Cream of Desert Truffle Soup

Immerse the truffles in cold water for 10 minutes. Throw out the water and loose sand and cover them with water again. Repeat. Gently rub each truffle under running water with your fingers, then scrub them gently with a vegetable brush and rinse Peel the truffles very finely. Barely cover the peelings with additional milk and simmer 10 minutes. Let stand and cool. Gently pour off the milk, leaving the sand behind. Discard peelings and set aside milk. Roughly chop all but two of the peeled truffles. Put the onion and garlic in the first 4 cups of milk and bring to a boil. Simmer for five minutes, then add the chopped truffles. Simmer for another 3 minutes, remove from heat. Puree mixture and set aside. In a heavy bottomed pot, heat the remaining 4 cups milk very hot but do not allow to boil. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter, when it starts to froth, turndown the heat and stir in flour, stirring until it becomes a thick paste. Pour in the hot milk, half a cup at a time. Whisk constantly until a thick, creamy sauce is achieved. Let simmer slowly for 10 minutes. Stir in pureed truffle mixture. Add bouillon cube and sugar. Add salt, and white and cayenne peppers. Stir in the milk the skins were boiled in. Stir in the 3/4 cup cream and the 1/4 tablespoon butter. If soup is thick, dilute with a little milk. Right before serving, take the 2 peeled truffles and grate them into the soup. Serve hot with cheese straws.