Christmas Chocolate Sweets - What About A Box Of Truffles?
It is said that there cannot be Christmas without a decorated Christmas tree, some gifts under the tree, and the whole family united for a holiday meal. And of course, no holiday can be complete without sweets. Children and adults alike prefer some Christmas chocolate delights. While children associate the Christmas holidays with receiving gifts and chocolate treats, adults too like to receive delicious chocolates to remember the times when they were too children. You can go to the supermarket and choose of the many chocolate assortments you will find on the shelves, or you can go to a chocolate store to buy finer treats. But one of the most pleasant surprises you can offer your friends and family for the holidays is to prepare some delicious chocolate truffles. It is not a complicated recipe and in the same time you do not have to worry about gaining a lot of weight: a single truffle has around 65 calories and this makes it a relatively easy treat. The whole preparation time for two dozen truffles lasts for 30 to 60 minutes and in the end you will have some delicious self made treats.
Bellow are the ingredients you will need to prepare the truffles, but if you have never made any home made chocolate, it is better to separate the ingredients for each of the truffle's part: the mixture, the rolling truffles and the dipped truffles. For the truffle mixture, you will require around 225 - 250g of chocolate (chose whichever you like: plain, bitter or with milk), 75 ml of double cream, 75 ml brandy or any other liqueur you prefer (rum, orange, coffee liqueur or coconut liqueur). For the rolled truffles, you will need cocoa powder; some chopped nuts, some coconut and some chocolate vermicelli or grated chocolate for rolling. And finally, you will need around 350g or plain, milk or white chocolate for the dipped truffles. When you have all the ingredients ready, you can start preparing the chocolate delights. First you need to prepare the truffle mixture. Mix the cream with the chocolate and melt in a bowl over water at boiling point, stirring until they become very smooth. Allow the mixture to cool and thicken. Add the brandy you have selected and whisk until the mixture is strong enough to stay 'up' when a strand of mixture is pulled up by the whisk. Then put the mixture into a shallow tin and cool until it is firm. For the rolled truffles, place teaspoonful size amounts of truffle mixture onto a tray sprinkled with cocoa powder and roll into ball shapes. When the shapes are created, place them in a refrigerator for at least two hours. For dipped truffles, you need to roll the truffle mixture into approximately 1 inch size balls and let them in the freezer overnight. Prepare some melted chocolate over boiling water. When the chocolate is liquid, take two or three truffles at a time using cocktail sticks to dip them into the melted chocolate. Transfer to a refrigerator for cooling for at least two hours to harden. Repeat for the remaining truffles. You are done and can serve the truffles to your friends. You can store them in the fridge for up to 10 days. |
