We Should Cocoa ~ White Chocolate and Strawberry Truffles

Bon Jovi had it right when they sang;
"I ain't got a fever got a permanent disease
And it'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy"
Because when my idea for this month's We Should Cocoa Challenge finally worked out I found them to be more than just a little bit addictive!

As you can see my homegrown strawberries aren't quite ready to use!

Choclette decided to pair Chocolate with Strawberries this month and I knew just what I wanted to make.  A little while ago I bought a copy of Paul A Young's book 'Adventures With Chocolate' and there were two stand out strawberry truffle recipes that I had been wanting to try out.  The first was a Pimm's Cocktail truffle using 66% dark chocolate and involved making a sugar syrup combined with strawberries, cucumbers and mint that then had to drain over night before reheating and adding to the chocolate along with the Pimm's.  It tasted amazing when the ganache was first made but after it set the chocolate was so strong and bitter that it overpowered every other flavour in the mix.  None of us are huge dark chocolate fans so the whole lot had to get binned!

Then I set my mind to making the White Chocolate, Strawberry and Pink Peppercorn Ganache which Paul roll's into truffles and coats in tempered white chocolate.  After a two day long search for the pink peppercorns and an overnight setting of the ganache in the fridge it was too soft set to roll into balls.  I wasn't all that keen on the flavour either, I'd have liked more Strawberry and less pepper, Hubby didn't mind it though and so was happy to eat a few spoonfuls every now and again.

You may be thinking that this left me with a small dilemma for the challenge ... but rest assured "There ain't no doctor that can cure my disease", once I have my mind set on something I can be quite persistent!  I decided to take a basic white truffle recipe which I already know and love and add sweetened strawberry puree to it.  As the resulting ganache is also very soft I decided to temper some white chocolate and use my very profesh chocolate mould to set the truffles in wee love hearts.

Believe me when I tell you that after one taste of these "There ain't no paramedic gonna save this heart attack"

White Chocolate and Fresh Strawberry Ganache
325g white chocolate, broken into chocolate button-sized pieces
175ml double or whipping cream
3 tbsp Strawberry Puree
Tempered White Chocolate
Cover a large baking tray or tin tightly and completely with clingfilm or waxed paper to place the truffles on to set.


Place the chocolate in a large mixing bowl at least 1.75 litres in capacity. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a rolling boil and immediately pour over the broken chocolate. Blend thoroughly until all the chocolate is melted.  Add the strawberry puree that has been pressed through a fine sieve to remove any pips.

Allow the mixture, called a ganache, to cool, uncovered, completely for 1-1½ hours at room temperature until it is set. (I always place my ganache mixtures in the fridge to set up over night).

Use the tempered chocolate to cover the shells in a professional polycarbonate chocolate mould.  Drain the excess back into the bowl with the rest of the tempered chocolate and scrape the palette knife over the mould to help remove any excess chocolate.  Allow the shells to set at room temp (about 5 mins) and then pipe the ganache mixture into the centres (I added my ganache to a disposable piping bag that had a small hole cut at the bottom).  Fill to within 2mm of the top of the mould.  Seal the truffles with more tempered chocolate, scarping with a palette knife again to remove the excess, this is called a 'foot' apparently!

Allow to set at room temp before removing from the mould (a sharp tap onto a surface covered witha  tea towel should do the trick). 

Loosely based on a Waitrose Recipe


"I got all the symptoms, count 'em 1-2-3"

PS - Did I mention I went to see Bon Jovi last night?!?!?!?!  Was I excited much?  24 years in the waiting, I couldn't help but smuggle a little bit of them into this post too ;0)