Chocolate Truffles

In a desperate attempt to be organised, I have this year decided to make begin my edible Christmas gifts well in advance. These truffles are said to freeze well for a good length of time, so I'm hoping that they should be an ideal gift to go with the other biscuits and chocolates that I am preparing. They certainly taste delicious, and aren't too tricky to make, definitely not in the same league as filled chocolates in terms of fiddly-ness, so are excellent as professional-looking little bites. I adapted this recipes from Delia Smith's. It makes 36-48 truffles, depending on how big you like them. Also, you might want some petit-four or mini muffin cases to present the truffles in. They should keep for a few days in boxes.

Ingredients:

For the basic truffles mixture

  • 150g chocolate (I used 70g milk and 80g dark)
  • 150g double cream
  • 25g butter
  • 2tbsp rum or brandy
  • 1 tbsp Greek yoghurt

Method:

1. Whizz up the chocolate (broken roughly into squares) in a food processor until it looks something like sprinkles

 

2. Heat the cream, butter and rum or brandy until it begins to simmer, stirring constantly

 

3. With the food processor on, pour the hot cream mixture in with the chocolate so it forms a smooth paste

 

4. Mix in the yoghurt

 

5. Leave in the fridge overnight

 

 

The next section is really up to you. There are countless flavours and textures to add to a truffles. The basic principle is to take a little bit of mixture, roll it into a ball and then coat it in something, but below are a the four flavours I used for my truffles.

Plain Truffles:

 

Split the 1/4 of the mixture into 9-12 pieces, roll each into a small ball and coat in sprinkles of your choice

Ginger Truffles:

 

Finely chop 20g preserved ginger and, with a fork, combine it with the 3rd quarter of the mixture, Add about 2tsp of the syrup from the ginger, and 1/4 tsp ground ginger.

   Make into truffles as with the plain truffles,

Almond Truffles:

 

Split another 1/4 of the mixture into 9-12 pieces, roll each of those into a ball and coat in finely chopped flaked almonds

Orange Truffles:

 

Combine the zest of and orange and about 1/3 of the juice of an orange with the final quarter of the mixture.

   Make into balls and coat in cocoa powder, before topping with an orange themed decoration (eg. candied peel or a jelly sweet)