Flavor your ganache as directed in the individual flavor recipes, then let the ganache sit at room temperature, stirring often, until firm enough to pipe, 30 minutes or so after being made: it should hold its shape when lifted with a spoon instead of pouring off, and feel semisolid, changing from an initial thick hand lotion consistency to a sort of thicker toothpaste kind of thing. If you’re working in a hot space (above 65°F), you can refrigerate the ganache, but it sets up fast in the refrigerator—watch it!

Line a sheet pan with parchment or waxed paper. Use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip or a disposable pastry bag (or resealable plastic bacut to make a 1/2-inch opening to pipe centers. Use a plastic bench scraper to scrape the ganache down to the bottom of the bag periodically, so you’re not wasting your precious ganache. Or forget the pastry bag nonsense and let the ganache firm up a little more and spoon out your truffle centers. It’s a little more time-consuming, but just fine.

Pipe the ganache into walnut-size truffle centers. Really the only thing that matters when piping is that you get those babies out of the pastry bag in some semblance of solidity. You can resize them later. Just go for good solid masses without hollow centers and don’t stress too much about size consistency right now. Pipe a straight, sure-footed plop of ganache (yes, I know exactly what it looks like), not tiered hollow-centered beehives. If you’re making multiple flavors, be sure to label the parchment paper sheet with the flavor names, lest you have to pinch off tiny bits of each one and taste them to remember what you were doing. If your ganache slides right out of the pastry bag, knead it a little and let it sit a few more minutes. If it’s too firm to pipe, pipe it anyway, because your hands on the pastry bag will warm it up.

Let the truffle centers set up at room temperature until firm. This is a good time to assemble all your garnishes and tools for dipping.

Roll the centers between your palms (rinse your hands often in cold water, then dry them thoroughlto make round truffle centers. If necessary, resize the centers by pulling off pieces from larger balls and rolling them onto smaller ones to ensure uniformity. You’re looking at 11 to 13 grams apiece, but who’s counting. Line up your centers like good little soldiers on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

At this point, you can let your ganaches sit at room temperature for a few hours or a day or so.

Temper the chocolate. To dip each truffle recipe (25 truffles or so), you’ll need 4 to 8 ounces of fluid tempered chocolate.

This step is optional, but it’s nice to give softer ganaches an extra chocolate layer to guard against weeping, seeping, or cracking their final chocolate shell: with your hands, roll each truffle center in a tiny bit of tempered chocolate (barely melted out-of-temper chocolate will be fine also; for heaven’s sake, don’t temper chocolate just for this step). Let cool on a parchment-covered sheet pan.

At this point, have all your tools and garnishes nearby and be prepared to work quickly, because chocolate hardens fast.

Dip one cooled truffle center into the melted tempered chocolate, using a truffle dipper, a fork, or your fingers (I prefer a truffle dipper, which will only set you back a few dollars, and my fingers. A fork will drive you up a wall). Let any excess chocolate drop back into the tempered chocolate bowl. Or roll the center in another coat of tempered chocolate with your hands, for a more rustic effect.

Your truffle dipper or hands or fork will quickly become unusable with hardened chocolate, so either have many on hand, or wash and dry them completely in between batches. Working quickly helps with this, too. To efficiently release your truffle from the dipper, give it a good definitive tap on the side of the sheet pan.

Place the truffle in the desired flavor topping. With a spoon, cover the truffle with the topping. Let sit in the bowl for a few minutes. Alternatively, dip the truffles onto a parchment sheet and spoon the topping over them. Garnish as desired.

Truffles should be eaten within 1 week, otherwise the perishable ganache center could get moldy. For longer storage, store piped, unrolled truffle centers in the freezer. Bring to room temperature and towel off.