Crunchie Chunks and Clusters

More adventures with honeycomb which did hit the spot. These photos were taken 8:00am and HoneyB decided that she should help. So what could I say when she hopped up on an upturned bucket and announced ‘now, I can help with my Mommie’. And help she did :-0

First off some traditional chocolate coated honeycomb … the chunks are an array of different sizes.

Second, crunchie clusters – yum indeed. I liked these a lot but feedback from my ‘taster’ told me that they were too hard for little girls.

Swiper, no swiping!

You’re toooooo late!

Because the clusters were too hard for ‘little girls’ HoneyB’s reward for helping was her favourite treat, chocolate lollipops. These lollies are a perfect … HoneyB gets a lollipop AND chocolate. For me, I know she is getting 1 1/2 tsps of chocolate and nothing else.

And for now au revoir! We are off to Salon Du Chocolat this weekend and without HoneyB. It is our first night away from her and I must say that I am excited but sad at the same time. But I’d say I’m the only one that’ll be tear-eyed … she will be having a ball with mcdj :-)

Crunchie Truffles

So I took some of the honeycomb bits and pieces, stirred them into a milk chocolate ganache and what happened? (she says in her best HoneyB voice). The honeycomb dissolved very gradually leaving a very soft sticky mixture :-( I had somehow hoped (now I know Himself was right) that I could preserve the crunchie texture in the truffle. Anyway, we live and learn. However the flavor was good and the ‘toffee’ flavor was subtle.

I suppose the right thing to do would be to chocolate coat the crunchie … then mix in. Anyway, I cut them into squares, tossed in cocoa and served with a warning: very soft truffles.

Cocoa Bean Bars

And all because the lady loves …

This selection of treat size 20g bars from Cocoa Bean are a delight. Himself got them in Chocolat, Ennis as a little pressie pour moi :-)

The bars inside are thin and so east to break off a little or a large square. The G&T is something else – it is my favourite of them all. Tasting the Lime and Black Pepper went something like this: yip, that’s nice, dark chocolate and lime is good. where is the pepper …. oh there it is … tiny grains of black pepper waiting to be munched. I love chocolate bars …

Honeycomb and the Three Bears

I’ve been telling HoneyB the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears at breakfast for the past few weeks and she is quite taken by it. She suggests that Mommie Bear make Baby Bear some more porridge straight away :-)

Anyway, inspired by Gordon Ramsay’s dessert topping (and that is not something that happens often), I made some honeycomb. But how could something so simple to make be so difficult to clean up after. I had to boil my utensils in the pot to clean them. Ah but it was worth it. Now I have my own crunchie stuff to mix with milk chocolate ganache and create a Crunchie truffle :-)

• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup glucose syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp baking soda (bicarb)

1. Oil and then line a baking tin with parchment paper, then oil the parchment paper. I used veg oil.

2. Put everything except the baking soda in a deep pot and bring to the boil but do not bother to stir it. The ingredients will combine as they boil.

3. Keep the sides of the pot clean using a pastry brush dipped in water.

4. Allow the sugar mixture to come to 149C. And now the fun part: whisk in the baking soda which will cause a volcanic thickening golden brown bubbling liquid.

5. Once it starts to thicken and take on that honeycomb color, pour it into the tin.

6. Allow to cool before cutting/breaking/smashing it up. Then store in an airtight container.

There was no way I could find to cut this into nice neat slices. I got chunks, crumbs, shards and one or two good bars. Maybe it needs to be scored while warm …

Dark Chocolate Ginger Truffles

Hmmm is there such a thing as too much ginger? Here is a recipe for Triple Ginger Truffles … there is nothing subtle about the ginger here:

First off the ganache (makes 50):

• 200g dark chocolate (Belcolade Costa Rica 64%)
• 215ml single cream
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 2″ root ginger, grated *
• 50g crystalised ginger, finely chopped *
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger *

* optional, vary up or down depending on your ginger tooth

1. Bring the cream and grated root ginger to just below boiling, remove from the heat and allow it to sit for 10 mins.
2. Put the chocolate in whatever bowl/container you are going to store the truffle mixture in. Then bring the cream back to simmer.
3. Strain the cream over the chocolate making sure no root ginger gets into the ganache.
4. Let the cream melt the chocolate, then gently stir until smooth. If the chocolate does not melt completely, heat if for 10sec bursts in the microwave on Medium until completely smooth.
5. Now stir in the crystalised ginger. Leave to rest at room temp overnight, or for a 4 hours in the fridge.
6. Combine the cocoa powder and ground ginger into a shallow bowl.
7. Scoop the truffles and roll them the cocoa.
8. These need to be stored in the fridge, taking them out around 20 mins before serving to allow them come to room temp. They can also be frozen; but once defrosted they will need to be spruced up so just roll them in some cocoa powder.

