A treasure of truffles unfolded at the 24th Annual Holiday Wine & Arts
Festival.

The Resort at The Mountain hosted the event Nov. 16 and 17 – a fundraiser
for The Oregon Humane Society.

Nestled among the wine, paintings, jewelry, crafts, and adorable kittens
seeking homes, were truffles – delicious and irresistible confections
handcrafted by Smitten Artisan Truffles of Portland, owned by Vanessa Holden
and Otho Bel.

A truffle making demonstration by co-owner Bel revealed that rolled truffles
are not that hard to make, and a perfect palate pleaser for the holiday season.
Who doesn’t love chocolate, and a homemade gift is sure to delight anyone on
your list.

“Truffles were named after the fungus that they resemble,” explained Bel as
the hands-on demonstration got underway. “They are traditionally balls of
ganache rolled in dark cocoa powder.”

Ganache is a mixture of heated cream and chocolate and used for fillings in
truffles, pastries or as a glaze.

“These rolled truffles only have a shelf life of about three days so they should
be eaten today,” Bel said.

The audience present at the demonstration enthusiastically complied by
consuming the confections after the cocoa rolling part. The brief shelf life did
not pose a problem.

“Truffles can also be made with a hard shell to preserve the ganache
longer,” Bel explained. “And you can add flavoring to the ganache, such as
raspberry or other berry flavoring, whatever you wish.”

If you missed the hands-on demonstration at the festival, here is how to make
your own rolled truffles:
Ingredients for the ganache to make about 50 truffles (this recipe is
approximate, as the size of the truffle varies, but as a ratio, use twice the
amount of chocolate to cream):
2 cups of chocolate (Smitten uses Belgian chocolate with 60 percent cacao)
chopped or you can use chips.
1 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla
Cocoa powder

Warm the cream and vanilla in a bain marie (also known as a double boiler) to
just before boiling point making sure you keep stirring all the time. Add the
broken up pieces of chocolate to the hot cream. Let it sit for about 15-30
minutes, then whisk until smooth. You now have ganache. Chill the ganache
until firm. Roll spoonfuls of ganache into balls and roll around in the cocoa
powder until covered.

Voila, a truffle. The ultimate in chocolate decadence.

No time to make your own truffles? Smitten Artisan Truffles can be reached at
www.smitten-truffles.com, 503-265-9132.