My Latest Passion - Dipped Raw Chocolate Truffles
I was just about to take a second (and final) bite out of one of my latest creations - a Chocolate Dipped Pecan Truffle - when I thought other people might like to see it before it disappeared forever (well until I make the next batch anyway).
So here it is, complete with teeth marks.
Like most chocoholics, I have always loved dipped truffles - the combination of hard outer coating and squidgy meltiness inside is just heavenly. But I’ve never been able to work out how to make them with raw chocolate. (Well, I guess I never really set my mind to it till quite recently.)
One of the problems is that raw chocolate melts so easily (as it’s so rarely tempered), meaning that the hard outer coating quickly becomes a soft or non-existent coating. Plus you have to get the balance of taste and texture between the coating and centre right.
Luckily, a few weeks ago I was in one of those moments of creative flow when you try something and it works first time. I had an inspiration about how to do the coating…and it worked! Result - a hard outer coating that stays hard, even at room temperature, and tastes great combined with the squidgy centre.
That coating contained cacao liquor (also known as cacao paste or cocoa mass), which I’m beginning to believe is a rather under-used form of raw chocolate as it’s very versatile.
Yesterday I also worked out how to make a hard coating containing raw chocolate powder, so am feeling doubly proud of myself! I’m afraid that my methods will have to stay secret for now (I feel another recipe book is in the offing).
As for the centres: well, I’ve been busy concocting these as well. So far I’ve put together a few different versions of dark chocolate fillings as well as, among others, marzipan, strawberry and coconut. They’re all raw and all rather addictive.
I tend to use agave syrup as the ‘base’ sweetener when I’m testing recipes, but I can’t see why these truffles shouldn’t also work with Sweet Freedom, maple syrup, coconut sugar etc.
