McVitie's Chocolate Digestive Truffles

There is no limit to the ways in which I'll justify the use of a biscuit. I love them so much that they're a very close runner up to my beloved brownies. Of course homemade biscuits are lovely, but did you know just how many ways there are to elevate regular shop bought ones? Its a lot.

We're not talking regular biscuit bases for cheesecakes, we're talking cakes, tiffins and my personal favourite, truffles.

 Yes, you can absolutely use the humble Digestive in truffles and yes, it tastes even better than you can imagine.

McVities sent me a stash of biscuits, some of which I may have eaten as a warm up, and some chocolate in order to make these truffles which have rapidly shot up my list of go-to recipes.

M C V I T I E S   C H O C O L A T E   D I G E S T I V E   T R U F F L E S
(Makes 20 regular sized truffles, scale up or down as required)

150ml double cream

250g dark chocolate, chopped

125g unsalted butter

15 McVitie's Digestives (around half a large pack)

150g chocolate spread

150g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

1. To start, make a chocolate ganache base for the centre by gently heating the cream over a low heat in a small pan. You don't need to boil or simmer the cream, just heat it until you can only hold a fingertip in the cream for a few seconds.
2. Remove from the heat and add in the dark chocolate and butter, continually stirring until fully melted. Add the chocolate spread and mix again until well combined.
3. Allow the mixture to cool down a little whilst blitzing the biscuits in a food processor or smashing in a sandwich bag with a rolling pin. You'll need something that resembles breadcrumbs or finer. 
4. Add the crushed biscuits into the chocolate and stir well until everything is well coated. Chill this in the fridge for an hour to firm up.
5. Line a tray or large plate with baking paper and use a teaspoons worth of mixture to roll into truffle shapes by hand. If the mix starts to become too soft to work with then pop it back in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill again.
6. Place the truffles in the fridge once rolled to firm up again.
7. Meanwhile, over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the white chocolate (or use 150g of milk chocolate if you'd prefer).
8. To cover the truffles, remove from the fridge and use a skewer to dip them into the melted chocolate. Place onto the prepared tray and allow them to set a little, around 5-10 minutes.
9. Melt the milk chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water also and pour into a piping bag or sandwich bag with the corner chopped to drizzle over the tops of the truffles.

I think these truffles are perfect served just from the fridge, but wherever you store them just ensure to keep them cool and they'll last up to a week.

These truffles aren't the speediest of things to make but you don't need to be Willy Wonka either. I made them over two days where I made the centres and left them overnight to firm up then covered them the next day. 

Thanks to my biscuity pals McVities for sending me a stash of chocolate!

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Review: Chocolate Savvy at Bake with Maria

You know in talent shows where everyone has their long-term love for singing/sob stories. Yup, that's me and chocolate. I've been told that maybe my relationship with chocolate isn't healthy, I'd just call it passionate.

My earliest memories include hoarding multipack chocolate bars after Mum's weekly shop into hidden spots over the house. Heaven forbid someone could eat some and not save me any when I wasn't around. A 5 pack of crunchies in the garage, who would have thought?

Then there was the phase where my Grandad, a non-dessert eater, would order profiteroles on family meals just so that I could have an extra share of the chocolate on top. My hero.

Now I can 'pretend' that its all in the aid of research. I do like to stay on top of things you see. Forget front page Daily Mail scandals, I need to know what bonkers combinations Cadbury's are releasing next and how many Lindt truffles I can get away with eating for lunch.

Now of course I know my commercial chocolate very well, but to me, single origin, roasting and whatnot is a bit of a mindfield. And that's exactly where the lovely Bake with Maria team step in.

As an introduction to their school's chocolate classes a small group of like-chocolate-minded people were invited into their Baking Lab to get chocolate savvy.

We started off with introductions to chocolate from Annamarie. Who took us step by step through process of bean to bar.

To start, there are a few different types of cocoa bean, one of the best being Criollo. If you spot this in the ingredients of your fancy single origin bars then you know you're onto a winner. Other beans, along with their greatly varying manufacturing processes, can be found in more mass produced bars. For example, you're likely to find Kraft and similar brands using Forced Arrow beans.

Once the cocoa beans are picked from a cocoa pod, the beans are left out in the sun to ferment. This fermentation process takes place on large sheets of banana leaves and ideally in a sheltered greenhouse-type place for hygiene. The beans are gently churned over frequently to ensure that each bean dries out evenly. The process not only allows the beans to develop in flavour and character, but to rid themselves of any bacteria they may be carrying and essentially to stop growing.

After anything from one week to three, depending on humidity and climates, the beans are ready for the next stage, roasting. Better quality chocolate will now be roasted steadily at a low temperature to ensure that no smoke forms and depletes flavour. Larger mass produced brands may roast at higher temperatures to ensure a quick turnaround.

