I am one of those people who, as soon as they are seized by an idea, must act on it immediately and can think of nothing else until the urge has been fulfilled. A bit like when I bought my camera. I had the idle thought one morning that I probably should buy a new camera soon and maybe I should consider buying a DSLR camera if I wanted to get serious about taking photographs. Within approximately 8 minutes, I was handing over my credit card while an over-enthusiastic salesperson tried to sell me all sorts of extra insurance for my new camera.
So it happened last Saturday. I has been abandoned by my boyfriend for the weekend. My back up plan of a civilised evening with my parents had been foiled by the fact that they were also away. And so, Saturday evening found me slumped on the sofa, watching re-runs of Law and Order: SVU and flicking through the fairly dull recipe book from the Taste of London festival.
(As an aside, I really know how to live it up don't I?)
Nestled in amongst recipes for scallops and foie gras, I suddenly stumbled upon a recipe for chocolate truffles from Edinburgh-based chef Mark Greenaway. I skimmed the ingredients. Dark chocolate? Check. Butter? Check. Double cream? Check. Booze? Check. Chocolate truffles it was then.
Never mind the fact that I'd only just cleaned the kitchen or that it was getting late and the recipe required the truffle mixture to chill for several hours. At that moment, I wanted nothing in the entire world other than to make chocolate truffles and I was powerless to resist.
I can't actually remember what liqueur the recipe specified but it wasn't something that I have in my eclectic collection (I think it may have been amaretto but I could be wrong). What I did have, however, was a bottle of Chambord.
Chambord is a dark raspberry liqueur made by steeping red and black raspberries in spirits to make an infusion which is then mixed with cognac, vanilla, honey and citrus. I particularly like it mixed with Champagne in a Kir Imperial. It has a deep and rich flavour without being too sweet which works a treat with dark chocolate but, really, any flavour of booze will do.
Because I'm not completely insane, I halved the quantities in the original recipe. It still made about 30 truffles which kept me going for quite a while (that's a lie. It kept me going for about 3 days). These are supposed to be quite rustic looking - it wasn't just me being lazy - and I rather like them that way.
Please note that, as per my working methods, the timings of this recipe are given in terms of episodes of Law and Order: SVU (including adverts). One episode = one hour. .
Chocolate and raspberry trufflesAdapted from a recipe by Mark Greenaway
300g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa)145g unsalted butter110ml double cream35ml Chambord (or any booze of your choice)100g white chocolate
1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a ban of simmering water (or, carefully, in a microwave). 2. Heat the cream until hot and stir in the liqueur.3. Mix together the chocolate mixture and the cream and chill for 2 episodes of Law and Order: SVU. 4. Take the mixture out the fridge and roll into into rough truffle shapes. Place on a flat baking tray lined with parchment paper. 5. Chill for another episode of Law and Order: SVU. 6. Melt the white chocolate. To coat the truffles, spread a little of the white chocolate onto the palm of your hand and then roughly roll the truffle around. This bit can get messy but is anyone seriously going to complain about being covered in chocolate? 7. Place back onto the baking tray and chill until the white chocolate is set.