Prep Time:: 1 hr
Cook Time::10 mins
Total Time:: 1 hr 10 mins
Servings::24
Yield::24 truffles
Ingredients
⅓ cup white sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
14 ounces whole chestnuts
1 pinch salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup brandy
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
⅓ cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk, or as needed
paper candy cups
1 drop red food coloring, or more as needed
Directions
Cream sugar and butter together with a spatula until light and creamy. Set aside.
Heat an inch of water in a pot set over low heat. Melt dark chocolate in a heat-proof bowl placed over the pot. Stir with a small spatula.
Place chestnuts in a food processor; pulse on and off until very finely ground. Add chestnuts to the sugar-butter mixture and stir until combined. Add salt, cayenne pepper, vanilla extract, and brandy. Stir well. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix again until filling is well blended.
Scoop filling onto a silicone-lined baking sheet and smooth out if necessary. Cover the balls in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the white chocolate coating.
Reserve about 20% of the white chocolate to stir in later. Melt the rest in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water until an instant-read thermometer inserted in to the chocolate reads 105 degree F (41 degrees C). Add the reserved white chocolate and stir until melted.
Place 1 chocolate truffle on a fork and hold it up above the white chocolate coating. Spoon on the white chocolate until ball is well coated. Use another fork to push the truffle onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining truffles and coating. Place the bowl of coating back over hot water if it chocolate starts to harden.
Mix confectioners' sugar with enough milk to make a very thick paste that will hold together well. Dye it pink with red food coloring. Transfer into a piping bag and pipe a small dot on top of each truffle. Serve truffles in paper candy cups.
Chef’s Notes
If you must substitute for the chestnuts, another nut (like almond or hazelnut) should work about the same, especially when you consider your guest(s) will be fairly distracted by the eye-opening appearance.
Substitute cognac for the brandy if you prefer.
You can easily make the filling ahead of time, freeze it, and add the coating at any time.
This is more white chocolate than you need for coating, but that's how this stuff works. Just eat the rest.