Homemade chocolate truffles

Homemade chocolate truffles

All photographs copyright © Heather Wilkinson 2012

This is the recipe for the chocolate truffles I made for the recent Brighton Food Society ‘Sussex Rocks’ dinner. The only warning I would give is that these chocolates are incredibly moreish and you will get completely covered in chocolate when you’re making them -just go with it! In terms of flavourings, the sky is the limit - and if you like your truffles really bitter, just leave out the sugar.


chocolate truffles
For the truffles 
300 ml double cream 
50g unsalted butter 
280g good quality dark chocolate (70%) 
2 tsp caster sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 

For the toppings 
3/4 tsps of rum 
1 orange 
100g crushed amaretti biscuits 
Good quality cocoa 

Optional
 

A melon baller 

1.) Break up your chocolate into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. 
2.) Heat the butter, cream, vanilla extract and sugar in a saucepan on a medium heat. When it starts to simmer (don't let it boil) remove from the heat and pour straight over your chocolate pieces. Working swiftly, combine the mixture until you have a smooth mixture with no lumps of chocolate remaining. 
3.) Divide your mixture evenly in separate bowls, one for each flavour you will be making. 
4.) For the rum truffles, add 3/4 tsps of good rum to your chocolate mixture and combine. 
5.) For orange, grate the zest of one orange and add it, along with 4/5 tsps of the orange juice, to your chocolate mixture and combine. 
6.) Leave to cool, then refrigerate for 4 hours. 
7.) Now prepare your workstation: Lay greaseproof paper over a baking trays (you’ll probably need to use two trays). In a large bowl, add a thin dusting of cocoa powder and keep the cocoa power close by to top up your bowl. In another bowl, add your amaretti biscuits and, either blitz for a moment in a food mixer or crush gently using the end of a rolling pin.
8.) Dust your hands with cocoa, scoop out small rounds of your chocolate mixture with your melon baller, form into balls and place in the cocoa. Once you’ve finished one bowl, roll all your truffles in chocolate until evenly covered and place on your baking tray. Follow the same process with the ameretti but don’t dust in cocoa, simply place the truffles straight into your crushed biscuit mixture. 
9.) The recipe makes about 40 truffles and they will keep for about 3 days in the fridge in a airtight container.

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