Rye-Pumpkin Truffles

And by Rye, I mean Rye Whiskey.  

So last Friday night I was killing time and had the bright idea to put some Smooth Ambler Old Scout Rye Whiskey in some truffles.  I hadn't made any truffles in awhile, and I had been craving them.  I figured all the alcohol would cook out and I would be left with some delicious whiskey-tasting truffles.  

I combined 1/2 cup of the whiskey with a giant spoonful of pumpkin and 3.5 oz of 60% dark chocolate.  I cooked it for awhile in a small saucepan, poured the mixture into a glass measuring cup, and stuck it in the 

fridge to cool.  I didn't get around to taking it out of the fridge until this evening.  

The ganache was super soft, but I formed it into rough balls, laid them on wax paper, and stuck them in the freezer to harden.  I got a little taste from the ganache clinging to the sides of the cup, and it was super delicious.  

While the ganache was hardening in the freezer, I melted 3.5 oz of 72% dark chocolate.  Then I dropped the ganache balls in one at a time, turned them til coated, and dropped them on a new sheet of wax paper.  I had to make the coated truffles in batches because the ganache got soft pretty quick and it would melt into the cup of coating chocolate if it wasn't hard enough.  I ended up needing to melt a second 3.5 oz of the 72% to coat all of the truffles.  (although that left me with quite a bit of leftover coating at the end)

Once the first batch of truffles was hardened, I had a taste-test.  At first, it was super delicious.  Chocolate and whiskey, yum.  But then...I was slammed with a big, overpowering alcohol-ness.  Apparently, the alcohol DID NOT cook out of the ganache.  Apparently, it was condensed instead.  Wow that was strong.  These truffles are not for children.  Unfortunately, the taste of alcohol is so potent, the truffles aren't actually as epic-ly delicious as I had hoped.  They don't taste like whiskey, they taste like alcohol.  I guess I should have cooked the ganache longer...

Cinnamon Truffles

for the filling:

1/2 c heavy cream

1 tsp cinnamon

3.5 oz chocolate (72%)

for the shell:

3.5 oz chocolate (72%)

Stir the cream and cinnamon on medium heat until it starts to bubble if you lift the spoon for 5-10 seconds.  Turn off the heat and add the chocolate.  Refrigerate til set. 

Form the chilled ganache into balls.  Melt the shell chocolate and dunk the balls into it, turning to coat.  Place the finished truffles on a baking sheet lined with tin foil or wax paper.  Pop them in the fridge to set.  

I had thought that the oil I was skimming off my ganache was from butter, but turns out it's actually from the heavy cream.  Gross.  I may go back to making truffles without the heavy cream.  Guinness works just as well, and doesn't leave that nasty oily scum. 

I think these are my favorite truffles so far, with the exception maybe of my pumpkin cheesecake truffles.

I think I got just the right amount of cinnamon in the ganache, they taste pretty awesome. 

Cider-Pumpkin Truffles

for the filling:

1/2 c apple cider

4-5 tbsp pumpkin

3.5 oz chocolate (60%)

for the shell:

7 oz chocolate (60%)

DIRECTIONS

Combine the cider and pumpkin in a small saucepan over medium heat, stir constantly.  Occasionally stop stirring for 10 sec and see if the mixture starts to bubble.  When it does, turn off the heat and add the 3.5 oz of chocolate.  Stir til smooth.  Refrigerate until cool.  

The ganache will be very soft.  Scoop out truffles (I got 35) onto a baking sheet lined with tin foil, and then freeze them until they are hard.  Once they are hard, melt the 7 oz of chocolate, and use a fork to dunk each truffle and coat it completely, then return it to the foil-lined tray.  You want to coat the truffles as fast as possible, or take them out of the freezer in batches.  Once they get soft, they are very hard to work with. 

Put the finished truffles in the freezer or the fridge to set. 

Ginger Almond Truffles

Ingredients

1/4 tsp finely chopped ginger root

1/2 c heavy cream

 1/4 tsp almond extract

3.5 oz chocolate (60%)

Directions

brown the ginger in a tiny bit of olive oil

add the heavy cream and stir continuously for 3-5 minutes

add the almond extract

remove from heat

add the chocolate

stir til smooth

refrigerate

skim off the oil

use a melon-baller to scoop out truffles

melt c. 3 oz chocolate (70%)

use a fork to drop the truffles in the chocolate, turn to coat, place on tin foil

sprinkle some powdered ginger on top

refrigerate until set

Mint Chocolate Truffles

1/2 c heavy cream

3.5 oz. chocolate (70%)

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Heat the cream, stirring constantly, until it starts to simmer.  

