White Truffles

 

Dear all,

 

Let’s start 2015 on a sweet note because I think we all need a bit of sugar. The events in Paris at the beginning of the year made me question if there is hope for Mother Earth. Will we ever be strong enough to forgive all the murders, all the bloodshed, and all the hate crimes? I honestly don’t know but I prefer to remain optimistic.

I don’t want to teach fear of different cultures to our son; however, there is a limit to tolerance. I don’t think any human being has the right to harm another human being intentionally. We all make mistakes and we inflict hurt on others. But when it is done with intent, we cross a line. I don’t know how to deal with the current situation in the world. I just know I don’t want to be one of the people furthering violence, for whatever motive. Nothing justifies violence, not the death penalty, not so-called democratic liberation US style and certainly not jihad.

Having stated this, let’s get back to the kitchen where things are easy and clearly defined. Before Christmas, I make a ton of truffles that I give away to family and friends. There is a big divide in the people who get to taste my truffles. Some love the dark mocha truffles and some prefer the white truffles.

Shortly before Christmas, I was invited to teach making truffles at the Grand Hyatt in Goa. I was astonished about the big interest. I noticed that my white chocolate truffles are quite tricky to make. Not the truffles themselves, but the almond praline that delivers sweet crunch. On my website I only give a short description how to prepare the praline. I intend to remedy this with my first newsletter of 2015.

Praline is a mixture of toasted almonds with caramel. There are two kinds of caramel: dissolving sugar in water and boiling it makes wet caramel. For dry caramel, sugar is cooked by itself until it melts and caramelises. It is easier to make wet caramel because it does not burn quickly. For years I have stuck to wet caramel but I had always problems with gauging the state of the caramel. It bubbles so much that it is difficult to see the colour you have achieved. Then I tried my luck with dry caramel. It is actually not as difficult as I had imagined and tastes much butter.

Wishing you happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

White Truffles

Ingredients:
(for 24 truffles)

• 150 gm almonds
• 4 tbsp cream
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 300 gm white chocolate

Method:
Bring two glasses of water to a boil. Immerse the almonds in the boiling water and soak them for 10 minutes. Drain them, let them cool down and remove the skins.

Toast the almonds in the oven at lowest temperature until they are golden brown. Be careful: they need constant attention as they burn quickly.

Chop the toasted almonds roughly and place them on a buttered cookie sheet.

Making caramel is dangerous! Burns from sugar hurt terribly because sugar needs high temperatures to melt. Keep a bowl with ice water nearby when you make caramel.

Place the sugar in a pan with a heavy bottom over medium heat. The thing to remember when making dry caramel is to treat it carefully. When you move the sugar crystals too much, they tend to stick together and form big crystals instead of melting.

Wait patiently without stirring until the sugar starts to melt around the edges.

When you see a bit of brownish colour, you need to gently nudge the sugar crystals around so the melted sugar at the bottom does not burn. Drag the sugar from the middle of the pan to the outside.

Move the sugar around until it has melted completely and turned golden-copper in colour.

Spread the caramel immediately over the almonds. 

When the caramel is set, cut it into big pieces and chop them roughly. I do this by hand because my blender is not strong enough. You have much better control over the process too. You want crunchy, delicious almond praline chunks in your smooth white chocolate truffles.

Put the white chocolate with the butter and the cream into a double boiler and combine everything well.

Be careful not to overheat it. White chocolate ganache splits easily.

Stir the chopped caramelised almonds into the melted chocolate and place the mixture into the fridge until firm.

Form small balls with the help of a spoon. This tends to get messy.
Roll the truffles in icing sugar. You can keep them about two months in the fridge in a sealed container.

Chocolate-Easter-Eggs

In a few days we celebrate Easter. This year I am organized, hurray: Well in advance I decided to create homemade chocolate eggs for my men. When I announced this plan my husband and my son lit up. Rarely do I get such a gratifying response. I went to work in the kitchen with the help of my little monster who can be quite enthusiastic when it comes to chocolate. Although we had some failures along the way, I am happy to present to you three different recipes for chocolate Easter eggs. To be honest, they are not fit to win a beauty contest as you can see in the picture. But the taste hits the spot!

In recent years I had bought chocolate Easter eggs from various outlets in Goa but I was never happy. This year, I finally found affordable aluminum moulds for eggs in a shop in Panjim. You can buy silicone egg moulds on ebay.in too, but they cost a fortune.

Melting and moulding the chocolate I fondly remembered the Easter egg hunts which my parents organised on every Easter Sunday morning. They made a nest for each of us children with tons of chocolate and coloured eggs, and then they hid it in the garden. We had to find it and we were allowed to indulge in the sweets. Good, old times, nobody thought about a sugar rush back then.

Wishing you wonderful Easter holidays and happy cooking, always!

