Christmas Kitchen: Boozy Brussels Sprout Chocolate Truffles

Sometimes I just get these mad ideas that I’m sure are going to end in disaster that actually turn out really, really well. My mother used to make homemade chocolate truffles to give at gifts at Christmas or to serve with coffee at dinner parties. In the shops you can now get chocolate truffles decorated to look like brussels sprouts, but these are rarely made with good chocolate, and it is even more rare to find nice and boozy ones, as every good truffle should be. All the recipes online for making the sprout variety have non-luxurious, biscuity fillings. So what if I were to make a rich, boozy, ganache truffle that looked like a sprout? I’m over the moon with the result.

These truffles are the perfect homemade Christmas gift for a sprout lover or hater if you’ve got a spare bit of time over the festive period; they’ll also provide a bit of wow factor with coffee after dinner if you’ve got guests. They’re a little more time consuming and fiddly than most of the recipes I usually post, but don’t let that put you off; if anything I think some of the truffles that are a little messier look just as authentic as the ones I’d made once I got into the groove. Take out the fridge for 5 minutes before serving for the best flavour.

A little note on the green pigment. I used edible blossom tint dusting powder mixed into white chocolate as the chocolate will still set with a small amount mixed in – I went to a cake decorating shop, but you can get the exact brand and shade I used inexpensively on Amazon. I’ve done some research and you should be able to use regular food colouring gel instead if you also add a little melted coconut oil to the chocolate, though this will make the chocolate stickier at room temperature. If you just want to play around at home this should be fine, but do invest in the blossom tint if you’re planning on boxing a couple up as gifts, but do advise they’re best kept chilled!

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Boozy Brussels Sprout Chocolate Truffles

• Author: Rachel Phipps
• Prep Time: 35 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes (plus chilling time)
• Yield: Makes 16-20 1x
• Category: Chocolate
• Cuisine: Christmas

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Description

These realistic Brussels Sprout chocolate truffles house a rich chocolate, cognac and sea salt ganache inside a crisp white chocolate shell.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 150g (5 fl oz) Double Cream (Heavy Cream)
• Small Knob Unsalted Butter
• 150g (5 oz) Plain Chocolate (I use Cadbury Bournville), finely chopped
• Large Pinch Sea Salt
• 1/2 tbsp Cognac or Brandy
• 200g (7 oz) White Chocolate, finely chopped
• Green Blossom Tint (you can get the same shade and brand I used on Amazon)

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Instructions

1. Gently warm the double cream and the butter over a medium heat until it is just starting to boil, then remove from the heat straight away. Stir in the plain chocolate until it has all melted into a smooth ganache, then stir in a good pinch of sea salt and the Cognac or brandy. Set in the fridge overnight.
2. Line a baking sheet that will fit in your freezer with baking parchment or a silicone mat.
3. Remove the pan of ganache from the fridge and shape the truffles. There are three schools of thought with this: dip a melon baller in boiling water and scoop balls of ganache onto the prepared sheet, dipping the melon baller back into the water between each truffle. This method suits me best as I have hands too warm to handle cold ganache (and pastry, incidentally) but my mother just uses two spoons to scoop up the ganache then rolls them by hand, washing her hands every 3-4 truffles when they get too sticky. Some people like to use a piping bag to get even balls before rolling them.
4. Stash the ganache truffles in the freezer for about 15 minutes while you’re preparing the white and green chocolate.
5. Place the white chocolate in a large heat proof glass bowl and place it over a saucepan of boiling water set over a low heat. If you make sure the glass is not touching the water, the chocolate should safely melt.
6. Once the chocolate is melted, spoon about 1/3 of the mixture into another bowl. Very gently, tap a little green blossom tint into the smaller bowl of chocolate and stir well to create the colour of sprouts. Be careful adding the pigment; like food colouring you can always add more, but you can’t take it away.
7. To decorate your truffles you’ll need two teaspoons, some wooden cocktail sticks and a large potato. Skewer each truffle on a stick so you don’t have to touch it as you decorate, and stick the stick into the potato (slice a bit off the bottom so it stands flat) while the truffle sets. Sadly, you’ll have to keep going back to the freezer for each truffle as you have to keep them as cold as possible as you work!
8. First, spoon white chocolate onto the truffle, pressing the chocolate with the curve of the spoon onto the frozen ganache. The chocolate will harden on contact with the frozen ganache, and the curve of the spoon will help create layered leaves. Cover the truffle all over.
9. With the green chocolate do the same, just creating a few chocolate layers towards the top of the truffle, leaving a bit of white at the bottom, and visible through the ‘leaves’ – this is how you create a realistic sprout effect.
10. Once you’ve decorated all the truffles and skewered them into the potato (you may have a little leftover white chocolate if you made big truffles – don’t worry – or a few leftover truffles if you made them small – again, don’t worry, they’re delicious rolled in cocoa powder) the first ones you did should be set enough to gently pull off the cocktail sticks.
11. Store in the fridge and eat within three days.

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