CHOCOLATE

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

ORANGE LIQUEUR TRUFFLES

INGREDIENTS

• 600 g milk chocolate - good quality
• 100 ml double cream
• 100 ml orange liqueur
• ¼ tsp orange extract
• 25 g white chocolate
• orange gel food colouring

INSTRUCTIONS

Make the ganache

• Break 400g milk chocolate into chunks and pop it into a saucepan. Warm on a VERY gentle heat until all of the chocolate has melted (you can do this over a bain marie or in a microwave if you prefer).
• Put the double cream (100ml), orange liqueur (100ml) and orange extract (¼ tsp) into a large bowl. Once the chocolate has melted, pour it into the liqueur and cream and stir it rapidly until fully combined (you must stir quickly otherwise the chocolate may seize and go lumpy).
• Pop it into the fridge to set (mine needed a good couple of hours to be firm enough to roll into balls).
• Once the ganache is firm roll it into balls about 1" in diameter. Return the ganache balls to the fridge while you temper your chocolate.

Temper the milk chocolate (See note 1)

• Break 150g of milk chocolate into a saucepan and warm on a gentle heat until the chocolate has reached 45ºC. Once it has reached 45ºC remove from the heat (don’t worry if it hasn’t completely melted, continue to stir it and the remaining lumps will melt in the residual heat).
• Pour the chocolate into a large bowl.
• You now want to bring the temperature of the chocolate down to 32ºC which you do by stirring in the 50g of chocolate you haven’t used yet. Add this chocolate a couple of pieces at a time, stirring continuously. As the chocolate melts, add more pieces until you reach 32ºC.
• Remove any unmelted lumps of chocolate (these can be a little cook's treat!).

Make the chocolates (See note 2)

• Lay out a large sheet of greaseproof paper.
• Get your ganache balls from the fridge.

• Drop a ganache ball into the melted chocolate and use a tablespoon to move it around and ensure it’s all coated. Lift it out using the spoon and the carefully slide it onto the greaseproof paper using the back of a fork.
• Repeat until all of your chocolates are coated.
• Leave for about 30 minutes for the chocolate to set completely (this will be quicker in the fridge but they will set at room temperature as long as it's not too warm).

Decorate with white chocolate (see note 3)

• Heat some water in a saucepan and once boiling reduce the heat to give a gentle simmer. Cover the pan with a bowl (not touching the water) and put 15g of white chocolate into the bowl. Melt until it reaches 45ºC.
• Once the chocolate has reached 45ºC remove it from the heat and put into a bowl. Add a little orange gel food colouring and then stir in the remaining white chocolate (10g) a bit at a time, until the temperature has fallen to 32ºC.
• Put the melted white chocolate into a piping bag or bottle and drizzle over the chocolates (if you don’t have a piping bag or bottle then you can also use a fork dipped in the white chocolate and allow it to drizzle over).
• Leave to set.

NOTES

• Note 1 - If you’re new to tempering chocolate then I’d recommend you take a look at my guide which includes a quick video demonstration showing exactly what you need to do.
• Note 2 – tempered chocolate sets quite quickly so you’ll need to work as fast as you can to ensure that you get all of your chocolates coated. If you do find it setting before you have a chance to dip all of your truffles then warm it gently to bring it back up to 32ºC and carry on dipping.
• Note 3 - I'm happy to melt milk and dark chocolate in a pan over a direct heat but I prefer to melt while chocolate in a bain marie as it's less likely to seize and go lumpy that way.

You'll need to leave quite a bit of time to make these truffles, as at each stage the chocolate needs time to set in the fridge before moving onto the next stage.

These chocolates will keep for a few days at room temperature or a couple of weeks in the fridge and as always have a chilled day from the Viking