Buying gourmet chocolate rather than just whatever is on the shelf in your local supermarket is worth it when making any chocolate candy, but especially truffles. Chocolate is available with varying darkness as well as interesting aftertastes.
You can find chocolate from milk to very bitter dark, and aftertastes ranging from fruity to nutty, spicy, or even peppery. Just to show you what I mean, browse the pages of Chocosphere
I've made this recipe using Callebaut chocolates, because I can get them from their own shop here in Calgary, but I'm sure others would do just as well.
This recipe is not difficult but has several steps. You simply count back from the day that you want to have your candy completed. Done this way, the process is actually quite simple.
Equipment beyond basic stove/microwave/saucepans: Two small cookie sheets with raised edges, or anything with a raised edge - this is just to stabilize your round candies! Sheets need to be small enough to fit both into your freezer. Plastic wrap Baking parchment or waxed paper
Chopping equipment: I suggest experimenting and finding your own combination that works for you: blender, knife, hammer, and/or rolling pin. I hate cleaning blenders so I prefer using hand tools! Small glass jar, to dissolve mint candy in cream in refrigerator Electric frying pan (optional)
Ingredients: Makes about 80 truffles, depending on their size: 12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped or broken into small chunks 12 ounces white chocolate (with real cocoa butter and vanilla), chopped or broken into small chunks 1c heavy whipping cream, divided in half about 12 very small (tiny?) candy canes or other red-striped peppermint candy, pulverized 1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil 40 ounces premium bittersweet chocolate, for dipping 1c cocoa powder, pulverized in a blender, for dusting and sprinkling - or do as I do and just mash chunks with a spoon and forget the blender - I don't care if it isn't "dust"
Directions:
Start the mint cream solution 4 days before.
Chop or crush the mint candies. I like to buy candy in bulk, and then I put the bag of candy inside another bag and hit it with a hammer until it is in chunks. I make a finely-crushed finished product by working it over with my rolling pin for a while. Put the powder in a glass container with 1/2 c of the cream.
Cover and refrigerate. Check the solution from time to time (that's why we used a glass container) and stir it a bit as well.
Step 1 done...that wasn't so hard, was it?!
Start the ganaches (chocolate and cream centers)2 days before.
Line the cookie sheets with plastic wrap, leaving enough hanging over the sides to cover the pan later. Process the milk chocolate in a blender or food processor until it becomes coarse crumbs. I find I have to stop my blender and dislodge compacted chocolate from the bottom; now you know why I prefer grating or chopping, but it's up to you. Bring the remaining 1/2 cup of cream to a boil in a small saucepan. While the blender is running pour the boiling cream through the feed tube. Within about 30 seconds, the chocolate should be smoothly melted. -Or- do it how I like to do it, just heat your cream in the top of a double boiler, take off the heat, add the chocolate and mix. If you need more heat, just put it back over the boiling water.
Without stirring or agitating unnecessarily, pour the milk-chocolate-cream mixture onto one of the plastic-lined cookie sheets. Leave to cool at room temperature for several hours.
Repeat the process for the mint white chocolate:
You'll have to carefully and thoroughly wash the milk chocolate out of the blender with hot water and detergent if you used a blender (maybe now you're understanding why I prefer not to!).
Process the white chocolate until it forms coarse crumbs. Heat or boil the mint mixture in a double boiler or small saucepan. It's ok if there are bits of undissolved mint still, you just don't want to ruin the creamy texture of your ganache with any sharp edges. That's why I like to pulverize my mints as much as I have the patience for.
Combine your chocolate and cream mixture as before. Add about 1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil (if you don't know how much mint will taste good to you, add a little at a time and taste it. Then stir or process for a few more seconds. Hopefully your white chocolate mixture is now pink.
Again carefully pour your mixture onto the other plastic-lined cookie sheet. When the ganaches are cool, fold the plastic wrap over them and allow to continue to set at least 8-10 hours at room temperature.
Step 2 done...you're halfway there, still pretty easy!
