Well hello!!
As promised, I have truffle recipes!! I have two for you
today but the method I use can be done with many hundreds of flavourings.
I chose chilli as my family and I planned a Mexican themed
night over the Bank Holiday where we'd all get together, coo over my cousins
babies, don comedy fake moustaches, consume huge quantities of tortilla chips
(twelve bags), drink many, many themed alcoholic beverages and eat spicy food.
The drinks, made by my cousin and his fiancée started with a
watermelon, rum and lime slush which was really fresh and juicy from the melon.
The other, a twist on a Dark and Stormy,
wasn't designed as a drink but as a ice lolly but we suspect the vast quantity
of rum made freezing fully a challenge. Rum, ginger beer and lime make for a stunning
cocktail and an excellent lolly/drink. We also attempted a margarita which
tasted delicious but was lethal to all who managed to finish it.
I'd heard of the chilli chocolate combo before but never
tasted it so I went and bought a bar of Linntt Excellence Chilli chocolate and
loved it.
I'd seen Tomasina Mires make similar truffles on her show,
Mexican Food Made Easy so I looked up her recipe which called for whole spices
to be ground and then added to the cream. I wanted more of a pure chilli flavour as
well as a sweeter hint. Here's my recipe:
400g
good-quality dark chocolate
150ml double
cream
1 red chilli
1/2 tsp ground
cinnamon
1/4 tsp
cayenne pepper
Cocoa powder,
to dust
Finely chop
the chocolate into tiny pieces. Add into a bowl with the cinnamon, cayenne and
a pinch of good sea salt.
Remove the
seeds from the chilli. Cut it into four or five inch long pieces and add it to
a saucepan. Add the cream and gently heat, but don’t let it boil. Remove from
heat and pick out the chilli.
Pour the
cream over the chocolate and stir until it forms a ganache.
Pour into a
clean bowl. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour until it hardens.
Dust a plate
with cocoa powder and get about a teaspoonful of the ganache.
Roll it quickly
in your hands until it forms a smooth ball.
Roll in the cocoa powder.
Continue
until all the ganache has been used. If it becomes too soft but the ganache in
the freezer for a few minutes to harden.
The truffles
need to be kept in the fridge right until you serve them so they retain their
firm yet smooth texture.
The second
flavouring I went for was one of my favourite flavour combinations, chocolate
orange. This time, instead of infusing the cream, I zested an orange and added
it to a bowl with 2 table spoons of Cointreau.
I let that sit and marinade
together while I chop the same amount of chocolate as before and then add this
to the zest and liqueur.
Heat the
cream, pour over the chocolate and orange and stir until it's all melted
together.
Pour into a smaller bowl, cover and refrigerate as before. I covered
both truffles in cocoa powder as a challenge for my family to be brave and
blindly pick a truffle without knowing its identity but when I make them again
I'll coat the orange truffles in dark chocolate and add allow to set before
serving.
Other
flavours I've thought of include almond, using amaretto in the ganache and then
coating the truffles in chopped, toasted almonds. Likewise hazelnut using
frangelico. Coffee would be a nice addition, as would baileys.
So there you go!! Easy, delicious truffles that make great, inexpensive and impressive gifts and an indulgent treat for any chocoholic.
Much love and I'll see you all soon!!
So there you go!! Easy, delicious truffles that make great, inexpensive and impressive gifts and an indulgent treat for any chocoholic.
Much love and I'll see you all soon!!
