About a month ago, Kitchen Impromptu turned 2! Over the course of these years, I managed to publish 61 posts (62, with this post) even though nobody read my blog. At first, it didn’t really matter to me, because I was just writing for pleasure. But during my busy times, I was not really motivated to write. I know I decided to focus on my blog so many times before, but this time, it will be different. Promise.

To celebrate KI’s second birthday, I made chocolate covered leblebi and raisins. Chocolate covered leblebi (or literally, chocolate-covered chickpeas) may seem an awkward idea, but it is indeed not! All I did was to dip some raisins and leblebi in melted chocolate and let them rest and harden in the refrigerator. Then we ate..

And, as you may have noticed, I am too lazy to take DSLR photos, and use my beloved Hipstamatic instead.

What I like most about truffles is, they are easy to make and you can let your imagination do the rest! The last time I made truffles, I followed the recipe, but this time it was a real impromptu. I made two types of truffles: hazelnut and white chocolate dip truffles and dark chocolate raisin cocoa dip truffles.

You can add whatever you like to your ganache: candied orange peels, candied gingers, raisins, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, some orange zest, lemon zest or some red pepper.

Black and White Truffles

makes 20 truffles

Ingredients:

• 200 gr (7 oz.) dark chocolate
• 200 gr (7 oz.) heavy cream
• handful of chopped hazelnuts (for white truffles)
• handful of raisins (for dark truffles)

For dipping:

• 100 gr (3.5 oz.) white chocolate, melted (for white truffles)
• ½ cup chopped hazelnuts (for white truffles)
• 100 gr (3.5 oz.) milk chocolate, melted (for dark truffles)
• cocoa powder (for dark truffles)

Directions:

Heat the cream in a pan until it starts to boil.

Remove the pan from heat, and add the dark chocolate. Stir well until all the chocolate is melted.

Divide the ganache into two parts. Add hazelnuts to the first one and raisins to the second. Spread each part thinly to a pan with parchment paper on bottom, and let them cool in the refrigerator for an hour.

Take a piece from the ganache with a little spoon, roll with your hands and form little balls, and dip each ball to 1- white chocolate, 2- hazelnuts or 1- milk chocolate, 2- cocoa powder.

Keep truffles in the refrigerator.

OK, I’ve wanted to make artisan chocolates for a long time. I even had some very-amateur chocolate trials for the past two New Year celebrations, which turned out to be not-so-bad, but I still wanted to learn some real stuff on how to make artisan chocolates. So, I ordered “Making Artisan Chocolates” by Andrew Garrison Shotts, which is a very informative book about chocolate making. After reading some introductory info and seeing the delicious photos in the book, I decided to try some recipes.

Hand-dipped chocolates are made by dipping ganache-squares into tempered chocolate*, which is an easier process than making molded chocolates, where you pour the tempered chocolate into molds, a messy job. So, I decided to make hand-dipped ones as a beginning chocolate maker. This was actually a recipe with jasmine tea, but I changed it slightly by adding my favorite chocolate-accompanies: hazelnut and raisins. I also put Earl Grey tea instead of jasmine tea to try something different and feel the bergamot in my chocolates.

(* Chocolate tempering is a process where the chocolate is heated and cooled to specific temperatures to give chocolate a shiny look, avoid cocoa butter seen on the surface, and to make the chocolates harden in much lower temperatures.)

As I am thrilled by the word “butter” (an old habit from my past diet days) and try not to use it if it’s not so necessary, I did not put butter into my ganache. But you can feel free to add 2 tablespoons for a smoother taste. (By the way, I used heavy cream and it is nearly the same as butter. But I still don’t want to use butter! Heavy cream is enough to add the desired taste I think!)

I obviously messed the whole kitchen making the chocolates, tried to temper the chocolate without a thermometer and burnt it, so my hand-dipped chocolates look really ugly, as seen from the photo. But the thing is, they taste wonderful! I am still working on making “better-looking” chocolates, but this is an easy & delish recipe, believe me!

Hand-Dipped Chocolates with Earl Grey Tea, Hazelnut and Raisins

adapted from Making Artisan Chocolates

makes 48 chocolates

Ingredients:

• 273 gr (9 ¾ ounces) 55-65% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup Earl Grey Tea
• ½ cup hazelnuts, chopped
• ½ cup raisins
• 147 gr (5 ¼ ounces) 30-40% milk chocolate, melted (for the foot, which is to be spread onto the ganache squares to get a smoother surface)
• 906 gr (2 pounds) 30-40% milk chocolate, tempered* (for dipping)

* Make sure you use a thermometer to temper the chocolate, or you can burn the chocolate like me! So, I couldn’t temper the chocolate, and it does not affect the taste. If you are lazy to temper, just don’t!

Directions:

In a saucepan, mix the heavy cream, water and tea, and cook until it gets to medium-heat. Wait for 5 minutes to allow tea give its flavor. Stir the mixture through a strainer into a bowl with chopped bittersweet chocolate, and mix until all the chocolate is melted, and you get a smooth ganache.

Cover the bottom of a square pan (small to medium-size) with a plastic wrap, and pour your ganache into the pan. Spread the ganache with spatula, and cool it in the freezer for at least two hours.

Take out the hardened ganache-rectangle from the freezer, and remove the plastic wraps. To make the foot, spread a thin layer of melted milk chocolate over the ganache with spatula, and freeze for an hour.

With a sharp knife, cut the freezed ganache to 48 squares. Using a fork, dip each one into the tempered chocolate, and make sure that all sides of the ganache-squares are covered with the tempered chocolate.

Place the chocolates onto a parchment paper. Freeze for another two hours.

Keep your chocolates in a cool place.

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