need help with a long shelf life idea... Chocolate and oil ' meltaway ' centres .

I have a client that wants me to replace the commercially produced chocolates she uses for her gift baskets with my handmade products.

thing is, she also wants the same shelf life as the ( gasp! ) lindor truffles she currently gives out.

all my centers are ganache, whipped and piped, dipped... so that's out for a start.

How about a "meltaway" ? chocolate and oil 5:1 ratio.

My query is ... should I temper the mixture to prevent graining?

would it firm up if i whipped and piped it ?

I know I could just do it and see , but wanted to hear of any experience you guys may have .

People and dumb assed long shelf life ! Gah!

I think the answers depend greatly on the details. I've had folks absolutely swear by tempering of the chocolate before mixing it with an oil. Personally, in every objective test i've ever done, i can't find evidence that's of long term textural benefit. Once you add a low saturated oil the mix, it blows up any benefits of tempering. I know this will be hotly contested, and folks - do whatever you think gives you the best results. Personally i'd save the time.

As to the ratio - again, depends on the specifics of your chocolate, it's formulation, and what oil you're planning on using. You might consider using something like a fractionated palm kernel oil for stability's sake (no one wants a rancid truffle), or you might opt for something like a canola oil with some vitamin e (antioxidant) - although truth be told i've not tested that variable, and while it makes sense that it'd work, i can not say with certainty.

If she's happy with the texture of the lindor truffle, it's not very difficult to determine how lindt's getting that by simply looking at their label 8-) while i've not had your ganache truffles (feel free to fix that by sending some to....), i think you'll be quite hard pressed to get an oil based truffle to match that of your cream based one, so be sure to manage expectations that the lindor's the target

Thanks for the response... i had a chocolate spread "balling" issue where on cooling the butter oil and chocolate mixture formed cell-shaped balls instead of a uniform smooth paste. I hadn't tempered the chocolate so thought that maybe that was a factor.

either way I was looking at oils and Grape seed was my choice .... neutral , stable . Although popular Palm Kernel oil isn't for me .

I realise that it's no comparison to cream ganache , but I wanted the melting mouthfeel and not a fondant or butter centre .

I found an organic non hydrogenated palm kernel oil I'm going to try ...