SHF#25: The round-up

The worst decision to make when doing a round-up is to choose which order to present the entries in. I could have done it in the order they came in, which makes it slightly unfair to all those whose celebrations of Thanksgiving I chose to completely ignore... so I figured let's go alphabetical once more, but in reverse order for a change!

Xochitl cooks alright, but is hard to please when it comes to truffles, but seemed to have liked the base recipe she created for Bittersweet chocolate truffles. She played around a little to infuse them with raspberry jam, cranberry & kirsch, pasilla chile, lemon thyme, jasmin fruit concassees... and she promises to bring me some when I meet her on Saturday - GOOD GIRL!

Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey? works with a rich hazelnut & chocolate cream to create Hazelnut nougat truffles that don't involve any type of ganache or the fiddly aspects of tempering chocolate. Rolled in various ground nuts (pistachio and coconut to name but two), they also contain a crunchy centre and won't get stuck in your teeth like real nougat does!

Interrupting Thanksgiving celebrations, Virtual Frolic shares with us a tea-infused recipe: Cotillion Tea Truffles use a classic recipe and seem to have helped (momentarily) coming out of a tryptophan-induced coma brought on by too much of that Turkey...

Vicious Ange dusts off her Green & Black's Chocolate book to create rich Traditional French chocolate truffles dusted in cocoa powder... she works in the sweltering heat of Melbourne, by the way, so sombreros off to her!

Black on Black truffles, a recipe adapted from Pierre Hermé, are the order of the day in Veronica's Test Kitchen. She even had some tasters round who swear they are best had with a glass of rich red wine!

Vegan Vanguard rose to the challenge of making vegan truffles... and if you thought that meant compromising on flavour and indulgence, you are sadly mistaken! Have a look at those Hazelnut macadamia truffles, peppermint truffles and, my personal favourite, pomegranate truffles - they certainly got me drooling!

Exotic flavours are brought to us by TriniGourmet. You'd be forgiven to think that it just snowed in Trinidad by the looks of the crystals on Sarina's Coconut-scented rum truffles (they turned out to be light brown sugar... but she definitely had me fooled for a moment! (This post has just been updated with a recipe!)

Truffles take over the noisy kitchen as the resident chocolatier moves one step closer to opening a truffle shop. Defying all traditional methods for making S'mores truffles, I thank the Gods that the pickled garlic pictured didn't find its way into the chocolate balls...

Truffles and the occasional parcel from home keep The Casual Baker from doing what she does best... and using an Intense Orange chocolate bar from Switzerland's biggest Schoggi maker, she created Cointreau chocolate
truffles to die for!

Helen of Tartelette dusts off some chocolate moulds in her attic to make her own shells... for Dark chocolate rolled truffles, Dark chocolate and candied ginger rolled truffles, Pecan praline dark chocolate rolled truffles, Pumpkin dark chocolate molded truffles, Dulce de leche molded truffles and Coffee buttercream molded truffles. Somebody must have been quite busy this last month!

Another newbie to SHF, Eva of Sweet Sins combines chilli and kirsch for some sinful-looking truffles... she needn't have been nervous about her first contibution - they look and sound amazing, don't you agree?

It looks like Sam of sweet pleasure and I were on one wavelength this week, as he also used black sesame for his beautiful Black sesame truffles! Apart from their stunning looks, they convince through the simplicity of the recipe... always welcome!

Andrew of SpittoonExtra attempts to make big-handed man's truffles and, ever the pioneer, experiments with quince jelly and lemon yoghurt among other things. Sadly, he's not divulging any recipes, though...

Always a busy bee, Mae of riceandnoodles finds time to sneak in her entry at the last minute. And I am glad she did, as her Orange & Cointreau Grand Marnier and Milk chocolate & hazelnut truffles sound too good to give a miss!

My good friend Pille found just enough time to make some vividly coloured Dark chocolate & matcha truffles before jetting off to chilly Copenhagen. She reckons the bitterness of the Matcha powder are the perfect way to ensure that no kids indulge in them... so she can have them all for herself!

Indian tea masala truffles are brought to us by Mocktale. She beats all odds on a hot day to roll temperamental ganache into beautiful chocolate balls with a subtle peppery hint brought on by the spices she bought in an Indian shopping frenzy a few months ago... together with that beautiful plate!

Ilva of Lucullian delights proves that her blog's not just for show (although the photography is stunning, as usual), coming up with enticing flavour combinations for this instalment of SHF. Her varieties of truffles use two staples of my kitchen: balsamic vinegar (no salad is complete without it) and my favourite spice, nutmeg! Oh yes!

