I Don't Trifle About Truffles

The earliest photo of me hand rolling truffles (2016, just before opening Queer Chocolatier).

In 2004, I made my first batch of truffles and, as I guess they say, the rest is history.

Or, rather, it’s has been my past, present, and future.

During farmers markets and Pride events this year, when I’m speaking with new customers, I will share with them that I’ve been making truffles for 21 years now and that my truffles can officially go to a bar and get a drink!

Around a year ago, I roughly calculated how many truffles I’ve made since opening Queer Chocolatier in 2017. And, if I’m conservative, I could say that from 2004-2017—prior to launching the business—I made around 10%-15% of the number of truffles I’ve made as the owner of QC.

Me, working on a truffle flavor menu board at Queer Chocolatier at the Murray Building in 2017.

That would mean, in total, I’ve hand-rolled nearly 90,000 truffles!!!

!!!!

A few months ago, I decided to reflect and list out how many flavors I’ve made this whole while.

Over the course of this decades-long truffle journey, it turns out I’ve made sixty (60) truffle flavors! At least the ones I can remember…

And now I’m gonna blog about them!

Some have been around since the beginning, some are newly-developed flavors, and others were one-batch flavors for either ephemeral reasons or they were just not particularly good other than lessons learned…

I can also say that I’ve gotten better with my technique at making them but I know I still have some efficiency improvements to make in the future.

I think that’s a good mark of an artist, too. The notion of self-recognition balanced with room to grow.

Without further ado, here is the entire lineup of truffles that I’ve ever made since 2004:

Early Flavors (2004-2017)

Many of these flavors were my first culinary creations altogether. I didn’t grow up cooking food and it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s before I even started being curious about food. I used my new love of making truffles to springboard into other desserts, then other foods, then into issues related to food justice. I cannot overstate the impact making truffles made on my life trajectory. And, because of that deep love and sense of purpose, there’s a bit of pride I feel in looking back on lots of these initial flavors and seeing that they still connect with me and with my customers after all these years!

A simple Bittersweet truffle began a love affair between me and chocolate.

1 - Bittersweet

The very first truffle I made. Simple and clean. Chocolate, heavy cream, butter, cocoa powder. The foundational truffle in the current Queer Chocolatier line-up.

What I love about this truffle: You never forget your first love, but at first bite, I instantly knew the potential of what truffles could be. Textures, flavors, aromas, the world of chocolate was ahead of me from this jumping off point. But more than that, the Bittersweet truffle allows me to enjoy the pureness of chocolate and to slow down and be curious enough to explore its nuances and delicacy.

2 - Orange

A splash of orange extract to go with the dark chocolate was my initial experiment into flavor and that flavor is right up my alley. Bright, cheerful, it reminded me of a sunrise.

What I love about this truffle: Orange is one of my favorite flavors in general and when I made this truffle, I was just beginning to find “fancy” chocolate bars. One that I really liked back then was an orange spice bar from Green & Blacks and this was my first effort to mimic making foods I enjoyed eating.

My personal favorite, Lavender Menace. It’s between this, Cinnamon Chipotle, and Pistachio Rosewater, but truly, it’s Lavender Menace.

3 - Lavender Vanilla Menace

Aromatic, floral, rich, exotic, polarizing. It was my first time infusing cream with a flavor to go into a ganache. All-time favorite!

What I love about this truffle: Lavender Menace started off as Lavender Vanilla but when I opened Queer Chocolatier, I needed some gay-@$$ truffles and changed the name. I love how this truffle makes me relax no matter my mood and how I get to talk a little bit about queer history whenever I introduce this flavor to anyone new.

Making this truffle is the only time I am okay with the smell of something burning in my kitchen!

4 - Burnt Caramel w/ Sea Salt

Salty and sweet and indulgent. A classic with a twist. Approachable but still sultry and mysterious.

What I love about this truffle: I found this truffle delicious from first go but as it became the best-selling truffle for QC, I found my inner hipster starting to turn my own nose up at it but when I eat one, I remember how much I do adore this truffle. The wisdom of crowds holds up here very well in celebrating the Burnt Caramel w/ Sea Salt truffle!

