Chocolate truffles rolled in cocoa powder and smoked sea salt, and coconut and cardamom
There are two aspects of living overseas that I find the toughest. The first is being far away from friends and family. That distance is even more evident during the holidays, when we would otherwise be hunkering down to celebrate with our loved ones. The other (besides my complete inability to find a decent deli sandwich) is the transient nature of the friendships we make while overseas. It seems like we’re always either getting to know new people, which is great, or having to say goodbye to friends who are moving on to somewhere else, which is obviously not so great.
Perhaps I can soften the blow by donating my leftover salt pork to Casa Gravy? It’s the least I can do to repay the amount of chocolate I took (and consumed) from your house last week! Without a doubt one of the things I’ll miss most about KL is our cooking experiments. I hope I have the time to continue these little lessons on my own — or with anyone else who sees logic in curing salt pork and baking macarons on the same day.
We’ll have to email new challenges to one another and photos of the outcome so we can keep it up. At least that will entice me to keep going, and I’m pretty sure that’s a Turduken I see in our virtual future! Who will pop the neck cord for me though? (do they have those in the USA store bought birds?) Will miss y’all, too.
I remember you made those truffles the first time you came over to our place for a party. They were a big hit then, and I’m sure they’re still fantastic!
Thanks, Drew!
Courtney — sure, I’ll take your salt pork! It’s more salt pork than one family should ever have, but maybe I’ll pass it on after we’re done with it to the next cooking experimenter who joins our group?
I definitely think e-mailing challenges is in order! We’ll miss you! And I’ll pop the neck cord in your turkey any day. Did that sound weird?
Good.
Made truffles last night. I’m a lot faster now than the first time we made them together. The only problem I’m having is that my truffles seem a little softer than I’d like them to be. I guess I can always cut down the butter/cream.
Did you add alcohol to the ganache? If so, the liquid of the alcohol, plus the higher chilling temperature required to firm the ganache makes it runnier, I think. Cutting down on the butter might not help, because I think the fats in the butter actually thicken the ganache. Just my two cents.
I am really looking forward to sharing cooking with you! I too made a large number of treats (and consumed them) over the holidays, including using my own “gun!” I too have made chocolates to give out the past few years and was disappointed to not have a repeat of that this year…oh the changes we must adapt to. We did still enjoy peppermint bark though, and as always it was fabulous!!
Jessica, glad you got into the spirit here even though it’s so warm!