerate until you're ready to serve.
Now, I must warn you that these truffles are extremely addicting. If, for whatever reason, you feel the need to steal a chocolate truffle out of the garde manger reach-in, (that undoubtedly has been precisely counted for a busy Saturday night), at least have the common courtesy to leave a note.
Yes, I am aware that "ripped off" is spelled with two p's. I usually don't hire cooks based upon their success in national spelling bees.
Notes
Dehydrated Peanut Butter: If you don't want to go through the process of making the peanut butter powder, you can roll the finished chocolate truffle in chopped peanuts or any other dry ingredient you desire.
Glucose: The purpose of glucose in this truffle recipe is to keep the chocolate elastic and to give it a velvety, almost chewy, mouth feel. Granulated sugar has a way of absorbing moisture which will give you a more brittle texture - not to mention sugar can crystallize giving you a "grainy" mouth feel.
Resources
There are 35 Comments
Source for Liquid Glucose in a smaller quantity?
This looks absolutely amazing and I am sure I am going to give it a try. Probably not 200 pieces, even if I did want to snack on the chocolate mixture late at night.
Given I am not ever going to use 5.5 kg (chefrubber site) where can anyone suggest I can get a smaller quantity? The only sources I can find (140g) are all UK sites. Anything in the US?
I did find a source for smaller quantities of the tapioca maltodextrin if anyone is interested. This company will actually send you a free sample of N-ZORBIT™ M which will be more than enough for my purposes. It can be sourced from National Starch Food Innovations: Go to Ingredient Selector and scroll down till you find N-Zorbit and click on the icon on the right to include in the basket and then fill out shipping info.
Glucose
Nina,
Havent been able to find glucose yet. Perhaps a health food store. According to google, dextrose is another name for glucose, so if I find dextrose I'll give it a try.
I did get my free sample of tapioca maltodextin. Came in about 2 days with no charges. Good way to try the recipe.
Wonder if there is any substitute for the glucose. Only place I could find it was on UK sites where it is more common to use in baking.
Elliot
You can try ordering powdered
You can try ordering powdered glucose ($6) and making a syrup out of it by adding a little water: http://www.shopchefrubber.com/product.php?productid=12254&cat=1585&page=1. Dextrose and glucose are not interchangeable unfortunately, and corn syrup is too sweet and contains to much fructose to give you the same results. If you call Chef Rubber they might be willing to sell you a smaller bottle. I have a couple buckets of glucose in dry storage; if you really want I could just break it down into smaller increments and ship some out to you guys. We'll just settle up through PayPal.
Powdered Glucose
Thanks Chef.
I think I'll go with the powedered form if I cant find the syrup.
Elliot
Glucose
Thanks Nina,
I found it online and ordered it. $3.99 for the glucose and $6.99 for shipping, ugh! Anyway, I can amortize the total cost along with the free tapioca 
I too plan on making over the holidays, but I plan on starting my holidays on Thanksgiving...or maybe sooner if I cant wait.
Good luck!
Elliot
Let me know how they turn
Let me know how they turn out.
I got mine from
I got mine from ChefRubber.com. I don't think stores will carry this as there is not much of a consumer market for tapioca maltodextrin. The de-hydrated peanut butter is a fun little twist, but really you can roll these truffles in just about anything. The base is what this recipe is all about. Try candied pecans that are finely chopped.
Also, I know some people who have used Will Powder for some of their ingredients and they seem to like the company. I've never personally done any business with them only because I have a corporate account already set up with Chef Rubber who tends to have slightly better prices when buying in bulk. Will Powder does however sell 2oz packets of N-Zorbit which is the perfect amount if you just want to play around a little. Plus, it's only $6.25. Here's the link:
Contact info for consumer purchases
Largent,
I received this email from National Starch today (who sent me the free sample) letting me know where I can buy smaller amounts.
Good luck!
Elliot
To order small quantities online contact:
Terra Spice Company
Walkerton, IN 46574
Judy Shertzer
574-586-2600 phone
574-514-5031 phone
574-586-2646 fax
judy@terraspice.com
http://www.terraspice.com/industrial.htm
Hey Nina, Way to go. No
Hey Nina,
Way to go. No pictures????
I plan on making them in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving. Just a couple of questions for you?
Did you plan for the 200 piece recipe or did you cut it down?
How much water did you add to the 12 oz of glucose powder?
I'll try a higher end unsweetened chocolate and let you know how it turns out.
Elliot
Photobucket
Thanks Nina,
Here is an easy way to load photos:
Go to Photobucket.com and sign up - for free
Upload your photo and then copy the "direct link" that appears to the right of the screen.
Insert that link anywhere in a comment box after clicking on the "image" icon above. There you can adjust the size and position of your photo.
If you want to send me a photo by email I can show you what it would look like on this site and walk you through it.
Elliot
Finally Made the Truffles
@ Nina/@Jacob,
Finally got a chance to make the truffles this past week. They were great. I finally found something to make that my wife likes 
I started with the 100 truffle recipe and wound up making about 40 so my truffles were obviously bigger. Nothing wrong with that!
I did find that I needed to put a lot more peanut butter in with the tapioca than what was suggested as the amount called for didn't even turn the powder any shade of tan. Of course, mo' butter also pertains to mo' peanut butter.
Thanks Chef.
Elliot
Here are some photos I took throughout the process:
Nice photos Elliot, they look
Nice photos Elliot, they look great! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Truffles
Patrick,
I thought my glucose was powder because when I shook the container I didnt feel anything moving around. When I opened it though, it was syrup, which is extremely thick. If you have a powder, my guess is that it wont take much water to turn it into a clear syrup. You will probably have to try a small amount of water at a time. Check out my picture of the glucose in the bowl above in the first photo.
I used Ghirardelli 100% cocoa unsweetened chocolate bars. Can probably find them in any supermarket. Worked out nicely.
Good luck
Elliot
Nina, I thought they were
Nina,
I thought they were great. I used Ghirardelli chocolate which worked out fine.
Probably going to make another batch for the holidays, but this time use the smaller end of the baller.
Elliot
Honestly PM, I couldn't tell
Honestly PM, I couldn't tell you off the top of my head for the ice creams. For sorbets, I normally make a simple syrup with water and sugar and then use a 1:1 mixture of simple syrup to glucose. I haven't experimented with using 100% glucose yet but I don't see why it wouldn't work.