Forgive me! I know it is still October and way too early for Christmassy treats but hear me out!
A few weeks ago I missed out on a dream job NPD at Tasti yet somehow I managed to leave the interview process having sparked the interest of their marketing team in their lead up to Christmas.
So here I am with armfuls of Christmas baking ingredients and a challenge set before me: Make something that isn't fruit mince tarts.
So this is one of the first ideas for the SophielikescakeXTasti colab that sprung to mind. Last year I made a cherry ripe slice which was great but I felt like if I removed the weakest link (the base) I could make it even better.
Every Christmas our family has a tradition of putting up the Christmas Tree to Christmas with Bing and it is usually accompanied with a box of Roses or Favourites. Serious pecking orders exists regarding who puts what decoration where and in what order and don't you dare touch the 20-something year old fairy lights (that's Dads job!). Dad and I both love the cherry ripe chocolates and tend to dive into the box first to try and grab them from each other. How many other households do you know where there are two cherry ripe fans? Not many, if any?
So it is for this tradition that these cherry ripe inspired truffles are a Christmassy treat for me.
Cherry Ripe Truffles
(aka truffles that closely resemble a well known but unnamed chocolate bar containing cherries and coconut)
Makes 20 or so truffles
250g vanilla wine or arrowroot biscuits
300g red glace cherries
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut
200g (half a tin) condensed milk
few drops pink food colouring
400g dark melting chocolate
20g butter
Crushed freeze dried raspberries and coconut to garnish
Crush the vanilla wine biscuits in a food processor until a fine, even crumb is produced. Transfer into a large bowl. Whizz the glace cherries up until finely chopped. Mix these into the biscuit crumbs along with the coconut, most of the condensed milk and food colouring. Add the rest of the condensed milk until the mixture can be rolled into balls that don't fall apart but not too much so that they are soggy.
Take tablespoon amounts and roll into balls, place these in the freezer for half an hour.
In a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate with the butter until smooth and glossy. Use a fork to toss each truffle in the chocolate then transfer to a tray lined with baking paper. Garnish each truffle with coconut or raspberry as soon as you place it on the tray. Repeat with all the truffles.
Refrigerate until the chocolate sets then serve.
