Assembling the Basic Truffle Formula
Six lessons without a recipe
So far the course has spoken almost entirely in ratios. For some of you that has been a little frustrating — but there was a reason for it. The point was never to hand you a checklist. It was to teach you how to think about the roles those ingredients play.
If you are simply given my starting recipe, your truffles will always taste like mine. You might make small adjustments, but you would always be starting from my idea instead of your own.
Not another checklist — the way chocolatiers capture their process.
We take the decisions you have been making across the last six lessons and write them down, so your experiments don't disappear once the truffles are eaten.
There is a problem with experimenting
You have changed chocolates, adjusted structure, added inclusions and explored coatings. Each of those decisions shaped the truffles you made. The problem is memory. Most people assume they'll remember what they did — but a few weeks or a few years from now, the details start to disappear. You might remember that the truffle was good. You won't always remember exactly what you changed to make it good.
Four sheets, in order
There are four sheets, in paper format and in digital format. This lesson walks through the paper format, because everyone has access to those — you can download them without an account. For the digital tools, tutorials are filed and linked in each section, and those get updated as new functions are added.
Name the same way every time. I use the chocolate, the percentage and the truffle type. Redundant, but consistency matters even in naming — and it makes the sheet findable later.
Structure and usage: good base, but a bit soft for a hand rolled truffle. That single sentence is what sends us to the next sheet.
That is a base. But remember: it is a starting point, not always a final destination.
Download the Base Creation sheet (PDF) →Small habits that make the file usable
None of these are rules about chocolate. They are rules about being able to find and trust your own notes later.
Whatever convention you pick, use it every time. A name you can predict is a name you can find.
Brand, version and percentage together let you buy exactly the same chocolate next time.
Every base, test and formula for that chocolate in one place, so you can review your history with it.
Mark a superseded base sheet as no longer accepted so you never work from it by accident.
The biggest failure is never starting
A small voice creeps in with reasons not to write it down. Documentation doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to exist.
Even imperfect notes are far more valuable than trying to remember everything later.
From Bizz: I hate documentation
You might not know it from watching me, but it's the bane of my existence. So why does someone who hates it this much still document everything? Because for the first ten years, I didn't. I trusted my memory. And after a decade of that, I forced myself to start writing things down — even though I didn't want to.
In a very short time I started working faster, my products improved, and I learned more quickly than I had in years. So now I curse, and write the information down. It saves time. It saves money. And in a strange way it's like storing part of your muscle memory on paper, so your brain can focus on the next problem instead.
Quick tidbit · the toffee
About twenty years ago I was in my kitchen getting ready for a Christmas party. Someone asked if we had any toffee. I had never made toffee before — but if you know me, that's not a no, that's a challenge. I looked up a few recipes online, checked a couple in a book, and did what I usually do: mixed ideas from all of them. Tossed this in, added a little of that, cooked it for a while, and somehow it worked.
We served it that night. I thought it was good but probably something I could improve later. My wife said it was the best toffee she had ever had, and told me to write the recipe down. I said, “Nah — I've got a steel trap memory. I won't forget.” A few months later her friends asked if I could make that amazing toffee again. I said, “Of course.” Except there was one problem. I had no idea what I did.
To this day I have never been able to recreate that batch.
Sometimes documentation helps you improve something over time. But sometimes it's the only way you'll ever be able to make something great again.
Take the sheets with you
All four sheets are free downloads, no account required. The digital versions live in RC's Corner, and each one has its own tutorial.