Celebrator Truffles Redux

I'm making another batch of Celebrator truffles. I told my quintet about them, and I said I'd bring a bunch to our final rehearsal of the year on Friday. I wanted to try using an ounce more of beer and one less of cream to see if that would boost the beer flavor a bit more, and yet still be well balanced. I'm also going to thin out the enrobing chocolate a little bit by adding an ounce or two of cocoa butter, which will cause the chocolate to be more viscous, thus producing a thinner shell. Last time, the shell was too thick and so the balance of chocolate to the ganache filling was wrong--the chocolate overpowered the filling. We'll see how this one goes. I think I'll have about 80 or so chocolates by tomorrow night.

By the way, I stopped at Martha's, one of the best liquor/party stores in town. They have a slew of chocolates made by someone in town. I saw that they had a Bailey's/Kahlua chocolate, so I thought I'd see how it compared to my Irish Cream chocolate.

I thought there's tasted like a raisin. The balance of flavors was all wrong--the Kahlua should have been in a separate chocolate because with the mix of the two, all you tasted was alcohol and a raisiny/pruny flavor. Blech. I really don't like the decorations either. All the chocolate maker does generally is spray the inside of the molds with liquefied cocoa butter, tinted with food coloring. It looks like someone is doing a test of a spray paint can for color. I think people who see it find it interesting because it's different than what one would typically see, but there's nothing aesthetically pleasing about them, if you ask me.

I'll give the guy this: he's got a slick presentation and a good marketing plan. I think that's half the battle.