White Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
After years of loathing white chocolate, I realized the trouble lay not with the ingredient itself, but with the disconnect between expectation and reality. Once I stopped expected white chocolate to taste like the stuff that with geographical pedigrees and percentage points, I stopped loathing it. A parable for hard-won wisdom? Not really. Just my experience on the road to understanding white chocolate.
David Lebovitz, writing in The Great Book Of Chocolate, explains white chocolate is not really chocolate at all, but cocoa butter, sugar, and perhaps some vanilla. He suggests buying the highest quality white chocoate you can find, with as few additives as possible. Also useful life experience.
White chocolate can be tempermental. In this recipe, you need to gently heat cream and chocolate together, stirring all the while. The key here is low, low, low heat. The chocolate may appear curdled. Don’t panic. When you add the liqueur off heat, the chocolate will smooth out. (Also a lot like people….tempermental….add liquor..smooth out..hm.)
The yield may seem scant, but the truffles are quite rich. A little goes a long way. That said, they’re so easy to make that doubling the batch is no hardship.
I know nothing about football. I don’t even know who’s playing Sunday. I do know this: truffles may not be conventional Superbowl fare. Go ahead and make a batch of these truffles–they come together quickly. Put them out next to the chips and guac and whatever salty stuff means game food to you. They’ll get eaten.
Thanks for being here.
White Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
Adapted from the Barefoot Contessa: The Food Network
yield: approximately 21 teaspoon-sized truffles
2 tablespoons heavy cream
7 ounces best-quality white chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur (see notes)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
To coat the truffles:
2 tablespoons shelled hazelnuts, lightly toasted and very finely ground (optional)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
You will need a small bowl and a medium-sized tray lined with wax or parchment paper that will fit in your refrigerator. A cup or bowl of warm water is helpful while scooping/shaping truffles. If you are using nuts, a spice grinder is useful but not crucial for this recipe.
Heat the cream and white chocolate in small saucepan over the lowest possible heat. Stir continually with a wooden spoon. Mixture will be very thick and may appear curdled. That’s okay.
As soon as the chocolate has melted, take the pan off the heat. Slowly pour in the liqueur and vanilla, stirring all the while. Mixture should loosen up. If it doesn’t, place the pan over lowest possible heat for a few seconds, stirring, until chocolate melts. Scrape mixture into bowl with heat-proof spatula.
Chill in refrigerator for one hour.
Have your parchment or wax-paper lined tray ready. Have a cup or bowl of warm water to hand for cleaning off your spoon.
Using a teaspoon, scoop balls of truffle mixture on the tray, dipping spoon into the warm water as needed. You should get 20-22 teaspoon-sized truffles. Refrigerate the tray while you prepare the coatings.
Place the hazelnuts in small pan over low heat. You want to warm them just enough to release their oils. This takes 3-5 minutes. Chop them by hand or grind in spice grinder, but don’t make nut butter.
Break up the chocolate into small pieces. Place these in a microwave-safe container. Melt the chocolate in 15-second bursts, stirring vigorously between bouts.
You can shake the crushed nuts on some or all of the truffles. To drizzle the dark chocolate over the candy, dip a teaspoon into the melted chocolate, then zigzag it across the tray. Repeat until you’re pleased with the result.
Truffles keep in a refrigerated container up to 10 days.
Notes:
Add the liqueur of your choice: Frangelico, Grand Marnier, or Kirsch would all work well here. The original recipe calls for Baily’s Irish Cream.
Clean your spice grinder by filling it with dry rice.
