Kentucky bourbon truffles

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.04
  
       Title: Kentucky Bourbon Truffles
  Categories: Candies
       Yield: 24 Truffles
  
     1/2 lb Dark semisweet chocolate*
     1/2 c  Heavy cream
   1 1/2 tb Finest Kentucky bourbon
            Droste cocoa or
            Shaved chocolate Drayettes
  
   *Callebaut, Lindt, Tobler or any fine imported
   chocolate.
   
   Break chocolate into small pieces.  Combine it with
   the cream in the top of a double boiler over simmering
   hot water (not boiling).  Stir the chocolate and cream
   constantly until chocolate has melted and ganache is
   smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool.  When the
   ganache has cooled, stir in bourbon.
   
   Pour the mixture into a small bowl.  Cover with foil
   and refrigerate overnight or several days if desired.
   
   When ready to make the candy, line a baking sheet with
   foil.
   
   Working with a small amount of the ganache at a time,
   using about 1 1/2 tsp. each, form into balls.  Place
   them on the sheet.  (Work quickly, using your
   fingertips and not the palm of your hands to help keep
   the mixture from becoming overly soft.)
   
   Keep the chocolate balls cold, if possible, by placing
   them a few at a time on a tray in the refrigerator.
   Leave the chocolate balls lightly covered in the
   refrigerator for several hours or overnight, if
   desired.
   
   Sprinkle a pastry sheet with cocoa or chocolate
   shavings or Drayelle. Roll each ball into the cocoa or
   shavings, covering them well. Refrigerate at once and
   leave until the truffles are quite firm - several
   hours or overnight.
   
   Place each truffle in a fluted silver or paper cup in
   a tin box and keep refrigerated.
   
   Serve very cold.  Will keep several weeks under
   refrigeration.
   
   Glenn writes: "All the world loves chocolate, and
   chocolate truffles are the world's most luscious
   trompe l'oeil.  We have no clue as to the name of the
   clever cook who first created these candies so
   beautifully camouflaged in the shape of a truffle, but
   it would be a very safe bet that he was a Frenchman -
   and from truffle country.
   
   "In contrast to most hand-dipped chocolates, which, to
   a great extent belong in the province of the
   professional candy maker and should look precisely
   turned out, chocolate truffles are supposed to look
   somewhat rugged.  If they looked too neat and evenly
   rounded, they wouldn't resemble their namesake - the
   knobbly real-life Perigord truffle.
   
   "No pig is needed to sniff around in the deep forest
   of the Perigord to find where these truffles grow!
   All one needs is a small kitchen space, a
   double-boiler of sorts, a spoon or two, a baking
   sheet, and a cold spot to let the candy chill."
   
   "In every phase of the culinary arts, flavor is
   everything; and premium ingredients must be used to
   achieve the subtle counterpoint of flavors that are
   possible with the candies given here.
   
   "The ideal way to store or to prepare truffles as
   gifts is to place each one in a tiny fluted silver or
   paper cup made for the purpose, then fit them in
   single layers in a tight tin box.  Wrap the box as
   happily as you wish.  Few gifts could say 'Have a
   Merry Christmas!' any better.
   
   "Bourbon whiskey has a great affinity for chocolate;
   however, no whiskey or liqueur can be added directly
   to any chocolate; it hardens it beyond repair.  In
   using liqueurs when making chocolate candies,
   frostings, etc., the alcohol must be combined with
   cream first.  The French call the combination of
   chocolate and cream a 'ganache' and that is the base
   of many candies, especially truffles."
   
   From Camille Glenn's 12/01/93 "Flavor to Taste" column
   called "Visions of Sugarplums: These Truffles and
   Candies Just Shout 'Merry Christmas'" in "The
   (Louisville, KY) Courier-Journal."  Pg. C1. Typed for
   you by Cathy Harned.
  
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