Hello people. I’m coming to you from 30,000 feet in the air. I’m currently about half way into my cross country flight that will take me back to my little floating home in Seattle, Washington. Only a few more hours until I’ll be reunited with this adorable face!
Isn’t technology amazing these days? It’s so easy to take it for granted. But the fact that I can be connected with you all while I’m cruising above the clouds is pretty freaking incredible if you think about it. Anyways, I digress….
The real reason we are here today is to celebrate the delicious union between chocolate and marzipan in the form of these little truffles. I am 100% in favor of this relationship. Because what could go wrong with chocolate ganache stuffed inside a thick layer of marzipan and then coated with a crisp dark chocolate shell? Nothing at all I tell you. Absolutely nothing.
This recipe may seem a little long, but you can compartmentalize most of the steps, so it’s not as daunting as it seems upon first glance. All the parts are actually very simple to make and the ingredient list is rather short. And in the end you have TRUFFLES! In my opinion, that’s worth a little bit of effort.
The sole reason that this little confectionary project got off the ground in the first place (airplane joke! get it?) was because Homemade Marzipan was this months Kitchen Challenge. So it seemed like as good of an excuse as any to get creative with some marzipan-based treats.
There are several methods for making your own marzipan from scratch. You can start with whole almonds, which you then have to blanch and grind yourself. Or you can use almond meal/flour like I did here. There is also some business about cooking, but I avoided that all together and went with a raw, uncooked marzipan recipe. So in summary, I was as lazy as possible. But it worked out great! The taste and consistency (not crumbly or dry at all) of this marzipan was stellar! It was absolutely perfect in these truffles. And I’m sure it could be used in all sorts of other marzipan desserts.
Cheers,
Liz
Recipe for the marzipan from The Graceful Kitchen
Ingredients
- For the Marzipan
- 300 grams finely ground almond meal
- 200 grams powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 1/3 cup water
- For the Chocolate Ganache
- 3 ounces heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. honey
- 4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- For the Chocolate Coating
- 1 1/2 cups pistachios, shelled (I used roasted and salted)
- 12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Make the marzipan. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal and the powdered sugar. In a small bowl combine the lemon juice, almond extract and water. Add about half of this liquid to the dry ingredients, using a fork or a spoon to mix the two together as you are pouring the liquid into the bowl. Continue to add more of the liquid into the dry ingredients, adding just a single teaspoon at a time, mixing as you go. The marzipan should look wet and when you squeeze it together, it should hold it’s shape. But you don’t want it to get overly soggy. You may or may not need all the liquid to get to the right consistency. Once your marzipan has reached the right consistency, shape it into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator. Marzipan can be stored for at least a week in the refrigerator.
- Make the chocolate ganache. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the heavy cream, vanilla extract and honey. Once the mixture is simmering, remove it from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Stir in the butter. Let the ganache sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then transfer it to your refrigerator to chill for 10-20 minutes. You want the ganache to be firm enough that it will hold it’s shape when scoped with a spoon.
- While the ganache is chilling, start working on assembling the truffles. The steps below will give you 2 dozen large truffles, each about 1 1/2 inches in size (think slightly larger than a Lindt chocolate truffle). If you want to make smaller truffles, then adjust accordingly.
- Start by dividing the chilled marzipan into 24 chunks. It doesn’t have to be neat. Just break it up into approximately equal sized pieces. Using your hands, roll each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disk. Place the disks on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Place a small dollop (approximately 1-1 1/2 teaspoons) of the chilled ganache into the center of each marzipan disk. You will probably have a little leftover ganache. Big problems. It’s really good straight off the spoon. Trust me. I speak from experience.
- Working with one truffle at a time, fold up the edges of the marzipan disk and pinch them together to seal the ganache intosim the center of the truffle. Re-roll/re-shape the truffle into a ball and place it back on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Continue until all the truffles are rolled. If some of the ganache leaks out, it’s OK. Remember that we’ll be dipping these in chocolate, so nobody will be the wiser!
- Transfer the truffles to your refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours or up to overnight before attempting to dip and coat them in the chocolate and pistachios.
- In your food processor with the blade attachment, grind the pistachios until they are finely chopped. Transfer to a wide bowl or a plate and set aside.
- Set up a double boiler. Melt about 8 ounces of the chopped chocolate in the double boiler, stirring with a spatula or whisk. Once melted, remove the bowl from the double boiler. Add the remaining 4 ounces of chocolate and stir continuously until the chocolate is completed melted.
- Remove the truffles from the refrigerator. Working with one truffle at a time, drop the truffle into the melted chocolate and roll it around to completely coat it. Remove the truffle from the melted chocolate with a fork and tap off the excess chocolate (this is important or you’ll end up with a puddle around the base of your truffle). Carefully transfer the dipped truffle to the plate with the chopped pistachios. To coat the outside of the truffles with pistachios, you can either gently roll the truffle around or use your hands to stick/pat the chopped pistachios to the outside of the truffle (I kind of do a combination of both of these actions). Transfer the truffle to a fresh parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Continue working until all the truffles are dipped in chocolate and coated with pistachios. If your melted chocolate starts to get too firm during this time, gently re-warm it on the double boiler until it’s smooth.
- Once all the truffles are dipped and coated, transfer the baking sheet to your refrigerator for at least 30-60 minutes to allow the chocolate coating to completely harden. The truffles can then be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 weeks.
Notes
1. If you don’t like pistachios, finely chopped hazelnuts or almonds would be great.
These look incredible, Liz! Love that flavor combination!
Thanks, Matt! They are delish!
Hi Liz, I love pistachios and marzipan 🙂 This has all of my favorite ingredients!! I am a phd student in Genomics and Neuroscience in NY. You inspired me to start my food blog and cook more 🙂 I will try these delicious truffles soon. Cheers, Aslihan
That’s so cool, Aslihan! Glad I could inspire you. Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
I made truffles when I was a young bride!! More than 45 years ago! I used deli bought marzipan and hazelnuts in the centre of marzipan mixture and 70 per cent melted chocolate. Mixed it all together . Then made it into small balls,. Then with a lot of rum dipped the truffle ball in Cocoa powder. They were sensational sent them to friends for Christmas. We had a French au pair at the time and I think I may have been trying to allay Mitch that all French cooks were superior . Any tips as to how I can do these agai step by step I’m in my seventies now. Love to hear suggestions, Dublin,
Ireland
Hi Geraldine. So step one can be done up to a week in advance. And then after step 7, you can wait overnight before going onto step 8. Hopefully that will break things up for you some!