As I mentioned in my last post, I helped a friend out the other day gluing labels to freshly packaged bottles of his coffee based liqueur. Since helping him out then I also got the chance to see how it was all made and help out with the latest batch. Seems I am putting that food science degree to good use after all.
I managed to concoct the most lethal of chocolate mocha cakes using the QBF which went down a raging success. I also managed to make up some wicked chocolate truffles. There is an excellent cinnamon flavour note in the QBF so I decided to play that up by tossing the truffles in a mixture of cinnamon, cocoa and a pinch of chili. These truffles are definitely not for children.
Truffles are pretty easy. Basically it is a chocolate ganache made up with just a bit more chocolate so that the final mixture is firmer than normal. I adapted the recipe found in the latest Little and Friday
Celebrations
recipe book by Kim Evans. I had actually bought this book for my best friend but flicked through it before I wrapped it all up. I saw this recipe and took a cheeky photo of it to use later.
I buried small portions of Timeout bars within each truffle. The only problem with this is that the wafer did go a bit soft and lost its crunch during storage. I would recommend using Twix bars instead. You want something that will keep its crunch.
Truffles are named after the coveted and highly expensive fungus. The cocoa used to dust them in is meant to look like dirt. Because of this rough and natural origin it is totally ok in my books that your truffles not be perfectly spherical. In fact the lumpier the better I think.
Quick Brown Fox Truffles
Makes 20 or so
250g good quality dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids)
½ cup cream
5 tablespoons quick brown fox liqueur (or other coffee based liqueur)
pinch of chili powder
2 pinches of cinnamon
30g butter
4 fingers of twix bar, cut into 20 pieces
½ cup cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of chili plus extra to decorate
In a double boiler, heat up the cream to just below a simmer. Once to temperature, remove from the heat and place in all the chopped chocolate. Leave to sit for a minute before stirring in. Add the butter and stir in until melted. Leave to cool to just above body temperature before adding in the liqueur (you don’t want all the alcohol to evaporate! Haha). You can mix in the cinnamon and chili at this time too.
Leave to cool in the fridge for a few hours but preferably overnight until it is firm enough to roll into balls.
Mix together the cocoa, cinnamon and chili powder in a small bowl.
Once the truffle mixture has set, take teaspoonfuls, bury a portion of twix inside the scoop then with cool hands roll it into a rough ball. Toss through the cocoa mix and gently place on a tray or inside wee little cupcake cases. Top each truffle with another tiny sprinkling of chili.
Keep chilled when not being consumed!
Enjoy!!