Next up, winnowing. Machinery is used to separate the bitter outer husk from the bean itself. Once separated, the cocoa beans are now coarsely ground down form cocoa nibs, which are in turn ground down again to form a cocoa paste known as cocoa liquor.

Now this is the point that we start recognising chocolate as we know it. From the cocoa liquor, cocoa butter is extracted. Through conching, cocoa butter is then added back to the cocoa liquor but the amount largely depends on quality and brands. The mix is then churned to form a nice smooth consistency, ideally the longer the smoother the final product will be.

At this stage, the cocoa mix will be tempered and poured into moulds and bars to pass onto chocolatiers to create their own final chocolate product. And, as you can guess, the whole length of manufacturing process and tools used varies greatly between brands and their suppliers. Some of the commercial chocolate giants are more likely to be able to go from bean to bar in just a week with giant industrial processing.

Stuart is West London's answer to all things chocolate. His shop, Cocoa Bijoux, can be found in West Hampstead and is filled with all sorts of traditionally made chocolate made from the finest of ingredients.

He bought along a selection of his most popular bars for us to have a try.

I'm not usually too keen on dark chocolate to eat on its own, but I was very surprised to find how different they all tasted. The different percentages really do taste different. Some coat your mouth, some are more smooth and some have that bitter taste I was more familiar with.

My favourite being the Blanxart 72% Republica Dominicana. Think of a deeply rich homemade chocolate mousse, this bar tastes of exactly that. Another favourite, from the milk selection was the Mazet salted caramel milk chocolate bar. The crunch of the salt and the golden flavour of the caramel pairs beautifully together in this bar.

Truly chocolate inspired, Annemarie went on to demonstrate how exactly chocolate truffles are made by making ganache.

Dark chocolate ganache truffles
(makes about 50 rolled truffles)

125ml double cream
75ml glucose
1 vanilla pod, split and beans scraped
50g unsalted butter, room temperature
75g 65-70% dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
pinch of salt
cocoa powder for dusting

optional: melted dark chocolate for coating

Stir the cream and glucose together in a medium saucepan. Scrape the vanilla beans into the pan along with the pod, and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil over a medium high heat, remove from the heat, and allow to sit for one minute. (For best results, allow to cool, transfer into a bowl, cover and infuse by refrigerating overnight).

Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square baking tin with cling film.

In a small/medium heatproof bowl, pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and stir together using a spatula in small concentric circles until the chocolate is incorporated fully and emulsifies into a homogenous mixture. Add the butter in small pieces and incorporate.

Pour ganache into lined tin and spread evenly into corners, smooth over the top. Cover with cling film and allow to set in the fridge, about one hour.

Place ganache onto work surface or chopping board, remove cling film and using a knife, cut ganache into 1 inch squares, dipping the knife into hot water and wiping between each cut. Wearing gloves, roll the ganache squares into balls, then roll and coat in cocoa powder.

Optional: melt down more dark chocolate until just melted, either over a bain marie or in the microwave. Dip ganaches into the chocolate using a dipping fork or using gloves and then roll into the cocoa powder.

The Bake with Maria school now offers two speciality chocolate classes: 'Introduction to chocolate making' and 'Chocolate desserts class'. In each class Annamarie, pastry chef and chocolatier, will take you through how to make ganache and to correctly temper chocolate. You'll have a chance to try some chocolate treats as well as making your own to take home.

For more information on Bake with Maria's classes, visit the website here. They also offer gift vouchers and can host private parties.

And seeing as chocolate comes from a plant, its healthy after all...so I made my own.

Thank you to Bella and Maria at the Baking Lab for having me. And to Annamarie and Stuart for imparting all your knowledge to me. 

I was invited to attend the chocolate class, but all views are my own.

Oreo Cheesecake Snowballs

      On a recent Pinterest spree I came across these no bake Oreo cheesecake truffles. With only three ingredients, these truffles, or snowballs as I'm going to call them, require very little effort. Perfect for a Christmas gift, stocking filler, or just to enjoy all to yourself!

   All you need to do is to put 200g Oreo cookies into a sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin. (A nice little stress reliever after a long day!). Combine in a medium bowl with 100g cream cheese and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract until smooth. With a teaspoon, shape into 12 evenly sized balls and place on a baking tray. To chill the truffles, place in the fridge or freezer until firm and less sticky (approximately one hour in the freezer). Melt 200g of your choice of chocolate slowly over a pan of barely simmering water. Dunk each truffle in turn into the melted chocolate and remove any excess before placing back on the baking tray to set. Sprinkle with glitter, or drizzle another chocolate over the top to decorate and leave to set overnight. And that's it!

   You can experiment with the different variations of Oreos, surprise fillings and chocolate toppings. I'm now off to enjoy one (or two) with a cup of hot chocolate in my new reindeer mug!