Are you wondering what can you make at the moment when there is no flour, yeast, etc. left in the supermarket? How about some delicious Bailey´s Chocolate Truffles? All you need is chocolate, double cream and Bailey´s – all ingredients that you should be able to get even in these desperate, COVID-19 times…
Chocolate and Bailey´s. Could one ask for anything better?
If you do have some other baking ingredients in the house, then make sure you check out my Self-Isolation Baking Bucket List!
Super easy to make…
These Bailey´s Chocolate Truffles are really easy to make – and they taste so good! All you need is 3 simple ingredients and you are good to go! And if you don´t want to add the Bailey´s, all you need is chocolate and cream!
Despite using a fair amount of Bailey´s in this recipe, the truffles don´t have an over-powering taste of the alcohol – so don´t worry about that!
The basics of making a chocolate truffle…
These Bailey´s chocolate truffles are made with the same base all truffles are made of – ganache. Ganache is a mixture of double cream and chocolate, that can also be used in cake decorating.
Such a ganache usually calls for a one-to-one ratio of chocolate to cream, so that you get a smooth, spreadable consistency. In order to make chocolate truffles, you want a firmer mixture that can be rolled into balls, so you use a ratio of 2:1 chocolate to cream.
To read more about working with chocolate, you can check out my second baking basics post on How to Master Chocolate.
Do I have to use Bailey´s?
Of course, you don´t have to use Bailey´s to make these chocolate truffles. I NEVER drink alcohol, I just don´t like it, but the only thing I do enjoy is Bailey´s for whatever reason (probably because it´s mainly cream, haha…).
As it is mainly cream, I have used a 50:50 ratio of double cream to Bailey´s to make these Bailey´s Chocolate Truffles. If you want to leave it out, simply use 150ml of double cream instead of only 75ml.
If you´d prefer adding other types of alcohol to these truffles (e.g. rum or whiskey), stick with the 150ml of double cream and add 2 tbsp of the alcohol to the cream whilst you are heating it. Do not add it to the chocolate/cream mixture later and it may cause the chocolate to split (or seize, which would be the more “professional” term…).
Alternative Decorations
When it comes to decorating, you can be a creative as you like! I really enjoy making chocolates and decorating them!
You can, of course, alter the chocolate you use to decorate these chocolates with (I´m just a sucker for dark chocolate). For example, you could coat them in milk or white chocolate and use a different type to drizzle! Or, if you can´t be bothered, just leave out the drizzle! This recipe is very versatile, and you can adapt it in any way you choose!
If you don´t want to coat these chocolate truffles in chocolate at all, you could also simply roll the truffles in some cocoa powder. That would be the easiest and fastest option!
More recipes
Chocolate and Bailey´s are a fantastic flavour combination! I also absolutely adore the combination of chocolate and orange! If you do, too, then make this amazing Bailey´s Chocolate Orange Trifle – it is absolutely heavenly!
For a more classical trifle, why not give my Classic Easy Trifle a try – it´s the most popular recipe on this blog which speaks for itself! A different dessert that you could try and would certainly be improved with a splash of Bailey´s in the cream is my Italian Tiramisu! Finally – this dessert will go down a storm at any party: A Chocolate Pavlova topped with Bailey´s Whipped Cream – FANTASTIC!
Bailey´s Chocolate Truffles
Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE TRUFFLES:
- 300g dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 75ml Bailey´s Irish Cream
- 75ml Double Cream (or 150ml if you´d like to omit the Bailey´s).
TO DECORATE:
- 150g dark chocolate
- 50g white (or milk) chocolate
- freeze-dried strawberries (optional)
Method:
- Start by very finely chopping the 300g of dark chocolate. It´s important to chop the chocolate into small pieces so that it will melt once you pour in the cream. Place the chocolate into a heatproof glass bowl.
- Next, gently heat the double cream and Bailey´s in a small pot until just below boiling point.
- Then quickly pour the cream over the chocolate and then place a large plate on top of the bowl to cover.
- Leave to sit for a few minutes, which will give the chocolate time to melt. Then stir with a wooden spoon to mix the chocolate and cream until there are no more lumps and you have a lovely, smooth ganache.
- Leave the ganache at room temperature (don´t put it into the fridge) to let it harden.
- Once the ganache is firm, you can start rolling small amounts of the ganache into your chocolate truffles. If you want to get all of the truffles exactly the same size, you can use scales to weigh the mixture. I aimed to get my truffles to about 18-20g each.
- Once you have rolled all of your ganache into balls, place them on a plate and leave them to chill in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight.
- To decorate, break 100g of the dark chocolate into a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl isn´t touching the water. Gently stir until all of the chocolate has melted.
- In the meantime, finely chop the remaining 50g of chocolate.
- Once the chocolate in the bowl has melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the remaining 50g of chopped chocolate. This will cool down the chocolate, also known as “tempering”, making sure it reaches the correct temperature, allowing it to harden later whilst keeping an amazing shine!
- Remove the chocolate truffles from the fridge. This next bit can get quite messy, and you can use any technique you like to coat the truffles in the melted chocolate you like! I tend to do a mix of dipping (I like to put the truffles on a skewer), spooning chocolate on top with a teaspoon and also just getting my hands in there… There is no “clean” way of doing it (in my experience at least… Plus it makes it more fun!). Set the chocolate-coated truffles onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper to dry.
- The chocolate should set quite quickly, so once you have finished with the coating, you can move on to making the white chocolate drizzle.
- Again, chop the white chocolate into small pieces and melt in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. You need to be very careful when melting white chocolate, as it can very quickly go hard if you let it get too warm.
- Once melted, pour the white chocolate into a piping bag (or a freezer bag). Snip off a small corner of the bag and drizzle the white chocolate over your chocolate truffles. If you like, you can quickly sprinkle on some freeze-dried strawberries before the chocolate sets.
