Prune and Armagnac is such a classic pairing, and for good reason. This is a smooth, creamy chocolate ganache, with soft, Armagnac-spiked prunes folded through it – so good! Here I have kept them rustic, and just scooped them into small, misshapen balls, much like their namesakes, but you could either set them in a square tray, and then slice them into shapes, or pipe the mixture into silicone chocolate moulds if you want a specific shape. The amount of alcohol in the mixture means that the ganache is very soft, so they do need to be rolled in the chocolate, as that will make them hold their shape – they end up having a crisp outer shell, and then soft, boozy centres.
[recipe title=”Prune and Armagnac Truffles” servings=”15″ time=”1hour” difficulty=”easy”]Makes just under 500g. You will need a pair of latex gloves.
[recipe-ingredients]- 100g dark chocolate, chopped
- 140ml double cream
- 10g unsalted butter, at room temp
- 15ml Armagnac
- 40g soft prunes, finely chopped
- 150g dark chocolate, chopped
- 30g cocoa butter
- 100g cocoa powder, for rolling them
- Gold dust, optional
- Put the prunes and Armagnac into a bowl and leave them to macerate for an hour.
- Bring the cream to the boil, then pour it over the 100g dark chocolate, and whisk until the chocolate has all melted. Whisk in the butter, then fold in the prunes and Armagnac. Cover the mixture directly with cling film, and leave it to set in a cool place – not the fridge, just a cool room ideally.
- Cover a large plate, or tray with cling film. Once the truffle mixture is cold, it should be firm enough to just hold it’s shape when scooped. I use a tiny mechanical ice cream scoop, but you could use two tea spoons. Put the soft balls onto the cling film covered plate, and transfer them to the freezer to set hard.
- Set up an area of work surface for rolling the truffles – this is a messy job, so I tend to wipe the surface leaving it a touch wet, then lay cling film over it, to cover it all – the film will stick to the wet surface. Put the cocoa powder into a shallow dish, and put that on one side of the cling-filmed area. Put latex gloves on your hands.
- Melt the 150g dark chocolate with the cocoa butter – you can do this in the microwave, using short, gentle bursts of heat, but you want to get it really hot – so hot that with the gloves on, you can just bear to put your hands into it. Put this next to the dish containing the cocoa.
- Get the truffles out of the freezer, and make sure they are set completely solid. Working quickly, with your gloves on, take one truffle at a time. Dip one hand into the hot chocolate, then roll the truffle in between your hands, so as to coat it all over in the melted chocolate. Then chuck it into the cocoa powder, and shake the dish to roll it around, so that it gets coated all over in cocoa. Leave it in the cocoa whilst you do all the rest.
- Once they are all done and in the cocoa, put the whole dish into the freezer again, just to firm them up whilst you clean up. Use a slotted spoon to lift the truffles out of the cocoa, and give them a little shake to remove any excess cocoa. Put them into an airtight container lined with non-stick baking parchment, dusting the tops with gold powder if you wish. Store in the fridge until a couple of hours before you are ready to serve them, as they are best eaten at room temp.
*I sieve the cocoa and re-use it as it’s quite a waste otherwise
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