Kornelia Santoro with family

Truffle Easter Eggs – pure pleasure

 

I make three different truffle recipes for Easter eggs, based on the recipes for chocolate truffles on my website. For every recipe you need moulds for egg halves. I use aluminium moulds which are 7 centimetres long and 5.5 centimetres wide. Each chocolate egg consists of 2 halves, glued together by melted chocolate.

For melting chocolate you absolutely need a double boiler! This is simply done by inserting a smaller into a bigger pot which contains some water. Chocolate should never experience direct heat. When you overheat chocolate you get a crumbly mess which does neither taste nor look good. You can melt chocolate in the microwave too. Just chop the chocolate and place it into a plastic mixing bowl, add the cream and butter and nuke it in one-minute intervals until it is melted.

When you create these chocolate delights, make sure you have enough space available in your freezer and your fridge. Before you can finish one egg, the mixture has to set. The quickest way to achieve this is putting the moulds in the freezer. I use semi-sweet chocolate which is sold in blocks of one kilogram in supermarkets. If you prefer, you can also use milk chocolate or dark chocolate.

These truffles need to be kept in the fridge. Because they contain so much cream and butter they soften very quickly at room temperature. They make lovely gifts for your near and dear ones. Wrap them into cling film and then into gift paper and present them on Easter Sunday.

Mocha Truffle

Ingredients (for 5 eggs):

• 300 grams chocolate
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons cream
• ½ cup sifted cocoa powder
• 100 ml mocha coffee
• Oil or butter for greasing the moulds

Method:

I make the coffee used in this recipe with a simple mocha machine, available everywhere in India: You put water in the base, insert the filter filled with coffee and screw on the top. You put the machine on the fire and wait that the mocha bubbles. Some people call this espresso. My Italian husband however insists that this kind of coffee is called mocha. If you don’t have a mocha machine, any kind of strong coffee will do.

Place the chocolate, the butter, the cream and the cocoa powder into the smaller pot of a double boiler (description see above please). Put some water into the bigger pot, insert the smaller pot and put on the fire. When the water starts to bubble, switch off the fire and wait for some minutes. Stir and check if all the chocolate is melted. If not, switch on the fire again.

While the chocolate is melting, prepare your egg moulds. Spread oil or butter evenly over the surface. That helps popping out the egg halves when they are set. I use cold pressed coconut oil because it spreads easier than butter. I just pour a tiny amount into every egg mould and spread it with my finger.

When the chocolate has completely melted, stir the coffee into the mix. Don’t do this at the beginning of the melting process because the chocolate might curdle. Combine everything well. You should have a shiny pool of dark chocolate. Fill the egg halves with the truffle mix and put them into the freezer. Make sure you keep a bit of melted chocolate to glue the egg halves together.

After one or two hours, the chocolate should be set. Popping them out of the moulds can be a tad tricky. Insert a sharp knife on one side between the mould and the chocolate and apply some pressure. Ideally, the egg half should come loose smoothly.

In case you have some problems, don’t despair. Try to put the chocolate back into the freezer for some time to set a bit harder. If your egg half deforms during the exit from the mould, let it rest a bit at room temperature. The truffle softens very quickly and you can smooth out uneven bits with your fingers. Keep the eggs in a closed container in the fridge. You can also wrap each single egg into cling film.

Almond Crunch

Ingredients (for five eggs):

• 300 grams chocolate
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons cream
• ½ cup sifted cocoa powder
• 100 grams almonds
• Oil or butter for greasing the moulds

Method:

Roast the almonds by spreading them over a cookie sheet and placing them in the oven at lowest temperature. Toss them around once in a while. They are ready when you smell their roasted aroma and they show brown marks on their skin. Be careful, they burn quickly. You can roast the almonds also in a non-stick pan. Let the roasted almonds cool down and chop them roughly.

Melt the chocolate with the butter, the cream and the cocoa powder in a double boiler as described in the recipe for Mocha truffle. Stir everything well until you have a smooth cream, then add the roasted almonds and combine everything.

Oil or butter your moulds, fill them with the chocolate-almond-mix and put them in the freezer. Make sure you keep some chocolate mix. When the halves are set, pop them out of the moulds and glue them together with the kept chocolate mix. Keep the finished eggs in the fridge.

Coconut truffles

Ingredients (for five eggs):

• 200 grams desiccated coconut flakes
• 100 ml sweetened, condensed milk
• 5 tablespoons icing sugar
• 200 grams dark chocolate
• Oil or butter for greasing the moulds

Method:

Mix the desiccated coconut flakes with the condensed milk and the icing sugar in a bowl. Keep it in the fridge until firm. Prepare the moulds by greasing them with oil or butter.

Fill the egg halves with the coconut mix and place them into the freezer. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler like described in the recipe for mocha truffles. Pop the egg halves out of the moulds and glue them together with melted chocolate.

Then cover the eggs with chocolate. This is easier said then done. Prepare to have chocolate all over your fingers. I spread with a normal knife over one half of the egg. Then I put the egg in the fridge for a few minutes. When the chocolate is set, I cover the other half.  Keep the eggs in the fridge at all times.