Tag: truffles

Gift from the heart

The joy of offering a little something, a gift from the heart

Today, I am going back to one thing cooking and this time of the year is about: the family.   I love involving the children in the cooking activities, I enjoy seeing them exploring and taking initiatives, not just my children, all children!

Welcome into the “Silly Season”

In Australia, this time of the year is called the “silly season”.  It may be called the same elsewhere.  In the Southern hemisphere, not only is it Christmas and New Year Eve, it is also the start of the summer holidays and the end of the school year!

A lot to celebrate, gifts to exchange and opportunities to indulge!  The great thing on that aspect is that being summer, there are lots of opportunities for swims or water activities to stay away of the treats or use the calories brought by those extra treats (assuming some get guilty).

Chocolate truffles, the plain, the salted caramel ones and the kids party ones!

This week my daughters have wanted to make little presents for their teachers.  They decided to make something with chocolate, it quickly became truffles.  Not the classic plain chocolate truffles  I normally do, but a salted caramel chocolate truffle.

 

They were having lots of fun getting their hands really messy and once we were done licking every finger, of course.  As they make me notice when I sent them washing themselves in the bathroom, we all ended up like “Rudolf, the red nose reindeer” if not for the wrong colour! That was not the end of the truffle season here, a few days after that first episode, Ambrine had to bring something for her class party.  Guess what? Truffles! Yes, but this time she decided to adapt it to children’s tastes (RECIPE HERE). She did well!

Kids chocolate truffles. Replacing the cocoa coating with 100s&1000s

Now, rapidly before loosing you, truffles are simply a chocolate ganache, cooled down, rolled in small balls and coated in dutch cocoa powder.  From there, there are many variations possible.  So, go for it, it is EASY and YUMMY!!!

Truffles anyone?

 

 

 

 

 

Kids chocolate truffles

These kids chocolate truffles is a must try (and adopt!).  Chocolate truffles can be a bit bitter for children when coated with cocoa.  Well, just change the coating!  Here we used 100s & 1000s.  Great result!  My daughter initiated it for the school end of year class party.

Making chocolate truffles is a great activity for kids and they can pretty much do it all on their own. Oh yes, they will love getting their hands dirty for rolling the chocolate in small balls! You may need a few “no licking the fingers” rules there!

This recipe makes about 30.

Ingredients 

Use a good quality chocolate, a couverture chocolate is even better but you can also use a compound dark cooking chocolate, it will still be delicious.

  • 330 g of dark chocolate 70% cocoa
  • 25 cl (250 ml) of cream
  • 50 g of good quality soft butter (real butter please, no substitute here)
  • a pack of hundreds&thousands or other small size sugar coloured decoration.

Tip: you can always use the mortar or food processor  to further reduce the size of the pieces if to long.

Method:

  1. Cut the chocolate in small pieces with a large knife, place in a bowl.
  2. Boil the cream in a saucepan
  3. Pour the cream on top of the chocolate, cover for one minute then mix well until all the chocolate is melted.
  4. Add the butter, mix well.  Place in a shallow container (aim at 1.5 cm thickness of chocolate) and refrigerate for 2 hours minimum until firm.
  5. When ready to shape the truffles, you have 2 options:
    • Either use a teaspoon, scoop out the equivalent of a macadamia nut (for those who don’t know macadamia, it is between a walnut and a hazelnut). Roll in your hands to form a ball
    • Reverse the chocolate preparation on a chopping board, cut stripes 1.5 cm thick, repeat in the other directions to obtain cubes and roll each cube in a ball
  6. Transfer the balls to a large based plate with 100 & 1000s and roll them until coated (different techniques below).

 

7. Transfer to a storage box and keep in the fridge until you ready to serve.  The truffles can remain at room temperature for some time, it all depends on the temperature.

 

 

Chocolate truffles

This recipe makes about 50 truffles.  The name refers to the likeness to the highly prized truffles grown in the earth and used in refined cooking. Those chocolate truffles are easy to make and just delicious. They keep for a couple of weeks. Make sure you use a good quality chocolate,

Ingredients:
  • 330 g of dark chocolate 70% cocoa
  • 25 cl (250 ml) of cream
  • 50 g of good quality soft butter (real butter please, no substitute here)
  • Cocoa for rolling (I like using dutch cocoa)
Method
  1. Cut the chocolate in small pieces with a large knife, place in a bowl.
  2. Boil the cream in a saucepan
  3. Pour the cream on top of the chocolate, cover for one minute then mix well until all the chocolate is melted.
  4. Add the butter, mix well.  Place in a shallow container and refrigerate for 2 hours minimum until firm.
  5. When ready to shape the truffles, put a tablespoon of cocoa in a soup plate or large bottom bowl.  With a teaspoon, scoop out the equivalent of a macadamia nut (for those who don’t know macadamia, it is between a walnut and an hazelnut). Roll in your hands to form a ball, then place in the cocoa and move the bowl around or roll the truffles with your finger tips.
  6. Transfer to a serving plate or storage container.

This recipe of truffles does not have eggs, it will keep in the fridge for over a week.  You may find they disappear before!

Tip: If you are using couverture chocolate, you need to be a bit more careful when doing the ganache to prevent splitting when adding the butter. you may want to melt 2/3 of the chocolate first, then the next 1/3 to the mix.  If the ganache splits, warm it up slowly mixing until it comes back together.

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