Pseudo Chocolatier Fridays - The Revered Earl Grey

Alas... I jumped into making Earl Grey truffles, I had meant to try out the classics a few more times before I go on to try the infused ones, but I just couldn't wait, after drinking some very-fragrant earl grey tea.

After the ganache has set, I tasted it and to my dismay, the tea flavour turned out very strong, and further sharpened by an intense sweetness. I don't have a very sweet tooth to be honest, so the first reaction was "oh mannnnnnnnnnnnnnn". I was a little disheartened to roll them out to give out, so I scooped them (with a melon scooper) into tiny spheres and froze them (knowing I won't be able to continue in the same day).







I returned to the frozen balls of ganache yesterday (4 days after I first tasted them, no, please don't even start thinking I'm gross. According to Alice Medrich, with whom I would continue to "apprentice" fervourly, ganache can kept in an airtight container and be frozen up to 2 months.)

I was decidely very positive that morning and my head was almost ringing," I am sure some people with a sweet tooth would like to taste you". I went ahead to handroll them lightly with chocolate on both palms (another great tip from Alice M. from Bittersweet) in melted (untempered) bittersweet chocolate, and then drop them in trays of cocoa powder, nibs and chopped pistachios.

I tasted a few during the chocolate making process (and whilst photographing them.. keke..), it was as if I gained a sweet tooth or two, because I started finding them a little addictive. The cocoa powder created a bitter coat, and the chocolate coating was almost nonexistent. As I pop it into my mouth, the bitter coat melts almost seamlessly into an intense burst of bergamot flavour. The ganache though not as smooth as the previous plain truffles I made, is still mouth-melting. (arrgghh! how come not as smooth!??!! I suspect I need a finer strainer and I whisk a little too hard this time round...) Nuts and nibs tamed the sweetness with a crunch. (fine discovery, yup I admit that was more of an after thought and counter reaction to the ganache's sweetness.)

The earl grey flavour could be too strong for some, but lovers of full citrus flavour won't complain. I think I would lessen the amount of tea and sugar in my next try; I am a lover of earl grey but I am anxious to taste how a mildly flavoured earl grey truffle would be like (especially with such good chocolate used!), and definitely not as sweet as this one. Bittersweet is always yummier.

Sorry, but I can't resist putting this trivia down. You may have already known and find me silly actually: Do you know that earl grey tea is flavoured by an essential oil from the aromatic peel of the bergamot orange? And that the bergamot orange has no relations to the bergamot herb, which is grown primarily for ornamental purposes (and potpurri making). It is named so, because its "odor" is considered similar to that of the bergamot orange. All the while, I thought bergamot flavour had something to do with the bergamot herb! Yes, you would have realise I don't find knowledge that general, and sense not that common! haha... I love Wikipedia for many reasons.

^__________^

Reviews on truffles

(-) Negative (critical but constructive)

"They are too soft... but the taste is good" (from 2 folks who tasted some 6-hour-out-of-the-fridge truffles)

"They need to be more regular" (from the consistent)

"Too much nibs! Too bitter" (haha.. she ate 1 round one rolled all round with nibs)

(-+) Neutral

"....................." (silence.... she didn't like chocolates but picked up one of mine because she knew I made them, I don't know what to make out of this situation)

"Did you really make them???" (from unbelieving friends who never stepped into their kitchen more than necessary, not sure what to make out of the comment too!)

(+) Positive (encouraging and esteem boosting)

"Wowwwwwwww........." (before tasting, which means they probably like the box)

"Mmmmmmmm..........melt in the mouth, not too sweet" (definitely from folks on the dark side)

"Yummieeeeee............" (from the cheerful and greedy)

"The box looks so you!!!!" (huh, not sure if it's a compliment, let's assume it is? ^^)

Overall, I am happy with the results, but wait, I would be happy even if they didn't quite like them, because I'm really enjoying the process of making chocolates, especially the finger-licking part before washing up! (Don't tell me I am the only one doing it...)

