Sara Jayne Stanes - CEO, The Academy of Culinary Arts

Chocolate Truffles

with Maldon sea salt

Ingredients

Makes about 40–45

225g very best quality chocolate
300ml double or whipping cream
¼ tsp Maldon sea salt, crushed
Your choice of rolling materials: cocoa powder, icing sugar, finely chopped nuts…

Chocolate truffles are rich, infatuating little follies, named because - when dusted with cocoa powder - they resemble those rare earthy little gems of fungus; they are similarly precious to all lovers of exciting food. I am a fan of the very lightly whisked variety, with its resulting lightness. Maldon salt brings out the spiciness of the chocolate and balances the sweetness - delicious!

Break or chop the chocolate into evenly sized small pieces, the size of buttons, and put it in a large mixing bowl, at least 1.75 litres in size. Put a saucepan over a medium heat, add the cream and bring it to a rolling boil. Add the Maldon salt, stir, and immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Stir well, blending thoroughly until all the chocolate is melted. Leave the mixture to cool at room temperature, which will take at least 1-1½ hours.

Then you can proceed to making the truffles. This is the method I use, and I think by far the most satisfactory for creating a light airy truffle. Take a large, heavy chopping board or a baking tray and cover it tightly and completely with cling film or waxed paper. (You may need to fix it with sticky tape underneath to make sure it is taut - if you don’t wrap the film tightly enough, it lifts up when you try to remove the truffles when they are set.)

Using an electric hand whisk, gently whisk the mixture to the point where it just begins to stop ‘running’ - the mixture should just begin to thicken, and the whisk barely leave a trail when you lift it from the mixture. Stop whisking while it is still soft, otherwise it might separate. Then transfer the mixture into a 35cm piping bag with a 1cm nozzle and pipe little truffle spheres onto the film-covered chopping board or baking sheet. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Alternatively, you can use a teaspoon to measure out little bite-size portions when the mixture has set in the bowl. Dust your hands with icing sugar to prevent the truffles from sticking and roll them into balls in the palms of your hands. This is very messy but just as good as the first method.

Finally, finish the truffles by rolling them in your coating of choice - goodquality cocoa powder, icing sugar, chopped nuts, chocolate vermicelli… The truffles will keep for at least a week, and you can always sprinkle them with cocoa powder from a sieve or tea strainer at the last minute if they need ‘tarting up’.