(photograph © Kiwidutch)
I ripped this out of a magazine I was finished with while traveling abroad… because they looked so tempting.
I’m not a big fan of white chocolate or coconut flavour but made them for a party and thought Hubby would love them… well, shock ! they were the surprise hit of the party and I really liked these too! They quickly made it into my family handwritten recipe book.These are easy to make and can be made in advance, both major points for making it onto my menu’s.
This recipe calls for Coconut essence and I can’t get it here in The Netherlands … it probably makes the taste a little less intense.
You choose .. if you are a true fan of coconut throw it in, if you don’t have it or like the taste as much, I wouldn’t worry at all about not adding it because this recipe is brilliantly popular without it too.
I no longer worry about not having the coconut essence on hand because the favourite flavour here is variation of the recipe where I add Bailey’s Irish Creme, believe me… make these and they will be an instant hit with the chocolate lovers of your family and friends!
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Coconut Cream Truffles
Servings: approximately 50 chocolates.
Ingredients:
375g white chocolate (13 1/4 oz)
150g butter (5 1/4 oz)
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 teaspoons coconut essence
1 cup desiccated coconut (shredded coconut UNSWEETENED)
3cups icing sugar (powder sugar)
375 g dark chocolate or milk chocolate, for coating truffles
2-3 tablespoons Tia Maria or Baileys Irish Cream, etc (Optional)
Directions:
Prep Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 2 1/2 hrs
Gently melt butter and white chocolate in large bowl in microwave.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
For best results don’t over melt, if just a few chocolate pieces appear solid, stir them in with what has already melted until it’s all smooth.
Add coconut milk, coconut essence (optional), desiccated coconut and icing sugar. Stir until well mixed.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
NOTE: Sometimes when I make this, the mixture is stickier than other times, you can either add a little more icing sugar to the mix or just put the mixture in the fridge for a while and it will firm up on it’s own.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Recipe says chill so you can roll it into balls, freeze etc, but personally I have found two different ways to do these and you can choose which suits you best:
Method One: Cover a small tray or board with cling-film (plastic wrap) take a spoonful of the mixture and roll it into small balls. Place the balls on the tray and when the tray is full, place it in the freezer for at least several hours (or overnight) to firm up. These balls are a bit messier to make, but will look very professional and sophisticated when they are finished.
…OR…
Method Two: Spoon the mixture into two small plastic bags so that they form slabs about 2cm (thick, and place it into the freezer for at least 2 hours.
Remove slabs from freezer, peel away plastic bags and “dice” your mixture so that you have a plate full of little cubes. These cubed ruffles are more rustic and will look a little less sophisticated but will still taste brilliant.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Microwave your dark or milk chocolate mixture until half of it is melted, stir until all is smooth (doing it like this meant that the mixture started to set quickly and evenly around the cubes and didn’t just make puddles at their bases).
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Dip the cubes one by one into the darker chocolate mixture, turning over with a teaspoon until evenly coated. Place coated cubes onto a tray lined with foil ( or cling-film/plastic).
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Once you have dipped your truffles in their chocolate coating leave them at room temperature to set, and store in a cool place (NOT the fridge as this will cause the coco butter to separate from the chocolate, which is known as having your chocolate “bloom”).
I loved the suggestion about the other flavours and played around with it — some of our guests preferred 2T Tia Maria etc for a softer more mellow taste, other preferred theirs with 3T for a stronger taste.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
The mixtures with the Baileys/Tia Maria were softer and a little more sticky than the original, so *slightly* more messy rolling them, (putting the mixture in the fridge for a while will help with this a lot) and your guests will love you for the 10 minutes extra work.
The truffles in the following photos went to work colleagues in celebration of the World Cup, Netherlands v’s Denmark match, (Orange markings for the Dutch, and White crosses for the Danes)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
