Slap my wrists and call me sally...

*casually blows dust off the blog*

Dearest darlingest internet! Where have you been all these months?! Or rather, where have *I* been... for shame, for shame...

The answer is somewhat convuluted, full of pitiful excuses about job changes, lack of time and general slovenliness, which I will spare you, because I am inherently kind. What is more important is that I am here now, with a backlog of blog entries to post, all filled with delicious produce and lovely crafts. Are you excited, dear internet? I know I am.

So sit back and relax, and soon I will spam you with goodies and gluttunous gossip. Huzzah! But until then, enjoy this adorable Origami crane I made not so long ago on a whim.

Ugly!Truffles

Hello my dearest darlingest Internet. How are you this altogether abysmally grey morning?

...What a miserable note to start on. Quickly, let me allay your S.A.D with a great big hugsome wallop of chocolate goodness!

Following on from my festive trufflemaking, I've realised/remembered how much I adore making chocolates. Before I became so into baking and preserving as I am now, my passion was being a Chocolatier. I even considered throwing in the towel of trying to find a job in a more conventional way, and training to become one. I still do. My sensitive skin and food allergies, including the fateful peanut, are my main preventatives. Being able to play around at home, however, brings me great joy, and, as with baking, destresses me utterly.


Ganaches/Truffles (I'm not geeky enough to really know the difference) are my passion, though, as I beleive I have afore mentioned, I love to make fudges, and to do 'enrobed chocolates' also- gingers and marzipans are christmas staples, and cake truffles (a method I will surely share when I recycle my christmas cake and possibly pud) are a great thrifty treat.

After my christmas efforts (the pink and glitter truffles, which I believe are the previous post), i was eager to make some ganaches with a bit more boozy oomph. I've had a wealth of praise and thanks for the gifts I made of them at christmas- how light and floral the P+G truffles were (they were made with a dash of forest raspberry brandy- AKA Magic Potion), for example. But as nice as they were, I wanted to work with the recipe and make something really special of them.


I did two varieties this time- a milk chocolate and Bailey's concoction, and a boozy white chocolate and Cointreau. I am going to write this as a method, rather than a recipe. The digits are all in there if you want to give it a whirl.


For both batches, I used 250g of a high quality chocolate (the waitrose branded belgian chocolate from the confectionery section rather than the baking aisle- it tempers beautifully and tastes divine). For the truffles over christmas, I used 180ml of double cream. This time I cut back the cream to 150 to attempt to make it thicker, as I would be adding more alcohol liquid later.


The cream and knob of butter were brought to the boil, then poured over the chocolate and set aside to melt. After 3-5 minutes I whisked the mixture in glossy perfection, before adding the chosen spirit. At christmas, those just 'perfumed' truffles had 2 tbsp per mix. This time I added 5-6tbsp. The result was a fragrant, flavoursome, boozy delight. I don't think you need to add any more than this to a mixture.


The thing I will try with this is perhaps cutting back the cream more, as it is still a little too loose to roll. Instead I used my chocolate moulds. Now, these are made of silicon, and you can buy them from any good cookery shop. For the milk chocolate ganache, I lined a square mould with milk chocolate. The best way I have found of doing is this:

• Melt the milk chocolate.


• Pour a little into the mould- about twice what is needed to just cover the bottom.


• Using a very clean paintbrush (preferrably unused), paint the chocolate up the sides of the mould to begin to form the shell. Do this a few times, and gently, to try and make it stick.


• Repeat for the rest of the moulds.


• Before putting it in the fridge, go back and repaint the sides from the chocolate in the moulds. This is like a second coat, and as the chocolate will have begun to set it will set thicker on the sides now.


• Refridgerate from 20 mins or so.

The next part is fairly simple. It's just a case of spooning out of the ganache into the moulds- not too full, and then topping and sealing each little chocolate shell with more melted chocolate. Once set in the fridge again, they should be ready to eat. They should last at least a fortnight with all that booze.
It may seem fiddly, but it is the best way I have found of getting good results.



For the milk I did just a simple milk chocolate shell. For the whites, I painted each mould with a smear of milk, let it set, then made my shell. At the end, I topped off with milk chocolate instead of white, to make a 'viennese' truffle. Technically the chocolate should have been combined from the start, but hey, I'm a rebel.