Strawberry & Champagne Truffles

It's my first post of 2012! I really love the beginning of the new year since it's a good time to reflect on the past year while looking forward to the new one. Considering how much I love making lists and brainstorming plans, New Year's resolutions are always a must for me. This year, in addition to my personal goals, I decided that I'd come up with some blog specific resolutions as well.

2012 Diamonds for Dessert Resolutions
1) Blog Improvements (convert to metric, figure out yields, edit comments coding, add blog extras, etc..)
2) Add an About Me page w/FAQ!
3) Work on food styling & photography
4) Conquer Candy & Cake Pops (weaknesses of mine)
5) Work on answering e-mails more promptly

What's Coming Up on DforD in 2012?
1) Baking 101
2) The Hunger Games series (totally in love with the books, especially Catching Fire. So so excited for the movie!)
3) Literary Inspiration (ex. fairy tales, fantasy stories, nursery rhymes, my favorite novels & classics)
4) Fashion & Art
5) TV Shows I love (ex. Parks & Rec, Adventure Time, Pushing Daisies, childhood cartoons)
6) Superheroes (this year seems to be the year of superhero movies)
7) MORE CAKES & BREAD!

Now about today's recipe. These truffles were originally for NYE, but due to recipe complications I couldn't get this up until now (yeah... New Years resolution #4). But I figure with Valentine's Day coming up next month, now is still a good time to post this. What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with chocolate, strawberries, and champagne? Below, I provide two different options for these truffles. They can be kept separate as strawberry truffles and champagne truffles, or you can combine them with one flavor in the center and the other on the outside. The second option takes some more time, but it's fun biting into one of them and having a surprise in the center.

Strawberry Truffles
8 oz. white chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp of strained strawberry puree
red food coloring, optional
powdered sugar

Melt butter and white chocolate together in a microwave and mix. Heat cream in a small saucepan over low heat until simmering. Pour the cream into the white chocolate/butter mixture and combine. Mix in the strawberry puree. Add a bit of red food coloring if the mixture isn't pink (it depends on how red your strawberries were). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for a few hours.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a spoon to scoop out ping pong ball sized portions of the strawberry truffle mixture onto the parchment paper. Place the sheet in the freezer for 1-2 hours, until the mixture is firm.

Take the tray out and roll each portion into a ball. Roll each ball in powdered sugar and serve immediately. If not served immediately, place in an airtight container and keep in freezer until ready to serve (they might need to be re-rolled in powdered sugar when served).

Champagne Truffles
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup champagne
dutch processed cocoa powder

Place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set aside for now. Heat the cream in a saucepan over low heat until simmering. Pour the cream over the chocolate and mix until all the chocolate is melted. Add the butter and gently mix until all the butter is incorporated. Mix in the champagne. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for a few hours.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a spoon to scoop out ping pong ball sized portions of the strawberry truffle mixture onto the parchment paper. Place the sheet in the freezer for 1-2 hours, until the mixture is firm.

Take the tray out and roll each portion into a ball. Roll each ball in cocoa powder and serve immediately. If not served immediately, place in an airtight container and keep in freezer until ready to serve (they might need to be re-rolled in cocoa powder when served).

Strawberry & Champagne Truffles
strawberry truffle recipe, above
champagne truffle recipe, above

After chilling both of the truffle mixtures, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a spoon to scoop out gumball sized portions of both the truffle mixtures (basically 1/2 a ping pong ball sized portions from above) onto the baking sheet. Place the sheet in the freezer for 1-2 hours, until the mixture is firm.

Take the tray out and roll half of the portions into balls. Use the other half of the portions to wrap around the balls so you have one truffle flavor on the inside and another on the outside. Freeze the tray of wrapped truffles back in the freezer for 1-2n hours, until the truffles are firm.

Remove from freezer, roll each truffle in a ball and if the outside layer is strawberry, roll in powdered sugar. If the outside layer is chocolate champagne, roll in cocoa powder. Serve immediately.  If not served immediately, place in an airtight container and keep in freezer until ready to serve (they might need to be re-rolled in cocoa powder or powdered sugar when served).