Easy Dark Chocolate Truffles

Name: Easy Dark Chocolate Truffles
Yield: Makes about 30
Ingredients: 1 pound bittersweet chocolate (preferably 65 percent cacao), chopped; 3/4 cup heavy cream; 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened; 2 tablespoons flavored alcohol, such as kirsch, Grand Marnier, KahlÃºa, framboise, or rum (optional); 3 cups good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

These are the easiest of all fine-chocolate confections. Once the spheres of chocolate ganache (best-quality chocolate melted with heavy cream and butter) are dusted with cocoa powder, they resemble a mushroom-type delicacy freshly dug from the earth -- the truffle from which they take their name.

Source: Martha Stewart Living, February 2005

Makes about 30

Yield

Ingredients

1 pound bittersweet chocolate (preferably 65 percent cacao), chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons flavored alcohol, such as kirsch, Grand Marnier, KahlÃºa, framboise, or rum (optional)
3 cups good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

Directions

1. Heat chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Add butter (and alcohol, if desired); stir until butter is melted.
2. Pour mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until mixture is firm but still spoonable, about 2 hours.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a very small (about 1 inch diameter) ice cream scoop (or a melon baller), drop balls of chocolate mixture onto lined sheet. Refrigerate 10 minutes.
4. Put cocoa in a large bowl. With cocoa-dusted hands, roll chocolate balls one at a time until smooth. Drop into cocoa; roll to coat.