Almond truffle cookies

A couple of weeks ago I watched the trailer for “The lovely bones” and now I just can’t wait for the movie to premiere. I haven’t read the book, but can certainly expect something amazing from a fantastic director working with such talented cast – Stanley Tucci scared the bejeesus out of me. Seriously.

I felt the same way about this recipe: my favorite food “director” pairing chocolate and almonds in cookie form. Heavenly.

Almond truffle cookies
from Donna Hay magazine

¼ cup (56g/½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (100g) brown sugar, both packed
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 egg yolk
½ cup + ½ tablespoon (75g) all purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup almond meal
¼ teaspoon baking powder

Truffle filling:*
200g dark chocolate, chopped – I used 70% cocoa solids
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, room temperature

Start by making the filling: place the chocolate, cream and butter in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Place the butter, sugar, vanilla and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes or until light and creamy. Add the egg yolk and beat well to combine. Add the flour, almond meal and baking powder and beat for 1 minute or until well combined.
Roll leveled teaspoons of dough into balls and place onto prepared sheets. Flatten each ball slightly with your fingers.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden in the bottom. Cool completely on sheets.

To assemble, place the chocolate filling into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a small amount onto half of the cookies. Sandwich with the remaining cookies.

* I generously filled the cookies, but there was still a lot of filling left – I believe that 2/3 of the recipe would have been enough

Makes 16 sandwich cookies

Caramel-dark chocolate truffles with fleur de sel

Cookies, cakes, bread. I do love baking. But I also love making candy and working with chocolate as well. There was an Easter, a couple of years ago, when I made almost 50 chocolate Easter eggs. Some of them had creamy and gooey fillings, like this heart shaped chocolate I posted last year. YUM!

I printed a recipe for tangerine truffles but the result was a much too soft, messy – although quite delicious – mixture; something impossible to be shaped into balls. As I was determined to make truffles that day, I started searching the net and Epicurious came to the rescue.
These looked and sounded amazing enough to make me forget the tangerine fiasco.

I hadn’t tried salted caramel till then – even though I’d seen it popping around on some food blogs – and that stuff is so good. The truffles were great and the salty touch is an unusual surprise.

Both the truffle mixture and the shaped balls must be refrigerated for quite a while, so plan ahead.

Caramel-dark chocolate truffles with fleur de sel

560g (20oz) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, divided – I used 51% cocoa solids
1/3 cup (67g) sugar
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup whipping cream
¼ teaspoon fleur de sel
½ cup (45g) unsweetened cocoa powder
additional fleur de sel

Place 224g (8oz) chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.

Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, occasionally brushing sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides and swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix caramel and ¼ teaspoon fleur de sel into melted chocolate. Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.

Place cocoa in bowl. Using 1 tablespoon truffle filling for each truffle, roll into balls, then roll in cocoa. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover; chill overnight.

Line a 32x22x5cm (13x9x2-in) baking sheet with foil. Place remaining 336g (12oz) chocolate in medium metal or glass bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is melted and smooth and thermometer inserted into chocolate registers 46ºC/115ºF. Remove bowl from over water. Working quickly, submerge 1 truffle in melted chocolate.
Using fork, lift out truffle and tap fork against side of bowl to allow excess coating to drip off. Transfer truffle to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining truffles. Sprinkle truffles lightly with additional fleur de sel while coating is still wet. Let stand until coating sets, at least 1 hour. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)*

*I decided to temper the chocolate so the coating would be firm and the truffles could be kept in room temperature. If you decide to do that too, don’t roll the truffles in cocoa powder (skip that part). Just make the balls, refrigerate for at least 4 hours and dip directly into tempered chocolate.
To learn how to properly temper chocolate, click here.

Makes about 32 – I halved the recipe and got 14 truffles

Caipirinha truffles

The sweet and lovely Emiline is hosting her first food event: St. Paddy's Day Pub Crawl!!
I’m not Irish like her, but I do have my share of Italian/German/Portuguese blood and I like some alcohol sometimes. :)



It took me a while to decide what to prepare for the event (today is the deadline to take part in it) because I wanted something with a Brazilian feel. Finally, I went for these caipirinha truffles (the ones I had previously in mind when I made these).

I think the truffles are OK, but not as good as I expected. The cachaça flavor was strong and I think some lime juice would have worked well to replace part of the liquor.

Emiline, I hope you like my Brazilian booze recipe!

Caipirinha truffles
loosely adapted from here

400g white chocolate, finely chopped
grated zest of 1 lime
¼ heaping cup (70ml) cream*
3 tablespoons cachaça
cocoa powder, enough to cover the truffles

Combine chocolate, zest and cream in a heatproof bowl; place it over a saucepan of gently simmering water.

Stir until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat, add the cachaça and mix vigorously until mixture is silky and smooth. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm enough to form balls.

