Chocolate Truffles

Elegant, easy and so yummy! This is a luxurious treat that is delicious far beyond its simple ingredients and preparation.

2/3 cup heavy cream
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, the best you can afford, chopped very small
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or kirsch or Kalua or Grand Marnier or what have you.
1/3 cup cocoa, again the high end stuff will make it taste even better..

Heat the heavy cream just to a boil in a small sauce pan over low heat. Move off heat and add chopped chocolate and flavorings. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is all melted and everything is blended together.

Chill this mixture until it is firm but still workable. Put cocoa powder into a soup bowl. Scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the chilled truffle mix and quickly roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the cocoa powder and set onto waxed paper in the frig to chill.

For variations, you can roll the candy in chopped nuts or coconut or if you are really ambitious, dip them into more melted chocolate....

Ceramics class met for the third time last night

The students worked on coil projects, and a couple of the advanced people did some throwing, and I gave a brief demonstration about how to make slab boxes. The got the take home assignment of designing their Treasure Box, which will be the first major project of the semester. Great group - they work hard and share and are doing a good job of being open to struggling with the process of learning new things. I trimmed up the little vases and bowl I made on Saturday. Hopefully a bisque firing will happen this weekend so that we can do some glazing next week. So much fun - I like this a lot better than teaching psychology classes! Sorta amazing - how much I have moved away from that.

2011 A Brand New Year

This semester I am teaching Ceramics, again, finally, as well as Art History and Developmental Psychology. I feel really really busy!