Tag: uncommon goods

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, my boyfriend and I decided to opt out of the traditional festivities this year. This is our fifth Valentine’s Day together, and neither of us felt like duking it out over Resy or OpenTable for a restaurant reservation on arguably the biggest date night of the year — been there, done that. But, we still wanted to do a little something, so when I got the opportunity to test the Make Your Own Chocolate Truffles Kit from Uncommon Goods, I happily volunteered, and we celebrated early. We’re both millennials, so we love a slightly stressful activity.

Uncommon Goods is home to many DIY kits and unique gifts. Whenever I’ve bought a present from there, it’s a hit, so I had high hopes for this kit, which shoppers can combine with the Death by Chocolate: Truffles online experience on Uncommon Goods for a total of $75. Though I’m not always the most confident baker, I thought that together we could likely figure it out.

The Uncommon Goods Chocolate Truffles Kit contains most of what you need to make a total of 36 truffles of various flavors, including a very essential thermometer. It comes with two 8-ounce bags of 55% dark chocolate chips, organic cocoa powder, organic coconut flakes, sea salt, peppermint extract, and vanilla extract, along with very detailed instructions that you can peruse here.

But there are a few things that you’ll need to purchase: heavy whipping cream or coconut cream, butter, and parchment paper. You’ll also require a 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pan or three smaller pans if you plan on making all three flavors (regular, peppermint, and vanilla). It also would be beneficial to have a cookie scoop, so you can get perfectly round truffles. I used a small spoon, and the truffles varied in size.

I started this kit with some trepidation, because making a ganache and tempering chocolate sounds scary and like part of a challenge on The Great British Baking Show. I read some shopper reviews to see if they had any hacks for making this easier. The instructions called to freeze the various ganaches after you make them, and heat the chocolate, and then cool the chocolate to 90°F. When my boyfriend and I have made meals kits together, we often get the timing wrong and end up waiting for the side to finish cooking. I knew this would probably be a problem with the truffles. Several reviewers suggested getting the ganaches in the freezer, which takes 45 minutes total, before attempting to temper the chocolate. We made the ganaches, put them in the freezer, ate some takeout pizza while they froze, and then tempered the chocolate. This made the whole process relatively stress-free.

As a huge chocolate truffles fan, I was really impressed by how delicious they were, though the regular truffles were my favorite over the peppermint and vanilla. They didn’t last long in our house. So, if you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day alternative plan, I highly recommend getting this kit — before it sells out!