This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Are still looking and wondering what to get mom? Don’t buy something; make something! Making something adds that personal touch. Truffles are easy to put together and make for a stunning gift and presenting them in a chocolate bowl, all wrapped up in cellophane with a pretty bow, you’ll show mom how much you really care.
These truffles and chocolate bowl make for a stunning and unique gift and you’ll look like a pro. The chocolate bowls are made with 3 things: water balloons, chocolate and vegetable oil spray. The balloons must be washed and dried thoroughly, to get rid of any powder that may be on them. They also contain latex, so make sure you don’t let anyone eat them that has a latex allergy. The balloons are blown up to 6 to 8 inches tall. The bottoms are sprayed with the vegetable spray to ensure the balloon doesn’t stick to the chocolate bowl. The balloon is then dipped into melted chocolate and placed on parchment paper to properly set.
To achieve a ‘stand’ for the bowl, just add a little melted chocolate to the parchment paper and set the balloon in the center. If you want a fun design on the bowl, you can drizzle some white chocolate into the dark chocolate before you dip the balloon or drizzle white chocolate onto the bowl before it sets. Once the chocolate is set, pop the balloon with a pin or cut with scissors and remove the deflated balloon.
The truffles could not be easier. Simply heat heavy whipping cream until almost boiling, remove from the heat, add chocolate and instant espresso powder. The espresso powder is optional, but I like the fact that it enhances the chocolate flavor and gives it that little extra zing. Another delicious option would be to add a little mint extract to the chocolate mix. The mix is refrigerated until set and then formed into the truffles. I coated the truffles with white chocolate and pink dyed white chocolate. Tip: Once the truffles are formed, freeze them for a few minutes so they don’t melt when added to the melted white chocolate.
There are a few ways to decorate the truffles. I added pink chocolate coloring (do not use water-based food coloring) to the melted white chocolate and dipped the truffles. You can drizzle pink chocolate onto white covered truffles, drizzle white chocolate onto pink covered truffles, or drizzle dark chocolate onto white covered truffles.
A lovely way to present these as a gift is to place the chocolate bowl into cellophane bags (available at any cake supply or party supply store), arrange a selection of truffles in the bowl and tie the bag with matching ribbon. Any chocolate loving mom would be thrilled to receive such a unique and special hand-crafted gift.
Dark Chocolate Espresso Mousse Either use non-latex balloons, or check with the people eating the bowls to make sure they don’t have any latex allergies.When rolling the truffles in your hands, keep an ice pack nearby and cool your hands between rolling so the truffles don’t melt.
