Peanut butter chocolate truffles

Dad stopped by on his way through town this evening, so I invited Hally, Sara, and Annie over to join us for dinner. Gage and I have taken a few cooking classes over the past several weeks and we were putting together a Greek salad, spanokopitas, and baklava. Even though it didn't really match the rest of the evening's food, I decided to try making a peanut butter chocolate ganache for truffles to send home with everyone.

Here is what I used to make the peanut butter chocolate ganache filling:



* 10 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
* 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the ganache, put the chocolate and peanut butter into a heatproof bowl and set it aside. Pour the vanilla extract and the cream into a saucepan over medium heat and bring it to a simmer (don't leave--it only takes about three minutes). Then pour the cream over the chocolate mixture and let it all sit until chocolate is mostly melted--about two minutes. After that, stir the mixture until the everything is completely melted and smooth. Set it aside for several hours at room temperature, until it is the consistency of peanut butter.

Once cooled, put the ganache into a pastry bag and pipe it onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Move them to the fridge for an hour to really firm up. Then it's time to do the final coating; dip them in melted chocolate and roll them in cocoa powder, toasted nuts, sprinkles...whatever sounds good. The finished truffles can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for a couple of months.

I toasted almonds and macadamia nuts for these. This recipe makes a pretty big batch of ganache, so I had enough to serve and still ended up putting a lot of them in the freezer.