Toasted Coconut Truffles

This one's definitely for coconut lovers as it has both coconut milk in the filling and shredded toasted coconut as a covering. Use only sweetened coconut. To toast coconut, place in 350°F oven for about 5 minutes, or until light golden brown.

By Dede Wilson

Dede Wilson | Truffles: 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats | Harvard Common Press, 2006

“Use 100 percent coconut milk in this recipe. Brands do very in thickness, but Thai Kitchen is a widely available brand with a good consistency for this recipe. Make sure to stir it before measuring. Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate and bittersweet Callebaut are great here.” – Dede Wilson

Yield: About 90 truffles

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsps. heavy whipping cream
7 tbsps. coconut milk
1/2 vanilla bean
1 lb. white couverture chocolate, very finely chopped
Confectioner's or icing sugar
1 lb. plus 2 oz. bittersweet couverture chocolate, very finely chopped
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted
90 small fluted paper cups (optional)

Recipe Instructions

Place cream and coconut milk in a 2-quart wide saucepan; split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape all of the tiny seeds into the mixture. Whisk to blend and add vanilla bean pod to mixture. Cook over medium heat until it just comes to a simmer, stirring gently.

Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove pod, reheat to a simmer, remove from heat and immediately sprinkle white chocolate into cream. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes; the heat should melt the chocolate. Stir very gently until smooth.

Strain mixture into a shallow bowl by pressing it with a rubber spatula through a fine-mesh strainer. Cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate until firm enough to roll, preferably overnight.

Coat your hands with confectioner's sugar and roll ganache into ¾-inch balls. Place in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan and refrigerate until very firm. Pulse toasted coconut in a food processor fitted with a metal blade until chopped.

Temper the bittersweet chocolate (see instructions). Line a jelly-roll pan with aluminum foil, shiny side up, smoothing out any wrinkles, or cover pan with a piece of acetate. Dip truffles in the melted chocolate, or roll in chocolate between your palms, making as thin and even a coating as possible. Place truffles on the prepared pan. Sprinkle each truffle with a generous amount of the toasted coconut while chocolate coating is still wet. Refrigerate until firm. Place in fluted paper cups, if desired, and serve at room temperature.

Truffles - 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats | Dede Wilson | Harvard Common Press, 2006. All rights reserved.

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Photography by Jessica Washburn, Bliss Chocolatier and Ecole Chocolat