Day Two Hundred and Sixty - Chocolate Truffles

Dear all,

We are being hit hard with the snow, so hard, it's virtually impossible to do anything. I got stuck THREE times on the way to work this morning, each time I was saved by a passing motorist who kindly came to my rescue brandishing a shovel: Canadians are so wonderful.

To make the pain of minus 23 go away, I decided to spend the evening making the most decadent thing I could think of, chocolate truffles. My day had been so awful, my endorphin quota had been eradicated with every last one packing their bags for Florida. Chocolate would be the only thing to tempt them back!

I found a brilliant recipe http://www.gastronomydomine.com/?p=175 that made 50 truffles... ( I decided not to alert Darren to the quantity, they freeze well..) and set to work.

Ingredients:

300g good quality, dark chocolate

300ml double cream plus 2 tablespoons

50g salted butter

Cocoa to roll

Easy!

I took the cream and butter and melted them in a pot.

I ground up the chocolate in the blender ( it makes the most gruesome noise) and poured in the creamy liquid, very slowly, stirring all the time.

The chocolate melts as you pour in the hot creamy liquid and I ended up with a silky, dark brown, 'Ganache'. I stirred in two tablespoons of cold cream at the last moment to stop the ganache getting grainy. (* Ganache (pronounced /ɡəˈnɑːʃ/,(????) ) is a glaze, icing of filling for pastries that is made from chocolate and cream. It originates from France).

I put the chocolate in the fridge and waited for around 4 hours. Once the Ganache had hardened, I was able to roll the chocolate into balls and cover them in icing sugar. I added nutmeg and coconut and two small balls of the chocolate before rolling them which certainly gave them a kick.

I think I may have found my new speciality although Darren is [very] concerned about both of our waistlines if I start making 50 home made truffles every the day... I will have to start giving them away for Christmas!

And in other news:

1. I also made up some blueberry, buttermilk and chocolate muffins: An [unexpected] triumph!