searching for truffles

[Maja]

I put this here to make sure that everyone saw it...Awhile back on Jamie Oliver he made the most beautiful little truffles I've ever seen!!!!!!!! I knew I should've written them down!
Anyhow, does anyone have this recipe??? I really need to find it!!

Or any other really awesome truffle recipes???

[Sabeine]

Sorry I can't help you with a recipe. This thread should probably be moved to the Recipe section so that others can find it if they are looking for it.

I can't help but laughing but when I was kid there was an episode of the Smurfs that had these wild pigs searching for truffles. They were digging through the dirt and came upon the smurfs village instead. I don't know why this image popped into my head, but it did. The episode was funny. I think I'll always be a kid at heart.

[Carolyn]

Your truffles last A WHOLE WEEK? God, that's sick.

[Maja]

Cake Guru, I happen to find his lisp to be very cute! Not like sexy, but cute.
I hate when people rip on Mr Oliver, because his recipes are so tasty and actually simple enough to make people who wouldn't normally brave the kitchen feel a little more fearless. And he's so excited about food! It's the best. When I watch him I just fall in love with his food. Plus, he really blends flavors from different areas into things that aren't your normal combinations and they taste beautiful.
I've borrowed a cookbook of his and of Nigella Lawson (the porn queen of the kitchen!), and his recipes seem much healthier and tastier. All of her food is so fatty and greasy, but still heavenly devine.
Anyhow, the recipe I'm looking for, he takes the chocolate and the cream and melts them. He also takes sugar and water and makes a caramel of it, then spreads it on a cookie sheet, adding nuts to it. After this hardens, he breaks it up, then runs it through a food processor. Then he takes the chocolate, puts it on top, bakes it all. Then scoops it out with a mellon baller and dips it in more chocolate (I'm not sure about this part), and then sprinkles it with cocoa or powdered sugar. MMMMMMM truffles!
Anyhow, I just want to get the proper proportions. I'm a little scared of screwing it up.

[Carolyn]

HA, Maja already knows MY opinion about Jamie Oliver, which is pretty similar to Cake Guru's. I'll hold him while you smack him, CG! ;D

[Aussie]

Hey Cake Guru,

Maybe you would enjoy this ;D

I can appreciate that some people like him. I'm sure Jamie is a fine cook. His food looks good, so perhaps that's all that matters. But I'm not sure what I think about him.

I do like his recipes and he is obviously passionate and enthusiastic about food.. but really, he does lay on the "poor boy from Essex" a bit thick. That whole I'm a working-class bit of rough made good (which is crap as his parents ran a very successful restaurant in Cambridge). I guess the image sells, but I find it a turn-off.

[Maja]

I've been watching him for years and never got the idea that he tries to come off as being some poor whiney kid who made it big, but he has worked in his parents restaurant since he was really young. He worked hard, travelled across europe going to school and didn't exactly have things handed to him easier than others. I mean, the guy did study and work to get where he is.

Anyhow, I just wanted to know about the recipe. Cake Guru, if you've watched the show just once, maybe you should think again before you're so quick to judge. I don't really care if anyone likes the show or not, but it's a bit rude to just start hijacking my thread about how much you hate the guy. Maybe I'm just cranky, who knows. I just wanted a truffle recipe I've been searching for.

[Sabeine]

Wow, this went off into a snow bank. BIG group hug!

I don't know about the recipe you are looking for Maja, I didn't see that show. I've seen only a few of his shows, mainly when he was running a cooking school and some of the students were giving him a bad time. Other than that, I don't know much about him.

By the way, what does a truffle taste like? I've never had a real one, only the chocolates that they call truffles, and I'm pretty sure those aren't the ones that boars dig for.

[Leslie]

I have searched and searched for this recipe for you but can't find it. Here are two others that seem a bit similar. Maybe one of them will work!


Ingredients

200g/7oz dark chocolate, broken into pieces
175ml/6fl oz double cream
5 tbsp brandy, rum or other spirit of your choice (optional)
cocoa, icing sugar or finely crushed nuts, to finish

Method

1. Cover a baking tray tightly with two layers of cling film to put the truffles on to set.
2. Tip the chocolate pieces into a bowl.
3. Pour the cream into a pan and bring to a rolling boil.
4. Pour over the chocolate and stir until all the chocolate is melted. If you want to add booze, mix it in at this point.
5. Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature - this will take about 1½ hours - by which time it should be set.
6. Using a melon baller or teaspoon, scoop out bite-sized pieces. Dust your hands with icing sugar to stop them sticking and roll the pieces into balls.
7. Roll in sifted icing sugar, cocoa or crushed nuts and place them on the prepared tray.
8. Once they are set you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week.


Or this one....

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon amaretto
1/2 cup coarsely chopped milk chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup finely ground almonds


Put the semisweet chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl and set aside.
In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat until hot but not quite simmering. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand for 3 or 4 minutes. Stir until smooth.
Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat in the butter and amaretto until the mixture is light and creamy. Refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes.

Use a teaspoon or melon baller to scoop up heaping teaspoons of the chocolate mixture, then use your hands to roll them into smooth balls, about 3/4-inch in diameter.

Melt the milk chocolate. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Coat some truffles in the melted chocolate, some in cocoa powder and some in almonds, setting them on the baking sheet as they're ready. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

The truffles will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week and in the freezer for several weeks.

[Bunny]

Here´s the link to the shows on Swedish TV, even older ones earlier shown.
You can find recipes etc there.
svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=1429

[Maja]

Leslie, it looks like we've been running in the same place. I wrote down the first recipe that you've listed here, and it just may be the one I use afterall.

Thanks for your help

[Sabeine]

Are we talking about the chocolate truffles, or the real kinds that pigs dig out of the ground? I'm confused now.

[Carolyn]

Chocolate, not fungus!

[Sabeine]

Oh, okay. Now I know, I was thinking of the fungus kind.

[Vember]

*playfully bonks Sabeine*

How, exactly, would one have a recipe for the kind that grow in the ground? *tickle*

I know how it is to have a pet-peeve (like this Jamie guy, whom I've never even heard of (boy am I ever in the wrong crowd around here!)) so I'm thinkin' everything should be hunky-dory on both sides of the issue now. If CG was gracious enough to un-hijack and remove her threads, maybe others could as well? The non-truffle-related ones, I mean.

Then it goes back to bein' all about da food. MMMmmm chocolate... *drools*