Matcha Truffles
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:44 am
Matcha Truffles
Matcha is a fine, powdered green tea used particularly in the Japanese tea ceremony, as well as to dye and flavour foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream and a variety of wagashi (Japanese confectionery).
Ingredients:
1/3 cup cream
1/4 cup (2 3/4 ounces by weight) invert sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons matcha (you may adjust to taste)
6 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, very soft (75 degrees)
Preparation:
Combine the cream and invert sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat on the stove.
Remove from heat, add the matcha, stirring to dissolve. Cover the top of saucepan with plastic wrap and let stand for about 10 minutes. Check it occasionally and stir to dissolve and remaining bits.
Meanwhile, place the chocolate in a bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the surface of the water. Melt the chocolate until it reaches 115 degrees. The chocolate will most likely not be fully melted yet and you will have to stir it - watch carefully or your chocolate will overheat and you will have to wait for it to cool down!
Check to make sure the cream is also at 115 degrees and strain out any undissolved matcha.
Pour the cream and chocolate into a tall, clear container. Use an immersion blender to blend the mixture until the ganache thickens and becomes pudding like. Add the butter and combine with the immersion blender. Alternatively, you can do all this in a food processor.
Pour the ganache into a container that will allow it to spread out to a thickness of about an inch (not a very large container). This will make it easier to scoop truffles.
Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight.
When you are ready to make truffles, use a small cookie dough scoop to scoop balls from the ganache. Place them on a tray so you can pop it in the refrigerator to chill if necessary.
Roll the truffles in dark cocoa powder and decorate with a bit of matcha on top.
Store the truffles in the refrigerator, and remove about half and hour before serving. Makes about 25 truffles.
Notes:
While at its simplest ganache is simply a mixture of chocolate and cream, there is a world's worth of difference between simply pouring hot cream over chocolate, and in a careful calibration and combination of the components. Here are three points that will make a great difference in chocolate candy making.
Temperature: Having the chocolate and cream both at the right temperature (115 degrees for the cream and for most dark chocolates) will encourage a proper and perfectly smooth emulsification of the two ingredients. Having the ingredients too hot or cold could result in your ganache breaking (the fat from the cocoa butter separating) or turning out grainy.
Invert sugar: It's recommended that you use Invert sugar. Invert sugar is simply a form of sugar where the sucrose has been separated into the simple sugars glucose and fructose. The sugar crystals in this liquid form are smaller than in regular sugar, which will make your ganache that much more smoother. Invert sugar also does not crystallize easily - so if you've ever boiled sugar and water to make caramel and add some lemon juice or cream of tartar to prevent crystals from forming, you're actually inverting the sugar! Invert sugar is relatively inexpensive - It's available at specialty stores, online or some big grocers in bigger cities stock it.
Mixing method: It's recommended that the home confectioner use a handheld immersion blender to emulsify the ganache - who would have thought that old stick blender I had regulated to the bottom of the closet would come in handy again? The chef prefers this to a food processor, although I feel that might be getting a little specific. I think the main point is that having a little mechanical help will get you a smoother ganache than simply whisking by hand.
Matcha is a fine, powdered green tea used particularly in the Japanese tea ceremony, as well as to dye and flavour foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream and a variety of wagashi (Japanese confectionery).
Ingredients:
1/3 cup cream
1/4 cup (2 3/4 ounces by weight) invert sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons matcha (you may adjust to taste)
6 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter, very soft (75 degrees)
Preparation:
Combine the cream and invert sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat on the stove.
Remove from heat, add the matcha, stirring to dissolve. Cover the top of saucepan with plastic wrap and let stand for about 10 minutes. Check it occasionally and stir to dissolve and remaining bits.
Meanwhile, place the chocolate in a bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Do not let the bowl touch the surface of the water. Melt the chocolate until it reaches 115 degrees. The chocolate will most likely not be fully melted yet and you will have to stir it - watch carefully or your chocolate will overheat and you will have to wait for it to cool down!
Check to make sure the cream is also at 115 degrees and strain out any undissolved matcha.
Pour the cream and chocolate into a tall, clear container. Use an immersion blender to blend the mixture until the ganache thickens and becomes pudding like. Add the butter and combine with the immersion blender. Alternatively, you can do all this in a food processor.
Pour the ganache into a container that will allow it to spread out to a thickness of about an inch (not a very large container). This will make it easier to scoop truffles.
Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until firm, preferably overnight.
When you are ready to make truffles, use a small cookie dough scoop to scoop balls from the ganache. Place them on a tray so you can pop it in the refrigerator to chill if necessary.
Roll the truffles in dark cocoa powder and decorate with a bit of matcha on top.
Store the truffles in the refrigerator, and remove about half and hour before serving. Makes about 25 truffles.
Notes:
While at its simplest ganache is simply a mixture of chocolate and cream, there is a world's worth of difference between simply pouring hot cream over chocolate, and in a careful calibration and combination of the components. Here are three points that will make a great difference in chocolate candy making.
Temperature: Having the chocolate and cream both at the right temperature (115 degrees for the cream and for most dark chocolates) will encourage a proper and perfectly smooth emulsification of the two ingredients. Having the ingredients too hot or cold could result in your ganache breaking (the fat from the cocoa butter separating) or turning out grainy.
Invert sugar: It's recommended that you use Invert sugar. Invert sugar is simply a form of sugar where the sucrose has been separated into the simple sugars glucose and fructose. The sugar crystals in this liquid form are smaller than in regular sugar, which will make your ganache that much more smoother. Invert sugar also does not crystallize easily - so if you've ever boiled sugar and water to make caramel and add some lemon juice or cream of tartar to prevent crystals from forming, you're actually inverting the sugar! Invert sugar is relatively inexpensive - It's available at specialty stores, online or some big grocers in bigger cities stock it.
Mixing method: It's recommended that the home confectioner use a handheld immersion blender to emulsify the ganache - who would have thought that old stick blender I had regulated to the bottom of the closet would come in handy again? The chef prefers this to a food processor, although I feel that might be getting a little specific. I think the main point is that having a little mechanical help will get you a smoother ganache than simply whisking by hand.