And now to go on the complete flipside of the previous no-fuss dessert post, we have these.  Ditching frozen puff pastry and sliced apples for tempered chocolate and homemade salted caramel, let’s just call the previous post a warm up for more ambitious dessert pursuits!

My coworker and friend Dave is a home beer-brewer with his friend Jon and together they make Layger Brewhaus and annually reveal their beers at an October beer-tasting party. Beer-to-food pairing being one of my favorite gastronomic delights, I asked if I could make something to bring and pair with one of the beers. Dave said yes and naturally I drifted towards the beer that sounded the best to me, the hazelnut amber. And since I love pairing chocolate with beer, I thought the idea of a salty-sweet truffle (kind of like playing off pretzels with beer) paired with a warm, rich beer would be awesome.

And it was.

Making these was a trial. The original recipe I tried to use was just terrible so I ended up using Ina Garten’s method for caramel and then combining the Bite-Sized Dessert recipe with another off of Epicurious. I won’t even detail how many times I had to make the caramel before I got it right (6! I wish I was kidding!) but once I got that out of the way, it really was a breeze and just time consuming more than anything.  Thankfully they were totally worth it because the inner texture is rich and thick like any good truffle, and the outer shell has that perfect semi-hard snap before biting in. Combined with the lightly salty caramel and the few topping grains which melt in your mouth as you devour the truffle, they really are a special treat to be savored. And shared!

Salted Caramel Bittersweet Chocolate Truffles

Based VERY loosely on the recipe from Bite-Sized Desserts and Epicurious.

Makes about 5 dozen 1-inch truffles.

I don’t have a bowl that can function as a double boiler so I had to temper my chocolate using stages and a microwave, and it still worked fine. Only a few of my truffles were streaky and that’s because I had to reheat my dipping chocolate a few times as it cooled over the process.  Also, I can’t stress getting the best chocolate possible for this type of dessert. I mean, this is the equivalent of biting into the chocolate you buy, so you want it to be the best possible. Same goes for the salt. None of my grocery stores carry fleur de sel so I just got a really nice sea salt that I knew would look good sprinkled on top as well, so you can go that route.

Ingredients

• 18-20 ounces bittersweet chocolate (62% to 72% cacao content), finely chopped, divided (I got two 9.7 ounce bars of Scharffen Berger 62% chocolate for this and it worked perfectly).
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 4 TBL water
• 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• ¾ teaspoons fleur de sel or other fine-grained sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder for rolling

Directions

1. Place half of the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized mixing bowl and either melt over a double boiler or in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring well after each round until the mixture is silky smooth. Set aside.
2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan and bring to a low boil. Keep hot while you make the caramel.
3. Heat a medium-sized saucepan over high heat. Add the sugar and water and keep swirling the pan. Do not walk away. Once it begins to boil, keep swirling to prevent the caramel from sticking to the sides. The bubbles will begin to get bigger and slow down, and after about 5-6 minutes, the mixture should start to smell like caramel and turn amber. Remove from heat IMMEDIATELY and pour in the hot cream. Be careful – it will boil and splatter.
4. Stir in the sea salt and keep stirring until the mixture is incorporated and thick. If you have chunks of caramel just keep stirring until smooth.
5. Make sure your chocolate is still warm and slowly pour the caramel into the chocolate using a whisk. The mixture should thicken, but still be stirrable. Cover and chill until firm, about an hour.
6. Once the truffle mixture is completely cooled, line 2 baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper. Using a teaspoon measurement, scoop out the truffles, roll them into balls, and place them on a baking sheet. Chill uncovered for 20 minutes.
7. Pour the cocoa powder into a shallow bowl and set aside.
8. Remove a handful of the remaining chopped chocolate and set aside. Melt the rest of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or again in the microwave. Slowly add the reserved chocolate in 3 parts, tempering it so you won’t have streaks later.
9. Line a baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper and keep the chocolate warm either in a water bath or over a very low double boiler.
10. Roll each truffle generously in the cocoa and then roll in the melted chocolate, coating completely. Lift out with a fork and gently tap on the side of the bowl to remove excess.  Gently roll off the fork onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and let set.
11. After dipping 5 truffles at a time, sprinkle a few grains of the remaining salt on top of each. Let the truffles set at room temperature or place them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
12. Serve the truffles at room temperature with Layger Brewhaus Witch Hazelnut Amber Ale.

Note on storing the truffles: Store the truffles between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 1 month. To freeze up to 2 months, wrap the container tightly in several layers of plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Use a large piece of masking tape and an indelible marker to label the contents. If frozen, defrost the truffles overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

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