Truffle Scuffle.

For Valentine's Day I wanted to make my gentleman friend  a yummy treat. Something that would take more effort and special ingredients than, say, cookies. The answer, my friends, was truffles.

Doesn't that sound impressive and delicious? It was delicious. It was also easy. But, the results weren't impressive.

Here's what I used:

• 1 big Droste bittersweet chocolate "J" leftover from Christmas (.25 lbs)*
• 1 roll of Droste semi-sweet chocolate coins (.25 lbs)
• 1 school-milk size carton of heavy cream (half pint I believe)

Heat milk in small pot till steaming. Cut chocolate into tiny pieces with a sharp knife. Melt chocolate in hot cream. Stir. Leave in fridge for several hours to solidify.

It did not solidify, so I left the pot submerged in the snow on the porch a while. It still was pretty soft, but I tried using a spoon to make small balls anyway. (You can use a melon baller if you have one). I attempted to roll these balls in cocoa, and others in powdered sugar. They just absorbed the powder/cocoa and sat as sticky blobs in the fridge.

Finally I wised up and melted the remaining mixture back down to liquid, adding chocolate chips and powdered sugar to give it body. This helped. About a third of them turned out decent, and were given to my gentleman friend. The rest of them still tasted awesome, but looked pitiable.

I think these are a great treat because there is very little sugar. Very rich, but not too sweet. YES.

Michael Pollan (a big name in sustainable food & good eating) encourages us to eat all the junk food we want, --as long as we make it ourselves. (The chore of making it ourselves should keep us from indulging too often). So, I enjoyed the failed-but-tasty truffle rejects with a clear conscience.

*Droste is a Dutch company that makes very yummy chocolate. It is the same company St. Nicholas patronizes to bring us our chocolate initials each December.