Chocolate Orange Gold Leaf Truffles for your Valentine

When Amanda, Candice and I were all together at Alt we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to shoot a little something. We ended up shooting the raspberry meringues, and today’s truffles (because doesn’t everybody prepare sweet treats and fly them across the country?!). Both of these recipes are decadent but simple. If you’re still looking for a little something sweet for this weekend, neither of these recipes will disappoint!

The truffle recipe is one I got from my mom many many moons ago. It’s basically a ganache, and then you can customize it like we did with the orange flavoring. Chocolate and orange go together perfectly. These are extra rich, so make them small!

If you’re having a romantic dinner at home (maybe these lamb chops), truffles are the perfect post meal treat. They are also the perfect size for sharing with your girlfriends. You can package them up in a darling box and deliver them to friends and neighbors (this box is from World Market). In fact, if you’d like to pop over to my house to drop of some Valentine’s Day treats I will not complain!

I explained how to use the Edible Gold Leaf Sheets in this post. The gold leaf is a lot of fun, but it’s mostly for looks. Don’t let it stop you from making the truffles!

 

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:

1/3 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
1 c. chocolate chips (or any other chocolate you’d like to use)
1 tsp. orange flavoring

 

 

Directions:

1. Put cream, sugar, and butter into a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Heat mixture until butter melts, or bubbles start to appear around the edge of the pan. You don’t want the cream to boil.
3. Remove cream from heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Pour cream mixture over chocolate chips, and stir until smooth. This is where you could add the different flavorings.
5. Put the chocolate mixture into the fridge to cool for about a half an hour. You want the mixture to be firm, but workable.
6. When the mixture is firm, start scooping it out a teaspoonfull at a time.
7. Roll each teaspoon sized piece into a ball, and place back into the fridge for about ten minutes. IF the mixture starts getting too warm to hold its shape, place it back into the fridge for a few mintues.
8. When the individual truffles are cooled it’s time to decorate. Let imagination be your guide. Use melted chocolate, sprinkles, a dash os sea salt, or anything else you can think of.