Bacon Chocolate Truffles (and Bacon Brittle)

As some of you may know, meat takes up the bottom 2/3 of my my lovely boyfriend Adam's personal food pyramid (pie takes up the remaining 1/3). So, for Valentine's Day last year, I made him chocolate covered caramelized bacon, which was very popular (perhaps I'll share that recipe in the future). This year, I decided to keep up the trend with bacon chocolate truffles. 



The bacon chocolate truffles come from a recipe from Carri Thurman, via Michael Ruhlman's blog, with some of my tweaks and my own bacon brittle spinoff. I have to say from the outset that the chocolate dipped truffles are beautiful, but not very bacon-y. The ones rolled in bacon brittle powder are more bacon-y, and the chocolate dipped bacon brittle is very tasty and quite bacon-y if that's what you're going for.

Sorry veggies and vegans, this recipe is not for you (however, assuming the chili that's on the stove right now turns out okay, I promise a great vegan chili recipe later this week). Veggies, it is quite easy to skip the bacon cream infusion and replace the bacon fat with butter if you want a vegetarian truffle, though that kind of defeats the purpose of this recipe.

Ingredients

Truffle Centers
1/2 pound bacon (preferably applewood smoked)
1/4 cup alcohol (brandy, whiskey, etc)

1/4 cup water
1.5 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1.5 pounds semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
Truffle Coating

3 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup reserved bacon fat (or 1/2 cup butter/vegetable shortening)

Bacon Brittle
1/2 pound finely chopped and cooked bacon (you can re-use the bacon left over from making the centers above)
1 cup demarera sugar (brown sugar could be subbed in here)
1/2 cup water

1 tsp baking soda

Equipment
Medium saucepan
Wooden spoon
Whisk
Sieve/strainer
Non-stick sauté pan
Small or medium-sized bowl
2 sheet pans lined with parchment paper/silpats
Pyrex baking pan

Silicone spatula
Fork
Truffle cups (small paper cups like mini cupcake liners)

Larger paper cups or cupcake liners for the bacon brittle

Large microwave safe bowl

Food processor (optional)

Instructions

1. Slice the bacon strips in half lengthwise and then into thin slices (about 1/4 inch wide or smaller). Fry in the saucepan over medium heat until very crispy.

2. Place the sieve over a medium bowl and pour bacon over it to strain off the bacon bits from the fat. Retain the bowl of bacon fat for the coating.

3. Return the bacon bits to the saucepan, turn the heat to medium, and add the alcohol and water. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the liquid is burned off.

4. Add heavy cream and kosher salt to the pan and bring just to a boil. Turn off the heat and let sit 20 minutes for the bacon to infuse into the cream. After 20 minutes, turn the heat back on to a light simmer to thoroughly reheat it.

5. Evenly spread the chocolate chips over the bottom of the Pyrex baking pan. Pour the cream through a sieve to catch the bacon bits (save those for the bacon brittle) and over the chocolate chips. Let sit for about 5 minutes to melt. [If your chocolate doesn't melt, as mine didn't, just use a spatula to scrape the cream and chocolate mixture back into the saucepan and reheat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn, until the chocolate is melted, then scrape back into the baking dish.]

6. Whisk the mixture to make sure it's smooth. Refrigerate until solid.

7. While you're waiting for your chocolate filling to chill, make the bacon brittle. Take the bacon bits left over from making the infused cream and put into a saucepan along with the demarera sugar and water. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium high heat until the sugar is melted and the mixture gets very bubbly (about 3 minutes).

8. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Stir together quickly (you will see the mixture getting thick and opaque).

9. Quickly scrape out the mixture onto one of the parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets and spread out to a relatively thin layer using the back of your spatula.

10. Let the mixture cool completely (about 10 minutes). Break about half of it into small bits and pulse in a food processor until you get a fine crumb/powder mixture. Break the other half into larger chunks (about 1.5x1.5 inches) to save to dip in chocolate.

11. When your truffle filling is firm, take it out of the fridge and scoop into balls (using a melon baller, small ice cream scoop, or strong spoon to get a properly sized chunk of filling and then shaping into a ball with your clean hands). If the chocolate is too hard to scoop (which mine was after chilling overnight), let warm up for about half an hour or muscle through it. The directions say to re-freeze the centers before coating, but I skipped this step and mine turned out fine.

12. If you want to coat your truffles in bacon brittle powder, take the centers and roll them in the powder to coat, pressing it into the sides so it sticks. Place the rolled truffles in cups. If you want to coat some or all truffles in chocolate, read on.

12. Melt 3 cups chocolate and 1/2 cup reserved bacon fat in a large Pyrex measuring cup or other large microwave safe bowl [Many recipes will tell you to melt chocolate in a double boiler setup over the stove. This is entirely unnecessary - you can melt chocolate easily in the microwave. To do so, heat in 30 second bursts, then stir to combine melted and unmelted bits, and repeat until the chocolate is just melted (it will look unmelted when you first start stirring, but then as you stir the bits will melt and combine).]

13. Drop the formed truffle centers one at a time into the melted chocolate. Use a fork to stir around so all the sides are coated. Then scoop up the center, tapping off the excess chocolate on the side of the bowl. Slide off the fork onto the other baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. If there is a gap in the chocolate coating where the fork was, drizzle a little extra chocolate over it and use the fork to even up the covering. While the chocolate coating ss still melty, sprinkle with the bacon dust. Let cool completely before carefully peeling off the parchment paper and placing into truffle cups. 

14. Dip any reserved pieces of bacon brittle in melted chocolate, submerging entirely or only half, depending on your preference. Place on parchment paper and cool completely before removing and placing into larger paper liners.