I just ran the numbers on Truffles and they're not good. The Ghiradelli was $2.79 a bar at six bars, you used a whole box of cocoa, and it took you five hours. We have to rethink this!

So, we finished up with two types of Truffles, one coated in cocoa and the other dipped in chocolate and rolled in butter toffee Fisher peanuts. The tempering process went reasonably well, but you have to move fairly quickly afterwards otherwise you will lose the temper. We ended up with 26 Truffles and I ate two along the way.

The picture to the left of Connor is the truffles this morning after spending the night in the refrigerator. I let them sit for about an hour and then tried to perfect the shape by rolling them in my hands. This can be a bit challenging because the heat of your hands melts the chocolate quickly. I dealt with this by shaping them in 2 or 3 rolls between the hands for about 5-10 seconds at a time.

I used the microwave to temper the chocolate as suggested in "Making Artisan Chocolates". After chopping the chocolate on an angle, I heated 75% of the chopped chocolate for 60 seconds at a time. This takes 3 or 4 60 second intervals depending on the power of your microwave. You heat the chocolate to between 115-120 degrees stirring each time at the end of 60 seconds.

After the chocolate hits 115-120, let it sit for about 10 minutes and then begin the seeding process with the remaining 25% of the chopped chocolate. Be sure to chop this 25% much finer than the original 75% because it makes the seeding process easier. Seed the chocolate a handful at a time stirring well in between until the temperature returns to approximately 86 degrees. Finally, re-heat the seeded chocolate 1-2 seconds at a time in the microwave to raise the temperature to 89 degrees. Try not to go over 90 degrees. Re-heating is the final part of the tempering process.

I will explain the two types of truffles that I made today separately, but remember truffles are a freestyle thing. You have to figure out what works for you which I think is the fun part. The first 8 truffles were dipped into the tempered chocolate with a fork and then rolled in the cocoa until covered (use a second utensil to roll them around in the cocoa). The finaly 18 truffles were first rolled in the cocoa for a thin coat, then dipped into the tempered chocolate, and finally rolled in the Fisher's butter toffee peanuts. I first ground the peanuts in our little coffee grinder which worked well.

Finally, this was not easy and there is clearly a learning curve but I think it will be much faster next time. There is definitely patience required. In my opinion, the peanut coated truffles are far superior and most of my friends/family agree.