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Update: I’ve had a bit of feedback from readers who can’t get their truffles to set. I’ve therefore amended the method for the recipe so that the mulled wine is reduced down before adding it to the ganache. I did get great results using the original method, but obviously there is something not quite right. Apologies.
I’ve been a bit quiet for the last week or so, and for a very good reason – I’ve been busy baking. Christmas is pretty much THE best time to be a baker, with all the cookies, marzipan, chocolate, and booze-soaked fruit you can imagine. So I took a couple of weeks out from publishing recipes to make a great head-start on the festive goodies.
And seriously, there are so many festive goodies coming your way in the next two months.
So let’s get things merrily rolling along with the first bake of the festive season – some silky smooth mulled wine chocolate truffles.
If you’re anything like me then you’ll love making truffles. Firstly, they’re made of all the good things – chocolate, butter, and cream. Unhealthy as hell, but they make fantastic gifts this time of year. Or you can always just eat them all yourself of course.
They aren’t hard to make either, and I’ve even got a couple of tips to help you out if things start to go a little pear shaped.
Chocolate truffles are, in essence, just a mixture of melted chocolate and double cream. Yeah, we’re going to add in some butter for smoothness, some mulled wine for the Xmas-Factor, and a pinch of ground cinnamon for that little extra spice, but everything good in a truffle starts and ends with the chocolate. Please use good quality chocolate, and preferably dark chocolate – at least 60% cocoa solids. If you don’t like the taste of the chocolate you are planning on using, then adding some cream and mulled wine isn’t going to make it any better. Trust me.
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If you’re new to the world of truffle-making, then you might still be familiar with chocolate ganache. Ganache is the yummy product of mixing melted chocolate and warm cream together, and is great for filling layer cakes with, or for making chocolate tarts. But the thickest (and bestest) ganache is reserved for chocolate truffles. Once you’ve mastered ganache, you will very rarely have problems, but if you’re a newbie then there are a couple of core things to remember to avoid turning your silky smooth ganache into something split, oily, and gross.
- Melt the chocolate first, and add hot (almost boiling) cream to it. The heat is the only way to get the chocolate and cream to blend together, and helps to avoid an oily mess.
- Gently stir the chocolate and cream together. Don’t go in all heavy handed. Ganache is a delicate beast, and needs a bit of TLC to make sure it fulfils its true potential.
- If the ganache does split, then don’t panic. Warm up a couple of tablespoons of cream in a saucepan, and add it into the split ganache. Give it 20 seconds, and then gently stir together. This will usually be enough to bring everything back together. If not, ignore tip 2 above, and whisk the hell out of it with an electric hand mixer, until it’s nice and smooth.
The mulled wine flavour in these gorgeous truffles is subtle, but they’ve got that underlying boozy cinnamon taste that makes them the perfect way to ease yourself into the festive season. You can definitely mull your own red wine if you like, although I have to confess that I just went out and bought some pre-mulled stuff from the shop. It’s much easier, much less time consuming, and tastes great.
When you’re standing in your kitchen with a bowl of ganache and a jug of mulled wine, it’s going to seem like this recipe isn’t going to work. Surely this is too much wine, right? I promise you it isn’t. Add the wine to the ganache in a couple of separate additions, mixing together gently to avoid splatter. It will all mix together perfectly, and with a few hours of chilling in the fridge, it will set firmly enough to roll into truffles.
Trust me ?
So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself in the kitchen and get making some truffles. Can’t stand mulled wine? I’ve got Ferrero Rocher truffles, champagne truffles, and limoncello truffles, all ready and waiting for you too. But I’m sure you’ll agree that mulled wine chocolate truffles are so much more Christmassy! And there’s only 52 sleeps to go…
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- 180ml (3/4 cup) mulled wine
- 450g (16oz) dark chocolate (bittersweet)
- 240ml (1 cup) double or heavy cream
- 15g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 75g (3/4 cup) cocoa powder
- Pour the wine into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer down, stirring frequently, until you have reduced it by three quarters, and only one quarter remains. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Melt the chocolate, either in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Set aside.
- Heat the cream in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Just before the cream starts to boil, remove from the heat and pour into the melted chocolate. Leave for a minute, and then gently stir together until a creamy ganache forms. If the mixture looks oily or split, heat a couple more tablespoons of cream as before, and then stir into the mixture. This should bring it back together.
- Add the butter to the warm ganache and stir in until completely melted. Pour the wine into the ganache and gently stir together until the wine has been mixed in. Finally, add the ground cinnamon and stir in well.
- Cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm or plastic wrap and place in the fridge until set (at least three hours).
- Once set, use a teaspoon or melon-baller to scoop balls of the ganache. Roll them into nice smooth balls in your hands (it will get messy) and then roll in the cocoa powder to coat. Place on a lined baking tray, and pop back in the fridge for an hour. Keep the truffles in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- These truffles will keep for up to 7 days when kept in the fridge. They can be frozen, and will keep for 3 months - just defrost overnight in the fridge.
If anyone here is a delicate beast, it’s you!
I like these better than the Hotel Chocolat ones… and trust me, I’ve eaten enough to know the difference!
When they are chilled, wrap chocolate cookie dough around them and bake.
Karen, that sounds like heaven! Will have to give it a go 🙂
I made this recipe to the exact spec and they didnt set 🙁 It was more like a Gu pudding, wasn’t able to roll them into balls!
I’m sorry to hear that Hayley. It might be that the mixture just needs a few more hours in the fridge – maybe leave overnight and see if it sets enough to roll up? The truffles are meant to be a bit softer than usual, but they definitely should be roll-able. It may be that the cream wasn’t hot enough when you added it to the chocolate?
I left it for 24 hours before trying it, and the cream was forming bubbles around the outside so was almost boiled, so i’m not sure what it must have been, I wonder if anyone had similar issue? i’m gutted but at least it made a nice (huge!) dessert. 🙂
Ditto above, followed to the letter and came out a mousse. Unfortunately it looks like the ratios are wrong, almost 1:1 chocolate to liquid versus another recipe I just made for white chocolate amaretto had 1:4.
Luckily I managed to save these mulled wine ones by using them as a soft filling for filled chocolates 🙂
It’s weird because I used the recipe above and they turned out perfectly. I will give them another go this weekend with less liquid and see how they end up. I’m glad they weren’t wasted though, and I’m sorry they didn’t work out as expected.
Ive just made this aswell and the ingredients are definitely not right. I think too much mulled wine as I was adding it bit by bit and then the last bit was just way too much! Going to try and add some more dark chocolate to save it!
I made these and they turned out perfectly, I used quite a good chocolate – patisserie’s type chocolate – and maybe that makes a difference? Good wine flavour.
I’m glad someone else had success with these! Thanks Kim 🙂