Chocolate and Ginger Truffles

Truffles are a simple treat to make and creates the perfect gift. You can add a variety of flavours, such as alcohol, spices and flavoured extracts, or nuts and dried fruit for texture. Just adjust to taste and feel like a real chocolatier!

Truffle making can be a messy process, with all the handling of the chocolate, so as a perfectionist, I decided to use chocolate moulds. This meant coating the moulds with a thin layer of chocolate so that I could release the truffles without damaging their shape. I just poured a little melted chocolate into each mould and spread it around with a spoon, but next time I will use a small brush to avoid air bubbles.

Dark Chocolate and Ginger Truffles (about 30 truffles, depending on size)
Ingredients:
300g good quality dark chocolate, chopped roughly
180g double cream
2tsp ginger powder

100g good quality dark or white chocolate (to coat moulds, optional)
Cocoa powder (to dust, optional)

Method:
If using a chocolate mould, melt 60g of chocolate over a bain-marie, or in 20 second bursts in the microwave. Using a clean brush, coat the moulds with the melted chocolate and allow to cool and harden.
For the truffles, pour the double cream into a bowl over a bain-marie and heat. Then add the chocolate and ginger powder, and stir until it is completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
Once it has cooled, but is still in liquid form, spoon the truffle mixture into the coated moulds until it is almost full. Then place into the fridge to harden. If you are not using moulds, place the truffle mixture in the fridge to harden. This should take about 1 hour. Once hardened, you can spoon small amounts into your hand and roll into a ball. Then coat with cocoa powder.
To finish the moulds, melt the other 40g of chocolate and pour over the truffle mixture to cover them completely. Allow to cool and then unmould.
Truffles can be kept for upto 3 days in the fridge or frozen for upto 3 months.