Baked NYC Chocolate Almond Truffles

Baked is a well known bakery that is located in NYC. I first heard about them from the Oprah show, for their famous brownies. She recognized their brownies as a "favorite thing".

They has been featured on the Martha Stewart Show, the Today Show, the Food Network, and the Style Network.  Baked has also received awards from Time Out, French Culinary Institute, Citysearch, and America's Test Kitchen.  

Their first book, Baked:  New Frontiers in Baking was published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang in October 2008, and became a best-seller and was a favorite of NPR, People Magazine, Martha Stewart and Oprah.

So when I came across their book in the library, I couldn't resist to not borrow it and try their recipes.

The first thing that I tried, happened to be these truffles. Just because I had all the ingredients in my kitchen :) These truffles are to die for!...they are super yummy and they are easy to make...a little messy but very worth the mess and the calories!

So here goes the recipe:

Milk/Dark Chocolate Almond Truffles

For the truffle centers:

8 ounces milk chocolate (you can also use dark chocolate)

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1tsp almond extract or Amaretto liqueur

For the truffle coating:

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

Tempered milk/dark chocolate

To make the truffle centers:

• Place the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. 
• Place a fine-mesh sieve or strainer over the bowl and set aside.
• In a medium-sized, heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the cream just to a boil. Add the almonds, cover the saucepan, and turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer the almonds in the covered saucepan for 20 minutes.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat, and pour the cream through the sieve directly over the chocolate. Let the mixture sit for 2 minutes.
• Gently stir the mixture from the center outward until it is smooth and shiny.
• Add the almond extract or liqueur and stir to combine. Cover the entire bowl in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 5 hours or until firm.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Scoop the truffles with a small melon baller or tablespoon, and drop onto parchment paper in balls. (it's okay if they are not perfectly round)
• Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Rolling the truffles:

• Place the almonds on a large plate.
• Remove the truffles from the freezer and use fondue fork to dip each truffle in the tempered chocolate.
• Drop the truffle in the almonds and turn to coat with almond pieces.
• Put the almond-coated truffles on the baking sheet to set.

Notes: For more variety, you can coat these truffles with icing sugar or chocolate sprinkles. Of course I found the almond coating was the best.

Truffles can be store in an airtight container, between layers of wax paper for up to 1 week.

Happy baking!