The result … triple ginger truffle. For me the ground ginger was just too much. It added to much heat and spice to the truffle and masked the lovely dark chocolate. But the root and crystalised ginger is a good combination … 2 outta 3 ain’t bad :-) Actually the crystalised ginger gives a nice zingy bite and texture too.

Oh I miss being able to take photos. The light is just not good in the morning and evening these days … I must try to master the light box.

The Venue: Gallery of Photography

Start booking … ticket lines open … here is the lineup for the Temple Bar Chocolate Festival.

I just checked out the venue for my upcoming truffle making class and wow it is sleek – white walls, light filled, sur’ tis no wonder it’s called the Light Room. It is upstairs in the Gallery of Photography in the heart of Temple Bar. I am excited and nervous about giving the class. After all I am an amateur with a love for chocolate … there are lots of expert truffle makers in the country (I will be heading to Lorge’s demo!) but thanks to this blog I have the opportunity to get involved in the festival and to share a bit of what I know.

I have not finalised the flavours for the class yet … anyone coming to the class (or not) is more than welcome to give their ideas! My thinking at the moment is White Chocolate & Lemon, Milk Chocolate & Rose, Dark Chocolate and Ginger. I’ll have lots of ingredients to roll the truffles in.  Now I must source some nice chocolate boxes. I really want people to leave the class with a box of truffles rolled and coated by themselves.

Chocolate Pizza

On my wanderings today I happened upon this Chocolate Pizza. When I say happened upon, I was directed from English Mum to Foodie Gift Hunter to Heal’s. I like the idea of a chocolate pizza … and I do believe my nephews feasted on something similar in Italy a few years ago. Pizza base, nutella, roasted hazelnuts, grated dark chocolate, mamma mia, excellente!

On my wanderings today I happened upon this Chocolate Pizza. When I say happened upon, I was directed from English Mum to Foodie Gift Hunter to Heal’s. I like the idea of a chocolate pizza … and I do believe my nephew had something similar in Italy a few years ago … maybe pizza base and nutella.

White Chocolate Lemon Truffles

Yes, yes another white chocolate and lemon truffle recipe but for this one I used creme fraiche and a milky bar!

• 200g white chocolate (Milky bar), finely chopped
• 100ml creme fraiche
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest (nearly 2 lemons)
• 1tbsp cocoa powder

1. Bring the creme fraiche and zest to the boil and then let it sit for 10 mins, then bring the creme back to simmer.
2. Put the chopped chocolate in to bowl and strain the creme over it.
3. Allow the creme to melt the chocolate for 1-2 mins, then stir. If the chocolate is not fully melted then pop the mixture in the microwave for 10sec bursts at MED, stirring in between.
4. Once cool, cover the ganache and either leave to rest overnight at room temp or for 4 hours in the fridge.
5. Then form the truffles, roll in cocoa and do what you must ;-)

The result … a lovely light truffle, you can still taste the white chocolate but that very sweet Milky Bar taste is toned down by the creme fraiche. They taste like the topping to a lemon cheesecake which in my house is not a bad think at all. The only teeny tiny down side it that it is easier to work with cream as the creme fraiche has a thicker consistency.

Ganache: Split, Broken, Yuck!

There are not too many things that can go wrong when making truffles. And when I say wrong, I don’t mean that ‘it was all going well when suddenly the bowl of chocolate fell into my mouth!’. Indeed something like that happened Heidi Klum at her last photo shoot. But something worth knowing is how to recover a broken/split/curdled ganache.

A ganache is a combination of chocolate and cream. The trick is to get the fat (cocoa butter) from the chocolate to combine with the water from the cream. Think of oil and water and how they are not good bed fellows … the oil rises to the top and sits there stubbornly.

The idea is that the hot cream gently melts the chocolate, and the stirring helps combine the water and fat. If the cream is too hot, then the cocoa butter will melt too quickly and rise to the top. Now the ganache is broken/split or a big brown mess.  Once the fat rises, the remaining mixture becomes grainy.

And the problem does not fix itself … how bad is this cold split ganache. Yuck! How could something so beautiful become so so ugly.

But there is a solution: The mixture can be brought back to a perfect emulsion. When you see it splitting, whisk it using an electric whisk at low-med speed for 1-2 mins. Tada, glossy smooth ganache again.

Food and Wine Magazine

My Food and Wine magazine came today. I flicked through it to see if they had a write-up about the upcoming Temple Bar Chocolate Festival. Well indeed they had: great. But to my surprise they mention Some Say Cocoa and have a photo of my white chocolate and lemon truffle. I’m scarlet!

But now I have an excuse for buying some 10kg bags of chocolate – hmmmm I hope they last until 30th Oct :-0