Psuedo Chocolatier Fridays - Some Ugly Yummy Truffles

Haha... this post is going to be embarrassing... I didn't quite expect truffles to look good anyways, but I think mine turn out uglier than expected. Making them was quite a nightmare actually. I think it has to do with starting at 9 pm in the night and finish washing up past 2 am. Did I also mention my hands were full of chocolate and cocoa powder and I spastically tried to open the fridge with my elbows (pausing in front of the fridge wondering if I should dirty it or twist my arms)? And I had to very anal-ly insist on making very tiny squares so they are really bite-size, so I made about 100 instead of 50 as what the recipe suggests. I have to really kick myself in the ass for that...







They are done though! Definitely not pretty but I think they taste very good. (not my credit really, it's the very good chocolate used) It's really melt-in-the-mouth, smooth, not overwhelming but very intense, bittersweet, but with a sweetish aftertaste, with some crunchy bits of nibs.

To give a very blunt detailed description: (no wonder I never did well for English as a subject)

"These are ganache squares made from Valrhona 70% Guanaja, with President whipping cream (35.1% fat), President unsweetened butter. They are encrusted with a very thin chocolate crust made of Valrhona 55% Equatoriale, sprinkled with some cocoa nibs and dusted with unsweetened cocoa powder. To prevent your hands from getting dirty whilst enjoying them, they are served in tiny black paper holders. Because we eat with eyes too, they have been carefully packaged in a self-made box lined with some Japanese brown paper. (I just have to make some efforts to distract you from the not-so-pretty chocolate treats). Finally, because we all enjoy receiving presents, the box is finished with grosgrain ribbon."

I am dreaming earl grey and rose truffles already.. hee hee...

Because chocolates are best eaten fresh (I REALLY REALLY mean it... I was not a fan of chocolate until I ate some homemade 30-minutes old truffles made from very good dark chocolate), I am going to try give out all these truffles within the next 2 days.

While the Ganache sets...

Yay! Finally close to finishing all the chocolates from 2 weeks. I was eating chocolate barks almost everyday. Good thing they are 70%s, if I am a white chocolate person, I would be at least 2 kg heavier I bet (and start to look more like mom, kekeke...)

I started preparing ganache yesterday for truffle rolling with s.t. later. Guess it would be quite a fun couple activity for a Saturday.

I have gone through multiple chocolate books to compare ganache recipes. Chocolate Obsession by Michael Recchiuti & Fran Gage has loads of different infused ganaches, and very specific instructions. Real Chocolate by Chantal Coady featured a few recipes: Rococo's, Robert Linxe's (La Maison du Chocolat) and Michel Chaudun's. To top it up, I had detailed notes taken from Patrick Heuberger's chocolate making class some time ago. Chocolate, the definitive guide by Sara Jayne-Stanes has a just cream and chocolate recipe (no butter). It's interesting how different chocolatiers variate from the basic method. Some whisk the truffle mixture to aerate it. Some swear by invert sugar. Some pre-melt the chocolate before combining with cream.

Huh... confused and often tempted to try multiple recipes at one go, I decided to discipline myself to stick to just 1 in this weekend. Mine's a marriage of Chantal's proportions, and adapting methods from Michael's and Patrick's. I used

330g 70% Valrhona Guanaja
300g Whipping cream (35% fat)
75g Butter

Pre melt the chocolate (at about 50`C), bring cream to a rolling boil and add immediately to the chocolate. Whisk till well combined and then add diced chilled firmed butter.

I can't wait to for truffle rolling later today... dust them with cocoa powder and nibs!!!!!!!! Woohoooooooooo~~~~~~~~~

Before they are all gone!!!

I have finally finished making these mini photo frames/albums for friends, about 100 over of them. They are pictures of guests taken at our wedding some months ago. I made them in batches, so I never really had all of them at any one time. Multiple trips to the photoprint shop, more trips to the paper and ribbon shops (mostly due to indecisiveness in colour selection). Then, loads of paper cutting, pasting, and creating little "window", which is a cut-out frame for each guest, and the ribbon tying for the finishing touch. I could have finished them all in a week, but I took a few months! The cut out frames were really arduous, and as much as I dread going back to my pen knife and ruler, occasional motivation steeps in (from what reasons, I am not sure...). I have a habit of working in spurs-of-moments, and stayed up late one night to finishing the remaining 40! Voila...








Before they get passed to friends over lunches and sent off via snail mail, I thought I would capture the last few before they too, get slipped into the envelopes.