It's after 11pm, and I am exhausted, but I made a lot of truffles today. They are packaged ever so prettily and ready to be "gifted."
This year's menu:
Spicy Hot Chocolate (inspired by Jacques Torres' "Wicked Hot Chocolate," of course!)
Almond Joy
Apple Pie a la Mode
Cardamon Brown Sugar
Cinnamon Hazelnut Coffee
Eggnog
Pictured above is the large box, which holds 35 truffles. I also did medium boxes, each holding 18, and "samplers" of 6. Final count: 6 batches of ganache to fill 3 samplers, 4 mediums, and 2 larges -- a total of 160 truffles (plus the few I ate!) in two days... each one individually hand scooped, rolled into a ball, and coated. Whew! I'll have to make some more on Sunday, mostly to finish up the ganache, and will give those out as late presents... but the bulk of the work is done.
Tomorrow evening I head for Boston to spend a couple days with Kevin. Unfortunately, he has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas day... the news quits for no man! But we will have all day Thursday together, plus Friday evening and Saturday morning. I'll be home late Saturday afternoon to spend the rest of Christmas day with my family. Then on Monday, Kev and I are off to Wolfeboro, NH, to have a late Christmas with some (or maybe all, depending on who shows up!) of his family. This interstate boyfriend/family thing is getting quite chaotic! But it's a good excuse to travel a lot. =)
My kitchen has become a chocolate factory for the week:
This is the aftermath of today, a day of ganache making and just a few test truffles. And don't you just love my yellow countertop, circa 1983? Trust me -- I didn't choose it. It came with the apartment!
It has become a tradition for me to make chocolate truffles for Kevin's family, and for a few close friends, for Christmas. This is my third year. I make six different flavors each year. Next year will probably turn into a "best of" assortment, but that's another story.
I will not divulge my secret formula, because maybe -- just maybe -- I will perfect said formula and you might see them on a store shelf near you someday, but I will share with you the basic ganache recipe that I like the most. I think it came from a coupon flyer in a weekend paper a couple of years ago!
Ghirardelli Chocolate Truffles
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Chips
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Coating:
1/3 cup Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa or 3/4 cup finely chopped almonds or pecans
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from heat, and stir in the chocolate and butter. In a medium-sized skillet, bring 1/2" water to a slow simmer. Set the saucepan in the skillet over low heat. Stir mixture just until chocolate has completely melted. Remove from heat. Pour the chocolate mixture into a shallow bowl. Cool, cover, and refrigerate until firm, at least two hours. Pour the coating into a pie plate. Line an airtight container with waxed paper. Dip a melon baller or small spoon into a glass of warm water and quickly scrape across the surface of the chilled truffle mixture to form a rough 1" ball. Drop the ball into the coating. Repeat with the remaining truffle mixture. Gently shake the pie plate to coat the truffles evenly. Transfer truffles to the prepared container, separating layers with additional waxed paper. Cover tightly and refrigerate up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months. Makes 30 truffles.
I know this isn't even remotely authentic Greek cuisine, but it uses some of my favorite Greek ingredients, and frankly, it's damn good. =)
Ingredients:
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust (yes, the one in the tube -- it's really not even that great, but it works here!)
kalamata olives, pitted and halved
peperoncinis, sliced
crumbled feta
hummus
Roll the pizza crust out onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 5 - 7 minutes, until edges are barely starting to brown. Flip crust and bake a few more minutes. Top with hummus, then sprinkle with toppings. If you're feeling particularly saucy, throw on some red onion, too. I didn't do that today, because Kev's not much of an onion fan. Return pizza to oven and bake 7 - 8 minutes more, until crust is golden brown around the edges, and the cheese is just starting to brown. Serve hot!
On a trip to Wild Oats in Portland last month, I bought a jar of almond butter. I had been reading a book on macrobiotics, and for reasons that were not revealed, almond butter is the only nut butter the author thinks we should consume. It sounded pretty good to me! When I got it home and tried it, I was pretty disappointed. It tasted a lot like peanut butter, but with a less intense flavor. I don't know exactly what I expected, but it was something other than that. I went back to my Maranatha organic peanut butter, and the almond butter sat in the cupboard... until...
Earlier this week, I saw a recipe for "Almond Unsparkle Cookies" at Tenacious Flog. What a perfect opportunity to use up that almond butter! The cookies sounded intriguing, and I thought maybe the recipe would highlight the almond flavor a bit more that just eating it on crackers did. Here's my version of the recipe...
Almond Sparkle Cookies
1 cup Sucanat
1 cup almond butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Demerera or Turbinado sugar
Lightly beat eggs in medium bowl. Add sugar, vanilla, and baking soda; combine. Fold in almond butter. Chill for 1 hour. Drop by tablespoons (I have a tablespoon sized "disher," like a tiny ice cream scoop, that I LOVE for making drop cookies!) onto silpat, parchment lined pan, or greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with turbinado/demerera.
Kinda looks like the cow pasture across the road from where I grew up... but anyway.
Bake at 350, 9 - 10 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan.
What an oddly gooey, sticky batter this makes! I chilled it for about 45 minutes, and the batter still spread quite a lot as I dropped it, and then even more as the cookies baked. These are close to 4" in diameter!
They just don't look like the ones on Tenacious Flog... and, of course, this is the batch I forgot to sprinkle with sugar, so these would be more like the "Almond Unsparkle Cookies." Sorry... the ones with the sugar did sparkle a bit! =)
They're not bad, but they do, in fact, taste a lot like peanut butter cookies. The texture is fascinating to me -- I never would guess that they had no flour if they were served to me! They're very soft, and almost cakey, and light and puffy. Very interesting...
I will probably try these again sometime, but I need to figure out how to keep the batter from spreading. Maybe I should chill it, spoon it out onto the cookie sheet and then chill it some more? Or even put it in the freezer for a bit?
