Can you believe it's already December?? Christmas is fast approaching. December is a fun month, filled with baked goods, presents and laughter. Since moving to Sweden, December evokes memories of warm glögg, hot spiced chocolate and loads of food!
Anyway, in getting into the spirit of Christmas, I have been busy in the kitchen last week. I made my first batch of gingerbread men cookies which turned out great and salted caramel chocolate truffles which if I was mighty pleased with.. They turned out so damn creamy and gave me the big "O"! *faints with pleasure* If you love dark chocolate, this is definitely something you'll enjoy. If you hate dark chocolate.. Well.. skip along then!
Anyhow here it is! Recipe actually call for 300g of chocolate, but unfortunately, I could only find blocks of 200g cooking chocolate, but I think the truffles tasted rich but soooo deliciously smooth!
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| Ready to eat salted caramel chocolate truffles |
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| Chopping up my blocks of chocolate |
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| 400g of finely chopped dark chocolate sitting in a bowl.. yum yum |
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| Sugar slowly dissolving on medium heat. Keep dragging sugar with a silicon spatula, from edges to middle to dissolve evenly |
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| Once sugar is fully dissolved, it should have this delicious dark golden brown colour |
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| Pour in half the cream (slowly), vanilla extract and light brown sugar. It'll boil furiously, so be careful |
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| Boil boil boil!! Once boiling has subsided, add the remaining cream |
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| Smelling heavenly! Once caramel is smooth looking, add butter and sea salt. Stir gently to combine |
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| Pour hot caramel over chocolate |
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| See the green box in the background? That's the falksalt I use =) |
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| Man! The combination sure smells good!! |
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| Stir gently to combine. Looks smooth and creamy! |
Then, chill in the fridge until it's firm enough to form into balls. I had to leave mine in the fridge for at least 2 hours
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| Ganache mixture rolled in cocoa powder and put back into the fridge to chill! I added a few flakes of salt onto each truffle for the extra salty kick |
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| Add with my homemade gingerbread men cookies, these make perfect Christmas gifts =D |
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| I managed to make 40 of these little beauties! |
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| Christmas Gifts! =D |
Ingredients:
* 300 - 400g of dark chocolate (make sure it's at least 70% cocoa solid), finely chopped
* 1 1/2 cups of caster sugar (I didn't have caster, but used granulated sugar instead)
* 300ml of double cream (vispgrädde) - 3DL
* 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
* 20g light soft brown sugar (less than 2 heaping TSP)
* 20g of unsalted butter
* 1/2 - 1 tsp flaked sea salt
* cocoa powder for dusting
Make 40 delicious and creamy salted caramel truffle balls
METHOD:
1. Chop chocolate finely and put them into a medium sized heatproof bowl and set aside.
2. Pour sugar into a medium sized saucepan on medium heat and let sugar dissolve and caramelise around the edges. Using a silicon spatula, drag the dissolved sugar towards the middle. This will help it dissolve evenly.
3. Once sugar is fully dissolved and turned a dark golden brown, pour half the cream in (slowly), vanilla essence and light brown sugar. It will boil up furiously, so, pour your cream in slowly. Once bubbling has subsided, add the remaining of cream*. Once mixture is smooth, add butter and sea salt. Stir gently to combine.
4. Pour hot caramel over chocolate and stir gently to combine**. Chill in the fridge until firm enough to form into balls. Mine took at least 2 hours
5. To make the truffles, have a small bowl of cocoa powder ready and a baking tray lined with baking paper. Take a large teaspoonful *** of the ganache mixture and roll mixture in the cocoa powder and set on the baking tray. Chill truffles in fridge until needed
* If caramel is lumpy, put over low heat and allow to melt
** If the ganache splits when you add the caramel, use a hand blender to bring it back together
*** I used two teaspoons to scoop the ganache and form into balls (as mixture was still slightly wet and it was 4am and I needed to sleep!)
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