I was making homemade truffles and it occurred to me, "wouldn't these be great stuffed with more booze??" I already had a dash of coffee liqueur in the ganache (which is what you make the center of truffles from) but I thought with a bit more alcohol they could be edible cocktails! So I pondered on it all night (yes, all night - it kept me awake) and came up with the idea for my White Russian Truffles with Espresso Caviar.
You bite into one of these and the Whipped Cream Egg in the center breaks open and oozes cream to mingle with the deep chocolate truffle while the Espresso Caviar bursts on top of it all with an explosion that balances out the sweetness of the rich cream and chocolate. This is like no White Russian you've ever had before!
WHITE RUSSIAN TRUFFLES
PREP for Garnish & Presentation
Small White Plates
Powdered Sugar
Ground Coffee
Chocolate Twigs (Recipe Below)
CHOCOLATE TWIGS
Ingredients
1/2 Cup of Dark Chocolate Pieces or Chips
Tools
Wax Paper Lined Baking Sheet
1 Small Bowl
Double Boiler
Whisk
Plastic Baggie
Directions
Melt your chocolate in a double boiler, whisking as it melts, don't allow ANY water into your chocolate or it will seize up. When completely melted, spoon into a small plastic baggie towards one corner. Twist the baggie like you would a pastry bag to get the melted chocolate towards one corner. Snip a tiny hole in the corner and pipe some twigs or other fun shapes onto the waxed paper. Place in the fridge to set up until time to plate.
Ingredients
8 Oz. Good Quality Dark Chocolate, Chopped into small pieces
1/2 C. Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp. Coffee Liqueur
Pinch of Sea Salt
Tools
2 Large Stainless Steel Bowl
Small Saucepan
Double Boiler
Whisk
Directions
This is the easy part, you simply make a ganache of the ingredients by melting your chocolate in a double boiler, heating the cream until JUST beginning to bubble (Don't Boil!), Pouring the warm cream over the melted chocolate. Let this sit until the chocolate has started to melt nicely then start gently whisking the chocolate. As you stir, add in the butter pieces one at a time. Then you slowly add in the coffee liqueur, still whisking. Toss in the pinch of salt, mix in then press plastic wrap on the top of the ganache and let it set up in the fridge.
After a couple of hours you scoop out a ball of ganache and roll it into a ball in your hand, set on a waxed paper lined baking sheet
You can immediately dip these in cocoa powder or crushed nuts, candies, etcetera for traditional truffles like my Three Liquor Infused Truffle Recipes.
For the cups simply mold them into cup shapes or use a candy mold and press an indentation in the center to hold the Whipped Cream Eggs.
ESPRESSO CAVIAR
Cold Oil and Gelatin Spherification
Ingredients
1 Cup of Warm Espresso
1/4 Cup of Coffee Liqueur
1 Oz. Cold Water
1 Package of Gelatin Powder
1 C. of Canola Oil, VERY Cold
Tools
2 Medium Bowls
1 Small Bowl (like a custard cup)
One Tall Slim Glass or Container
Pipette or Squirt Bottle
Small Metal Strainer
Directions
Pour the canola oil into a tall, thin glass and place in the freezer for 1 hour.
Bloom the gelatin powder in the cold water in the custard cup, then stir.
Pour this into your warm espresso and mix well, then add the coffee liqueur.
Place in the refrigerator until it's cooled off.
Pull out the cold canola oil & the cooled espresso gelatin and pipe the gelatin into the icy canola oil in tiny drops - I used a pipette and did 4 quick drops per single caviar sphere. If you use a squirt bottle test a few out to get the proper amount and distance from the oil.
You want your caviar spheres to fall to the bottom of the oil and stay out of the way while you pipe others. When you have enough caviar spheres for the number of servings you plan (about 1/4 cup per serving), pour the oil and the spheres through a small strainer into another small bowl to get the spheres out of the oil. You can save the oil for another spherification use.
GENTLY rinse the caviar under COLD water for a second or two, then tap the strainer onto some paper towels to drain off the water and store the caviar in the refrigerator until ready to plate.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These can melt quickly so try to do them just a short while before you plate your dish and plate them last then immediately serve!
Take a look at the photo below - you can see the liquid espresso starting to leak out onto the Whipped Cream Egg portion - These Espresso Caviars just burst in your mouth and you get an explosion of dark espresso laced with a touch of coffee liqueur to complement the deep, dark chocolate Mocha Truffle Cup!
WHIPPED CREAM EGGS
I used a reverse spherification method on these.
Ingredients
1/4 Cup of Condensed, Sweetened Milk
1/4 Cup of Whipped Cream Vodka
2-1/2 Grams of Calcium Lactate
3/4 Gram of Xanthan Gum
For The Bath
2 Grams of Sodium Alginate
2 Cups Distilled Water
Tools
Immersion Blender or Bullet Blender with Two Containers
Nice ROUND Spoon
Shallow Baking Dish
Directions
Make your Bath first by blending the sodium alginate and the distilled water together until the chemical is completely mixed into water. You will see your mixture is really full of air bubbles and usually you need to let it sit for 12 hours to 24 hours for the bubbles to disperse and the chemicals to completely dissolve. For some reason mine was nearly completely clear in an hour so I went ahead and used it.
When your bath is clear, pour it into your shallow baking dish.
Blend the condensed milk, vodka, calcium lactate and xanthan gum together. You will have a pretty gummy consistency, much like pudding. Take a small round spoon and spoon dollops about 1/2" or so directly in the bath solution. You want to try to shape them as close to a ball as possible so you may have to do a few to get the hang of it. Don't worry you have enough cream solution to make about 15 little balls or so.
Stir each ball around a bit in the solution to help form the ball and allow the bath to create the gel "shell" skin around the creamy center. (You'll want to let the "eggs" sit for a minute in the solution to form the gel shell around the cream.) Once you have enough balls simply scoop them out with a spoon, roll them gently into your hand and GENTLY rinse them off with cold water in your hand allowing the water to siphon through your fingers. You can touch them lightly with a paper towel to get off excess water but it's not necessary. TIP: The longer you let the balls sit in the solution the more of a "skin" will form, more of the shell skin makes a hardier ball but too much makes for an unpleasant mouth feel and hard to burst open.
Then place them right into your Truffle Cups and set your truffle cups in the refrigerator while you set up your plating. In the photo at the top you can see I split the plate in two with half coffee grounds and half powdered sugar as my base.
I put my Truffle Cups slightly off balance with two in the powdered sugar and one in the coffee. Then I placed my Chocolate Twigs in a nice balanced position and gently spooned on the Espresso Caviar into the cups and around the plate in a nice pattern.
Et Voila!
AN EDIBLE, GOURMET VERSION OF
A WHITE RUSSIAN COCKTAIL!
A rich, chocolate masterpiece of a booze infused dessert!
Bon Appetit & Cheers.