The Truffle Case, Flavor by Flavor
The first cold mornings change what people order. In July, folks ask for ice cream before the door has shut behind them. In November they come in with their collars up, stand in front of the chocolate case, and take their time. A lot of them land on the truffles.
There are twelve of them. Here is the case, flavor by flavor, and a little about how they get made.
What a truffle is, in our hands
A truffle is two things: a ganache center and a shell. Ganache is chocolate and cream warmed together and stirred until it stops looking like two ingredients and starts looking like one — thick, glossy, slow off the spoon. Whatever gives the truffle its name goes in while the ganache is still warm. The espresso. The raspberry. The key lime.
Then it cools and firms up overnight, gets scooped and rolled by hand, and goes into tempered chocolate one at a time. That little swirl on top of every truffle is simply where the dipper lifted it out. No mold made that. Somebody’s wrist did.
Small batches, the way candy has been made in our Keystone shop since 1977.
The chocolate end of the case
The Dark Chocolate truffle is the plainest thing in the case and the hardest to hide behind. Dark ganache, dark shell, nothing on top. If the chocolate is not good, you find out immediately. People who order it tend to order it again.
The Espresso is a ganache with real espresso in it, dipped in milk chocolate, with a whole coffee bean set on top so there is no guessing. The Peanut Butter is chunky on purpose — crunchy peanut chips worked right into the center, then milk chocolate over it.
The Raspberry is a raspberry milk chocolate ganache under milk chocolate, finished with red nonpareils. The Mint gets a light green shell and a milk chocolate drizzle, which is how you spot it from across the counter. And the Bear Paw truffle is a caramel milk chocolate ganache topped with pecan pieces — our bear paw candy, more or less, in a different shape.
The white chocolate end
This half of the case is where the color is. White chocolate takes flavor differently than dark does — brighter, less of an argument — so the fruit ones live over here.
- Champagne — champagne-infused white ganache, white shell, edible gold on top. The one people buy for New Year’s and anniversaries.
- Wedding Cake — vanilla cake flavor through a white ganache, dipped in white chocolate, finished with silver glitter.
- Cheesecake — white chocolate cheesecake ganache with graham cracker crumble over the top. It tastes like the real thing, which still surprises people.
- Key Lime — key lime white ganache, pale green shell, graham cracker crumble again.
- Lemon — lemon white ganache in a yellow shell. Sharp and clean.
- Dreamsicle — orange cream ganache, orange chocolate, white drizzle. Exactly what the name promises.
You can see all twelve on the truffle page. They run $3.50 apiece.
Coffee helps
Our Hill City shop has a European-style coffee bar, and in the cold months that is half the reason people come in. Order something hot, take two truffles, sit down for twenty minutes while the car warms up. The espresso truffle alongside a dark roast is the obvious pairing. The less obvious one is the key lime with black coffee, which works better than it has any right to.
A truffle is best at room temperature. If yours has been sitting in a cold car, give it ten minutes before you eat it. The ganache softens and the flavor opens up. Cold chocolate holds back.
Where to find them
The Hill City shop at 205 Main Street is open year-round, most days through the winter. Our Keystone shop at 117 Winter Street runs spring through October, so it is closed for the season now and will open again in the spring.
If you are coming for a particular flavor, call ahead. The case is made by hand in small batches, and what is in it changes week to week. If you are not coming at all, the online shop ships anywhere in the U.S., and orders over $50 ship free.
Either way, start with the dark chocolate. Then work your way across the case over the winter. There are worse projects.