A playful and adventurous exploration of spice and chocolate that makes perfect sense.

5 - Cinnamon Chipotle

Warm, tingly, smoky, lingering. Doesn’t push boundaries as much as gives them a little nudge.

What I love about this truffle: I woke up one morning in 2005 or 2006 thinking “I’d like to make a hot chocolate. Not a drink but a spicy chocolate” and what I developed was the Cinnamon Chipotle truffle. The flavor of one truffle carries me through for hours and makes for an amazing drinking chocolate if I have any truffles leftover!

A delightful way to celebrate the cold months of the year!

6 - Peppermint (Dark Chocolate)

Winter-inspired, fresh, and leaves you feeling like you could see your breath when you exhale after eating.

What I love about this truffle: Mint and chocolate are a traditional combination. And I love candy canes, so the flavor of peppermint is really what motivates me in making the Dark Chocolate Peppermint truffles specifically. In my former shop, I used to finish these truffles off in crushed candy canes, but now I simply dust them in cocoa powder so that the texture still remains high quality and not undermined by a melted gooey crushed candy.

7 - Amaretto

Fragrant, grown-up, and a little nutty and sweet. Considering I didn’t personally drink until my late 20s, it took a little while before alcohol became a part of any of my truffle-making experiments.

What I love about this truffle: As a stand-alone alcohol-based flavor to add to chocolate, Amaretto is my favorite. It has a distinctive profile and it doesn’t take away from the chocolate in any way. And, alcohol can help the smoothness of the ganache stay cohesive, so that’s a nice plus from the maker’s side of the equation.

8 - Lemon Ginger

Citrusy and spicy, a combination of lemon juice and ground ginger went into this ganache

What I love about this truffle: It was my first “miss” on making truffles as the lemon juice did not work well with the ganache. I learned from making this truffle that there would be better ways to use ingredients that fit well with chocolate, such as using zest instead of juice. I still love lemon and ginger as a combination of flavors and use it in my scones.

9 - White Chocolate

Creamy, sweet, but controversial in some ways. Not everyone’s cup of tea.

What I love about this truffle: White Chocolate is misunderstood because of the greater chocolate marketplace and talking about white chocolate is a doorway for me to go on about how food definitions and regulations matter when making decisions about what to consume. While back in the B.Q.C era I wasn’t using the best white chocolate, it gave me practice and it gave me a desire to find a high-quality white chocolate one day. Now, I’m making one from scratch! But this original white chocolate truffle was the equivalent to the dark chocolate’s Bittersweet; no additional flavors, just pure white chocolate. A true blank canvas!

Punchy and fruity… remind you of anyone?

10 - Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar

A truly luxurious flavor highlighting acidity and tartness.

What I love about this truffle: It is my second best-selling truffle behind the Burnt Caramel w/ Sea Salt and I launched it in 2018 as my February flavor of the month to push back against chocolate covered cherries, but I absolutely forgot that I had made this flavor even as far back as 2011! Raspberry Balsamic is one of my favorite fruit-forward truffles and I’ll never forget it… again…

11 - Chai Tea

Warm spices flooding the senses. Rich and aromatic, chai spices pair exceptionally well with chocolate.

What I love about this truffle: I didn’t drink coffee until I was nearly 30, so chai tea was the closest thing I would consume in the morning. There were times I’d mix chocolate syrup into my cup of chai, so I bet that the opposite direction would work. It did! The flavors sock a real punch but the chocolate didn’t back down. After the eventual creation of the coffee truffle, the chai tea truffle eventually merged together with it and became the Dirty Chai truffle.

12 - Coffee

A simple, dark, rich pairing that was the only way I could take coffee for a long time!

