Chocolate Truffles

I’ve made chocolate truffles at Christmas every year for about the last 10 years. Sometimes twice if I make them in London and then again when I go home to Australia for Christmas. These are such a great gift idea that can be boxed up and given as presents or for a big plate of them to be put out at the end of the meal on Christmas day. Somehow people always made room for a couple of these.

The reason I love these is that you can make so many flavour combinations. The key is pairing the type of chocolate (milk, dark or white) with a dried fruit or nut and a liqueur. The final element is thinking about how to coat the truffle, whether this is rolling them in cocoa or coconut or dipping them in melted chocolate. The combinations are endless and I usually start by having a root around the drinks cabinets and seeing what liqueurs I have to hand. My other top tip is to have a look at what tiny alcohol bottles you can find in the supermarket to avoid having to spend too much on booze.

Each batch makes about 20 truffles and I usually make about 4 – 5 types of truffles (you need a good day to get through all of these) in order to make loads of gifts and have enough for a nice big plate on Christmas day.

I have put together a number of my favourite favour combinations as individual recipes (see below) but feel free to experiment with other options. Below is the basic recipe with will allow you to get creative!

White Chocolate, Malibu and Lime

Milk Chocolate, Baileys and Hazelnut

Dark Chocolate, Apricot and Grand Mariner

White Chocolate, Chambord and Cranberry

Milk Chocolate, Almond and Amaretto

Ingredients

For Truffles

200g of chocolate (dark, milk or white)

¼ Cup of Double Cream

1 Tbsp of Liqueur (your choice)

¼ Cup chopped dried fruit or nuts (your choice)

To coat

For Chocolate coating

200g chocolate

Editable decorations

OR

For dusted coating

50g of dusted coating such as cocoa, desiccated coconut, chocolate sprinkles

Method

1. Place the chocolate, cream and liqueur in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Mix until the chocolate is melted and all the ingredients are combined.

2. Take the bowl of the heat (careful of the stem that will have built up below) and mix in the fruit / nuts until combined.

3. Place the bowl in the fridge for 2 – 3 hours until set. It should be firm enough to roll into balls. If it is still too soft leave it in the fridge for a bit longer.

4. Once set, take a teaspoon of mixture and roll between your palms to create a ball. Place on a baking tray / plate covered in tin foil. Place the tray / plate back in the fridge for an additional hour.

5. If you are coating in melted chocolate, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over boiling water. Take the truffles out of the fridge and roll again to get them as spherical as possible. Using either a candy dipping tool or a fork, dip the truffle in the melted chocolate and place on the tray. Top with your edible decorations. Place back in the fridge and allow the chocolate to set. Once the chocolate is set remove from the tray and break of any bits of chocolate that may have pooled around the bottom. Place each truffle into a mini baking case.

6. If you are dusting the truffles, take the truffle out of the fridge and roll them again to make them a spherical as possible. Place the cocoa / coconut / sprinkles on a plate and roll the truffle in the mixture so it is completely covered. Place each truffle into a mini baking case.