SHF25: Intense orange


When I left home for university, my mom began sending care packages. In addition to letters or cards, mail, newspaper clippings, jars of jam/jelly/jamelly and bags of cookies, she'd often slip in a few chocolate bars. And not just any old O-Henry or Kit Kat from the corner store. No, I believe my mom may have single-handedly created a market for Lindt bars in her little corner of Canada. This tradition has continued (albeit on a somewhat more limited basis) up to and including my recent birthday parcel, which contained the best bar yet and the one I sought to re-create in truffle form.

When The Passionate Cook posted the announcement for Sugar High Friday 25, my mind immediately jumped to the Intense Orange by Lindt, a dark chocolate bar flecked with thin pieces of orange and slivers of almond.

For those who haven't had the pleasure...

Cointreau Chocolate Truffles

1/2 cup whipping cream, scant
1 tablespoon butter
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Cointreau
1 1/2 teaspoons orange peel, finely grated (1-2 oranges)
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and finely chopped

In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil over low-medium heat. Reduce heat to low and stir in butter until melted. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute before whisking to combine. Whisk in Cointreau and orange peel.

Let mixture sit in saucepan until it reaches the consistency of peanut butter. Cover a baking sheet with wax paper. Using a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch tip (or a Ziploc bag with the corner removed), create small balls on the wax paper. Refrigerate until relatively firm (half hour).

In the meantime, toast whole almonds in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for approximately 8-10 minutes or until fragrant. When you cut the nuts, the inside should be a light, toasty brown. Chop the nuts finely and put them in a small bowl.

Remove truffles from the fridge and dip them in the nuts one by one, simultaneously forming balls and ensuring that the surface is coated in nuts.

Store finished truffles in the fridge.

Yields 20-25 truffles.

Source: The Casual Baker.

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