What I love about this truffle: It took some work to figure out how to make this truffle work since fresh black coffee wasn’t easy to incorporate in the ganache (either because of too much liquid or not leaving too much of a coffee flavor). But learning from subsequent batches allowed me to play and tweak and make a really good coffee truffle. Now, I make an espresso-infused chocolate that serves as the base for my Dirty Chai truffles today! Persistence is key when a flavor is a good idea but just needs honing.

13 - Elderberry Sage

Herby, very herby, and dark fruit, but an overall pain in my neck. Flavors of fall, made the one batch for my Thanksgiving dinner in 2015.

What I love about this truffle: I learned that some flavors definitely overpower other flavors, and that the process of extracting some flavors can be very labor intensive. Sage came through incredibly heavy-handed and the elderberry juice was such a chore to extract from fresh elderberries. It was a fun combination that taught me some lessons about balance but it did encourage me to expand into using herbs with chocolate and opened me up in a whole new direction of possibilities that I hadn’t considered fully before.

Queer Chocolatier Flavors (2017-Present)

One of the first things I realized when I was launching a business is that I was In Charge(TM) and I got to make intentional decisions about my ingredients, preparations, and products. I was careful about choosing a chocolate I believed in and then I also became motivated to make my truffles accessible to those with allergies or preferences. I shifted from my classic formula of using chocolate, heavy cream, and butter to make my ganache toward making pecan cream and using coconut cream as dairy substitutes. Even more attention to detail came when I started making my own bean-to-bar chocolate to go into my truffles.

A year-round hit, you can’t go wrong with Bourbon Pecan!

14 - Bourbon Pecan

Nutty, oakey, sweet, my very first intentionally vegan truffle. The crunch of the chopped pecans is super satisfying as well!

What I love about this truffle: It’s a familiar and comfortable truffle. Bourbon Pecan is always a hit with dads, too, and often they get overlooked in my customer base. And, it is always nice to tell folks who don’t consume dairy that this was a truffle that had them at the top of my mind and what pushed me to make all of my dark chocolate truffles vegan.

I enjoyed this truffle but it quickly became clear this was an expensive truffle to make by going through so many bottles of beer…

15 - Vanilla Porter

Malty and sweet, I used to boil down a bottle of vanilla porter until it became a thick syrup and infused it in the ganache for a decadently dark truffle.

What I love about this truffle: Beer and chocolate go very well together (Shout out to those times I helped brew beers with Guardian Brewing Co.!). Whether pairing a hoppy or malty beer, chocolate steps up to the bar and raises a pint ready to celebrate the merging of flavors. My palate preferences lean heavily toward malty versus hoppy beers back when I used to drink and a good vanilla porter would always satisfy my tastes, so it makes perfect sense that my first beer truffle would be using that brew. Vanilla Porter was a great step in demonstrating how well craft products go together.

16 - Maple Eggo Waffles

Maple sweetness and a crunch of waffle crumbs all made in honor of the release of the second Stranger Things season being released in October 2017.

What I love about this truffle: I used this truffle as a special truffle to celebrate the opening of Queer Chocolatier in the Murray Building during Downtown Muncie’s First Thursday in October. It dovetailed with the spooky show’s second season and the spooky season of the year generally. I also love maple as a sweetener but the Eggo waffles were a little unwieldy to work with. I learned about the joys of using special, ephemeral truffles flavors with this inaugural offering!

17 - PB&J

Back to school and FUN VIBES all rolled (literally) into one truffle! It tastes just like a sandwich in the best possible way!

What I love about this truffle: I got to really play with creating this truffle! I didn’t just want peanut butter and some fruit flavor in a chocolate. I wanted an actual evocation of biting into a sandwich while sitting at a lunch table and hearing the paper sack rustling as your place setting. Panko breadcrumbs were the key, getting the toasty notes of crust made it a sandwich experience. And as much as I deeply prefer strawberry jam, grape jelly pairs better with the peanut butter and chocolate.

Welcoming in the crispy fall months with Mulled Wine truffles!

18 - Mulled Wine

My first truffle that had/has a cult following! Mulling spices, orange extract to evoke orange peel, and wine grape juice are blended into the ganache for a delightfully cozy truffle.

