'Rustic' chocolate truffles with soft and buttery bitter orange centres. Just pour hot cream over dark chocolate and butter, add a little orange juice & zest, let set, form into truffle shapes and dip into milk chocolate. A perfect little homemade gift!
Break up the dark chocolate and put it in the bowl with the butter and orange zest.
Heat the cream and sugar together on a low to medium heat until it almost comes to the boil.
Pour the cream and sugar mixture over the chocolate and butter and leave it to stand for a couple of minutes to allow the chocolate and butter to melt.
Stir the mixture until smooth, add a pinch of salt and the orange juice, then stir well again. Cover and put in the fridge for a few hours (or even overnight) to firm up.
When the mixture is firm, break up two thirds of the milk chocolate into a bowl and melt it in the microwave in 30-second spurts (alternatively, melt it over a bowl over a pan of simmering hot water, without allowing the bowl to touch the water). When the chocolate is melted, add the last third of chocolate* and allow it to melt into the rest, then give it a good stir.
Scoop up teaspoonsful of truffle mixture, roll or pat them into a rough ball, then dip them into the melted milk chocolate on the spoon. Quickly tip them out onto a sheet of baking paper to set. Sprinkle immediately with a little cocoa powder.
We add the last third of the milk chocolate to the already-melted chocolate as a quick and easy way to 'temper' it (to keep it shiny rather than matt and potentially crumbly).
How to package the truffles
Try packaging the truffles by piling them into the corner of a meat roasting bag and tying the top with a nice piece of ribbon. They look beautiful and are perfect to give as a gift like this!