Love and Olive Oil

Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel

Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel

I fully intended to make these for Valentine’s day.

I also fully intended to try, for the first time ever, to make my own caramel for this recipe. I swear, I only bought the jar of Trader Joe’s fleur de sel caramel sauce as a plan b, a backup of sorts in case things went horribly wrong. Which, with my cooked sugar track record, I fully expected them to.

Despite all my good intentions, it just didn’t happen. The Valentine’s part or the made-from-scratch caramel part.

Yes, I fully admit it. I cheated. I did not make my own caramel. I didn’t even attempt to. That jar of pre-made caramel sauce kept taunting me; daring me to even try and make something as good; I just couldn’t take it any more. I had to use it. I just had to.

But I hope my caramelized infidelity doesn’t make you think any less of me… or these truffles.

Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel

Because that would be a travesty, as these truffles are mind blowingly delicious. Jaw droppingly decadent. Holy heavenly rich. The dark chocolate, ganache-like filling laced with notes of creamy caramel. Coated in a snappy layer of more dark chocolate, and topped off with a sprinkle of fleur de sel, each bite is the perfect symphony of sweet and salty.

Yep, this one’s going in the favorites category for sure.

Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel

Now, I’m not saying they are easy. Even with the premade caramel sauce, it was a multi-day ordeal. My filling, when it first came out of the refrigerator, was hard as a rock. I had to re-melt it, add more cream, and then chill it again before I could even begin to shape it.

And then it was time to temper the chocolate. Which I’ve never done before. While I didn’t get it exactly right (the chocolate still needed a good chilling to firm up), I was pretty darn close. Anyone have any fail-safe tips for achieving the perfect temper… without losing your temper? Maybe when I master that I’ll finally put on my big girl panties and actually try making caramel. Maybe.

Caramel-Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel

Makes about 32. Recipe from Epicurious.

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Ingredients:

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
(you can also substitute 1 cup of pre-made fleur de sel caramel sauce, plus additional cream if necessary to achieve proper consistency)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
Additional fleur de sel

Directions:

Place 8 ounces chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.

Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, occasionally brushing sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides and swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix caramel and 1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel into melted chocolate. Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.

Place cocoa in bowl. Using 1 tablespoon truffle filling for each truffle, roll into balls, then roll in cocoa. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover; chill overnight.

Line 13x9x2-inch baking sheet with foil. Place remaining 12 ounces chocolate in medium metal bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is melted and smooth and thermometer inserted into chocolate registers 115°F. Remove bowl from over water. Working quickly, submerge 1 truffle in melted chocolate. Using fork, lift out truffle and tap fork against side of bowl to allow excess coating to drip off. Transfer truffle to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining truffles. Sprinkle truffles lightly with additional fleur de sel. Let stand until coating sets, at least 1 hour. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)

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22 Comments

  1. How much additional heavy cream did you add after adding the TJ Fleur de Sel Caramel?

  2. Mouth watering

  3. mmm, these look amazing! gorgeous photos.

  4. These look like they were a project. But I am definitely going to have to give them a go! I’ll let you know how they turn out!

  5. These look delicious and, thank you for being so honest about the fleur de sel. I relate wholeheartedly, and assure you that, as others said, it’s perfectly OK to take shortcuts sometimes, especially when there’s something out there (like that TJ’s Fleur de Sel Caramel) that is so difficult to match! (I do hope you’ll attempt to anyway, one day, and when you achieve it, will share the method/recipe . . . I am dying to learn how to make good fleur de sel caramel!). For a work party last week, I made vanilla bean mini cupcakes with fleur de sel caramel cream cheese frosting. They were divine and, I too tried my hand at the homemade caramel sauce w/ TJ’s as a backup. Suffice it to say, in the end I turned to . . the backup. :)

  6. Oh these look amazing. I’m such a sucker for chocolate and caramel, especially salted caramel.

    I have a jar of Richetti’s Burnt Caramel Sauce that I’ve been itching to find something to do with… I might have just found it!

  7. these look positively amazing!

  8. Looks sinfully delicious!

    PS. It may just be the IE browser on Windows 7 here at work, but that first picture is stretched looking on my monitor. Just a heads up!

  9. There’s no shame in buying the carmel. I’ve tried that Trader Joe’s salted carmel and it sure is good. :) These look awesome.

  10. oh, these look so lovely and perfect!

  11. These look amazing! It’s always awesome when you spend a lot of time making something and they turn out well :)

  12. Love them and there is nothing wrong with cheating every now and then. Plus that sauce is freaking amazing anyway :)

  13. Haha I love this post. And since I follow you on twitter I felt I was right there with you for the process.

  14. wow! these truffles are true beauties! i have a very simple method for tempering the chocolate: melt only about 80% of the chocolate you’re going to use and chop the remaining 20%. when you’ve melted your chocolate, take it from the heat and wait until a bit cooled (about 40°C). then add the 20%; let dissolve completely. this will bring your chocolate to the right temperature & will allow for the right crystals to form. hope that helps!

  15. Its so smooth and beautiful….Loved it :)

  16. I love making truffles and this sounds like an amazing combination. I buy Dulce de Leche in a jar all the time. The only problem is that when I don’t make it myself I don’t feel like I have as much invested in the process and I end up eating it with a spoon and it never makes it to the baked goods I intended it for. If I make the effort of cooking it for an hour I am less inclined to eat it by the spoonful.

  17. How is it that you are not 500 lbs after making all these delicious treats! Oh they look awesome!

  18. It’s totally okay to “cheat” and use pre-made things in recipes sometimes–hey if it’s a time saver, I’m all for it!

    These look delicious! Good work!

  19. Sounds amazing, but def frustrating. I’m sure this was good practice with the “cheat method”! ;)

  20. These look divine!

  21. yum!!! these look amazing!

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