Chocolate Stout Truffles & GF White Chocolate Lavender Truffles

Chocolate and I..... we’re not the best of friends. It’s been a couple years since I’ve ventured much into the world of candy making (well, excluding my love of marshmallows and peeps and homemade candy corn). 

But Valentine’s Day is soon! Friday! I’ve been in such a cookie fog the past couple weeks.... Baking, decorating, packaging, shipping cookies to a few of my family members and the winner of the contest. So, instead of making more cookies, I decided to put aside my distain for working with chocolate and make truffles!  

I don’t mind the mess of bread dough, or cookie dough, or icing etc. But as soon as there’s melted chocolate in the mix, I tend to go a bit crazy. . Somehow, even though I try to keep things as clean and tidy as possible, chocolate making seems to be eternally messy.... Even the littlest bit of melted chocolate on my skin makes me instantly want to wash my hands... And don’t even get me started on tempering chocolate at home! My past attempts have been less than stellar.....  

But truffles are a little different....  They’re easy, yet still impressive! And they don’t require tempering chocolate!  yay!  Hot cream is poured over chocolate pieces and mixed to form a ganache--the ratio of cream to chocolate varies depending on whether white, milk, or dark chocolate is used. Once the ganache cools, it is portioned and rolled into bit-sized balls. After rolling, the truffle is usually coated in something (cocoa powder, nuts, coarse sugar, sprinkles etc.) and then it is ready to be served. Pretty simple, in the world of candy-making :) 

But you can customize them too, as I’ve done today.  I like to think of my two combinations as “His and Hers” truffles.  I’m not trying to actively give them gender roles... But I know my husband really enjoys my chocolate stout desserts, thus “his” is a chocolate stout truffle rolled in crushed pretzels--who doesn’t love a little salty with their sweet). “Hers” is the one created for me: gluten free white chocolate lavender truffles coated in sparkly sanding sugar. Due to some health issues, I’ve had to cross into the white chocolate camp, but I decided to make my white chocolate truffle a little more exciting by infusing it with one of my favorite scents/flavors: lavender.  

In addition to the essential ingredients of heavy cream and good quality chocolate--seriously, truffle-making is not the time to skimp on chocolate... buy the best quality you can find and/or afford)--I’ve added very small quantities of a couple additional items. Butter helps to enhance flavors, while keeping the truffle center smooth and firm with a good mouthfeel. Corn Syrup (or glucose would be even better, if you have access to it) binds with moisture particles, thus decreasing the water activity in the truffle and increasing the overall shelf life. It also reduces the risk of crystallization--a truffle should be creamy in the middle, not crunchy from sugar crystals. If you ever want to read more behind the science of chocolate, one of my favorite resources is Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner by Peter P Greweling. 

While I *technically* made these truffles for Valentine’s Day, don’t tell anyone if we start sampling them early. In addition to eating them outright, I intend to drop a couple into mugs of hot milk to make a somewhat “instant” hot cocoa :)  Even with the short amount of time before Valentine’s Day, you could still quickly whip up a batch of truffles for your loved ones :) 

Chocolate Stout Truffles

yields approximately 22 truffles 

inspired by  Edible Ireland & The Modern Cafe

1 c Stout, (I used Guinness Extra Stout) 

