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.
These look great Laura. Since my b’day’s coming up I might just make some so that the Darlin Girl and I can have a happy treat.
I’ve never thought of doing these before. Thanks for the inspiration.
Yay! I hope your birthday is filled with magic (and sparkle truffles).
I made chocolate truffles for all my queer pals this Christmas, so now I’m going to share the knowledge I gained from that with y’all:
1. Don’t boil the cream. Get it as hot as you can without boiling, it makes for a much nicer, smoother texture. Because you’re adding the cream in cooler, the chocolate (if not finely chopped enough) might not melt fully, but no bother, just pop the bowl over a pan of boiling water for a minute.
2. To make flavoured truffles, infuse the cream while it heats up. I used earlgrey tea (yes I’m commenting from the UK), which made a really lovely lightly flowery flavour. Literally just dunk a teabag in the cream as it heats and remove from the cream before you mix in the chocolate. For matching coffee flavoured truffles dissolve some instant coffee in the cream, as I found out even a spoon full of strong liquid coffee will change the texture to grainy and prevent them from setting.
All my friends loved them, although they didn’t have glitter on them :'(
So into the idea of earl grey truffles! Def doing this. Bless you.
So bring the cream up to a high heat without boiling if possible, and then cool, and then bring up to high heat again and then cool, up to 3 times total repeating?
Girlfriend: That sounds gross.
Me: That sounds amazing.
Totally doing this. <3
Mother of pearl, those look delicious. (And festive!)
I was kind of turned on by your black latex gloves early on in the photo spread, so glad that you validated my confusing feelings about watching you make truffles. Also, these look gorgeous. I love the plating for the cover photo!
I’m always here for your confused sexual feelings, @kaelynrich.
(And thank you! I was very pleased with my final truffle display too. :))
I second that emotion.
Oh, yes.
Yes, just yes.
Yes,yes,yes.
I have very sexual feelings towards truffles.
I was going to comment on how gay those black latex gloves are, and then it made me really happy that you linked them on Babeland :p Also, YOU’RE SO SPECIAL! <3 thank you for magical unicorn turds!
Thank youuu, @clau, for that little table I immediately filled with chocolate. <3
I would just like to point out that you basically made an edible golden snitch. Well done!
Totally going to try making these and covering them in pink edible glitter to give out at the Galentine’s Day celebration I”m having. How many did this recipe make?
@amlm: The first photo shows all the truffles I got from this batch, 20 total. :)
I wish ‘episodes of Jane the Virgin/Orphan Black’ was the time scale for all recipes.
brb, shoving chocolate into every drawer in my house.
People writing reviews on Amazon are really bent out of shape about believing that Disco Dust is edible, when in fact it’s merely non-toxic. Lots of capital letters and exclamation points. “Made of plastic,” “for decorative use only,” “this is for arts & crafts, not food,” etc. I’m interested to hear your opinion on this.
It looks like the cake decorating company Wilton makes actually-edible edible glitter, but judging from the photos, it’s not nearly gay enough.
I have a couple of feelings:
a) it may be that, like the distinction of ‘organic’ things have to jump through very particular hoops to be designated as ‘food grade’, but I don’t rightly know.
b) I am totally comfortable eating a variety of shit that probably isn’t natural, like red vines, and I doubt anything in here is much worse than in a lot of the crap I get into on a pretty regular basis.
but ymmv, do what feels safe to you.
The Wilton glitter is definitely more pearlescent than glittery.
Hi,
I just discovered your website and read some blogs and I can’t stop myself from contacting you and giving you a big Thumbs Up for the quality work that you’ve been doing.
I am also writing about (FRESH TRUFFLES ) these days and I’ve written an article on the topics
I’ll be very honored If you post my article on your blog.
Please let me know what you think, I can send the article today.
Best Regards,
aabella