The Day I Tried to Make Truffles - A Story of Disaster


One Saturday night, I  decided to skip a company party and stayed home to engage in a domestic adventure - making truffles. I found a seemingly fool-proof recipe online and I decided to try it despite my limited kitchen skills. Well, I’ve baked before and sometimes I cook dishes like pasta (Lucky Me pancit canton counts right? Oh yeah, I know how to make pesto too,  because it's so easy!) . I also know how to fry, you know  hotdogs and ham. Hehehe..but frying is my Achilles' heel. I hate waiting and so most of what I fry end up burnt beyond recognition – but I still eat it out of loyalty to myself.

I used to bake choco chip cookies back in college and feed it to my victims - usually close friends and family members. I did receive good feedback so I guess it wasn’t that bad although the consistency of my cookies are similar to brownies.

This time around – I chose truffles because it sounds nice and the recipe seemed simple and everybody goes – oh woow, you’re making truffles. Hehehe!

So that was how I ended up in our kitchen dressed like I was going to a football game with measuring cups and those cute little bottles of flavorings in front of me. I tried to be a good girl and followed the recipe, except I added an extra something which I couldn’t resist adding at the last minute – banana flavoring. I guess I should have measured how much I  placed in it but I decided to just pour the syrup freely and let it do its magic. Unfortunately – magic was the last thing it did. I placed too much of the banana flavor which made the whole thing smell so artificial. I also encountered a problem with the mixer because I couldn’t find the base that goes with the machine so I ended up mixing everything manually. At first I was glad because it provided a great tricep work-out – mixing all that heavy goey stuff in. Then I got tired. I think I only did the truffles for 30 minutes, then I got bored so I decided to stop and let it chill inside the ref.  


After two hours, the mixture was still too soft to look like a truffle. I then decided to play some computer games, then watched one of my favorite movies – Tears of the Sun. The following morning, when I woke up, I checked my truffles and it looked like chocolate icing. It was still too soft to form as a truffle! Argh, I felt so disappointed with myself and thought that I should have done some more reading about it instead of just plunging in. What was I thinking?
Feeling depressed,  I went out with my backpacking friends that afternoon and tried to cheer myself up.  I felt like a moron having messed up a simple recipe. I was actually  thinking of giving it to everyone as Christmas gifts and be known as the sporty friend who makes great chocolate truffles.

Rainbow after The Rain
When I got home, my mom advised that I should just roll it over with the peanuts I bought. I tried it but it was just so gooey, it melts in my hand. After a  little more effort with the rolling and mixing, they finally looked okay and I placed them in muffin sheets. I call them fear factor truffles after one of my former favorite shows because they look like shit. Even I cannot muster the enthusiasm to eat it.

I decided to just have fun with it and experiment with the mixtures. I did not just stop with adding peanutes to the so-called shit truffles. I came up with another odd ingredient to mix with it – crushed durian cookies which I got in Bukidnon and that’s what got me smiling. I also came up with another flavor – the super fart – which had both durian and crushed peanuts in it.


I should stop talking because this is the part where most people go – “what a weirdo!”.
Seriously though, I wonder what it tastes like because I haven’t tried them yet after adding the extra ingredients. I guess I’ll bring some to work tomorrow ...hmm.

And before I get some officemates poisoned, let me share with you two things I realized after engaging in my so-called domestic adventure:

1. I got to work on my patience.
2. I need to learn how to be graceful.

It's pretty amusing how spending time with yourself can make you internalize about the things you need to improve. :)



Past adventures

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