What I love about this truffle: Boy I learned a wonderful lesson with this truffle and the PB&J truffle! Sometimes, I don’t have to be literal to make things taste great. One day, I was making both the PB&J truffle and the Mulled Wine truffle at the rental kitchen I used in the early days of my business. I had a small saucepan of grape juice boiling down and, next to it, an identical pan reducing a bottle of red wine. After getting other items prepped, I turned back to the stove and absolutely got confused on which pan was which grape-y substance. I smelled one and was confident it was grape juice… until I smelled the second one and thought the same thing! From then on, I used grape juice for both truffles!

19 - Hazelnut Crunch

Everything that Nutella should be mixed with a Ferrero Rocher but in one superior bite. Nutty, crunchy, bold.

What I love about this truffle: I feel like this truffle has never gotten its due! I love that the formula for making a Bourbon Pecan truffle was adapted to make the Hazelnut Crunch truffle by swapping Frangelico for bourbon and hazelnuts for pecans to make the hazelnut cream. Then I made homemade crisped rice instead of a Feuilletine, which is typically used to make something seemingly close to a Ferraro Rocher.

It’s not whether I made Santa’s nice list. It’s whether he made mine!

20 - Gingerbread

Imagine a gingerbread house but chocolate! Spices—including ginger, cinnamon, and clove—all throughout the chocolate and finished with crushed gingersnaps. Ho Ho Hey!!!

What I love about this truffle: I really like how the warm spices come through strongly and the texture of the gingersnaps give something for the chocolate to stand up to. It almost comes through like a blunt strike (“GINGER!!!”) but when you allow the truffle to melt and coat your mouth, it feels like your swaddled in a coat, mittens, and a toboggan. The cinnamon and clove begin to emerge, a wave of molasses crescendos, and the chocolate washes it all away clean. It’s also one of my favorite truffles to smell!

21 - White Chocolate Peppermint

Smooth and creamy with that coolness of peppermint and gentle crunch of candy cane. Perfect for a snowy winter’s day!

What I love about this truffle: Out of all the other white chocolate flavors, the peppermint sparkle shines most. And when the creamy white chocolate melts away and little bits of candy cane remain to savor, it is a delight like catching a snowflake on your tongue!

22 - The Turkey Situation (Orange Cranberry)

Intriguing name, intriguinger flavor! Bright orange with a deep undertone of cranberry all team up well with dark chocolate!

What I love about this truffle: The name, of course! A friend named it for me as this flavor was originally a November flavor-of-the-month and it stuck! I love telling folks that there is 0% turkey in The Turkey Situation and seeing their reactions! Orange and cranberry go really nicely together by hitting lots of sensations at once on your palate with some tartness, sweetness, and a touch of pleasant bitterness. It belongs to the season of plenty, but I do wish I could let myself offer it up year-round.

23 - Pistachio Rosewater

One of my all-time favorite truffles, just three ingredients: chocolate, pistachios, rosewater!

Floral but complimentary to the nutty sweetness of pistachios. Indugent and sophisticated.

What I love about this truffle: It can change people’s minds about floral flavors. Lots of folks cringe at the idea of eating something with rosewater out of concern it’ll be too soapy or lotion-y, but rosewater and pistachios were meant to be together in many treats, especially chocolate! The crunchy pistachio pieces that coat the outside of the truffle give a satisfying texture to the whole bite as well and allows the pistachio to shine and the rosewater to confidently play second string.

24 - Pumpkin Spice Latte

It’s not basic when it’s a truffle! It’s comforting, like eating a cable knit sweater but without lint… spicy and a pop of caffeine and luxurious chocolate is anything but basic!

What I love about this truffle: I think this truffle shows off how different truffles can taste when making subtle swaps of spices for others. The PSL truffle has a lot in common with the Dirty Chai truffle except one substitution and it creates a whole different profile! I also learned you gotta give people what they want and they want their PSLs in the fall!

An explosion of flavor is how an early customer once described the Dirty Chai truffle!