Küchenlatein's Ulrike goes out of her way to make three different kinds of truffle from one base recipe: rum truffles rolled in pistachio, bailey's truffles covered in coconut and cointreau truffles dusted with cocoa - I'm spoilt for choice here... maybe I'll just have one each!

Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas received a truffle recipe by way of Canadian blogging by post and uses it for some delicious looking Baileys truffles and pistachio truffles. She also gets extra truffle points this time for being the first one to send her contribution in... and can therefore help herself to some more truffles ;-)

Habeas Brulee invites you to join a truffle-making workshop - one where you even make your chocolate from scratch!!! With so much hard work grinding your own cocoa bean, I am not surprised she produced only a single Ocumare truffle - but the beauty lies in the quality, not the quantity!

It is no surprise that Dianne of A Gluten-Free Journey should come up with a recipe for truffles sans gluten... but with a dash of Italy in the form of Disaronno! For the first attempt at making confectionary in 10 years, these look very succeeded.

There's chocolate in the garlic press this week as Sarah cracks open a bottle of Kalua and a can of maple syrup to make her first entry to SHF: Dark chocolate truffles. They are adorned with milk chocolate and are a sweet reminder of her wedding day...

Fanny the foodfairy of blog foodbeam has been a busy girl messing with improving some of Pierre Hermé's recipes. She rolled Ginger & milk chocolate truffles, Salted caramel truffles, Cinnamon truffles and Vanilla truffles and tried to find out how vision impacts flavour... results on her site!

More alcohol-laden chocolate comes to us in the form of Chocolate truffles with grappa. Claudia of Fool for Food filled hollow chocolate balls (I never knew you could buy those ready-made?) with ganache, then coated them in chocolate... and they were so tricky to handle, she had to eat half of them in the process ;-)

For someone who is as new to the blogging world as Food Vagabond, Hande impresses with knowledge gathered at a recent chocolate & wine pairing workshop.The concoctions she proposes here are nothing short of stunning as she uses Barbera d’Asti, Sauternes vinegar, Apple balsamic vinegar and, true to her cultural heritage, some Turkish smoky red pepper truffles!

Food Lover's Journey steers clear of the beaten path to help herself to some Almond truffle biscuits. Probably just as well, as rolling truffles in 36 C can't be a pleasant job - and it sounds even worse in Fahrenheit!

Lauren of The Foodie Files gives hers the X-Factor by infusing them with tea. I wish I was among  those lucky enough to be getting these delectable Earl Grey truffles as little "thank you"s this year...

I-Ling is feeding us green tea truffles this time, with her Matcha chocolate truffles. She took my mission seriously, heading for a chocolatier at her local market and eating not just her's, but also her friend's portion of them ;-)

Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms is impressing everyone this Thanksgiving with delightful Cognac Prune Truffles. I wonder how many of them you can eat before being over the limit... but then, there's nothing wrong with veggying out on a sofa all day long, so bring them on!

Chrispy gives up valuable hours of skiing the slopes of Washington to write up her post about truffles - are you mad, woman? She gives us a recipe for Black Russian truffle with an experiment with a White Russian truffle... and great background info on chocolate itself!

English Patis has another late entry, but tempts us with an array of Chocolate & orange truffles - she even makes a child-friendly version using orange extract instead of liqueur... they also use condensed milk instead of double cream, so should keep longer!

Abby of eat the right stuff had the advantage of having participated in our recent chocolate truffle workshop in London... but her Winter truffles went way beyond what we learnt there! Dried fruit, roast chestnuts, cookies and booze - a whole meal crammed into a small truffle! Irresistible!

Do You Know the Muffin Man? Well, I do and I can tell you that he was busy making truffles in his Bakery Arts class all of last week! He also used ready-made chocolate balls and decorated them to perfection... just have a look at those!

Nemisbéka's blog is, unfortunately, in Hungarian - but she reveals the recipe for her Triple chocolate truffles in English for the occasion. Unfortunately, she had to suffer the loss of her melon baller on the way... and took this as a sign from God to treat herself to a shiny new toy!

The original, the one and only Domestic Goddess takes out her Little black dress chocolate truffles to celebrate the fact that the fabulous virtual foodblogger event she's created has just turned two! But she reckons you can leave the formal party wear behind and indulge in them enveloped on nothing but your PJ's... glad to hear that, because you'll need more than one late night to devour those 2.5 pounds of truffles!

Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness brings no less than eight truffles to the party: Sweet smoked paprika, Cashew-topped vanilla, Orange, Hazelnut, Fleur de Sel-topped tea, Amaretto, Pecan-topped plain and Mint truffles... and she says she's not eating a single one of them, but feeding them to the family! Way too charitable!

