Chocolate lovers, gather around! Today I am offering you some super easy small pastries to flavor as you like and that are gluten-free, namely, chocolate truffles. Thanks to their small size, chocolate truffles can become a delicious gift idea, a chic and elegant after-meal dessert, or they can accompany coffee and tea time. Making them is very simple; you won’t need any specific kitchen tools. Starting from the basic recipe, we can prepare different types, all delicious, enriching and flavoring them according to your tastes.
If you like these pastries, below you will find other ideas for creating even more delicious and diverse truffles.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 18
- Cooking methods: Double boiler
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz 70% dark chocolate
- 3.5 oz soft butter (also lactose-free)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp milk (also lactose-free)
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar (or 1.5 tablespoons of wildflower honey)
- to taste flavors of choice (vanilla, coffee, liqueur, nuts, coconut, etc…)
- 3.5 tbsp toasted hazelnuts (or almonds)
- to taste unsweetened cocoa powder (for coating the truffles)
Steps
Chop the hazelnuts (or almonds) and set them aside.
Melt the chocolate and soft butter in a double boiler, in a saucepan, on the smallest burner over very low heat.
Once melted, add one at a time, stirring continuously: the sifted unsweetened cocoa, the sugar (or honey), the flavors you like the most, the hazelnut pieces, and lastly, the yolk slightly beaten in the milk.
Mix everything well for about a minute, until you get a smooth, homogeneous, and compact mixture.
Turn off the heat and let it cool slightly, without removing the saucepan from the double boiler.
After about 30 minutes, remove the saucepan from the double boiler and place it in a cool place or in the fridge, for about 3 hours (it also depends on the outside temperature) or until the mixture has set enough to allow us to form the truffles.
Once set, prepare a deep dish, in which we will put some unsweetened cocoa where we will roll the chocolates, and a tray with the baking cups to place the truffles.
With the help of a teaspoon, take a bit of the mixture and, with your hands, form balls that we will roll in the cocoa.
Place the truffles in the baking cups and continue until the chocolate mixture is used up. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a cool place until serving. If you leave them in the fridge, I recommend taking them out about a quarter of an hour before serving.
Bon appétit
