Every year I make delicious chocolates for my friends and either I forget to put them in the correct box and end up giving them shortcake or my mates put them in the fridge along with smoked salmon and ruin them. Anyway, this post is all about creating these chocolate delights so you can totally impress your friends…and it’s a serious post so if you’re all expecting mayhem, then there’s A Wonderful Life on TV at the mo’ …
So you’re going to need some ingredients:
left to right: 200g 40% dark chocolate; 200g 72% dark chocolate; 3 egg yolks; 300mls double cream; butter; Sprinkles
OK, lets go!
You need to get your 3 egg yolks and two table spoons of the double cream curing over a bain-marie…
The reason for this I don’t like the thought of raw eggs and it makes melting the chocolate super easy…
Like that, see! FYI I’ve used 50g of the 72% dark chocolate because I want a nice strong chocolatey filling…Also, you have to be super sharp on your timings here otherwise the eggs will cook; I used a finger dip method ie just too hot too touch (~60C)
Next, you need to add the chocolate and egg mix to 297mls of whipped double cream:
I’ve only folded this through because I don’t want to completely homogenise the mix; I like the contrast between super strong chocolate and rich cream. My friends do too.
This mix is sent to the fridge for 45 mins or until that mix sets nice ‘n’ stiff…
Next comes the ‘technical’ part where you have to form your individual truffle things and coat them with chocolate. Now, I don’t have a chocolate mold so the tactic I use is to form the mix into loads of quinells:
*’Paint’ all but the ‘down’ side of your quinells with a mix of 40% chocolate and 72% chocolate; the ratio you use is up to how strong you want your truffles and I find a 50-50 mix about right. You’ll need a fair amount of chocolate for the rest of painting process, which is why I stipulated 400g in total.
*I used a spoon. The best way is to put a large blob on top of the quinell and let the chocolate run down the sides, although I’m sure you could find a better way.
Now you have to put these back into the fridge to re-set otherwise you’ll find the ‘stuffing’ will get too soft to paint…
After another 45 mins, remove your almost-finished truffle things and paint the remaining side:
the final step is to decorate with Sprinkles (or cocoa powder or whatevs) et voila:
So there you have it. You’ll find these truffles are unusually light because they don’t use a butter genache. The only drawback is that you have to keep them cool otherwise they tend to go a bit squidgy. But trust me, these are super awesomely amazing and your friends will be stunned at what an incredible chocolatier you are!
I won’t be blogging over the festive season because I can’t be bothered, but if you miss me that much, head over to the facebook page and chat with other food folks, including quite a few professional chefs, or maybe twitter is more your bag?
Happy xmas!
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