Hello Everyone..

I need help in this matter...I make my ganache, I add more chocolate than cream and butter to it, because Im trying to increase its shelf life, as I have mentioned before I will be selling at different selling point where I cannot control the temperature. If I use creamy ganache I think the chocolate wont last more than a week or a week and half, correct me on that one if Im wrong.

So my question is: when I put my inclusions to my ganache, I will be more sepcific, I add peanut butter to the ganache and then pipe it in the chocolate bonbons...when I tried the chocolate and took a bite, the feel of the ganache was crumbly and hard, not silky smooth, yummy tase...any advice??? please help! What am I doing wrong?

updated by @christine-de-massis: 04/13/15 18:47:37

I know that people only consider a truffle a truffle if it's made with cream. I have no idea how the truffles that are in boxes for ages in stores are made.

I use organic, tasteless coconut oil for meltaways. Maybe it would give truffles a longer shelf life. You wouldn't have the bulk of the cream, but you would have centers that melt in your mouth. I'm just throwing this out there. I have no idea if it would work. I don't do much with truffles.

The ganache is an oil in water emulsion. So the water/syrup phase has a lot to do with texture. Peanut butter loves to suck up moisture, and so will have a dramatic effect on texture in no time. This is why nut pastes are made into pralines where there is no water.

The oil in the peanut butter when blended with chocolate will be enough to soften the texture you look for. A basic praline is 1:1 nuts:sugar, ground, and refined. There are French, German, and other types mostly differing in if the sugar is caramelized, boiled, or just used without any heat. Then added with chocolate for gianduja. Nice soft texture, smoothness depending on how well the praline is refined. You should need no added oils.

Hi Christine, Two things, first off from what I've learned and read, if you completely seal the truffle in chocolate it should be air tight and be good for a month or more. Also if you want to extend the shelf life you could add a small amount of invertase to it and this should help as well.

For chocolate bon bons that use peanut butter or praline paste there should be more nut paste than chocolate for a smoother mouth feel. Also, you might want to explore the idea of using cocoa butter to crystallize the chocolate in your filling recipe. When you crystallize the chocolate and then quickly work in the nut paste, you trap the oils of the nut paste from migrating all over the place. I hope this makes sense. Good luck!