7 oz Milk Chocolate, finely chopped 

1/2 c Heavy Cream

1 Tbl Corn Syrup**

Pretzel sticks, for coating

1.  In a small sauce pan, bring the stout to a boil over medium high heat--watch it carefully, just in case it boils over. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium and allow the beer to simmer until it is reduced to 1/4th the original amount (approximately 1/4 c). For me, the process took between 15 and 20 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, chop the chocolate & place it into a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Once the stout is reduced, heat the heavy cream in another small saucepan until it just barely simmers (some steam should be visible & there should be tiny bubbles around the edges of the pan). 
4. Pour the heated cream over the chopped chocolate. Allow to sit for 30 seconds, then whisk until all the chocolate is melted.  Add the stout and the corn syrup & whisk until smooth. 
5. Transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and chill until the mixture firms, but is still pliable enough to mold. Stir every 30 minutes during the refrigeration process.  Mine took several hours to come to a cookie-dough-like consistency.  If it gets too hard to scoop, allow to sit at room temperature for a bit. 
6. Meanwhile, prepare the pretzel coating. Chop small pretzel sticks into small bits, using a very sharp chef knife. Alternately, a food processor may be used, but I find it pulverizes the pretzels a bit too much for my liking. Place the pretzel pieces into a small bowl. 
7. Use a small cookie scoop to portion the truffles onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Refrigerate the whole pan for 20 minutes, if the truffles become too soft. Otherwise, after the truffles are scooped, roll them gently with clean hands to make them round & roll them in the chopped pretzels.  
8. Store the truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Allow them to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to warm up (they’ll taste better that way) before serving. Know that the pretzels will begin to get soggy over time, so it is best to serve these as soon as possible.  

**The corn syrup helps to keep the truffle from crystalizing and also increases the shelf life.  Glucose is preferred to  corn syrup, but I don’t have any available to me where I live...  You can skip the syrup all together if it really bothers you to use it.

Gluten Free White Chocolate Lavender Truffles

Yields approximately 18 truffles 

Inspired by Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner

46 g Heavy Cream, plus extra, as needed

1/2 tsp Lavender Buds

250 g White Chocolate, finely chopped (I used Lindt White Chocolate)   

10 g Butter

10 g Corn Syrup**

1 drop Essential Lavender Oil 

Sanding sugar

Additional Lavender for decoration, optional 

1. Combine the heavy cream and lavender in a very small sauce pan.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, then cover & remove from the heat. Allow to steep, covered, for 20 minutes.  
2. Chop the chocolate into small pieces & place into a medium sized heat-safe bowl (such as stainless steel, tempered glass or ceramic) that fits over a medium saucepan. Set the chocolate aside. Fill the saucepan with 2”-3” of water, and bring to a simmer on the stove. 
3. After the cream has steeped, place the chocolate bowl onto the scale with a fine strainer in the bowl. Zero the scale with the strainer on it. Pour the liquid into the bowl, straining out any lavender buds. If the scale does not measure 46g of cream, add some additional fresh cream to make up the difference. Remove the strainer & discard the used lavender. 
4. Place the chocolate/steeped cream over sauce pan with simmering water to form a double boiler. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula until the chocolate is completely melted. The mixture may look a little grainy or separated, but that is ok.  Remove from the heat and add the butter and corn syrup.  Stir until well combined. If the mixture continues to look separated, return to the double boiler system & stir constantly until everything has emulsified (i.e. come together) into a ganache. 
5. Remove the white chocolate ganache from the heat & taste a little bit of it.  If you prefer a stronger lavender flavor (which I did), add a drop of essential lavender oil. Only add a little bit--we don’t want it to taste like soap! Remember that when the chocolate is cold, the lavender flavor will not be as pronounced. 
6. Transfer the ganache to a separate bowl & chill in the refrigerator until it firms slightly, but still is pliable enough to mold. Mine took about an hour to set up. 
7. Use a 
8. 1 tablespoon scoop to portion the truffles onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Refrigerate the whole pan for 30 minutes. 
9. Once the truffles are chilled roll them gently with clean hands to make them round & cover each truffle in coarse sanding sugar. Press a single bud of lavender to the top of the truffle, if desired. 
10. Store the truffles in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Allow them to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to warm up (they’ll taste better that way) before serving.

**The corn syrup helps to keep the truffle from crystalizing and also increases the shelf life.  Glucose is preferred to  corn syrup, but I don’t have any available to me where I live...  You can skip the syrup all together if it really bothers you to use it.  

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Ice Cream Cone & Pennant Banner Cookies

The past two weeks have been crazy busy in my kitchen! Unfortunately, all the craziness has left me no time to actually work on the blog recipes I’ve been intending to do....  So, instead, I’m going to do a little peek into one of my recent projects.