Form the truffle centers - 1 day before
First, stack the ganaches by cutting them in half and stacking them with alternate colors/flavors - the plastic wrap makes it easy to lift and flip your pieces onto each other. Press firmly on your layers with your hands so the layers stick together. Now make little balls of the mixture using a miniature ice cream scoop or, my favorite, a knife or spoon and my fingers. Remember, we're aiming for an irregular marbled effect, which I find is easier to achieve when I use my fingers. I do this step quickly so as not to make too much of a mess on my hands.
I have the layers of ganache on one cookie sheet, the other I've covered with a piece of the parchment paper or waxed paper. This is where I place my ganache balls.
Ok...practice makes perfect...aim for one swift motion, repeated until the sheet is full - put them as close together as you can without them touching each other.
Cut or scoop, roll between your hands, put on sheet. Again, and again...
Let your centers stand at room temperature at least two or three hours, until their surface is slightly crusty, not sticky, then freeze them on the parchment-lined cookie sheet. This is to make them hard enough to dip.
I like to economize - if you don't have cookie sheets small enough to fit in your freezer, put your sheets in boxes and put them outside (in winter, spring or fall) or in the coolest part of your house (mine is by the doors, or in the basement, depending on the season). I have dipped ganache at room temperature, the operative word is "quickly!"
Step 3 done - for me this is the "hardest" part, but I still think it's fun!
Dip the truffles - 3-23 hours before.
Some people like to make their couverture (dipping chocolate) with a 50-50 mixture of semisweet and bittersweet chocolate - I like mine dark! so I just use bittersweet. Chop your chocolate and put it into a microwaveable pottery bowl if this is your preferred method. (My preferred method is the electric frying pan method, but I realize that more people probably have a microwave these days.) If you bowl isn’t large enough, you can melt more after you do the first batch.
Scorching is the disaster that you want to avoid at all costs. Melt the chocolate gently, by microwaving for one minute, then 45 seconds, then 30 seconds, etc. until it is mostly melted, then remove it and stir until completely melted.
Sprinkle some of the cocoa powder on another parchment or waxed paper-lined cookie sheet or other portable flat surface.
Set up your assembly area. Take one tray of frozen centers out of the freezer. To the left or right of your tray, place first the bowl or pan of melted chocolate, paper-lined tray with cocoa powder sprinkled on it, and then the container with the remaining cocoa powder.
The reason I like to use the electric frying pan for my dipping chocolate is that should it start to thicken too much, I can simple plug it back in for a few seconds, stir, and I'm ready to dip again. Or, you can microwave for a few more seconds again.
Pick up a frozen center, drop it into the melted chocolate, roll it around with a fork, lift it out of the chocolate, shake slightly, and place gently on the powdery parchment. Using your fingers, take a very, very tiny pinch from the container of cocoa powder and sprinkle it over the top of the freshly dipped truffle. You want very little of this powder, otherwise your creamy truffle will have a gritty coating. It's pretty and it's more chocolate...I'm all for more chocolate. Repeat for all the centers. Aim for developing a rhythm and doing this quickly. Again, it’s fine to put them as closely together as you can without them touching. If you think you may run out of chocolate, stir in some more chunks of chocolate, the finer the better.
Allow to dry and set at room temperature for a few hours.
You're done!
Serve at room temperature. Ideally, store and serve at room temperature, although a frozen truffle can be a delicious summer treat. I find that, like all foods, storing in a refrigerator or freezer alters the taste and texture. For me, truffles are all about texture. The taste...well, ask someone less biased. Or just trust me, truffles are the chocolate taste to die for.
Variations:
Add an extra teaspoon or two to each half cup of cream for softer centers.
Leave your peppermint candy chunkier if you like the texture.
Try different things sprinkled on the finished truffles: left-over mint candy powder but only if it is very, very fine. Again, no grit please. Nut powder...powdered sugar...experiment!
Try something other than mint. I've used chocolate with a taste of nuttiness to it, then used some ground almonds and almond extract. How about "fruity" chocolate, citrus extract, and lemon zest on top?
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You can find chocolate from milk to very bitter dark, and aftertastes ranging from fruity to nutty, spicy, or even peppery. Just to show you what I mean, browse the pages of 
