Indulgent, this festive time of year! I will shamelessly add to your list of holiday treats by sharing a recipe for decadent chocolate truffles.
If you’ve had store bought truffles, their rich taste may fool you into thinking they are difficult to create at home. Truffles are one of the easiest sweets to make because they consist of 2 ingredients: chocolate and cream. Additional ingredients and flavours can be used: cinnamon, peppermint, nuts, orange… these ingredients are equally simple to incorporate so you can make a variety of truffles, to your heart’s content!
You may be headed out to visit family and friends in the coming days. These sweet treats make an excellent homemade gift for your favourite host and hostess. Check out the recipe and see how you can tailor it to your taste and whip up a batch of something special!
Happy hols, everybody 🙂 xxx
Ingredients
- 250 grams best quality dark chocolate, at least 72% cocoa butter
- 125 ml whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp finely chopped unsalted pistachios (can use other nuts)
Directions
- Break down the chocolate into pieces and place them into a medium-size mixing bowl.
- Pour the cream into a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and turn off the heat as soon as it starts to bubble around the edge. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a minute or so. As the chocolate is melting, gently stir the mixture to further encourage the melting process. Try not to stir too strongly or you will incorporate air. Cover and chill the mixture until firm; about 2 hours.
- While the chocolate/cream is cooling, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- When the chocolate mixture has cooled enough so you can scoop it, use a small melon baller or spoon to scoop the mixture into your hands, so you can roll it into balls. They don’t have to be perfect – they are homemade truffles 🙂 Place onto the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm again, about 30 minutes.
- Place the cocoa, cinnamon, and chopped nuts into 3 separate shallow bowls. Roll 1/3 of the balls into the cocoa mixture, 1/3 into the cinnamon, and 1/3 into the chopped nuts, then return them to a parchment-lined container. (Place a piece of parchment between layers so they don’t stick together.) Cover and chill until ready to serve.
If refrigerated, these will keep for about 10 days.
You can also make a batch with a few drops of peppermint essential oil, or, grate in the rind of an orange for a gorgeous chocolate-orange combo!
Enjoy every bite. I bet you’ll have more than one!
Note: I tripled this recipe. I made one full recipe each for the cocoa, the cinnamon, and for the pistachio.
Each recipe yielded about 20 truffles just smaller than a walnut!