Well I know christmas has come and gone quicker then ever this year. Is this growing age or something greater and more cosmic? I can't decide but this year the festive season has come and gone before I could impart any of my very limited knowledge to you. What you did get is a good cake which is quite frankly, I think, a pretty decent little stocking filler. So for the wisdom, it's not much but it is valuable. What I've learned in my few short years of cooking and throwing parties and general arseing about is that you need a repertoire of food that is timeless, flawless and most importantly effortless. Think minimum input for maximum output. You need things that are easy to prepare that look great but don't nessercerily take too much toil. So for my belated gift to you, my next few food blogs are all going to be little party stunner's that you can whip out at any time and are simple saviours. I've love all of them and that's why I pass them on to you, like gorgeous little knowledge gems, like I'm Obi Wan and your my young Padawan (yes, I love Star Wars, deal with it!) This christmas I wanted little nibbles for the table to have with endless cups of tea and I don't think you can really beat truffles. You can flavour them with anything you can think of and they are only limited by how much imagination you have. My repertoire is based around three, one for white, milk and dark chocolate. My personal favourite is dark chocolate and for that I flavour it with ginger, orange and Tia Maria. Its a winning combination and could if you pleased be broken down to just include one of the flavours but I urge you to try them together, a complete winner! So number one in my 10 saviours of parties is Orange, Ginger and Tia Maria truffles.
Ingredients: (makes around 30-40 depending on how generous you are)
- 220g of dark chocolate, good quality minimum 60% cocoa
- 220ml of single cream
- large thumb sized piece of ginger
- 3tbsp of tia maria, this can be upped to 4tbsp of tia maria if you like it a little stronger, I like it to be subtle- its a taste thing and is up to your preference
- 2tbsp of orange juice
- cocoa powder
- peel and grate your ginger, do this on a plate or chopping board so that you can collect all that delicious juicy pulp
- in a heavy bottomed pan, place your grated ginger pulp, tia maria, orange juice and cream.
- slowly and gently warm the cream. never let the cream boil but warm till just before bubbling. the slow warming process really helps to infuse the flavours
- while the cream is warming, put the chocolate into a bowl and smash it to little bits! - fun!!
- when the cream is warmed through, pour it through a sieve over your smushed chocolate and mix the two together
- once you have swirled the two together you should be left with a dark chocolate gloop. pour the chocolatey mess into a large, shallow dish and put in the fridge to set
- after around two hours you should be left with a glossy, firm slab of chocolate. all you then need to is scrape out a blob of chocolate, around the size of a grape and roll it between your palms. work quickly before the chocolate starts to melt and then pelt the ball into a plate of cocoa powder and roll it around with a fork or spoon or polly pocket- anything you like, though I would suggest sticking to the fork really....
- once the truffle is suitably covered set it aside and continue until there is no chocolate left and all that remains is a mound of beautifully dark chocolate pebbles. eat and eat and eat more - perfik!
other incarnations are fresh mint infused dark chocolate rolled in chopped nuts or white chocolate with a little baileys then covered with a layer of crushed to a fine dust snap, crackle and pops: bizarre sounding I know, but by-gum it works! As I said the possibilities are literally limited by your imagination, so play and find your favourite, but try these, you will not regret and you will have a table full of very happy, quiet guests. bliss.
xoxoxox
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