It's Friday, let's celebrate with something sweet, delicious and totally healthy: my date, pecan and raw cocoa truffles! Made in a matter of minutes they're perfect to satisfy that choc craving that gets me from time to time. Just blitz all the ingredients in the food processor, roll and eat! To make them look more "truffly" you could also roll them in cocoa powder. Why not? The quantities are enough for about 10 small truffles. You only see 8 in the pic because, of course, I couldn't resist popping two of them into my mouth while making the pictures. :) Enjoy and have a happy Friday!
Ingredients for 10 small truffles:
110 gr. pitted Medjoul dates 50 gr. shelled pecans 2 heaped spoons of raw cocoa powder
Mix in the food processor to reach the desired chunkiness, roll and eat. Add some extra cocoa powder for a more compact texture and a stronger chocolaty taste. Even better after a couple of days in the fridge (they get a little bit more compact).
When in Puglia (the heel of the Italian boot) what do you get with your aperitivo? Olives, little panzerotti and TARALLI, of course!
These small and crunchy “dough rings” are not always easy to find outside of Italy but are very easy to make at home. They make me think a bit of bagels because they are briefly boiled in water before going into the oven. The comparison stops there, actually, because taralli are not big, soft and pleasantly “chewy” like bagels but very small and crispy, and that’s because they contain a lot of extra virgin olive oil, a good amount of white wine and no water at all. They can also be made by only baking them in the oven but thanks to the preceding boiling phase they get shinier and crispier, something which enhances their look, feel and taste.
Serves: a lot!
500 g plain flour
500 gr durum wheat flour
250 g extra virgin olive oil
350 g dry white wine
a handful of dried herbs or spices of your choice (fennel seeds, cumin, oregano, marjoram, etc.)
5 teaspoons salt
Prepare the dough by mixing together all the ingredients. If you notice that the dough it is not malleable enough and/or it crumbles a little (also while rolling the taralli) add a little extra white wine. We also regularly moistened our hand palms with a little water for better results. Leave the dough to rest for about 1,5 to 2 hours in a large bowl covered with plastic foil as this promotes the right elasticity.
Cut a piece of dough (keep on protecting the rest of the dough with plastic foil) and roll it like a “sausage” with a diameter of about 3 cm.
Cut small pieces of the big “sausage” and roll them with your hands into smaller “sausages” of about 8-10 cm. long (which is about the length of a teaspoon, thats’ what we used to make them all the same length). Make a ring with each little dough roll and press the two ends gently between thumb and forefinger so that the taralli get properly sealed.
Plunge the taralli in a pan of salted boiling water and let them “swim” in it until they come floating to the surface. Remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
I made a version with black pepper and did not mix the pepper in the dough but dusted the wet taralli after boiling them, just before baking.
Bake the taralli in the preheated oven at 200°C for about 25-30 minutes. When they have cooled, put them again in the oven at 80°C for about 8-10 minutes so that they get completely dry and crisp. Store them in an airtight container. If well protected they remain crunchy for weeks.
This is a lovely and very easy-to-make treat. These chocolate truffles can steal hearts, believe me! Moreover, they're perfect as a little home-made present if you pack them in a nice box or in a cute glass jar.
Tartufi al cioccolato
Yields about 16-18 truffles
300 gr. dark chocolate (preferably with more than 54% cocoa, I used a 70% cocoa chocolate from Callebaut) 12 full tablespoons of cream, unsweetened and still in liquid form 20 gr. cocoa powder candied orange peels raw (non-roasted) pistachio nuts, almonds, hazelnuts or other nuts to garnish Chop the chocolate coarsely and put in a heat-resistant (Pyrex) bowl. Place the bowl in a pan containing some hot water and let the chocolate melt thoroughly. Mix with a clean wooden spoon - free from other food smells - or with a spatula to ensure a smooth mix. Heat the cream in a pan until lukewarm and add it to the melted chocolate. Leave this ganache to cool off a bit while mixing it from time to time.
Beat the mixture lightly with a mixer while it's still reasonably soft and let it become fluffier. Leave it to harden in the fridge for some time. It has to become quite hard so that rolling the truffles between your handpalms won't melt the chocolate too much. Sieve the cocoa powder on a plate and chop the nuts and the orange peel not too coarsely. Make little balls with the chocolate ganache and roll them in cocoa powder or in the chopped nuts. While you're rolling, you can also fill them with little pieces of orange peel and whole nuts, lightly roasted.
Garnish with chopped nuts and/or small pieces of candied orange peel.
Leave the truffles to rest and harden in the fridge and serve them in little paper holders.
TIP: you can lightly roast the nuts for the filling using a dry (without oil) frying pan. Pay attention they don't roast too much, so don't leave them in the hot pan even if you removed it from the flame because they could get darker and burn anyway.
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