Never imagined how fun it would be to spend five hours on a Sunday morning making truffles! 

I signed up for the truffle-making course at the Institute of Culinary Education to get a better idea of how to make gourmet truffles and finally get put some of my crazy flavor ideas into action! My group of ten people made a dozen types of ganache, which is the soft inside part of the truffle and then tempered different types of chocolate to cover the truffles with. The tempering was the most time-consuming part because the chocolate has to be at a specific temperature and everything from the room temperature to one’s hands can affect it. Lots of patience is required here!

My favorite part was the final coating of the truffles, where creativity comes into play. We mixed and matched various combinations. My contributions were cocoa powder and chile, sea salt and paprika, toasted almond nougat, pistachio and cardamom, and cocoa nibs.

Not sure this is a frequent endeavor, but it’s certainly a great way to feel creative and produce stunning, hand-made products that will make great gifts for special occasions. A couple of people in the class already make truffles and sell them to local restaurants and grocery shops, so I got to gain some insight into the new breed of culinary entrepreneurs. Not sure I’ll be joining anytime soon, but at least now I have the skill!