Add the peppermint extract and chocolate.

Remove from heat and stir til smooth. 

Set aside to cool.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate til hardened. 

*I melted 3 tbsp butter with the cream.  It separated from the final mixture, and I ended up having to skim most of it off of the top before putting the mixture in the fridge.  I had to scrape the rest of the butter off of the top of the chocolate after I removed it from the fridge.  

Use a melon-baller to scoop out truffles from the bowl of hardened chocolate. 

Melt 3.5 oz chocolate (70%).  Use a fork to drop the truffles in the melted chocolate, turn them until coated, then place them on a baking sheet lined with foil. 

Eat the leftover melted chocolate. 

Refrigerate the truffles until the chocolate has hardened.  

New Year's Eve

This was the 3rd or 4th year in a row for my annual NYE dinner party.  I make all the food, and just ask that guests bring whatever they want to drink.  I've made guacamole and spinach dip every year, but those are probably the only menu items that have stayed consistent.  I feel like my kitchen expertise has grown by leaps and bounds in the last year, and I put a lot of thought into making this year's menu the most spectacular spread of food I have ever accomplished.  

Due to various conflicts, only a handful of people were able to make it this year, but those of us that were there had a great time and agreed that the food was amazing.  

Sweet Potato Cannelloni

filled with crab, onion, celery, cream cheese, alfredo

Cider-BBQ Pulled Pork

pork tenderloin rubbed with flour & cinnamon

slow-cooked in the crockpot for 9 hours

Slider Rolls

choice of plain or cider

Mini-Quiche

choice of bacon or mushroom

Quinoa Salad

with carrot, celery, broccoli, mushroom

olive oil/garlic/ginger 

Cole Slaw

choice of honey & mustard or mayo & ranch

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

spinach, artichoke, cream cheese, alfredo sauce

Guacamole

avocado, lime juice, salt, garlic powder, tomato

Pumpkin-Cheesecake Truffles

choice of dark chocolate or white chocolate

The biggest hit!

I'm told they "melt in your mouth"

I didn't eat any of the white chocolate ones, but I definitely devoured some of the dark.

I'm gonna have a tough time beating this menu next year!  

But I will find a way...of course.

As a side note: as far as I'm concerned, the year ends in June and starts in August.  Which means there are about 5 more months to get through before the year ends. 

But for those of you who go by the number you write at the end of the date...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas!  

This is my 2nd Christmas in my apt, but I never got around to getting a tree last year.  This year I finally got around to buying a tree, but my plan to be crafty and make lots of ornaments for it feel through...I didn't make any.  But I found some things lying around and had a few ornaments that people have given me over the years, so the tree isn't completely bare.  And I bought one garland of tinsel. 

I've been spending my vacation on the couch relaxing and in the kitchen concocting.  (With occasional breaks to go for a run or spend time with friends of course.)

I put a stool in my kitchen last night and enjoyed multi-tasking at its finest.

I was making the filling for Guinness-Jameson truffles and didn't want to just stand there stirring.  Sitting and reading while stirring made the time go by much faster. 

1 c Guinness

1/4 c Jameson

5-7 oz dark chocolate

1 tsp of cinnamon

I put 3.5 oz of chocolate in the filling last night, but when I took it out of the fridge to make truffles this morning I discovered it was MUCH too soft to coat with melted chocolate.  So the chocolate I had melted to be the coating ended up getting mixed into the ganache and stuck in the fridge to reset.  I eventually got to coat those truffles...

A dash of cinnamon on top and...done!

Today I also made peppermint bark. 

Some plain-looking bark.

 And some artistic-looking bark.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles

I just realized that I didn't write down any of the amounts I used for this recipe, because at the time I thought I would be posting it to the blog within a day or two.  It has been at least 5 days now...but hopefully I can remember!

Melt 1/2 c crunchy peanut butter with 1/2 c heavy cream.  

*The heavy cream is the only amount I'm having trouble remembering correctly...it may have been 1/4 cup...

Stir stir stir.

Add the chocolate.

Stir stir stir some more.

Scoop the mess into a bowl and refrigerate. 

(2 hours should be sufficient, I let mine sit over night)

It was pretty hard when I took it out of the fridge.  It took some muscle to scoop chunks out with a melon baller, and I had to use my fingers to work it into shapes that looked remotely like balls.  It was way too much work to try to get them perfectly round, so I just tried to get them into something bite-sized.

Melt some chocolate, dunk & coat the truffles, let them set in the fridge.