White Chocolate and Lemon Truffles

 

I know you came here for delicious truffles but I'm going to sidetrack for a moment first.  It's still blog related but more on the social side rather than the baking.  It won't take too long and then we'll get to the chocolate-y lemony goodness! (Though if you'd rather, you can skip to that.  It starts after the next photo).

I am a shy person, even on the Internet.  Hence I am not the most social of people.  This isn't so great when you are trying to grow an audience for your blog.  I have been slowly trying to raise my game a little by little (fancy new layout, purchasing the domain name, joining a blog challenge) and it has helped quite a bit.  However, there's still lots that I could be doing.  So, first off, I have added a 'Connect With Me' section to my blog.  It's over in the sidebar on the right.
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So you can follow this blog on Pinterest, its RSS Feed, or its brand new Facebook page.  I have only just joined Facebook.  I am a social media recluse who is behind the times.  So I'm still getting the hang of things over there.  I have also installed a handy dandy contact form so you can ask me something without having to leave it in the comments.

Secondly, a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Gourmandize.co.uk for an interview about this blog.  It went out on February 6th and can be seen here:

Exciting, no?  Well, I was excited.  This blog is starting to go places!  But anyway, enough babble about my social exploits.  On to truffles!

So Friday was Valentine's Day.  As I said last year, Valentine' Day is not really something the fiancé and I pay much mind to.  We're not big on going out and doing stuff, especially not for what is essentially an ordinary day.  That's not to say we never go out but we usually have a better reason for it, like there's a movie we want to see or we just really want pancakes!  But Valentine's Day was basically just another Friday.

However, as is our small tradition, we did make each other something edible again.  Once more, the fiancé attempted fudge.  Unfortunately it didn't turn out like he hoped and he got depressed.  I did try and point out that fudge is hard to do and even I haven't managed to make it the "proper" way yet.  And it does taste nice.  It's just not really fudge.  I, on the other hand, went for something new.  I love excuses to do that because then there's something to write about.  I went for truffles again since they are nice and easy.  And these would be easier than last year's (because last year I made two presents) since there was no coating in chocolate to do.

These were so lovely and simple too!  Aside from the 4 hours chilling time, they are actually really quick to make.  And whilst they still felt soft when I removed the mix to shape and coat in sugar, they were still easy to work with and they firmed up a bit more by the time I presented them to the fiancé.

So his verdict?  Criminal.  Yes, he called them 'criminal'.  The reason?  Because he just wanted to keep eating them.  He says the tang of the lemon hits you first, followed by the melty creaminess of the white chocolate and it is amazing!  Personally, I did not like them because I could taste the cream and I'm not so keen on that.  But I didn't make them for me so the fact that the fiancé enjoyed them is really the only thing that matters, isn't it?

Recipe - adapted from My Baker Lady

Makes about 18

• 100ml/3.5fl.oz double cream
• 2 lemons
• 250g/9oz white chocolate
• Pinch of salt
• 60g/2oz unsalted butter
• 85g/3oz caster sugar

1. Put the cream and zest of one lemon into a small saucepan (preferably not aluminium) and set it over a low heat.
2. Bring the cream to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and then remove from the heat.  Cover tightly and let it sit for about 20 minutes.
3. Put the chocolate, salt and butter in a medium sized, heat proof bowl.
4. Uncover and reheat the cream until it comes to a simmer once more.
5. Pour the cream through a fine meshed sieve into the bowl with the chocolate.  Press down on the lemon zest left in the sieve to strain out as much liquid as possible.
6. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (water should not touch the bowl) to melt the chocolate.  Stir the mixture regularly and remove from the heat just before the chocolate has completely melted.
7. Stir the mixture until the chocolate has all melted and the mixture is smooth.  
8. Juice one lemon and add 3 teaspoons of juice to the chocolate mixture and stir in.
9. Transfer to a small bowl and chill for at least 4 hours.  When the mixture has turned cold, cover tightly with clingfilm.
10. When the mixture has gone into the fridge, mix together the caster sugar and the zest of the other lemon, cover and set aside.
11. After 4 hours, remove the mixture from the fridge and use a teaspoon to scoop out balls of mixture (you can roll them into a better shape with your hands if need be) that are about 2.5cm/1inch in diameter.
12. Roll the balls in the lemon sugar until they are completely coated.
13. Store in the fridge in an airtight container.