Two down, three to go!

The wedding is only two weeks away now..Eeeeek!! I still have to find a new pair of shoes... I hate shoe shoppping. I'm at the stage now, that comfort is more important to me than looks... I figure who's going to be looking at my feet anyway, right? I'll just do my best to keep my feet tucked in, under my floor length dress....

My major "task" for this wedding is to make the 200 chocolate truffles for the little favour boxes that go on the table at each guests' spot. I'm happy to say I now have two batches done, and two more to go. Well, three more to go, I guess. Four batches total will give us just the right number for the boxes..... but... they are sooooo good, I figured one more batch so we can have a few to nibble on would be a good idea. I'm getting about 55 per batch. You can find my recipe here. I am using Belgian dark chocolate. After checking all around to see what was available, and comparing prices, I decided that this 400 gram bar from, of all places, WalMart, was the best choice, pricewise and flavour-wise. (currently $3.98. That's $1.00 per 100 grams- I haven't found a better price than that...) It is a good quality dark, with wonderful flavour. The other thing I really like about this bar is that each little square is 10 grams so it is very easy to calculate and cut however much more you need for the recipe; i.e. you will need to buy two bars to get enough for the recipe as you need 455 grams. My second choice would have been the President's Choice 300 gram bar of dark chocolate from Atlantic Superstore (Loblaws); it's a product of France and also verrrry tasty.
I have had a few people ask me if these are difficult to make- not at all. They couldn't be easier. Once the chocolate and butter are melted, you just add the egg yolks and flavouring, stirring well with a whisk, and put it in the fridge until it's stiff enough to handle. I have found between two and two and a half hours was about right. Having a second pair of hands is a great help. If one person (who doesn't mind sticky fingers!!) rolls them into balls, and the second person coats them with nuts or whatever, then puts them in their little cups or whatever you are using, this works really well and is much faster. My friend Gail loaned me a little scoop; it was the perfect size, and ensured that each ball was uniform in size. So that's a great tip too - I thought a melon baller might work but it is too small.
Because I'm making three different flavours (plain chocolate, chocolate almond and mint chocolate), I wanted to use three different coatings as well so they would be distinguishable, making it easier when they are being boxed. So, I'm feeling good with the job 40% done. I'll do two batches of mint chocolate early next week, and then get them all boxed and ready for the bride's mother to pick up on her way. The final batch can be done later...

Now, can someone please tell me what to do with 2 dozen egg whites?

Piece,

Linda

Chocolate is the answer- no matter what the question is...