On Dessert First you not only get a crash-course in chocolate truffle techniques, but are also tempted with intriguing creations like Wasabi ginger truffles and Matcha truffles. No wonder Anita is obsessed with chocolate making after these successful creations!

Knowing how busy Nicky of delicious:days is at the moment, I really appreciate her contributing to SHF this time. As you'd expect, not only are the pictures absolutely mind-blowing, she also uses a highly unusual technique straight from the mouth of a trusted source... and creates Kalua truffles that outshine everything!

Far from modest are Daydream delicious...' first attempts at making her Very Valrhona chocolate truffles: rosewater-infused white chocolate and decadent dark chocolate enrobing a honey-roasted, chocolate-coated almond.. the pure thought makes me weep with joy! Just hoping she keeps some for our Christmas gathering next week!!!

With events such as this one, you always know you're going to get a fair amount of recipes that are way out there. Culinary Concoctions by Peabody's White Chocolate Truffles infused with Pear Skins, Wildflower Honey and Nutmeg is one of them... unusual, but tempting, and quite a tongue-twister as well!

Sam of brandnew blog Coomber Creek really lives in the boonies somewhere Down Under so couldn't find a chocolatier anywhere near to save her life! She took inspiration from a visiting anteater for her Chocolate Echidna Truffles and you'll be pleased to hear that the poor animal is not featured on the list of ingredients!

As you'd expect, Jeanne has not only done her homework, but is sharing some of the invaluable tricks of the trade we picked up in our chocolate truffle workshop. On top of all that the Cook Sister! has also found the time to dream up two delicious recipes for us: Chocolate caramel fudge truffles with Fleur de Sel and, true to her South African roots, Amarula cream truffles... booze and chocolate can be such a great combination!

Despite the hot weather, Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once experimented with festive flavours that bring us in the right mood for the upcoming season: Cherry Chocolate Truffles and Christmas Pudding Truffles not only sound delicious, they look the part, too!

Some of us will just take some time off blogging when they travel, but Lara of Cook & Eat was out there posting a different truffle recipe every day! She even found time to dine with us London bloggers! You must check out the amazing Lemon & dark chocolate, Espresso & dark chocolate, Hazelnut, espresso & milk chocolate, Pumpkin & dark chocolate and Pomegranate, oolong and dark chocolate truffles she created!

Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity went through some pain to create not one, but three varieties of truffles: the efforts of making Nutella Truffles, Limoncello Truffles, Caramel Truffles with Fleur de Sel leave her convinced that spending $4 a piece at the local chocolatier is a good idea...

Elizabeth of Cake or Death? was very ambitious trying to re-create Ferrero Rocher... what a daunting task! She thinks her truffles could use more work in terms of aesthetics, but to me, they look all the more desirable... and the taste is what it's all about, isn't it!

Dehydrated strawberries anyone? Brownie Points opens a newly acquired tub of them and knows just how to make them work in her Strawberry balsamic truffles - bringing a notion of fruit into a truffle is always a good idea and just look at that amazing colour, will you?

Boxcar Kitchen also experimented with salt - her Caramel-dark chocolate truffles with fleur de sel were a sure winner at the Thanksgiving table... but she's keeping some white chocolate truffles with orange flower water in the fridge under the pretense that they're not firm enough yet...

Kerstin goes Beyond Burgers and Bratwurst and hires her students to help her roll delectable Baileys chocolate truffles for her first SHF entry. Attendence levels will roar after that one session, and for all the right reasons, believe you me!

Anne of Anne's Food loves the combination of the sweet and salty and creates Peanut truffles in shiny cups, topped with chopped peanuts! With a recipe like this one, I predict Hershey's filing for bancruptcy very soon...

Andrea's Recipe Box gets a new, delectable addition this week with Milk chocolate Kahlúa truffles. After sending her husband on a business trip and tucking her three (!) boys (!!!) in early one night, she rolls the most delectable coffee-infused chocolate balls and skillfully decorates them with coffee beans, despite all eyes being on Don Juan DeMarco (on the telly)...

Amy's Pickles honours the birthplace of chocolate by making some scrumptious Mexican chocolate truffles, using cinnamon, cayenne pepper and kaluha... no human sacrifices needed when you can appease the Gods with such lovely treats!!!

A Veggie Venture is concerned about your waistline and proposes Surprise Weight Watchers truffles. They're made from pumpkin so are big in fibre, but Alanna insists that despite only counting as 1 WW point, they are utterly scrumptious!

