Long time no see, my friends! It has been a while since my last post. I have been spending my time mostly with work – covid style of course. It seems like preparations for the next thing never ends. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely grateful that our business is doing ok with everything that has been happening. In preparing for the loveliest day of the year, I developed a chocolate recipe – Malted Milk Truffles.
Growing up in Hong Kong, we have always had malted milk drinks. It was a standard offering in Hong Kong restaurants – hot or cold. The two major brands were Horlicks (malted milk) or Ovaltine (cocoa flavoured malted milk). I assume these European drinks got to Hong Kong as a result of the British legacy. When I came to Canada, I was surprised to find that juices and sodas were far more popular than malted drinks. As an ode to my childhood favourite, I made these velvety truffles with malted milk powder. The flavour works very well with Valrhona’s Jivara 40% milk chocolate as it has intense malty notes. For this recipe, I recommend using couverture chocolates to make sure that the ganache sets properly. I haven’t tested this with candy bar chocolates, so I am not sure how the results will be.
Malted Milk Truffles
Ingredients
- 100 g whipping cream
- 5 g honey
- 15 g malted milk powder (I used Horlicks)
- a pinch salt
- 55 g dark couverture chocolate preferrably Valrhona Alpaco 66%
- 115 g milk couverture chocolate preferrraly Valrhona Jivara 40%
- 150 g dark couverture chocolate for coating
- 100 g corn flakes finely ground
- gold flakes if desired
Instructions
- Roughly chop the dark and milk chocolates and place them into a small bowl.
- Place the whipping cream, honey, malted milk powder, and salt in a small pan and heat until it simmers. Whisk the cream to get rid of any lumps in the malted milk powder.
- Pour the hot cream into the chopped chocolates and let it sit for a minute. Use a rubber spatula to mix, starting from the centre, making small circles and slowly widening. Mix until the ganache becomes cohesive, stir in the softened butter.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature or refrigerator until the ganache sets.
- Use a spoon or melon baller to scoop small balls (2-3cm) and place them onto a tray. Shape them into round balls with your hands if necessary. Place them in the fridge to set.
- Coat the ganache balls with the tempered dark chocolate and roll them in the ground cornflakes. Place them on a clean tray, the chocolate should set in a 2-3 minutes. If desired, decorate with gold flakes before serving. Enjoy.
This recipe appears this weekend’s The Province, the measurements there will be shown in volume but as always recipes by weight is much more accurate which is why I wrote it the way shown above. I have been experimenting with cereals for a hot chocolate bomb at work and love the results. I have used ground cornflakes for coating here because it is very delicious with the malty notes of the truffle. If you don’t have it, you could also coat it with some good old cocoa powder or crushed nuts of your choice.
I wish you all a lovely and safe Valentine’s day. Hope you can celebrate with your loved one at home with some sweetness!
More lovely recipes on the blog to explore:
Strawberry Rose Hearts
Lemon Lavender Butter Cookies
Crème de Cassis Pear Hazelnut Tart
Strawberry Pistachio Charlotte
Honey Milk Tea Bundt Cake
Olive Oil Chiffon Cake with Meyer Lemon Curd
