Chocolate Truffles

Valentine's day is right around the corner so let's sweeten the day with a box of homemade liquor chocolate truffles. They will give a perfectly light ending to any meal and surely satisfy your sweet tooth.

Ingredients
(Makes: 30 to 35 grape size truffles)
Truffle mixture:
8oz. semisweet chocolate (OR 4oz. milk chocolate + 4oz. semisweet chocolate)
1/2cup whipping cream
1/4cup unsalted butter
Flavorings:
1tsp. orange zest
1tsp. Cointreau (orange liquor)
3 tbsp. cocoa powder

1tsp. Cognac
3tbsp. any nuts(e.g. pecans, macadamia nuts, almonds)

Method
· Arrange the nuts on a cookie sheet in one layer and put them in 400-degree oven for about 10 minutes, till golden brown. (You can also do it on a stove top.). Remove from the cookie sheet. Finely chop when they are cool to handle.
· Cut the butter in small pieces and keep aside.
· Chop the chocolate. Mix chocolate and whipping cream in a glass bowl.
· Put it in the microwave for 10 seconds, remove and mix. Repeat the process for about six to seven times till the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy.
· Add the butter cubes and keep stirring till the butter is melted.
· Divide the mixture equally in two bowls.
· Add orange zest and Cointreau to one bowl.
· Add Cognac to the other bowl.
· Stir the mixtures, cover and keep in the refrigerator for two to three hours.
· Once the mixture is hard enough to handle, take a teaspoonful of mixture and roll it into a ball.
· For the orange chocolate truffles: roll the all in cocoa powder.
· For Nut chocolate truffle: roll the ball in the chopped nuts.

For each 1/2 batch of the truffle mixture, you can add followings to make different kinds of truffles.
· 1tsp. Malibu rum. 3tbsp. Sweetened desiccated coconut for rolling.
· 1tsp. Kahlua. Spoon over melted chocolate to coat truffles.
· You can also roll the truffles in orange, lemon or lime zest.
· For people who like raisin or current chocolates:
1tsp. Absolute kurant or Chambord. Add 1 dried currant or raisin while rolling the truffle into a ball and coat with melted chocolate.

Tips:
Cut the chocolate in roughly same size pieces, so they take same time to melt.
Be careful not to keep the chocolate in the microwave for more than 35 to 35 seconds at a time. Otherwise the chocolate will get scorched and you can not recover it. Every microwave has different settings so it is best to keep it for 10 seconds at a time when you are trying the recipe for the first time.
Adding the butter cubes after the chocolate is melted lowers the temperature of the mixture; further ensuring that the chocolate will not get scorched.