Friday 20 December 2013

Passionfruit Truffles



I wasn't sure these truffles were going to make it; it's the week before Christmas and sweltering in my kitchen, but I like a challenge! JJ from 84th and 3rd chose holiday truffles as the December theme for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, such a prefect choice for the festive season. Truffles are a great home made treat for guests and perfect for a gift; decadent, luxurious and quite easy to make. Easy, but messy, they really challenged my slightly obsessive hand washing! These truffles are basically a flavoured ganache; I added passionfruit juice, but anything goes really, chopped nuts, alcohol, dried fruit, mmmm dried sour cherries. I failed to achieve the perfect spheres I was after, so next time I'll abandon the pursuit of perfection and get the kids to roll them, better their sticky hands than mine. I wanted to temper the chocolate for the coating, but at 35ÂșC in my kitchen it was a lost cause; check out the photos, not a beautiful tempered shine, but condensation! There is lots of great advice on the web for chocolate tempering, if you have a nice, cool kitchen it's worth the effort. Have a safe and happy holiday, I'll no doubt be back in the new year with a cleansing something...



Passionfruit Truffles

220g milk chocolate
80g dark chocolate
100ml passionfruit juice (pulp strained through a fine sieve)
150ml thick cream
15ml cointreau or orange liquor

 finely chop the milk and dark chocolate, tip into a small heatproof bowl or jug
 pour the passionfruit juice into the smallest pan you have, simmer over a gentle heat to reduce by half
 in another small pan bring the cream to the boil, pour both the cream and reduced passionfruit juice over the chocolate and leave for 5 minutes, do not be tempted to stir, walk away...
 after 5 minutes stir the chocolate/cream/passionfruit juice until it is shiny and evenly blended, stir in the cointreau
 pour the ganache into a shallow container and refrigerate until set
 scoop a heaped teaspoon of ganache and roll between your palms to form a ball, this stage is unbelievably messy, place the ball on a plate and continue rolling until you are out of ganache
 put the plate of ganache balls into the fridge or freezer to set



to decorate

cocoa powder
120g dark chocolate
50g white chocolate

when the ganache balls are firm and you are ready to decorate the truffles, it helps if you have everything set ready to go
 line a baking tray with baking paper, lightly grease a wire cooling rack and stand it in the lined tray
 sieve the cocoa powder into a shallow bowl
 melt the dark chocolate (I do this in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, I find microwaving the chocolate in small bursts both frustrating and stress inducing, but if it works for you...) and pour into a small bowl
 take half of the ganache balls out of the freezer and drop, one at a time into the melted dark chocolate, retrieve the truffle using a fork, allow the excess chocolate to drip from the fork, gently scrape the base of the fork on the edge of the bowl then ease the truffle onto the wire rack
 in an ideal situation the truffles would be left to set in a cool place, but I live in Sydney, it's summer, I have no air-conditioning and my kitchen is mostly, horribly hot so it's back into the fridge for the truffles
 take the remaining ganache balls out of the freezer and, one at a time roll in the cocoa powder, pop into a sieve and gently shake to remove the excess then return to the fridge; if your kitchen is as hot as mine you may need put the truffles back into the fridge as you go
 melt the white chocolate, pour into a piping bag fitted with a tiny plain tip (Wilton 1or 2)
 remove the chocolate coated truffles from the fridge, and leaving them on the wire rack, decorate with the melted white chocolate, return to the fridge to set
 store your chocolates in an airtight container, in a cool place; in my case, that's back in the fridge
 allow the truffles to come to room temperature or indulge straight from the fridge :)




4 comments:

JJ - 84thand3rd said...

Passionfruit and chocolate are such a great combo - these sound lovely! Can I tell you that I've never even attempted to temper chocolate... not sure I have the patience. I had to keep wiping condensation off mine and by the time I was done photographing they were nearly melted! Happy holidays xx

My Kitchen Storiesw said...

Wow how delicious passion fruit truffles. You did do a good job didn't you considering the heat!

simmer and boyle said...

Happy Christmas JJ, may there be lots of pie :)

simmer and boyle said...

My Kitchen Stories thank you! I'm planning to re-truffle when it's cooler, or I have aircon installed...