How to make truffles

This guide was written originally for a friend of mine. I’ve cleaned it up and made it suitable for human consumption. One few thing to remember before I begin: this isn’t tempered chocolate. It will melt rapidly at room temperature.

Truffle Centers:

• 10 oz dark chocolate
• 3 oz butter
• ¹⁄₄ cup liquor of choice
• 1 cup heavy cream

Using a double boiler, melt the 10 oz of dark chocolate. The higher the cocoa mass of the chocolate, the better the centers will turn out. I try to use %70 when I can find it. Make sure to keep stirring the chocolate so it doesn’t burn. Once the chocolate has melted and is smooth, add the 3 oz of butter. Once the butter is mixed in, add the cream. Keep stirring – make sure the mixture is even.

Finally, add the liquor. I like to use Bailey’s Irish Cream or Khaluha, but I have used rum and whiskey in the past. The liquor is really for a very subtle flavor, and you should use what you like.

When it’s all mixed in properly, pour the mixture into a Pyrex measuring cup or similar heat-resistant piece of cookware. Then pop it into the freezer and wait for 4 hours.

Yes. Hours. If needed, you can keep it in there longer. The idea is to give the centers time to set up, so you can make little balls out of them in the next step…

Preparing the Centers:

Prepare a few large trays by covering them with wax paper and making sure they will fit in the fridge. You will need them in a moment. Remove the Pyrex container from the freezer, get your mellon baller out, and start making little balls. Honestly, the smaller the better (within reason).

You may need to warm the mellon baller in warm water to prevent the centers from sticking too much.

Arrange the centers you have scooped out onto the trays with the wax paper. Try to keep things as neat as possible. You can do multiple layers on a try using more wax paper, but remember that for the final steps, you will need lots of flat space in the fridge. Put the trays with the centers in the fridge. They will need to stay there for about 8 or 12 hours.

Go take a nap or something.

Covering the Truffles

Again, using a double boiler, melt a bunch of dark chocolate. I really don’t know how much, but it’s a lot, and it’s most likely going to be more than you think you need. I almost always melt too little and have to make more in the middle of this process. The other thing to keep in mind is that over time, even on a double boiler, the chocolate will start to burn. It’s slow, and you won’t really notice it at first, but it will happen, so try to work quickly.

Not too quickly, though. You don’t want your kitchen to look like a bomb site.

Once the chocolate is melted, take the trays of centers out of the fridge. Pour melted chocolate on them with a spoon – just enough to cover the centers. Your goal here is to use as little chocolate as possible, while still covering the centers. The idea at the end is that you can pop the whole thing in your mouth, or at most, two bites. It takes some practice, but it’s not impossible. Hey, I learned it. So can you.

Put the covered centers back into the fridge. About an hour later they will be ready to start eating if you’re done with this guide and sick of being in the kitchen. Make sure the dark chocolate on the outside is solid, otherwise this is going to be a mess. If you really want to work on presentation, keep reading.

If you have the desire, you can take the centers off the wax paper, flip them over, and cover the backs. This is a nice touch which I usually can’t be bothered with, but of course, my truffles aren’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. They just taste good. Other suggestions:

• Roll truffles in cocoa powder
• Put a drop of melted white chocolate on the top of each
• Put an almond or other nut on the top of each

Just use your imagination.

Guys, I’ve got a stupid pile of gmail invites, waiting to be used. If you want one, email me.

Some have rightfully asked, what is the Guru College, of which the site is named? It stems back into the ages of tradition, and into the dark annals of time, that some call University.

The Guru College was one of many splinter social groups to which I belonged. There was, early on, the Goon Squad (JP, Shaun, Dom, Casey and myself), which was dedicated to restoring order to life and to protecting our social causes – mostly to protecting the honor of our female friends though.

When the Goon Squad dissolved, the Guru College was born – again JP and myself were members, but Amber also joined the ranks. The idea of the Guru College wasn’t that we were smarter than anyone else, but that we alone had the ability in the Western world to train the gurus that sat on the top of mountains and gave advice to travelers brave (or stupid) enough to go to such great heights for knowledge.

The next group to form was the JDS – a social club to which I belonged. Again JP was a member, but he joined rather late. Current members include Mike, Jason, Evan, JP and myself. There are several other candidates for the society that may be inducted at some point in the future, but the conditions have to be right, and the initiation is rather harsh, and harsh on your liver.

Enough said, though. I think this feeble attempt at explaining what’s going on is well enough over, and I’m going to leave it as it is. Check back next time for an update on a simple question: “WHY?“

When Apple released the Mac Mini on Tuesday at the MWSF Keynote, my thoughts instantly went to two things: a computer for “the rest of world” and as a Home Theater PC. Currently, I’m living in the United Arab Emirates, and services like TiVo aren’t available here. What follows are my thoughts on how to make this work.

My requirements for a HTPC are as follows:

1. Able to play my entire iTunes music collection, including songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store
   • Able to play DVD movies and DivX content that I have legally converted from DVD’s I own
   • S-Video or Component Video output
   • Optical audio output (TOS-link, ideally)
   • A remote control, so the device can be used as a component in my home theater system
   • High speed network access for files stored on my other computers
   • As quiet as possible, as to not take anything away from the experience

At first, I thought my G5 Tower would be up to the task, at least in part, as it has Optical Audio jacks. However, it is large, hard to maneuver, and a pain to access the rear panels when something needs to be added or rewired. I had also considered a SFF Windows or Linux box, but the idea of all the extra work for something that should be simple has been delaying me for the last three months. Now, the Mac Mini has been released, and as it fits most of the base specs I needed, it seems to be my box. Additional items purchased would make the system exactly what I want and need.

Initial configuration:

1. 512 MB RAM or more.
2. Airport Extreme upgrade

(The bluetooth adapter, larger hard drive, DVD-R drive, and faster processor I don’t think would make a significant impact on the system’s ability to do what I need.)

Other Required Items:

1. M-Audio Transit for optical output
   • KeySpan Express Remote
     • VideoLAN Client for DVD and DivX playback
       • Apple DVI to Video Adapter

Upgrades that would be nice, but not required:

1. PowerMate – a jog shuttle for volume control or video scrubbing
2. A 4 port powered USB hub
3. An iSight video camera for iChat AV
4. A firewire hub
5. Extra iPod Dock

From what I can tell, with the listed items, this system would be exactly suited to my needs, but now I need to come up with a chunk of change to make it all work. And, of course, pray that Apple indeed ships the Mini on the 22nd of January and doesn’t suffer from the usual delay in shipping that has plagued them for the last several years.

A belated Happy New Years to everyone. To everyone I called early Saturday morning – I’m sorry! To everyone I didn’t call early Saturday morning – I’m also sorry, but you’re probably happier this way. Trust me. Here are some photos.

Just started playing around with NASA’s World Wind program. Apparently I’m a bit behind, according to all the posts all over the world, and the fact that I saw it on Slashdot months ago and never bothered with it, as my Intel PC was dialed into Linux at the time. Now I’ve got it up, and wow. If you’ve got a decent connection to the Internet, and a decent Windows PC (contradiction in terms?), get World Wind. It’s amazing. I’ve already found my parents house, my dorm from undergrad, and the the port of Dubai.

A set of 354 photos I took while in Russia. This was just before I went to Italy. Most of the pictures, much like the rest I’ve posted, have no indication of who is who. That might come in later, depending on what I have time for.