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200g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

200g double cream

200g milk chocolate for the coating (or 100g milk and 100g white)

Optional:

1 measure of your favourite liqueur - I use cointreau, but galliano, baileys or whisky are all great substitutes!

Handmade chocolate truffles

preparation 4 mins • you cook for 4 mins •

Makes 20-25 chocs (depending on how many you eat whilst making them)

Watch a 30 second preview of my cook-along video below

If you cannot view the video below, click here to download QuickTime from Apple's website.

 

Who doesn't love chocolates at Christmas?! These handmade chocs are great fun to make and can be adapted easily to include your favourite flavours ie. alcohol! Gift wrap them as presents or eat them all yourself on Christmas Day. These little balls of luxury will make you feel like a master chocolatier! They're cheaper than you'd think - I made these 23 chocs for £4.56!

Large glass bowl to melt the chocolate in

Small saucepan with about an inch of barely simmering water

Spatula

Baking tray lined with baking parchment

Teaspoon

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This video is more for demonstration purposes as you may be making larger quantities. You can start by cooking-along, then continue alone to make as many as you like, or watch the videos first then cook without them. If you're going to cook-along, have your pan of barely simmering water on the hob. Have the dark chocolate and glass bowl next to the hob and click here!

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This week's newsletter recipe is for my Tangy Lamb Tagine. This is a great dish packed with flavour - all you have to do is throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot and let them cook for a couple of hours and the result is magic! Slow cooked lamb shoulder, with the sweetness of apricot and the gentle heat of cayenne pepper - this dish will warm up your senses in no time.

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Put a small saucepan on the hob with about an inch of barely simmering water. Break the dark chocolate into small chunks and add to your glass bowl. Sit the bowl on top of the saucepan for 8-9 minutes until the chocolate is around 90% melted. The only things to be careful of here are not to allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water, and not to allow the water to rapidly bubble - it should just be simmering.

Once your chocolate is almost all melted, remove from the heat and stir with a spatula to melt the remaining chunks. Add in your double cream and an optional measure of liquer, then stir until you have a dark glossy chocolate mix. Pop your bowl into the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour until set (1.5 hours or more is better but 1 hour will work if you're in a hurry!).

Once the chocolate is set it's time to get your hands dirty. Take a teaspoon of the chocolate mix and roll it between your palms to form a ball. Repeat until all the mix has been used up. Don't get caught licking your palms at the end!

Next, you need to melt the chocolate for the coating in the same way as you did before - in a glass bowl over barely simmering water. Have your lined baking tray ready and when the chocolate has melted, place one chocolate ball onto the baking tray. Using a teaspoon, carefully drizzle the melted chocolate coating all over the little ball. Repeat with each ball! Take care not to touch them after coating, as the slightest finger print will show when they set!

If you're using white chocolate for the coating, try making stripes, as per the fourth photo on the right. All you need to do is put a little of the melted chocolate onto a teaspoon and slowly allow it to run off the spoon.

When you've coated all the truffle balls, chill in the fridge for 30 minutes - if you can wait that long!

I hope that you enjoy them.

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