Earl Grey Truffles

Earl Grey Truffles

I recently was invited to a Baby Shower where I was also asked to make sweets. I always LOVE to find unique flavors that compliment the theme as well as the individual being celebrated. 

I knew that the mom-to-be loved tea, so I thought it would be fun to make truffles! I know what you're thinking, "Tea? In truffles? How interesting..."

But let me introduce to the mouth feel of them. As soon as you bite into them, they melt lightly into your mouth with all its decadence. The dark chocolate is rich, but the Earl Grey is floral and citrus. It adds a whole new dimension to the chocolate which is really fun. If you make these, you will surely impress your guests!

Something to consider when making these truffles...

I am providing you a wonderful "base recipe" for making truffles. Earl Grey is not a necessary part of the process, but a nice option. I urge you to think outside the box and add whatever strikes your fancy....

       ....Whether that be Grand Marnier(an orange liqueur), espresso, OR my next endeavor will involve this recipe, minus the Earl grey, and I will roll the truffles in crunched pretzels. That salty, sweet combo is always nice and I have to improvise as my husband was not a fan of these truffles:)

To Begin...

You will need: 

-Heavy Cream

-Butter

-Earl Grey tea

-Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Dark Chocolate)

&

-Cocoa Powder

Easy peezy, right??

Supplies...

 -sive(this is a necessary tool when using Earl Grey)

-small saucepan 

-small bowl

When making a recipe that involves limited ingredients, it is important to
 use high quality ingredients. 

I used TAZO Earl Grey tea. My personal favorite. For the chocolate, I had several people tell me Trader Joe's bars of chocolate are very good quality and are at a reasonable price. I was so happy with it! The recipe called for bittersweet chocolate, but I chose Dark chocolate as I prefer it's flavor. 

Recipe

  2/3 c.  Heavy Cream or Heavy Whipping Cream

2 tbsp.  Unsalted Butter cut into pieces

  2 tsp.  Loose Earl Grey Tea leaves or 3 bags 

   6 oz.  Chocolate chopped

     1 c.   Cocoa powder

 I did a double batch of this recipe and it made about {28} large gum-ball sized truffles. First, chop the chocolate in a food processor or you can chop with a knife into smaller pieces. Place the cream and butter into the sauce pan and heat to a boil. As soon as its bubbling, turn off and place the tea bags into the liquid mixture. 

As soon as I put the tea bags into the cream, they did not immediately seem to bleed into the mixture quite like I would like, so I ferociously squished the tea bags until they released their loveliness. This caused the bags to open, which then gave me "loose leaf tea" like the recipe called for:) It didn't matter as I sived the liquid mixture before I put into the chocolate. Once it had steeped for about 5 minutes, I sived the mixture over the chopped chocolate. It did not completely melt the chocolate, so I put it in the microwave for 2 minutes at 50 watt power.  

Once it's mixed, I placed in the fridge. The recipe says for 2 hours, I did it over night. The next day, I took it out and allowed it to come to room to temperature to make it easier to scrape it out and roll into truffles!

 You can use a melon baller or cookie dough scoop.

Another technique that may have made it easier, would have been to pipe it onto a cookie sheet with wax paper while it is at the liquid stage. It would be best to do that after the initial mixing of ingredients and then allow them to come to room temperature so that it is not runny. I could not use this technique as you would need room to allow to set and to become cold in the fridge. My fridge was a little full after the holiday!

  

This part gets a little messy! 

Once the mixture has been balled in whatever technique you find best, you roll them with your hands. Your hands will warm the chocolate. That's when you roll it in the cocoa powder. I mixed a tablespoon of powdered sugar with cocoa for a little sweetness. If you wanted a hard chocolate shell, you could melt chocolate and roll the cold, hardened chocolate into the melty chocolate. It's up to you!

Then...You are done! 

My truffles were not perfect. They definitely looked handmade, which I convinced myself made look them look special. 

They had different sizes and variations, but they were creamy and lovely. They were a hit at the party! 

I totally recommend them for a party and

 to get creative and booze them up if you like.