truffle by name...

I feel no guilt whatsoever about diving straight into Chocolate and dragging you carelessly with me.

With origins dating as far back as 1900BC the significance of chocolate worldwide is beyond question.  Maya and Aztec cultures used cacao as gifts and beverages for royalty and religious events and later some parts of the world even used cacao beans as a form of money.  Today two thirds of the world’s beans are produced in Western Africa but the chocolate we know (confectionary) was first created in 1849 by the Chemist John Cadbury through development of an emulsification process to solidify cocoa into a bar.

Dark chocolate is well documented for both psychological and emotional benefits.  Chocolate contains flavonoids which are pigments found in plants that act as antioxidants and it stimulates endorphin production – and these things make you feel good!  If all that were not enough to convince you why you should eat chocolate the Latin name for the cacao tree is Theobroma Cacao meaning ‘Food of the Gods’.  Surely that can’t be bad?

Chocolate Truffles with Hazelnut Praline

100g Hazelnuts (skinned and roasted)

1 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Water

200g Milk Chocolate (high cocoa content)

1/2 cup Double Cream

Place the hazelnuts on a greased tin or piece of silicon matting.

To make the praline place the sugar and water in a saucepan and melt over a low heat until it turns golden amber.  Do not stir the caramel as this will make it crystallise, if you need to move it around just swirl the caramel around the saucepan by tipping it slightly.

Pour the caramel over the roasted hazelnuts and leave to set.  When it has hardened break up the praline.

Place into a food processor and grind.  It will turn firstly to a powder and then to a paste as the oils are released from the nuts.  Place in an airtight container until you need to use it.  It will keep for several weeks.

Place the double cream in a saucepan and heat to boiling point.  Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate pieces.  Leave for 30 seconds and then stir to combine, the chocolate should melt into the cream and you should end up with a thick glossy chocolate sauce. 

Add half the praline paste (more or less dependent on how nutty you want the truffles) and stir to combine.  Place in the fridge and leave to set for a couple of hours or overnight.

To make the truffles, take a teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball (it gets messy from here).  Place on a piece of greaseproof paper or silicon matting and put back into the refrigerator.


You can either coat in cocoa or chocolate.  To coat in chocolate, melt slowly in a bain-marie and dip the truffles into the chocolate coating thoroughly allowing the excess to drip back into the melted chocolate.  Place on a greaseproof sheet and put them back in the refrigerator to set.  Dust with cocoa just before they set.  


Send any friends and family out and indulge... this is no time to share.