Tea Infused Chocolate Truffles

A basic chocolate truffle recipe with a step to infuse tea or other herbal flavors into the ganache. Originally developed for inclusion into homemade ice cream. Might not be as sweet as you are expecting if eaten by itself.

(Really, you can use any truffle recipe that you have for this, must do the infusion into the cream before adding the chocolate.)

Use black tea, green tea, or basically anything you might use to make a tea or herb tea (tisane). Be aware of how much tea leaves / herb you use and how long you let it infuse. 10-15 minutes below is how what I use for green tea. I’d do less time for black tea, but a lot more time for chamomile or lavender. It depends on how strong you like it.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cup heavy or whipping cream

• 16 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (or use morsels)

• 2 Tablespoons loose green tea leaves (or 2-3 bags of bagged green tea)

  • Or black tea, or earl gray,

  • Or mint leaves, or chamomile,

  • Or lavender flowers...

• Various powder coatings:

  • Dutch Process cocoa powder,

  • Natural cocoa powder,

  • Granulated or powered sugar,

  • Melted chocolate coating,

  • Or matcha powder?

Directions:

1. Place cream and tea leaves / bags in 2 qt saucepan over medium heat until it just starts to simmer.

2. Remove from heat, stir, and cover for 10-15 minutes

3. Strain tea leaves / remove bag, and return cream to saucepan, and bring back to a simmer.

4. Remove from heat and immediately add chocolate to cream.

5. Cover and wait for chocolate to soften (3-5 minutes)

6. Stir ganache (cream and chocolate mixture), then put into bowl and let cool to room temperature.

7. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature until firm (overnight is OK).

8. Use tablespoon to spoon out chocolate then use your hands to roll them into ¾ inch to 1 inch balls.

   1. Coating your hands in cocoa powder might help, or it might just make a bigger mess.

9. Toss balls into various powder coatings. Or don’t.

10. Store in an air tight container. Can be left at room temperature for a day or so, or refrigerated for several days or weeks.