My Sous Chef

Sydney is my little helper in the kitchen. She is always eager to do some of the steps for me. Yesterday we made Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate truffles coated with white chocolate or almonds for Daddy to bring to work. Syd crushed the almonds with a wooden mallet. As you can see, she's got the "Asian squat" down pat. I rolled the truffles and coated them while she slept in the Ergo carrier. Love that thing.

I was not the best at balling the truffles as you can see from the results. Had I had the following gadgets, they would have looked more machine-made.

Want the recipe?
Chocolate Truffles (from AARP The Magazine, February/March 2012)
10 ounces good-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 
  1 cup heavy cream
  4 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
  1 tbsp light corn syrup

~1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for coating (we used almonds and chopped white chocolate)

1. Put the chocolate in a large microwave-safe container and heat, at medium power, stirring every minute until most of the chocolate is melted
2. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave. Remove from heat, pour the cream over the chocolate, stirring until the mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny
3. Stir the butter into the mixture in 4 or 5 additions, stirring gently until it's again smooth and shiny. Stir in the corn syrup.
4. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with plastic wrap; pour in the mixture. Press plastic wrap against the chocolate and put the pan in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, or until the mixture is firm.
5. To form the truffles, line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Turn out the mixture onto a cutting board, remove the plastic, and cut the chocolate into small cubes (or scoop out rounded teaspoonfuls of chocolate). Put cocoa powder (or variation, below) into a bowl. One by one, roll the pieces between your palms to make compact balls, then drop them into the cocoa and turn to coat. Put the finished truffles on the lined baking sheet.
6. Return the truffles to the fridge so they become firm again. Serve cold.

Variations for coating:
powdered sugar, chopped nuts, sprinkles, chopped coconut, cookie or graham cracker crumbs, chopped peppermint candy, or chopped chocolate chips