IslayBlog.com -> 2008 ->
Thursday, 11/Dec/2008
Islay Whisky Honey Chocolate Truffles
Last weekend I had a go at making some ‘Islay sweets’: While the original recipe is titled Scotch-Peanut Chocolate Truffles two of the ingredients I used are from Islay, so I decided to call my version ‘Islay Whisky Honey Chocolate Truffles’. They turned out very nice (assuming I can trust my own taste buds and my colleagues at work were honest to me), so I thought I share the recipe and my experiences:
Let me start with the ingredients I used. While I pretty much used the ones listed in the recipe I made some ‘conversions’ to be able to make them here in the UK. Here they are:
- 1 pound 12 ounces semisweet chocolate (I used 800 gram Belgian Plain Chocolate, 47% cocoa solids minimum)
- 2/3 cup heavy cream (I used approx 160 ml fresh double cream)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons floral honey, preferably heather (This is the first Islay ingredient, I used Scottish Heather Honey from R.Ferguson in Portnahaven)
- 3 tablespoons Scotch (not surprisingly this is the second Islay ingredient, I used a Laphroaig 10yo)
- 6 tablespoons salted peanuts, coarsely chopped (no real change there, I think I used just over 100 gram of peanuts)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (no change)
The first stage is the preparation of the ingredients for the core/filling of the truffles: I chopped 8 ounces of chocolate while slowly bringing the cream to a simmer. Once ready the cream was poured over the chocolate in a bowl, thereby melting the chocolate. This didn't work entirely, so as recommended I placed the bowl over some low heat (steaming water to be precise) while stirring. Once the chocolate had fully melted and I had a smooth mixture I added the other ingredients, i.e. honey, peanuts, vanilla extract and most importantly the whisky. In particular the whisky required some stirring until it mixed well with the cream and chocolate.
For the second stage I placed the bowl into the fridge to chill, the recommended 2 hours seemed to be sufficient for the mixture to firm. Using a tea spoon I scooped small amounts of the mixture and placed them on to baking trays, I was able to create about 45 small balls from the mixture. The trays were then placed into the freezer for a further good 30min to firm up the mixture.
The third and last stage was the coating in more chocolate: First I broke 16 ounces of the remaining chocolate into pieces and melted it in the microwave, then stirred in the remaining chocolate (4 ounces) until melted. The recipe then says to “Skewer truffles on a small fork, dip in melted chocolate to coat and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet”, which didn't really work for me. Instead I picked up the truffles with two forks to dip and coat them in the melted chocolate before placing them on the sheet. This worked quite well.
Once finished I let them rest/cool for a good 15-30 minutes before picking them off the sheet and placing them into a bowl. I'm storing them in the fridge for now, the chocolate is quite soft and melts easily at room temperature.
So how do they taste? Very nice! They are obviously very rich, no surprise there considering the ingredients. I can taste the whisky, but it's by no means an overpowering taste. There's just a hint of the whisky, as I used a Laphroaig a hint of peatiness. The peanuts give them a nice ‘crunchiness’. Best enjoyed with a nice wee dram of Islay Single Malt Whisky (and possibly in front of a nice open fire, unfortunately I can't test that at the moment)!
Advertising
Navigation
[Previous entry: "Supporting Cancer Research"] [Home] [Next entry: "Friday Islay Picture #85 - McArthur's Head Lighthouse"]