Scoop out rounded teaspoons of the mixture (while it’s still cold and firm) and form balls – you don’t want your truffles to be perfectly rounded. Roll the truffles in cocoa powder and place in small fluted paper cases or on a plate. Keep refrigerated.

* Once again, I used a type of cream we have here that is packaged in small Tetra Pak boxes; it contains 25% fat. I did it to avoid wasting an almost full jar of heavy cream.

Makes 35 truffles

Lemon truffles

Besides loving citrus flavors – something you already know – I also love white chocolate. I know it’s not considered real chocolate and all that, but I don’t care: I’m a huge fan. And the best thing is that it goes extremely well with my other favorites: yes, the citrus.

The initial idea was making caipirinha truffles – a recipe I got from a chocolate class I took ages ago; the truffles were served in the end of class and they were oh, so good. But the truffles I was making had a destination already – the girls who work at the beauty salon I go to – and I did not want to take risks adding cachaça. It would be pretty possible that some of the girls might not take alcohol and then the gift would make no sense at all.

That is why I adapted a basic truffle recipe from this book and added a sour zing with lemon.

I was wondering about the flavor being much too sour, but now, more than 2 weeks after the “delivery”, I’m sure it wasn’t: the girls keep talking about the truffles and two of them have asked me for the recipe.

Lemon truffles
adapted from The Art of Chocolate

500g white chocolate, finely chopped
grated zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
1/3 heaping cup cream*
cocoa powder

Combine cream and lemon zest a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the cream starts to bubble – don’t let it boil.

Remove from heat and add the chocolate at once, whisking vigorously until the chocolate is melted and you get a thick, smooth and silky mixture. Add the juice, mix well, transfer the mixture to a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap/cling film. Refrigerate until firm enough to form balls - I let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Scoop out rounded mounds of the mixture (while it’s still cold and firm) and form balls – you don’t want your truffles to be perfectly rounded. Roll the truffles in cocoa powder and place in small fluted paper cases or on a plate. Keep refrigerated.

* I used a type of cream we have here that is packaged in small Tetra Pak boxes; it contains 25% fat. I did it to avoid having almost 400g heavy cream in the fridge for nothing – it would end up in the garbage can and I don’t like wasting food.

Makes about 60 truffles (10g each)

Three tier chocolate cake

Wow, I haven’t been here for a while - Happy New Year, everyone!

I haven’t visited your blogs either – I had a few days off from work and took a short break from the computer; I organized many things at home and also did a sort of “summer cleaning”. And because of that – and also the 33-35ºC (92-95ºF) days were were having here in Sao Paulo – I didn’t cook much. But I did bake a birthday cake for Joao on Dec, 27.

I got the recipe from the Woman&Home Christmas Food Valentina sent me – the cake was on the cover of the magazine and it looked so beautiful… I really wanted to try it. His birthday was the perfect excuse – everyone in this family ate the cake, so I spread the calories around. :)

I decided to use a different filling and went for a refreshing passion fruit truffle filling, made with white chocolate. You can use the original filling if you want.

We were in a hurry and the photos don’t do this cake justice – it is absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend it!

Three tier chocolate cake

Cake:
6 large eggs
175g (6oz) caster sugar
185g (6.5oz) plain flour
15g (0.5oz) cocoa powder

Filling:
500g white chocolate, finely chopped
400g whipping cream
¼ cup (60ml) concentrated bottled passion fruit juice

To brush the cake:
½ tablespoon concentrated bottled passion fruit juice diluted in 4 tablespoons water

Ganache:
175g (6oz) dark chocolate, 55% solids
130ml (4.5oz) double cream - I used a thick kind of cream we have here in Brazil, so my ganache was not so spreadable

Decoration:
chocolate curls, cherries or whatever strikes you fancy

Start by making the filling: place the cream in a saucepan and heat until it is nearly boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate all at once. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is silky and smooth. Add the juice, mix well; refrigerate it, well covered, for 4-6 hours or until set.

Make the cake: preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Oil a 25cm (10in) springform cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper.
Put the eggs and sugar into a large heatproof bowl and, using an electric hand whisk, beat until tripled in volume, pale and thick (I used my Kitchen Aid, with the whisk attachment). The whisk should leave a trail in the mix. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold in with the whisk. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake on the centre shelf for around 20 minutes, until risen and springy to the touch. Let the cake cool in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.

When the cake is cool, split into three horizontally. Separate them carefully. The top of the original cake in the tin will be the top of the finished cake. Brush the bottom cake very lightly with the juice then spread over half the filling. Add the next layer and do the same with the juice and filling. Add the top.

Finish with the ganache: put the broken-up chocolate into a saucepan with the cream and heat gently. Stir well until the chocolate has melted. Spoon on to the centre of the cake a big spoonful at a time then spread with a palette knife, letting it drip down the sides. Do this at a reasonable speed as it will set in around 15 minutes.
Decorate as you like.

Serves 12-14