Nose deep into chocolate! Le nez dans les Truffes!

Getting ready for the Holidays...Ready, steady, GO!

This year, I did not make the whole wreath myself, shame on me! I actually found the perfect basic wreath made of evergreens. So I just needed to add pine cones, holly, and yew ornaments, tie a ribbon that I had saved from a Williams & Sonoma gift, and Tada! Look, here it is, crowning our door!

These last few weeks I've been busy baking Xmas goodies, or looking for gingerbread, chocolate mousse, or chocolate truffles recipes. But today, I have decided to get back to the surface, and started to deck the halls for Christmas. Yeah! Get out, breathe the air! I was on a mission : find a good wreath, made of natural evergreens - a symbol for the strength of life- and bring it back home, intact!

Christmas wreath? Checked! I am very happy with it, the perfect accent to our home during the holidays...as they say. I believe so.

Christmas tree and nativity scene? I failed. Still to be found...Well, I will take Marco to St Lawrence Market this Sunday, and we will methodically hunt down the valley of Christmas-land to find THE tree and crèche (nativity scene) of our dreams.

OK. Time to chill out and go gaga together for this season's decadent choco truffles. I get easily carried away with the enchantment of Xmas preparations, I must confess...

Recipe based on Trish Deseine's recipe. Watch the video ...

Trish Deseine performs her magic and shows us the way to basic truffles.

This other one is quite yummy too. Photos and recipe found in Le Chou de Bruxelles, the food blog of Sigrid, a Belgian in Italy. I love her blog!

Ingredients:
chocolat noir à 70% 200g / dark chocolate
crème fleurette 15cl / liquid cream
beurre 25g /butter
café soluble 1 généreuse càc / 1 big tsp of instant coffee
cardamome en poudre 1 càc /1 tsp of ground cardamom
cacao amer en poudre / bittersweet cocoa powder, for decoration

.Chauffer la crème avec le beurre jusqu'à ébulition.
.Ajouter le café soluble et le cardamome, bien mélanger puis verser sur le chocolat cassé en morceaux.
.Laisser reposer à couvert pendant 5 minutes puis mélanger vigoureusement jusqu'à l'obtention d'une ganache bien lisse.
.Laisser figer au frais pendant plusieurs heures, voire une nuit entière.
.Prélever des cuillérées de la ganache figée et façonner les truffes puis les rouler dans le cacao en poudre. Réserver au frais.
Bring the cream and butter almost to a boil. Add the instant coffee and cardamom, stir well, and pour the mixture over the chocolate. Leave to cool for 5 min and then stir firmly to get a smooth ganache. Leave to cool for a couple of hours at least, overnight is even better.
Using your fingers, shape the mixture into small balls and coat them in cocoa powder, dark chocolate, white chocolate....Then chill for about 2 hours.

For the decoration, may I suggest also:
- Dark or white chocolate, in drops, grated, or chopped into small pieces.
- Slivered coconut
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Ground toasted hazelnuts or almonds

Wishing you a merry dip into chocolate for the holiday!