25 - Dirty Chai

Caffiene, tantalizing spices, smooth chocolate to anchor it all together. What a great way to start your day!

What I love about this truffle: Not everyone loves the Dirty Chai truffle but the ones who do are devoted to it! They seem to be seekers of intense experiences and this truffle is exactly that. Making this truffle includes using the espresso-infused Up All Night chocolate bar as the base and adding chai spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, black peppercorn, and clove. What an exciting collision of flavors to enjoy!

26 - Champagne White Chocolate w/ Popping Candy

You don’t need a New Year’s Resolution. You need these truffles!

The best way to celebrate New Year’s Eve in truffle form!

What I love about this truffle: Pop Rocks make for a unique sensation and the fruity taste also pops off the white chocolate canvas! Champagne White Chocolate w/ Popping Candy isn’t for the every day, it is elite and extraordinary, much like the moments that ring in a new year!

The beautiful ingredients involved in making this fascinating truffle.

27 - Pomegrante Molasses

Tart, almost sour, but still tangy sweet. For the curious and brave!

What I love about this truffle: For having only one ingredient besides chocolate and coconut cream, the Pomegranate Molasses truffle packs an incredible punch! I was introduced to this ingredient by way of Persian recipes; pomegrante molasses is a concentration of the juice pressed from the fruit’s jewel-like seeds and if you were to taste it from the bottle, it’ll cause a strong puckering sensation! I wanted to see how well it would hold up with chocolate and it is a dynamic combination!

28 - Bailey’s

Creamy and caramel-y. As if an Irish coffee needs to be any more indulgent!

What I love about this truffle: There’s a warm boozy-like flavor in the truffle despite much of the alcohol evaporating out during the Bailey’s reduction and a creamy, sweet caramel note that loves being blended with dark chocolate. It’s almost like a sweeter version of the Burnt Caramel w/ Sea Salt… but also different. The real treat is when you plop a truffle into your morning coffee and melt right along with the chocolate!

Strawberries and cream are a dreamy combo in any format.

29 - Strawberry Shortcake

Fruity, creamy, decadent. A wave of nostalgia in a bite.

What I love about this truffle: I love how this truffle reminds me of summertime festivals and getting a clamshell of a strawberry shortcake that is heavy with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. The white chocolate mimics the cream and a coating of crushed vanilla wafers and freeze-dried strawberry powder seals the deal to make a bite of summer possible!

30 - Cherry Blossom

Floral in the extreme with a blend of elderflower and cherry liqueurs.

What I love about this truffle: I wanted to push the boundaries of a floral truffle and to evoke the cherry blossoms that bloom in a fleeting window during spring months. It’s a lovely combination of flavors and aromas but it is rather challenging to make on a consistent basis and not break the bank! The cherry liqueur was heavy and dark while the elderflower was light and delicate. Blending them was like trying to make the right shade of orange with gallons of red paint and drops of yellow and, when it worked, it was magical!

31 - CocoMac

Richly nutty and toasty with a macadamia nut cream and a toasted shredded coconut finish. But a little too mild and only offered up once.

What I love about this truffle: The texture of toasted coconut was lovely but the creaminess of the macadamia nut receded to the background of the chocolate ganache and didn’t bring any noticeable flavor to the party. The mouthfeel was pleasantly buttery, however. It was an homage to my only trip to Hawai’i but there may be better ways to accomplish that going forward.

The garden is a great place to find lovely ingredients to pair with chocolate.

32 - Rosemary

Fresh and herby, approaching on savory in a way that piqued interest of curious customers.

What I love about this truffle: The most common applications of rosemary are in savory dishes and that association pushes the boundaries of what a chocolate truffle can be. It punches with a fresh, herby aroma and aftertaste but leaves plenty of room for the chocolate to shine on stage.

33 - Fruity Pebbles

Colorful, crispy, playful!

What I love about this truffle: Fun and bold, the Fruity Pebbles truffle was one part of Queer Chocolatier’s four-truffle celebration of the age-old holiday, National Cereal Day. The texture of the bright crispy rice is a cheery sensation to a sweet truffle!

