IT'S NATIONAL TRUFFLE DAY - Orange Truffle Cocktail Recipe

Some years ago I had a friend over who was in love with chocolate dipped jellied orange sticks. I never went to his house that there weren't some of them out in candy dishes strategically placed near where he sat.  He used to buy them at Trader Joe's so I went out to get some and found that they also had raspberry ones. I bought those instead and he still argues with me to this day about which is better.

To shut him up so he'd leave me and my TJs chocolate raspberry sticks alone, I created this cocktail for him. Turned out to be a freaking great cocktail which tastes exactly like a chocolate covered orange truffle and is much better than his jellied orange sticks! It is, in fact, a favorite of mine and one of my most requested cocktails when I get visitors.

The
ORANGE

TRUFFLE
Cocktail

INGREDIENTS:

1 Oz. Orange Vodka
2 Oz. White Crème de Cacao
1/2 Oz. Orange Liqueur
1 Oz. Heavy Cream

Garnish

Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder and Sugar Rim

Chocolate Dipped Orange Slice*

TOOLS: Cocktail shaker

GLASS: Cocktail (martini) glass or coupe

 

DIRECTIONS:
Dip the rim of the glass in some of the orange liqueur then into the dark cocoa & sugar mixture. 

Chill the glass in the freezer while you make your cocktail.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice then add the orange vodka, white crème de cacao, orange liqueur and the cream and shake until well chilled.
Pour into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the chocolate dipped orange slice.

VOICEOVER VIDEO with Ingredients & Instructions:

HOW TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE DIPPED ORANGE SLICES

Peel two or three oranges, separate the segments and set these out to dry. 

Melt a cup of dark semisweet chocolate chips in a double boiler until smooth and creamy. (Be careful not to get any moisture in the chocolate or it will seize up.) Yes, you can use a microwave. Simply heat the the chocolate chips in a microwave safe glass or bowl (I used a pyrex measuring cup) at 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the chips are melted and smooth.

Dip the peeled, dry orange segments halfway into the melted chocolate then place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet until all the orange segments are dipped.

Chill until set in the fridge.

What's a Truffle?

For this cocktail, of course, I'm referring to the chocolate truffle, a confection of a soft chocolate ganache rolled in a dusting of cocoa powder or dipped in chocolate, but this is not the only truffle that's edible out there.  The chocolate truffle is, in fact, a dessert homage to an edible savory fungus that is highly prized in gourmet cuisine.

Truffles are actually the fruiting body of an underground mushroom that grows near the roots of various trees.  Wild truffles of the Tuber genus have been considered the "diamond of the kitchen" by chefs and gourmets for centuries for their deep, earthy flavor and smell.  There are references to the use of truffles in cuisine as far back as the fourth century B.C. and there are mentions of truffles in Roman cooking as well.

Pigs and even some dogs were trained to hunt out these difficult to find delicacies and, until the 1800s, it was only these wild truffles that were available, making this delicacy a very expensive addition to the table. The record price for wild truffles was $330,000 US a kilogram in 2010. These days truffles are being grown commercially, helping to bring the cost down, but the wild truffles are still the gold standard for most gourmands and chefs.

As for the chocolate truffle, whether created by M. Dufour in Chambéry, France in December 1895 or by the famous chef Auguste Escoffier in the 1920s, it was obviously named after the fungal truffle because the dusting of cocoa powder used to set the soft chocolate ganache truffle gave it the earthy appearance of a the coveted wild truffle.

National Truffle Day is May 2nd.

Updated  5-2022

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY