There are some recipes you see online that you'll not hesitate to use it. For me, I like choosing recipes by its author and one of them whom I like very much is Ina Garten. I guess she's pretty well-known among food bloggers because of her cookbooks, Barefoot Contessa. People say The Pioneer Woman is their hero, well, Ina Garten is mine! :D

Her recipes are extremely straightforward and contains no complicated ingredients! I find following her recipes impossible to go wrong. So when I decided to make chocolate truffles (to clear my leftover heavy cream), I was very delighted to find hers in the food gallery.

In fact, I'm actually not a chocolate person - I don't enjoy chocolates alone, I like chocolate cookie, chocolate cake, chocolate icecream, chocolate tart. But Ina's chocolate truffles were wonderful. I love how firm and bittersweet they are.

It's my first attempt at truffles so I wouldn't dare claim them to be the "BEST" homemade truffles, but trust me, I'd definitely make truffles again because I enjoyed these. It's extremely chocolatey and rich. If there's any adjustment I'd make the next time, it's to roll them into smaller spheres ;)

I substituted hazelnuts with pistachios because I happen to have whole pistachios at home (and only ground hazelnuts at home).

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles
by Ina Garten via Sweet Tooth

1 cup hazelnuts
3.5oz bittersweet choc, chopped (I use 72%)
3.5oz semisweet choc, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1-1/2 tbsp hazelnut liqueur (I omitted)
1 tbsp prepared coffee (I used 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Coarsely chop the nuts and toast them lightly in the oven.

Boil the heavy cream then pour into the bowl of chocolates. Whisk until combined then stir in the remaining ingredients. Cover and chill for 45 minutes until pliable or firm enough to scoop.

With a small ice-cream scoop, make dollops of the chocolate mixture and place them on a baking sheet. Chill for another 45 minutes until firm enough to roll into spheres. Roll them in the chopped nuts then chill in the fridge again.