I’ve been creating this exquisite chocolate treat for years, and I think it’s ideal for Valentine’s Day. Chestnuts and dark chocolate ganache were combined to create this truffle, which was then covered in a creamy white chocolate covering and finished with a nip of pale pink, sweet white chocolate. Delicious and sinful!
| Prep Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 60 |
| Yield: | 60 truffles |
Ingredients
- 12 ounces high quality dark chocolate, chopped
- 16 ounces canned whole chestnuts, drained
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- ½ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup brandy
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounces high quality white chocolate, chopped – divided
- 1 dash powdered red food coloring
Instructions
- Place the dark chocolate into the top part of a double boiler over simmering water, and let the chocolate melt. Turn off the heat and let the chocolate cool.
- Place the chestnuts into the work bowl of a food processor, and process until the chestnuts are smoothly pureed, about 1 minute.
- Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the chestnuts, brandy, and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the chocolate, and pinch off about 1 tablespoon of filling per truffle. Roll the mixture into balls about 1 inch in diameter. If the mixture is too soft to hold its shape, chill for several minutes in refrigerator.
- Reserve about 1 ounce of white chocolate for tempering, and about 1 ounce for coloring. Melt the remaining 10 ounces of white chocolate over simmering water in a double boiler until the chocolate is melted and warm but not hot (about 105 degrees F (40 degrees C)). Remove the pan containing the melted chocolate from the double boiler, and add about 1 ounce of chopped, unmelted white chocolate. Stir the chocolate until the unmelted pieces of chocolate melt, and the temperature drops to 80 to 82 degrees F (27 to 28 degrees C)).
- Carefully dip each center in the melted white chocolate, and gently place the truffle onto a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper to cool and harden, about 15 minutes.
- Melt the remaining 1 ounce of chopped white chocolate over simmering water in a double boiler until the chocolate is melted and warm but not hot. Stir in a very small amount of powdered red food coloring until you get a desired shade of pink. Dip a little colored chocolate out with a spoon, dot each truffle with a pink dot, and allow the pink chocolate dots to set, about 15 minutes. Place the truffles into paper candy cups to serve.
- If the filling is too thin, as it often is for me, I make the “balls” and put them in the freezer to set. In fact, I find the very solid and cold ganache is ideal for coating with chocolate, although the constant dipping of frozen centers into the hot tempered chocolate may require you to reheat the chocolate once more or maybe even twice more during the process.
- If the center is too thick, thin it out, teaspoon by teaspoon, with brandy.
- Don’t use a water-based or paste food coloring containing water to color your white chocolate pink, or the water will cause the melted chocolate to harden and turn grainy. Buy powdered food colorings at a specialty bakery shop or cake decorating supply store.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 99 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 5 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 14 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’ve been making these for the past two Or three years now. My husband and I love them. I have done some tweaking of the recipe. Most notably is that I use bag chestnuts rather than canned. This tends to leave it slightly drier which I then tweak with the addition of a little brandy. I must confess, I’m still struggling with the dipping. I cannot tell you how many screeching sessions and marbled looking confections have come out of my efforts. This year I Will get it right! I love the story behind these. I wanted them since I was little and saw them in “Amadeus” too. I did find out later that the ones in the movie were made out of marzipan which the actress playing Mozart’s wife ate, take after take, not knowing that she could spit them out . I believe it must’ve been her first movie , she ended up getting sick ??
I just made this recipe for Valentine’s Day tomorrow. I used 1 teaspoon of Brandy instead of 1/4 cup. The filling was perfect, not thin at all, so was easy to roll. I also used chopped hazelnuts instead of chestnuts. The taste was great! The only thing I would do next time is pour the white chocolate over the truffles on a cooling rack to make the coating look cleaner.
Didn’t like these.. 😛
I did not try this recipe but I wanted to thank you for the tip about the food coloring. I thought it was just that I had the stove set too high. Thanks!
TY for sharing this! I have been wanting to try this for more than 15 years, ever since I first saw them in the movie, Amadeus, haha! I appreciate the detailed directions. This is definitely a time-intensive recipe and not one for a beginner or those who are impatient. But I love it!
Rather time consuming, but delicious! Pretty too… I used fresh chestnuts and premium chocolate.
These truffles are heavenly!!! Preparing them is a little time-consuming but your efforts will be repaid. The recipe here is very detailed and easy to follow. Try to use fresh chestnuts if they are available. It gives the truffles a richer taste. For variety, add finely chopped toasted almonds or freshly grated nutmeg to the truffle mixture. Thank you, Ms. LaLeeRu!