Quick and delicious chocolate truffles

Who does not like melt in your mouth chocolate truffles?! This is a very quick way of doing it with yummy results. You can use any good quality dark chocolate you wish, some already have flavors like mint, orange, berries, etc.

Makes 30 small truffles

Ingredients:

227 g (8 ounces) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35-40% butterfat)

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

5 to 6 leaves fresh mint

Coatings:

Cocoa Powder

Finely chopped, ground pistachios

Other options: Melted or tempered chocolate, confectioners sugar (icing or powdered), toasted and chopped Nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts), toasted coconut and shaved chocolate.

Method:

1) Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized heatproof bowl. Set aside.

2) Crush the mint slightly with the end of spoon. Heat the cream, mint and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil.

3) Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a minute or two. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. (If the chocolate doesn’t melt completely, place in the microwave for about 20 seconds, or over a saucepan of simmering water, just until melted.) Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).

4) Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, a small ice cream scoop, a melon baller, or a small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

To Toast Nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and bake nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds) about 8 – 10 minutes or until brown and fragrant. For hazelnuts toast about 15 minutes or until the skins start to blister. Remove from oven and roll in a clean dish towel. Let the nuts ‘steam’ for about 5 minutes and then remove the skins. Once the nuts have cooled, chop coarsely.

Adapted from Chocolate truffles, Joy of Baking

Meringue with coffee cream

I had some left over egg whites (they stay quite well in a plastic container in the freezer) so I decided to do a meringue which I have never done before in the oven. It pretty much tastes like marshmallows less chewy though.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
¾ cup sugar

Filling:

¾ cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon of coffee granules
1 teaspoon water
60g of dark chocolate, melted
250g strawberries or any other fruit (optional)

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 120C. Grease and line a rectangular pan with baking paper.

2) Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form then gradually add the sugar beating after eat addition until the sugar melts. Beat until all the sugar is dissolved and you have a glossy mixture.

3) Put the meringue in a piping bag and make the shape you want. You can also use a spoon (usually round shapes are done).

4) Bake in the oven about 30 minutes or until it is has a golden hue.

5) For the filling: Whip the cream and sugar until soft peaks form then add the coffee mixed with water and whip until stiff peaks form.

6) Add the cream to the cold meringues, arrange some strawberries and drizzle with chocolate.

Taken from: Series of international kitchen: Cheese cakes and meringue desserts (translated from Arabic)

Biscuit and chocolate success

This dessert can be made in a variety of ways but my sister taught me a very easy and quick one that gives a delicious result.

Gives 2 medium rolls

Ingredients:

About 50 tea biscuits (just regular)
400g sweetened condensed milk
7-8 teaspoons of cocoa powder

Method:

1) Break the biscuits into medium sized bits.

2) Pour the milk on them then add the cocoa 2 teaspoons at a time mixing in between.

3) The mixture should be one big blob and hard to mix. If it is still looks loose then add a bit more biscuits or teaspoons of cocoa.

4) Put spoons full of the mixture on aluminum foil to make about a 20cm long mountain like line then fold the foil on it tightly like shown in the picture.

5) Put in the freezer about 3 or more hours. After, cut it as you like and put them in the fridge covered.

Enjoy!

Poached pears and apples with spice syrup

This dessert can be eaten on its own or accompanied with thick cream, dark melted chocolate (ganache also: 100g dark chocolate melted with 1/3 cup cream) or even with desserts like classic cheesecake, mainly things less sweet.

Ingredients:

2 cups (500ml) water
1 cup (250ml) orange juice + 2 tablespoons
¼ cup (55g) sugar
5 small pears and 5 small apples (you can also use a cup of dried apricots instead of one of them), peeled, cored, halved.
1 cinnamon stick
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Method:

1) Combine ingredients in large saucepan; simmer, covered, about 10 minutes or until pears and apples are just tender; discard cinnamon stick.

2) Strain fruit mixture over large heatproof bowl, return liquid to same pan; boil uncovered, about 10 minutes or until reduced to 1 cup (250ml). Add syrup to fruit on bowl.

Taken from: The Australian Women’s Weekly, Cheesecakes, Pavlovas and trifles.

Coffee-chocolate biscuit sandwich

Yes, I know this looks like TGI Friday’s Oreo madness. Well, it is based on the idea since my brother wanted something similar to it so instead of sandwiching vanilla ice-cream in an Oreo or chocolate biscuit sandwich I put coffee cream instead. I also topped the sandwich with fudge sauce.

Sandwich or cookie base (makes 3 bases):

Ingredients:

200g of chocolate biscuits (any you prefer, remove the filling though), crushed
80g of butter, melted

Method:

1. Add the butter to the crushed biscuits until moist. Press the mixture in any round small pan/dish (put aluminum foil at the bottom for easier removal later on). Leave about 30 minutes in fridge.

I took the recipe of the fudge sauce (I used half of the ingredients) from this site (I can’t seem to find which one I took though, anyway choose whatever you think best) and added about 1 teaspoon of shifted cocoa powder to make it thicker.

Fudge sauce:

Ingredients:

4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

2. Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and cook on high 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until mostly melted [or just melted on the oven but do not burn the chocolate). Transfer to a heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat and stir in sugar, salt and butter. Stir in cream, a little at a time until smooth. Heat through, without boiling, then remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Store in refrigerator.

Coffee cream:

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon coffee granules
1 tablespoon water
150ml of whipping cream

Method:

3. Mix the coffee and water until dissolved. Add to the cream and whip until soft peaks form.

Taken from: The Australian Woman’s Weekly, Chocolate cookbook

4. Assemble sandwich or just use a base: Remove one base and put it on a plate them put the coffee cream on it (a good amount) then top it with another base if you wish. Drizzle fudge sauce on it.

I advice to eat it all in the same day you make it because if left in the fridge the biscuit crumbles become moist and lose their crunchiness.