egerandi wrote:zeebs wrote:Lavender tulsi! From Stash. Just picked it up at the supermarket to make lavender chocolate truffles with, but I'm drinking a cup of it, and it's good.
Oh! Could you share the recipe? I have tons of organic lavender buds and raw cacao, and hoping to put them to good use
There is no recipe, really, since I totally faked it as I went along. But here's what to do (I halve this recipe, usually, but these amounts will make about two dozen truffles). I adapted this method from a book
http://www.amazon.com/Chocolates-Confec ... 0470189576
1. Combine four ounces of heavy cream and 1 tbsp honey (I use the raw kind) in a saucepan and heat over med/low heat until the cream just starts to boil. Stir constantly.
2. Add 1-2 tbsp of ground herbs. I just cut open the tea bags since they were powdered pretty finely.
3. Add 1 tbsp unsalted butter and 12 ounces of white chocolate (you could also use milk chocolate or dark as you prefer, but for dark chocolate, the amount is different). Stir until melted. Heat again over low if needed, but you can probably just stir off the heat if you don't dawdle with the addition of the herbs.
4. Place on a silicone mat (or parchment if you don't have one) in the fridge. I place a silicone mat in a shallow baking dish, and that works great.
5. Refrigerate for at least one hour, up to eight hours.
6. Remove from fridge. Dump the ganache into the bowl of a mixer. Run the mixer on a medium speed for 30 seconds. You can do this by hand, but you'll need to beat vigorously, the mixer gives better results.
7. Allow to sit at room temp for 5 minutes.
8. Use a small round scoop (or some spoons) to scoop the centers onto a silicone mat or parchment paper. They should be approximately one inch or less, whatever your preference is.
9. Temper chocolate in which to dip the centers. I do this by melting 7-8 ounces of chocolate (usually dark - I'm guessing this is where your cacao comes in, but I can't advise, I use storebought dark chocolate chips from Ghiradelli) in a double boiler (or ad hoc water bath made with two pans that fit inside each other) to about 110 or 120 degrees. Then, remove from the heat. Slowly add another 4-5 ounces of chips, in small handfuls, until the chocolate cools to 85 degrees. The texture should begin to change as you do this, but it's easy to get impatient. Don't get impatient! Now, dip a test spoon in the chocolate. Let it sit for 8 minutes on a plate. Don't touch it! If it hardens after 8 minutes, you're ready to dip centers. If it doesn't, add another ounce or two of chips to the pan and dip another spoon, repeat until tempered. You can reheat before doing this, but sometimes I don't. The alternative is to buy dipping chocolate at the store, and then you can just melt it in the microwave. I assume there are websites that can advise you on the tempering process as well.
10. Gently roll the centers in the tempered chocolate. I use two forks to do this. Let them drip thoroughly or else you'll end up with a bloody mess all over the silicone mat or parchment paper (pick them up off it, dip 'em, put 'em back on the mat). You may need to reheat the chocolate to maintain a silky texture throughout the process, and that's okay. Once it's tempered, you can heat it and cool it as long as you're gentle about it.
11. Allow to cool. They should harden at room temp if you've tempered the chocolate well, but you can put 'em in the fridge if you want to, and I usually do, as it makes them easier to transport if they're harder.
Happy truffling!
