Butter Macadamia Truffles

When composing today’s post I found myself at an impasse. Do I lie to you, my loyal reader? Or do I fess up with the cold, hard, ugly truth. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of a bit of ugliness. In fact, I seriously considered looking you straight in the face and in my sincerest, most heartfelt voice flat out lying to you. I was going to write a whole article about how great these truffles came out. That they are easy to make and fool-proof. I was even going to be so bold as to proclaim that they are the greatest truffles of all time. I know, I am a bit theatrical.

I was going to lie straight to your face without blinking an eye. What can I say? I used to be a trial attorney, it’s in my blood. But then I remembered the whole purpose of this journey I call ‘The Frosted Petticoat’. It is to learn. Largely I assume I am the only one doing the learning, but for the sake of my love and reverence for those of you who follow along (and send me such lovely messages every week), I couldn’t go through with it. I couldn’t lie to you. So, now let me spill the proverbial beans or in this case ‘chocolate chips’. The truffles were a disaster. All the right ingredients were there, all the honed techniques, and all the best intentions. I just couldn’t make them work. This is why I chose not to lie to you. Cooking is about trying new things, putting yourself out there, and learning. Sometimes you do a great job, grow as a person, and have fun in the process. Probably more often though, you fail and it sucks. The kitchen is a microcosm of life, I guess.

Like life, the only true measure of success in the kitchen is how you handle failure. With this failure, I’m going to swallow a piece of humble pie and share with you my disaster. Ultimately, I think I was trying to add too much into one tiny bite-sized morsel. The good news? This recipe makes one hell of a chocolate mousse. The bad news? It sucks at making a truffle. So without further ado, I present to you my sad excuse for Butter Macadamia Truffles.

BUTTER MACADAMIA TRUFFLES

INGREDIENTS

1. 2 cups of macadamia nuts (crushed)
2. 1 cup of dark chocolate chips
3. 2/3 cup of heavy cream
4. 1/4 cup of butter (softened)
5. 2 tablespoons of sour cream
6. 1/2 teaspoon of butter extract
7. Dash of salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crush the macadamia nuts into large pieces. Set aside.
2. In a double boiler, heat the chocolate chips, heavy cream, and butter over medium heat. Mix continuously until melted together and forms a smooth cream. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. Add the sour cream, butter extract, and salt to the mixture. Mix thoroughly. Place in the freezer overnight.
4. At this point, if you are still optimistic that you can miraculously make these into truffles, use a melon baller or small ice creams scooper, and scoop out round truffles from the frozen cream. Roll them in the crushed macadamia nuts until fully coated. At this point you’ll realize this was a mistake. Serve the rest of the mixture as a delicious mousse and sprinkle the macadamia nuts on top. Enjoy!

Crush 2 cups of macadamia nuts into large pieces. Set aside. In a double boiler, heat 1 cup of chocolate chips, 2/3 cup of heavy cream, and 1/4 cup of softened butter over medium heat. Mix continuously until melted together and forms a smooth cream. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream, 1/2 teaspoon of butter extract, and a dash of salt to the mixture. Mix thoroughly. Place in the freezer overnight.

At this point, if you are still optimistic that you can miraculously make these into truffles, use a melon baller or small ice creams scooper, and scoop out round truffles from the frozen cream. Roll them in the crushed macadamia nuts until fully coated. At this point you’ll realize this was a mistake. Serve the rest of the mixture as a delicious mousse and sprinkle the macadamia nuts on top. Enjoy!