Orange hazelnut truffles
I learnt how to make truffles at a little hippie bakery I worked at in Ottawa a number of years ago, and I’m so glad I did. These little guys make delicious and impressive Christmas gifts, or special treats for those cold winter nights. And they’re really not as hard to make as you’d think! Temper what?
Makes approximately 20 truffles
Prep time 20 minutes, inactive time three to four hours (for ganache to set)
Note: Chocolate bars normally come in 100-gram sizes. If using bulk chocolate pieces, a kitchen scale will come in handy. A dark chocolate with between 50 and 75 percent cocoa solids works best in this recipe.
Ingredients
½ cup whipping cream
Zest of one medium navel orange
Pinch of salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp Triple Sec or Grand Marnier (optional)
150 grams or 5 ¼ oz of dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 ½ cups hazelnuts
250 grams of dark chocolate to dip the truffles (optional)
Directions
Heat the cream, orange zest, salt, and vanilla extract in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Once bubbles begin to form in the cream, reduce the heat to low and let simmer very gently for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. In a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth, strain out the orange zest (squeezing any liquid from it) and put the cream back into the saucepan. Reheat the cream until small bubbles begin to form again. Turn off the heat and add the cream to the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized bowl (preferably glass or ceramic), stirring constantly with a spatula until the chocolate is melted. Add the Triple Sec or Grand Marnier (if using) and mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let set in the fridge for three to four hours, or until firm.
While the ganache is setting, toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet in the oven at 350˚ for eight minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant. Rub the hazelnuts between your hands to remove the skins, and chop the nuts fine.
Once the ganache is set, scoop out slightly less than a tablespoon of ganache for each truffle (or whatever size you like) and roll it between your hands into a ball, pressing with your fingertips if needed. Then cover the surface of each truffle with the chopped hazelnuts, pressing them in with the palm of your hand.
These truffles are amazing just as they are at this point, but if you’re feeling ambitious, you can melt the second round of chocolate in a double boiler (a heat-proof bowl over a pot of boiling water), remove the chocolate from the heat, and let cool to room temperature. Once the chocolate has cooled for a few minutes, dip each truffle into the chocolate using toothpicks or thin barbecue skewers, let the excess chocolate drip off, and release each truffle onto parchment paper to cool.