Two weeks ago, my kitchen was all about making banana pudding for roughly 200 people.  And, because I’m always paranoid that I’m not making enough food, I also made 6 dozen red velvet cupcakes *just in case.* Then, this past week has been all about a very important sugar cookie order....

I received an order for ice cream cone decorated sugar cookies for an almost-4-year-old’s birthday party.  While I was brainstorming the design, her mom sent me a picture of the birthday party invitation, because I always like to match colors where I can :)

But, in looking at the invitation, I came up with the idea of adding a second cookie design, based on the invitation design: some square cookies with a piped pennant banner/bunting.

Both the designs coordinated together, but they also had their differences.  The banner cookies had a touch more whimsy, in my opinion, while the ice cream cones were a little more stylized.

True to my art school background, I did a ton of sketches for these cookies, especially the ice cream cones!  I wanted there to be enough variation in the “flavors” with as few repeats as possible, which required me to sketch & color each and *every single* cone on paper before the piping process even began.

I added the piped cakes/cupcakes/ice cream cones to the banner cookies somewhat as an after thought (they were all elements of the invitation design).  But those little details have become one of my favorite parts! I would have piped even more detail, but I figured it was time to reign in my creative juices.   

I’ve also been chronicling this cookie adventure on Instagram & have had several people request royal icing recipe, so I’ll be including those at the bottom of the post.  And in case anyone wanted to know how I decorated each cookie design, I’m including that too. I seriously love decorating cookies! More than once this past week I’ve told my husband  how much I wish I could play with royal icing on a daily basis & get paid a decent wage for it.  But that dream probably won’t happen while we’re living in the middle of nowhere in Texas....  Oh well, a girl can dream :)

ICE CREAM CONE COOKIES 

Needed ingredients & equipment

• sugar cookies that have been baked two days previously & stored in airtight containers. 
• Royal Icing in pastry bags (I LOVE to use this method of putting the icing into plastic wrap first). 
• cone colored: outlining consistency & flooding consistency
• various ice cream colors (light pink, dark pink, orange, ivory/vanilla, chocolate, mint are the colors I used) in a 20-second-type consistency (sort of between outlining & flooding) 
• Multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles
• chocolate jimmies/sprinkles 
• Tweezers for placing jimmies/sprinkles 
• Toothpicks to spread icing & pop any bubbles
• Confectioners sugar, as needed, to thicken the icing. 

PLAIN ICE CREAM CONE COOKIES 

1.  Outline the bottom V of the cone with the cone colored icing. Reserve any leftover icing. Allow to dry. 
2. Flood the inner portion of the cone with the thinner icing. Use a toothpick to help spread the icing if necessary & to pop any bubbles that may appear.  On some cones, I left a “drip line”  free from icing (on the cone portion) that I would later fill with ice cream colored icing. Allow to dry. 
3. Use more of the outlining consistency to pipe the lines on the cone.  Allow to dry completely. I left mine at least 8 hrs to ensure it was totally dry. 
4. Once the cone icing is dry, use a 20-second-type icing consistency to make a general outline of the bottom ice cream scoop & fill in that outline. Be careful that the icing doesn’t spill over the edge.  Use a toothpick to help spread the icing & to pop any air bubbles as soon as they’re visible. Allow to dry roughly half an hour. 
5. Once the bottom ice cream flavor has begun to set, pipe the top ice cream scoop by making a general outline & then filling that outline. Allow to dry completely. I left mine overnight.  
6. Slightly thicken a portion of each ice cream colored icing by sifting a little confectioners sugar over the icing & gently stirring it to combine.  Place the thickened icing into a piping bag--because I didn’t need as much for this detail, I placed it into small parchment piping bags I made from triangles of parchment.  Pipe squiggly lines over the bottom of each ice cream cone to simulate the “ruffle” of the bottom of a scoop of ice cream.  

SPRINKLE & JIMMIE TOPPED ICE CREAM VARIATION

1.  After top ice cream scoop has been piped (and all other icing is dry) in step 5 above, carefully & evenly place the sprinkles or jimmies. I even use a pair of tweezers, if necessary. Try not to move the sprinkles around once placed.  Allow to harden completely, then continue with step 6. 

