Dark raspberry truffles inspired by fragrant yarn….

 

A couple of months ago I bought two skeins of the most beautiful deep raspberry plum and soft chocolate brown tinged yarn from my favourite of favorites The Knitting Goddess….The yarn was 100% Blue Faced Leicester and looked good enough to eat, like a pudding that slowly melts in the mouth and leaves you with that mmmm feeling….they smelt incredible and the colour was gorgeous, all red wine and after dinner chocolates… at the time I told Joy (The Knitting Goddess herself) that they reminded me of some truffles that I’d made and promised to share the recipe next time I made them….

So my dear Joy, I’m sharing my truffle recipe just for you, to say thank you a thousand times over for creating the most deliciously coloured and blended yarns, and for inspiring me to keep my yarn pantry well stocked…..

Raspberry on Dark truffles

I’ll be the first to admit that these aren’t the poshest, fanciest looking truffles, but they taste lovely and keep very well in the freezer… in the past I’ve tempered chocolate to coat them to make them look a bit swishier (but it’s a bit pfaffy to do and takes up valuable knitting time so instead I’m suggesting to roll them in a good quality cocoa…also the gleam of tempered chocolate quickly fades in the  freezer which is another reason to just dust them in cocoa instead).. to be honest, I think the whole point of them is that they aren’t dead posh or swishy, more that they just taste nice and if you gift some, people will just be thrilled that you’ve made chocolates for them…..

Ingredients

200 g chocolate….I go for something around 75 %…lindt is very good and I made these with a mix of Waitrose chocolate….but a bar of Galaxy will not cut it I’m afraid as it melts all goopy.

200 ml of double cream (I have made them with Jersey cream…and thought I’d died and gone to heaven…..but regular runny double cream is also fine)

15g butter….salted or unsalted…doesn’t really matter

Home made raspberry or plum jam….. I have tried these with a shop bought jam, they were eatable but not all heart breathy and mmmm….they really are the best with a homemade jam.

Good quality unsweetened cocoa powder…I like Okakao

Method

First you need to make a thick chocolate ganache for the truffle centre, so break the chocolate into pieces.

Heat some water in a pan, put a large pyrex bowl overtop (you do not want the bowl to touch the water) … pop the chocolate pieces into the bowl and allow to slowly melt….. (a silicon spatula helps wipe all the chocolate from the sides)….. add the butter and melt…

You’ll need a couple of teaspoons of the home made jam…sometimes I sieve it so there are no pips, other times I forget…if you are using a mix of raspberry and plum then you really do need to make sure there are no plum stones in the jam mix…. Stir the jam in and allow it to melt into the chocolate as well….

Turn off the heat….add the cream and whisk the ingredients together so that the ganache thickens up nicely….

Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for a couple of hours so that the ganache firms up.

Once the ganache has stiffened, it’s time to make the truffles….(you might want to taste the ganache at this point…cook’s treat xx)

Finely sieve the cocoa powder, you’ll probably need about a couple of tablespoons sieved onto a large plate…..

With a teaspoon (not a measuring one just a normal one you use to stir tea, coffee etc) scoop out cherry sized amounts of the ganache/truffle mix and pop them onto the cocoa powder…once you have a dozen, gently roll them into balls across the tips of your fingers…(this does get a bit messy so it’s probably best if you have a bowl of soapy warm water ready to wash your hands all waiting rather than cover the taps in sticky chocolate paste)….then roll the truffles around in the cocoa powder and place them on a piece of baking parchment….once a dozen are made, then make a dozen more until the mixture is all used up….this makes a good couple of dozen so keep some in the fridge but you can also freeze them.

Freezing them is super easy…line a baking tin or tray with clingfilm or baking parchment, lay the truffles on there, avoid them touching or they will freeze together, then put them in the freezer overnight…..next day transfer them into a freezer bag or container, it’s fine now if they touch…..and you might treat yourself with a taste of one as they are very nice cold, you’ll get more of a sharp fruity hit of the raspberry/plum taste…..

These are quite rich so probably won’t be popular with children, but adults like them very much indeed….perfect with a nice cup of tea, or glass of a velvety red wine and some woolsome, sheepy scented knitting yarn from Joy….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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