34 - Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Sweet and cinnamon-y, folks loved the CTC!

What I love about this truffle: Using the cereal milk technique made popular in the last decade, I infused the dark chocolate ganache with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal milk. The sweet cinnamon comes through and is bolstered by the crumb coating on the outside.

35 - Froot Loops

Fruity and super crunchy.

What I love about this truffle: I love how it tries to be the Fruity Pebbles truffle but it isn’t. The main difference is in the texture of the cereal, crispy versus crunchy, but still has a sugary sweet fruity flavor.

36 - Reese's Puffs

Light peanut butter and cocoa with an airy crunchy texture.

What I love about this truffle: Rounding out the National Cereal Day truffles, the pure aroma of sweetened peanut butter and cocoa made this a better-than-expected truffle and the texture of the cereal crumbs was more gentle than that of, say, Cap’n Crunch with its razor blade-like qualities.

37 - Sweet Corn

Hoosier through and through.

What I love about this truffle: As a one-time only corn-sortment pack for a silent auction fundraiser for our local roller derby team—Cornfed Roller Derby—I used sweet corn powder to infuse the ganache and dust the surface for what could only be described as, well, yeah that’s corn.

38 - Corn Chip

Salty, oily, crunchy, savory, all in a great way!

What I love about this truffle: My surprising favorite out of the corn-sortment pack, the corn chip flavor didn’t back down and apologize for being included in chocolate truffles. It had a craveable flavor and crunch that felt tremendously snackable and I’m not above possibly making this one return for a special moment in the future!

39 - Frosted Flakes

Sweet texture but light on flavor.

What I love about this truffle: I love the texture so much that I will absolutely work it into the chocolate bars for sheer texture alone, but there wasn’t much punch with flavor other than lightly sweet and a whisper of corn.

40 - Caramel Corn

Caramel and salty and corny, but a challenge with texture.

What I love about this truffle: The flavor was delightful, with the caramel and light salt hitting first with chocolate and popcorn aftertaste lingering, but the texture of the food-processed caramel corn left a lot of inconsistencies for coating. Husks stuck to the ganache more than the popped corn bits and I wasn’t going to attempt to separate all that out. A lesson learned that wasn’t a horrific one to say the least.

41 - White Chocolate Ranch

A truffle made with good intentions plus a bit of bizarre whimsy.

What I love about this truffle: The look of horror on the face of those brave enough to try it! As a part of a “Muncie box,” I rolled pure white chocolate truffles in a packet of ranch seasoning powder. Munsonians perhaps more than other Midwesterners love their ranch, but pairing it with a creamy sweet white chocolate ganache may have sparked a lot of confused synapses trying to process this amusing truffle.

42 - PBR

A perfect example of a “hey, not bad!” truffle.

What I love about this truffle: I made a PBR sugar to coat the outside of a dark chocolate truffle to complete the “Muncie box” collection and it had a suprisingly pleasant flavor. The sugar brought out some of the slightly bitter and hoppy notes of the ironically-enjoyed-by-hipsters-but-beloved-by-Munsonians beer. I loved learning how to make the sugar and have modified the process since this brief truffle offering.

43 - Red Hots

A one-day offering of hot cinnamon truffles.

What I love about this truffle: I enjoyed the experience of having a hot cinnamon flavor mixed with the chocolate versus the trusty workhorse of a warm cinnamon I use liberally in many truffle offerings. It was a nice contrast, but the texture of the crushed red hots candies was a little off-putting by getting a little gummy on the outside of the truffle.

Petition to make summer last forever and bring the beach to Muncie!

44 - Mojito

Unbelievably refreshing with lime and mint evoking the tropical beverage.

What I love about this truffle: Everything! The lime and mint infused ganache and the Demerara sugar dusting to give a sugar cane sensation team up to make a delicious truffle. A previous employee helped develop this flavor by trying out her own recipe—Preserved Lemon and Basil—and even though her Moroccan-inspired flavor didn’t result in the way she’d hoped, we worked the idea toward swapping lime for the lemons and mint for the basil to come to a showstopper of a truffle! QC wouldn’t have this truffle if not for her creativity and labor! Hope you’re doing well, Khanya!