CHOCOLATE SAUCE & SPRINKLES TOPPED ICE CREAM VARIATION

1.  When piping the top ice cream scoop, in step 5 above, leave the top third of the scoop free from icing & leave spaces for the chocolate sauce to “drip”. Allow to dry completely. I left mine overnight.
2. Once the top ice cream scoop is dry, pipe the chocolate sauce pattern, making sure the “drips” are well visible.  
3. Then, carefully place sprinkles, using tweezers if necessary.  Allow to harden completely, then continue with step 6. 

PENNANT BANNER/BUNTING COOKIES

Needed ingredients & equipment

• square sugar cookies that have been baked two days previously & stored in airtight containers. 
• Royal Icing in pastry bags (I LOVE to use this method of putting the icing into plastic wrap first ) or in cornets, also known as pastry bags made from parchment triangles
• white colored: outlining consistency & flooding consistency
• pink, blue, green, and orange icing: slightly thinned outlining consistency. {I put these colors in cornets & just barely cut the tips right before use}
• add chocolate & cone colored icing, if planning to add the piped baked items. {I put these colors in parchment bags} 
• Multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles
• Toothpicks to spread icing & pop any bubbles
• Confectioners sugar, as needed, to thicken the icing.

1.  Begin by outlining the cookies with outlining consistency white icing.  Allow to dry.
2. Fill the inside of the cookies with the flooding consistency white icing.  Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles that appear. Allow to dry completely. I let mine dry overnight. 
3. Before beginning piping the banner, figure out the color order for the pennants. Place the piping bags in color order on a plate to make the process run more smoothly. 
4. Piping the pennant banner: Pipe a semi-diagonal line for the base of the banner.   Vary the line slightly, so that it goes different directions, if desired.  Let it dry slightly while piping lines on the rest of the cookies. Next, make the flags by piping connecting triangle outlines in different colors. Fill in the triangles, using a tooth pick to help with the bottom point, if necessary. 
5. Optional, piping the baked items. Pipe the bottom “table” color.  Allow to dry for 10 minutes. Use the chocolate colored icing to pipe the layer cake shape. Add sprinkles with a tooth pick, if desired. Pipe the cake stand shape. Add either a cupcake or an ice cream cone.  For the cupcake, pipe the liner color first, then a little bit of visible cake and finish by piping the icing swirl. For the ice cream cone, pipe the cone shape & the ice cream top. Let dry slightly then go back & add the ruffle to the bottom of the ice cream scoop. 
6. Optional, add a dot border around the edges of the cookies that didn’t get the piped baked goods. 

SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
can be found in this post 

ROYAL ICING RECIPE
I don’t remember where I initially found this recipe... I just have it written on a random post-it note in my recipe journal. If you know the source, please let me know and I will immediately credit this recipe! 

2lbs Confectioners sugar
2.25 oz / 6 Tbl Meringue Powder
3/4 c Warm Water
1 Tbl Vanilla Extract 

1.  In the very clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the confectioners sugar & meringue powder. Mix on low speed to combine. 
2. Add the warm water, increase the mixer speed to medium high & beat until thick, glossy & very white, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. 
3. Stir in the vanilla extract.  Scrape the sides of the bowl & mix on low speed until any unincorporated ingredients have been combined.  
4. Place the icing in a clean airtight container.  Wet a couple of paper towels & place the towels directly on the surface of the icing.  Top with a good cover & refrigerate until ready to use.  
5. When ready to use, remove from the fridge & add small portions of the icing into a bowl.  Color & thin the icing as necessary. Scrape the icing onto plastic wrap & form into packets (see instructions here). Store any unused packets or leftover icing in the refrigerator. I like to tint my icing at least a day before I plan to use it because some of the colors develop further overnight.  Save some icing as white in case you need to tone down any icing colors right before use.  
6. If you need to thin the icing for any reason, a clean spray bottle is the easiest way to add a little water as needed.  Colored icing that has been thinned should not be stored longterm (it begins to separate).  

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