1 x umruehren bitte (aka kochtopf) knows some of my favourite mass-produced truffles - Ferrero Rocher and their younger siblings Raffaelo. She's not shy to try and recreate the latter, with instant success... and she makes creating her ricotta-based Snowballs sound oh so easy!

As for my own attempts at creating truffles, I also decided on a threesome: Sea-salted caramel fudge hearts with fleur de sel, Rooibos-infused chocolate truffles and White chocolate, cardamom and sesame truffles...

I have thoroughly enjoyed this round of Sugar High Friday and found it to be such an inspiring source for creating even more of of these delicacies! I feel like I've piled on the pounds from reading through all of your posts alone and just wish I had added one more rule for this event: "Send me some of your truffles to sample!"... I have no problems divulging my postal address for this purpose!!!

 

Comments

[Ilva]

Thanks Johanna for a lovely roundup! What a lot of work that has put into both the roundup and the making of all these wonderful truffles! Thanks all!

[Bonnie]

So many amazing wonderful entries! All beautiful and inspiring. Thanks for the wonderful write up Johanna!

[Helene]

Wow! My head is spinning from all this chocolate! I want to say thank you to all the people who took this to heart because I now have so many different recipes to try for the holidays! Amazing job!

[Hande]

50 entries! I will have to go through them tonight, after dinner. Thanks Johanna for organizing and for the round up, no easy job!

[Alanna]

What a list, Johanna! It's an effort, pulling it together, especially with so many entries. But ... you've done it! Thanks for carrying on the great SHF tradition! AK

[Andrew]

Some great photos and inspiring recipes indeed, a great theme Johanna, and thanks for hosting.

There is a link to the recipe on my post though.

[Jeanne]

Wow - no wonder you've been so quiet this weekend!! That's a lot of truffles... Some really amazing ideas out there and stuning pictures. Should be fun reading through everyone individually.

Thanks for a great theme and being the perfect hostess ;-)

[Veron]

What wonderful collection of truffles. This is a gem of a roundup! Thanks for hosting this event , Johanna !

[The TriniGourmet]

oh wow :) so amazing the variety, colors and combinations :) i can't wait to try everyone else's attempts! :D

[McAuliflower]

wow- what a great and speedy write up. We have such a fun range of truffle inspiration going on here!

[Noneng]

Thanks for the excellent round-up, Johanna! A lot of work was put into this, thanks everyone for all the work and pictures! Gave us lots of great gift ideas.

[chrispy]

Thanks for the round-up. I would have been more mad if I had followed my first instinct to stay home and blog. I am so glad that I went with him, because it was so beautiful. Today I woke up to snow on the ground at sea level. The Northwest continues to amaze me.

[Meeta]

Mind boggling! What a fantastic round-up with so many interesting combination. I think this CHristmas my friends and family are going to be in for a real impressive treat. Johanna, you have been a gracious hostess and I thank you for your efforts.

[abby]

wow, what an extravaganza of fabulous recipes! thanks for the great (and very speedy) round up Johanna.

[Anh]

Thanks for a great round-up! :) So many mouthwatering truffles around! Yum!

[fanny]

Hi Johanna,
thanks for the beautiful round-up. I know how much time you had to spend reading and answering my emails and really appreciate it.
By the way, your heart-shaped chocolates have just the right look.

- fanny

[barbie2be]

so many gorgeous entries! i wish i had been able to participate this time.

[Virtual Frolic]

Thanks for hosting the event! What a great round-up. I'm so sad I can't just grab the truffles off the page and eat them!! I guess I'll have to try each recipe!!

[Mae]

So many chocolate truffles, so little time...!
There's a great selection here, Johanna. I'm already inspired to create just one more... pistachios. This list is like a girl's little black book for chocolate truffles, don't you think?

Thanks for changing from Cointreau to Grand Marnier. I'm such a numpty at times. :)

[Mae]

Quick fingers here (as usual).

Thanks for hosting a lovely theme and photo round-up which must've taken such a long time to do!

Great job. :)

[annie]

Wow, I just stumbled across your site and I love it. Your food looks wonderful!

[swee]

Hi, nice round-up, but i think mine was left out. Or is it because my snowmen aren't considered truffles ?

[Sarah]

This was so much fun! Thank you so much for hosting. I really enjoyed seeing everyone's creations. Sugar High Friday is awesome!

[eliza]

beautiful creations! you've done a good job hosting the event, Johanna.

[Bea at La Tartine Gourmande]

Too bad I missed this event as I was traveling. Great job at hosting it, I might just make some now as I am so inspired by so many lovely choices!