45- Pride (Bittersweet w/ sprinkles)

Gay.

What I love about this truffle: It’s gay.

46 - Beer Pretzel

Snackable and hoppy-sweet.

What I love about this truffle: Honestly, this truffle has it all: an IPA-caramel infused ganache and the salty, malty, crunchy finish of pretzels. I think I need to bring this one back in the new year!

47 - Violet's Blueberry

Wonka? Never heard of her…

What I love about this truffle: I once made a blueberry truffle before opening Queer Chocolatier—and left off this massive list because there’s not much difference. But when I heard that Muncie Civic Theater was putting on a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I reached out to offer making a specialized truffle for the run. A rich blueberry flavor and a gold luster dust finish made this a magical little truffle without the child trauma!

48 - Strawberry Rhubarb

Tart and jammy, one of the garden-inspired truffles I made for Garden Fair at Minnetrista.

What I love about this truffle: In honor of all the spring brings from the gardens, I made a line of garden-inspired truffles including some that are in this comprehensive truffle list (e.g. Raspberry Balsamic, Rosemary, Lavender Menace, Ghost Pepper, Mojito) but the Strawberry Rhubarb was made to make my rhubarb-loving wife smile. I finished off the truffle with a coating of pie crust crumbs for that little something extra.

49 - Elderflower

Aromatic and floral, like a bouquet of freshly-cut flowers.

What I love about this truffle: As a component of the Cherry Blossom truffle, I wanted the Elderflower truffle to have its moment in the sun. The flavor shines through across the background of dark chocolate and has an impressively delightful aroma with a note of sweetness at the end.

50 - Rosewater

Richly floral and a perfectly pleasant companion to dark chocolate.

What I love about this truffle: Perfect for the garden-inspired truffles—and for my own palate—the Rosewater truffle is an exquisite bite of simplicity and refinement. Not everyone loves floral flavors, and this is the ingredient that often has folks hesitating from trying the Pistachio Rosewater truffle, but for those who enjoy this section of the flavor wheel, this is a can’t miss!

Crunchy, spicy, and flavorful, Flaming Peanut Butter is a fabulous truffle.

51 - Flaming Peanut Butter

Spicy, nutty, crunchy and almost reminiscent of a bowl of savory peanut noodles.

What I love about this truffle: Spicier than the Cinnamon Chipotle truffle from a kick of cayenne pepper combined with peanut butter. The crunch of chopped peanuts give the classic combination of peanut butter and chocolate a sophisticated feel. I think this is an incredible truffle and will explore making a version of this into a bar next year!

52 - Strawberry Basil

An all-around gentle truffle, delicate herbs and berries.

What I love about this truffle: I made this truffle for a lovely couple for their baby shower celebration. The main request I was given was to make something with strawberry to go with the event’s theme and I wanted to make something special for the expecting parents. Infusing basil in the coconut cream and adding strawberry powder to the cocoa powder coating gave gentle flavor notes to lilt against the chocolate backdrop. A delicate truffle to welcome a delicate new human to the world.

53 - Ghost Pepper

Bright fruit gives way after a beat to a scorching heat. Boo!

What I love about this truffle: Chocolate can be your friend when eating something spicy and the Ghost Pepper is unmistakably spicy. It isn’t only spicy, though, which I really love because there’s actual flavor of the fruit of the pepper before it smacks you. I made this for the first time for a Downtown Muncie summer festival and had folks try it at the top of every hour and recorded their experience. It was a great time by all and every summer since, I’ve made a batch using fresh-from-the-garden ghost peppers.

Two versions of the trendy flavor in truffle form

54 - Dubai-Style

Queer Chocolatier’s take on the trend.

