These are so easy, tasty and, even if I say so myself (and I do) rather impressive; ideal for Christmas too. This isn’t exactly a recipe – more of a chatty “here’s what I did, including mistakes you can avoid”. It’s a bit verbose, but bear with me and read on…..
Ingredients
- Some double (heavy) cream
- Some Golden syrup (Corn syrup in US may be the nearest thing)
- Some chocolate (I think Semi-sweet or bitter sweet in US = dark chocolate in UK)
- Some butter
- Some decorations, flavourings and other oddments
Yes, all very vague – sorry. It may help to think in terms of ratios. Dark chocolate ganache for truffles needs to be 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream.
I also add some golden syrup to the cream – about 10ml per 50ml of cream. And I put a knob of butter in with the chocolate, about 10g per 100g of chocolate.
The ratios for Milk and White chocolate aren’t quite so straight forward. Let’s just say if you use 50ml of cream with 100g of dark chocolate then use 45ml for milk chocolate and around 40ml for white chocolate. This is just a guideline as different brands and strengths of chocolate react slightly differently.
OK, here’s what I used to create the five different flavoured truffles shown here (details below from left to right):
- Almond: 100g milk chocolate + 10g butter, 45ml double cream + 10ml golden syrup, almond extract, ground almonds
- Coffee: 100g dark chocolate + 10g butter, 50ml double cream + 10ml golden syrup, 2 tsp instant coffee granules, a few drops of coffee extract, cocoa powder
- Raspberry: 100g white chocolate + 10g butter, 42ml double cream + 10ml golden syrup, freeze dried raspberries, more melted white chocolate + pink/red food colouring
- Orange: 100g dark chocolate + 10g butter, 50ml double cream + 10ml golden syrup, orange zest, orange extract, golden sprinkles
- Coconut: 100g dark chocolate + 10g butter, 50ml double cream + 10ml golden syrup, desiccated coconut.
Method
1. I set out five cereal bowls and placed the appropriate chocolate, chopped finely, and butter in each one. Near each bowl I placed the other items I would need for flavouring. (Not for the coatings – that’s a separate, later stage.)
2. I calculated the total amount of cream and golden syrup that I would need and added a little extra to compensate for any loss during heating.
3. I heated the cream in a saucepan on a moderate heat, stirring occasionally. I didn’t take it to a full boil.
4. Working quickly – like a demented maniac in fact – I weighed the required amount of hot cream into each mixture, stirring as I did so. Even so, I found that the chocolate in some bowls refused to melt fully. Maybe my bowls were too shallow, maybe I was too slow. Anyway, it wasn’t a major problem. A few seconds in the microwave rescued each one. At this stage I also added in some flavourings where appropriate (desiccated coconut, ground almonds, almond extract, coffee granules, freeze dried raspberries, orange zest etcetera.)
5. I covered each bowl with cling film (plastic wrap), which I pressed lightly onto the surface of the chocolate. I left the bowls overnight in the garage rather than the fridge.
6. The next day all the bowls came out and I assembled all the other elements needed for rolling and covering the truffles, including small paper cases in different colours.
NB. Whenever I do any chocolate work I always have a bowl of hot soapy water nearby + paper towels. It’s invariably a messy operation and requires regular hand washing.
7. For each flavour, I used a teaspoon to scoop out ten fairly equal dollops of ganache then rolled each one between the palms of two hands. (The quicker you do this, the less messy you get.)
8. I rolled the orange truffles in the golden sprinkles, the almond truffles in ground almonds, the coconut truffles in desiccated coconut and the coffee truffles in cocoa powder. (This wasn’t a good idea; they were too powdery, so very messy to eat. Dipping in melted chocolate would have been better.) For the raspberry truffles I melted white chocolate then added a little squeeze of pink and red food colouring, which I swirled slightly. I had planned to dip the truffles in with a cocktail stick, but they were too soft and fell off, so I had to use my fingers. I didn’t get the nice smooth finish that I wanted, but they were OK. Apparently my wife had suggested earlier that I should use a fork, but I forgot. (whoops)
I think that’s all you need to know to make some and you probably have some ideas for other flavours. If so, please let me know via the contact page.
I took some to share with my friends in an Italian conversation group that I’m a part of. I filled a biscuit tin, but I may buy some small boxes from Hobby Craft or a similar shop and package the truffles more nicely as gifts for other friends at Christmas.
For lots of lovely (proper) recipes click on this link. And if you’d like to make a comment or ask a question that would be great, just go to the contact page. Click here to go to my home page.
Retired Bloke on Food n stuff 