Three decadent, rich and creamy Chocolate Truffles Recipes: Dark chocolate with cardamom or lavender and white chocolate with lemon and pistachios.
My husband is a big chocolate fan who also likes handmade gifts, so I couldn’t come up with a better idea than that. I put them in layers separated by paper in a nice little box, so that when he opens it, there is only one kind of truffles on top, but as he searches deeper in the box, he finds two more layers. I think it’s a pretty good idea for a gift, much better than a ready-made box of pralines. I think it’s always nice to show the most important person in your life how much you care by doing small things that put smile on his/her face.
So, today I’m sharing with you three recipes of chocolate truffles:
1.Dark Chocolate Truffles with Cardamom and Herbal Liquer
I came up with these chocolate truffles because I always thought that cardamom and chocolate should pair well together but I’ve never tried it yet. It turns out that I was right, it tastes just as I expected! I used the darkest chocolate I could find in the store, which has 85% cocoa but in case it’s hard for you to find, 70 % or so would work just fine. Bittersweet chocolate with a bit of cream, green and black cardamom with its smoky flavor and a hint of herbal liquer. Now after I put it into words, it sounds like a very manly type of chocolate to me 🙂 Feel free to use any herbal liquer, as well as whisky or rum. I had Riga Black Balsam, but I know that it’s pretty hard to find outside Latvia, where I got it from. But if you happen to have it, then go ahead and put it into use!
2. Dark Chocolate Truffles with Lavender and Honey
I couldn’t wait to put my dried lavender into use and here I am using it in this recipe which is by the way so delicious you wouldn’t believe it! The addition of honey makes the dark chocolate even sweeter. I came up with a nice coating made of ground chocolate and lavender. You can make it with by yourself by finely chopping chocolate with a knife or you can use a ready made ground chocolate like that. Lavender is a great ingredient to use in cooking, it makes so many things taste better. You can check the recipe of my tomato soup with lavender, as well as other ways to use lavender in your cooking here.
3. White Chocolate Hearts with Lemon, Pistachios and Black Pepper
This is the easiest and the sweetest of all the three kinds of chocolate truffles and it’ not actually a truffle. You basically infuse lemon zest and juice, pistachios and ground black pepper into melted white chocolate, pour it in a form and let it stand for 1.5 – 2 hours in the freezer. I had a heart-shaped form from some packaged chocolate candies. You can use any shape you want. In fact, you can also make a chocolate bar out of it if you pour it in a rectangular or square-shaped form. This chocolate has a very sweet and distinctive lemon flavor with a little astringency of the peppercorns and a nice crunch of pistachios.
All three of them are so delicious it was hard not to eat them all while making 🙂 Check the recipes below for directions and enjoy yourself being a real chocolatier!
Three Chocolate Truffles Recipes
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Truffles with Cardamom and Herbal Liquer
- 250 grams or 9 oz 85% cocoa chocolate or less
- 90 ml or 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 70 ml or 2.5 fl oz herbal liquer (or whisky, rum, etc)
- 2 teaspoons green cardamom seeds ground
- 2 teaspoons black cardamom seeds ground, or just use more green cardamom
- 50 grams or 7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Dark Chocolate Truffles with Lavender and Honey
- 85 ml or a bit less than 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons ground lavender
- 250 grams or 9 oz 72% cocoa chocolate or any dark chocolate
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 50-60 grams or 2 oz chopped or ground chocolate
White Chocolate Hearts with Lemon, Pistachios and Black Pepper
- 150 grams or 5.3 oz white chocolate
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons unsalted and peeled pistachios
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- Additionally: praline mold
Instructions
Dark Chocolate Truffles with Cardamom and Herbal Liquer
- Use a water bath to melt chocolate (set a heat-proof bowl with roughly chopped chocolate into a pot or a skillet with boiling water and simmer until the chocolate is melted).
- Add heavy cream, herbal liquer and green and black ground cardamom seeds. Stirring constantly, let it combine into a smooth mixture for 1-2 minutes and remove from the stove.
- Let it cool to a room temperature and put it in the fridge for 1-2 hours until the mixture is firm enough to work with.
- Spread the cocoa powder into a rimmed plate using a sieve. Take a tablespoon of the chocolate mixture and roll it using both hands until a small ball is formed. Roll it in the cocoa powder.
- Repeat with the rest of the chocolate mixture. Enjoy!
Dark Chocolate Truffles with Lavender and Honey
- Combine heavy cream with 1 teaspoon lavender in a pot and bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, cover with a lid and let stand for 10 minutes. Filter the cream-lavender mixture through the sieve into a measuring cup and add add water until it reaches the initial volume (small part of the creme has evaporated). Add honey and bring to a boil again.
- Meanwhile, chop or grind the chocolate. I left some bigger pieces so that it won't melt from the hot cream mixture, adding a little bit of crunchy texture to the finished product.
- When the cream is ready, pour it in a bowl with chopped chocolate and mix well. Let it cool to a room temperature and put it in the fridge for 1-2 hours until the mixture is firm enough to work with.
- Combine the ground chocolate and the rest of lavender in a rimmed plate. Take a tablespoon of the chocolate mixture and roll it using both hands until a small ball is formed. Roll it in the chocolate-lavender mixture.
- Repeat with the rest of the chocolate mixture. Enjoy!
White Chocolate Hearts with Lemon, Pistachios and Black Pepper
- Use a water bath to melt chocolate (set a heat-proof bowl with roughly chopped chocolate into a pot or a skillet with boiling water and simmer until the chocolate is melted).
- Add lemon juice, lemon zest, chopped pistachios, ground black pepper and turmeric and mix well. Pour the mixture into the chocolate mold Let it cool to a room temperature and put it in the freezer for 1-2 hours until firm. Remove from the mold. Enjoy!
- Pack chocolate truffles in a nice box to give them as a gift. Store them in the fridge.
Notes
White chocolate hearts are the quickest to make. It takes from 1 hour 20 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes all together.
Nutrition
What do you usually give to your partner for Valentine’s day? I’m curious!
Love,
Elena