What I love about this truffle: The pistachio flavor was rich and strong and enhanced by an addition of tahini paste and touch of orange blossom honey. I made the pistachio cream from scratch and finished the truffle in two ways: one with kataifi on the outside and one with strawberry powder and kataifi mixed together for the outside.

55 - Turtle

Merging two delightful truffles together for one unbelieveable truffle!

What I love about this truffle: For a collaboration with a couple of businesses in Kentucky, including Sis Got Tea, we made a holiday box that included truffles, tea, and a book. To make a unique truffle for the occasion, I blended a Burnt Caramel w/ Sea Salt truffle with a Bourbon Pecan truffle to create a nutty, caramel-y, gorgeous truffle. Sometimes the most delicious bite is one that is comfortingly familiar!

Toasting milk powder gives white chocolate a level of caramel sweetness to elevate its flavor profile.

56 - Pumpkin Pie

Tradition plus innovation!

What I love about this truffle: I made my first Blond White Chocolate and turned it into a Pumpkin Pie truffle just in time for the fall season. Blending pumpkin puree with coconut cream and warm spices and a coating of graham cracker pie crumbs made for a truffle that kept you free from needing a fork and plate to enjoy the autumnal treat!

57 - Peppermint Mocha

Espresso, peppermint, chocolate, simple joys!

What I love about this truffle: The love affair I’ve developed with espresso and chocolate is passionate. Adding peppermint to the mix only let me fall more in love with the cool, creamy, chocolate-y, caffeinated morsel. Melting a truffle into a drinking chocolate is pure, unadulterated bliss.

58 - Tart Cherry

Pucker-inducing tartness of cherry.

What I love about this truffle: When my wife encouraged me to start back up with Queer Chocolatier and starting small as a home-based vendor, I was deeply comforted by her support. To show her how much I appreciated her encouraging efforts, I made her a truffle for her to enjoy. She said she loves cherry and since I’ve never made a purely cherry truffle, I developed one by concentrating down tart cherry juice to mix with the chocolate ganache. The cherry flavor was front and center with that extra bit of tartness that caused mouths to water. A truffle that leads to a pucker and a smooch for my wife!

One of the most fun truffles I’ve made and have a lot of pride in its development!

59 - S'mores

A campfire treat in one delightful bite!

What I love about this truffle: So many things about this truffle makes for quite an experience! Of course, a S’mores has chocolate (check), marshmallows (check), and graham crackers (check, in the form of Golden Grahams cereal). But all-too-often people forget that smoky sensation that really makes a S’mores a S’mores. To create that in a truffle, I use Lapsang Souchong tea—a smoked Chinese black tea—to bring the campfire to you wherever you are.

60 - Lemonade Pie

Citrusy, tangy, nostalgic

What I love about this truffle: My connections with my grandma. Her favorite dessert was Lemonade Pie, an icebox pie that is made from frozen concentrated lemonade mixed with cream, Cool Whip, and cream cheese all poured into a graham cracker pie crust. To honor her influence on my chocolate devotion, I developed a white chocolate truffle that was made bright with lemon zest and sweetened condensed milk then enveloped in graham cracker crumbs. Any way I can find to bring her close to my chocolate making journey, I am motivated to do and this was one of the early steps in doing so, along with serving up my twist on her Biscuits and Chocolate Gravy.

What’s next?

First, a long break from typing all of this!

But I must confess that the review of all the truffles I’ve made over the last 21 years has been a truly cathartic exercise.

Before writing this post, I didn’t know I had had that many truffle flavors in my repertoire. I knew I had a lot, but no idea it was SIXTY flavors!

As I continue to develop and grow as a chocolate maker, I have been focused on how chocolate bars come together. The lessons I’ve been learning have been a lot of fun and play but even more than that they’ve led to newer truffle flavors.

I feel simultaneously exhausted by and invigorated by making truffles; how many more flavors can I work on? What will folks like? Will my mental image come through on my palate?

It’s always worth trying and making truffles has helped me be okay with the process of trial and error, knowing there may be some misses but that they always lead to the next thing that will be great truffle.

I hope y’all stick with me as I keep truffling along!