FOODY FRIDAY-HOMEMADE TRUFFLES

I thought I'd use the next few foody Fridays and post recipes that are great gifts you can make to put in a Christmas hamper. I thought I'd start with something chocolaty because who doesn't like chocolate right? Well apart from my fiance who likes it only in small quantities and the other few scattered around the world, plus even if they don't eat chocolate I'm sure someone they know does so they'll still get a good home. If your recipient loves chocolate they'll love this plus its quick, simple and looks very profesh and its so much fun getting the kids involved, well it is until you finish and your left sweeping and mopping up sprinkles, coconut cocoa powder etc... from the floor lol When giving a chocolate lover a gift you only want to give the best, and what better way to do so than with a box of homemade chocolate truffles. The chocolate truffle is the number one of every repertoire of richly decadent goodies ever found on earth. Originating from France this exquisite chocolate will never fail as a gift for loved ones.

GREEK GHANA MIX TRUFFLE RECIPE

You will need:  

• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped. I like to use chocolate chips as it saves time on having to chop chocolate
• 125ml cup double cream
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• cocoa powder, sifted
• petit fours' cases
• gift box

Method:

• Heat the cream in a pan until boiling, or in the microwave for about one minute
• Pour the heated cream over the chocolate, then mix until the chocolate is melted
• Add in the vanilla and stir in well cover the bowl and refrigerate it until the mixture, called ganache, has a firm consistency. This will take a few hours after the chocolate mixture has a firm consistency, take a melon scoop or spoon and form balls
• Roll the balls in cocoa powder or any topping of your choice ( I used cocoa powder, desiccated coconut, green sprinkles, star sprinkles and blanched almonds, this is gg's favourie part, and the part youe kitchen will end up in a mess lol)
• Put truffles in truffle cases, also known as petit fours cases and chill until ready place truffles in a nice decorated box and separate layers with wax paper
• Tie a pretty bow around the box, and place in hamper.

Lucky is the recipient of such a thoughtful gift (",)

gg tip:

• Try using white chocolate instead of dark
• add liqueurs instead of the vanilla flavoring. Grand Marnier and Amaretto are both excellent choices
• try splitting the recipe of ganache and experimenting with different flavours in the same batch add some espresso powder to the mixture
• you can also incorporate small amounts of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves or allspice for a christmasey flavour
• or even a very small amount of chili powder to be different instead of the cocoa coating,
• try rolling the finished truffles in crushed pistachios, pecans, or other kinds of nut
• when you are making the truffle ball you can put a nut in the middle

Extra gg tip: I wouldn’t recommend using milk chocolate when making your ganache as I tried it and my milk chocolate didn’t solidify as well as the dark chocolate. I think this has something to do with dark chocolate being comprised of cocoa liqueur, cocoa butter and sugar whereas milk chocolate has added milk and uses less liqueur than dark chocolate.

Hope you enjoyed, and if you have your own chocolate recipes do share because I love chocolate (",)