Last Tuesday I did my second Live free cooking class on my YouTube channel.  Whenever I “Go Live” I try to give some advanced warning via my social media channels to encourage plenty of people to attend.  I know my UK cooking times don’t work for all, but I hope some of my friends might take a look and dip in and out of the edited version.

I decided to make three kinds of chocolate truffles, and I needed to work out ahead of time how much of the process I needed to get done the night before.

Raspberry Truffles Dipped in chocolate: the centre is  white chocolate ganache flavoured with freeze-dried raspberries.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Stuffed with Cherries: cherries soaked in Kirsch, then dipped in dark tempered chocolate.

Milk Chocolate Truffles:  A creamy milk chocolate truffle rolled in Almond Praline.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate truffles ©Kevin Ashton2025

Ingredients: makes approx 18

170 g White chocolate

95 ml Double cream

30g freeze dried raspberries (20g once powdered then sieved to remove seeds)

Seeds from ½ large vanilla pod

½  pinch salt

200 grams 74% chocolate for dipping

Optional reserved raspberry pieces and or pistachio nuts to decorate

2-3 pair food handler’s gloves

Method:

1. Add the freeze dried raspberries to a blender or food processor and blend the into a fine powder. Use a fine sieve to remove the seeds. You want a fine powder with no seeds so this is an important step. This should leave you with 20 grams after sieving.
2. Finely chop the white chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl and melt either over a pan of gently simmering water or in the microwave (in 30 second bursts).
3. In a small non stick saucepan heat the cream and vanilla seeds over a gentle heat until almost boiling. Remove from heat.
4. Stir the hot cream into the melted white chocolate to form a smooth white chocolate ganache.
5. Stir in the freeze dried raspberry powder and a pinch of salt into the white chocolate ganache, then gently stir it all together until the mixture is vivid pink and smooth. Leave to cool and then place in the fridge to set for at least an hour, or overnight.
6. Remove the truffle mixture from the fridge 20 minutes before you are ready to roll your truffles.
7. Take 15 grams of the mixture and roll it between your hands to form a ball. I wear food handler’s gloves because it makes the process so much easier. Place the truffles onto a lined baking sheet and return to the fridge to harden again.
8. Finely chop the dark chocolate and place ¾ of it in a small bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the water does not touch the bowl) and allow to melt, stirring occasionally until it reaches 50 C. Remove from heat and stir in the reserved dark and continue to stir until melts completely. When the chocolate cools to 32-31 C then the chocolate is tempered and ready for dipping.
9. Using a fork, dip each truffle into the chocolate one at a time, use the fork to make sure the truffle is fully coated. Lift the truffle on the fork out of the chocolate and allow excess dark chocolate to drip off before placing onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
10. You can decorate your raspberry truffles in different ways e.g. white chocolate lines, or sprinkle with finely chopped pistachio nuts or left over raspberry pieces.
11. Allow the dark chocolate to set in a cool room rather than the fridge if possible, to prevent the chocolate from “sweating”.

Chefs Tips: If stored in a cold room the truffles should be good for 1-2 weeks.

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Cherry Dark Chocolate truffles ©Kevin Ashton

Ingredients makes about 18 truffles

150ml  Double cream

162 grams Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa or higher)

62 grams Good quality milk chocolate (32% cocoa or higher) see Optional Extra

100g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (the highest quality you can find)

25 grams Unsalted butter cut into very small pieces and allowed to soften

1.5 Tbsp of Kirsch

18 Griottine cherries soaked in Kirsch

Method:

1. Break both chocolates into very small pieces and place in a glass or stainless steel bowl. Scald the cream in a non-stick pan then leave for 2-3 minutes before slowly stirring 1/4 at a time into the dark chocolate until it is smooth. If the cream is too hot it may split the chocolate but do not worry if that happens! You can bring it back by stirring in a tiny splash of hot water.
2. Once the ganache mixture (that is what the melted chocolate and cream are called) is fully melted and smooth, stir in the butter a little a time. This will enrich the taste and also help cool the mixture down.
3. Stir in the 1.5 tbs kirsch and then the butter a few pieces at a time.
4. When all the butter has melted into the ganache cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate until the mixture is firm enough to mold.
5. Take 18 cherries from the jar place in a small bowl and pour the liquor back into the jar.
6. Take just enough of the firm ganache mix to wrap around a cherry (about 20 grams). Then roll it softly into a ball and place on a tray lined with parchment paper and refrigerate.
7. Remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to serve them and roll them in the cocoa powder.

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Milk Chocolate Truffles Coated in Praline ©Kevin Ashton2025

Ingredients: makes approx 14

125 grams milk chocolate

25 grams dark chocolate 74%

15 grams unsalted butter

100 millilitres of double cream

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate together with the butter over a bain-marie of hot water. Take this off the heat after a minute or two and allow the residual heat to melt the chocolate.
2. Scold the cream by bringing up to the boil but then take it off the heat just before it starts to boil. Leave the cream to cool for five minutes before adding it to the chocolate because if it’s too hot it will split the chocolate.
3. Add a little of the cream to the chocolate and stir it in completely before stirring in the remaining cream.
4. Once all the cream has been mixed into the chocolate then cool in the fridge and allow the ganache to set over night.
5. Next make the almond/or hazelnut praline that we a coat the truffles in.

Praline Ingredients:

75 grams whole almonds

38 grams caster sugar

1 Tbsp cold water

1 tbsp Amaretto (optional)

Praline Method:

1. Put the water and sugar in a small non-stick saucepan and heat on a medium heat. Have a pastry brush and ramekin of water close to hand. As the sugar slowly melts occasionally brush the edge of the saucepan to prevent sugar crystals from forming.
2. Once the sugar has turned to a light caramel colour, remove from the heat and add the nuts and optional Amaretto (if you are using almonds) and stir the mixture around and pour onto a non-stick tray and allow to cool completely.
3. Grind the praline up in a food processor until it is a medium to fine mix, I used the pulse function so I could control how coarse or fine the praline mix is.

 Making the truffles:

1. Roll the ganache into 15 gram balls and coat well with the praline, then roll a second time in the praline to ensure the truffles are well coated, then set on a tray lined with baking paper.

Chef’s Notes:

If like me you end up with too many delicious chocolate truffles then share like I did by making a few “care packages” for people you can’t see this Christmas.

When making truffles you will save yourself a lot of time if you buy a few pairs of Nitrile Disposable Gloves-medical grade & powder free here is an example.