Earl Grey truffles?

[rajoress]

Hello all,

Well I've been asked by my new boss at work if I could make some early grey truffles and wanting to impress, of course, I said sure I can make them! I know the general idea would be to steep earl grey tea with the cream but not sure how much and don't want it to be overpowering or underwhelming. Does anyone have any tricks as to how to make the earl grey ganache? I know I can play around but I'm not sure I like the taste of earl grey to experiment all that much!

Thanks so much,

Ruth

[Tri2Cook]

This is Michael Laiskonis' recipe...

375g heavy cream
25g Earl Grey tea
90g trimoline
500g dark chocolate couverture (66%), chopped
100g unsalted butter
10g orange flower water

Infuse cold cream with tea for 24 hours. Bring cream to 50ºC/122ºF. Strain. Add fresh cream to bring the amount back up to 375g if needed and combine with trimoline. Bring to a boil. Place chocolate in a large bowl and gradually pour hot cream over it. Emulsify with an immersion blender if necessary. Allow to cool to 35-40ºC/95-104ºF. Add butter and orange flower water. Deposit into molds.

...which I haven't actually made. But I keep telling myself that I'm going to. I've always had good results with his recipes so maybe it can at least give you a reference point to work from.

Edited February 11, 2014 by Tri2Cook (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Looks pretty close to the recipe I have - right down to the orange flower water which is interesting!

[mostlylana]

This is Michael Laiskonis' recipe...

375g heavy cream

25g Earl Grey tea

90g trimoline

500g dark chocolate couverture (66%), chopped

100g unsalted butter

10g orange flower water

Infuse cold cream with tea for 24 hours. Bring cream to 50ºC/122ºF. Strain. Add fresh cream to bring the amount back up to 375g if needed and combine with trimoline. Bring to a boil. Place chocolate in a large bowl and gradually pour hot cream over it. Emulsify with an immersion blender if necessary. Allow to cool to 35-40ºC/95-104ºF. Add butter and orange flower water. Deposit into molds.

...which I haven't actually made. But I keep telling myself that I'm going to. I've always had good results with his recipes so maybe it can at least give you a reference point to work from.

This looks like a great recipe. I find earl grey ganache the toughest to retain flavour in. To remedy this I use a low % dark chocolate - 56%. That way there's not as much competition for flavour. I also use a little less chocolate - but I don't make a truffle - I'm slabbing. Use the least amount of chocolate you can get away with. You can add some cocoa butter to help solidify your ganache in lieu of more chocolate. The flavour will come through better. With these tricks I get the wonderful earl grey flavour without getting too many tannins from using too much tea. One of these days I'm going to try making a water ganache using earl grey tea. I think it would be fantastic!

[Mjx]

I've made several tea ganaches, and have had excellent results from steeping a pinch the leaves (in a tea bal) directly in warm cream for about a quarter of an hour.

I forget which chocolatier recommends boiling the cream twice, but essentially, that's what I do: boil the cream, steep the tea in it, bring it once again to a boil, remove the tea ball, and carry on.

[Edward J]

I use white chocolate in the ganache. For one, I find the bergamont flavour really comes through if I use the white choc, and two, I find the tanins in the black tea (which is 90% of Earl grey) "fight" with my dark chocolate.

[rajoress]

Great responses, everyone! I love the idea of the white chocolate and may try to make it with both white and a semi-sweet. Thanks so much!

Ruth

[mostlylana]

I do a cold infusion for 24 hours to reduce the amount of tannins I'm getting in the infusion. Mjx, with the way you do your infusions - boiling twice - do you find that you get a lot of tannins? I warm my cream at the beginning and end (and boil it once it's strained for shelf life purposes) to help coax the oils out but I'll bet you'll get more of the oils with boiling. Perhaps I'll try that next time.

[keychris]

I've made several tea ganaches, and have had excellent results from steeping a pinch the leaves (in a tea bal) directly in warm cream for about a quarter of an hour.

I forget which chocolatier recommends boiling the cream twice, but essentially, that's what I do: boil the cream, steep the tea in it, bring it once again to a boil, remove the tea ball, and carry on.

This is exactly how I do it as well! Except I just dump the tea in and strain it out

[Prabha]

I use milk chocolate in the ganache. I have also added a drop of oil of bergamot sometimes, if I think the flavor is too mild.

[Edward J]

I'd hesitate to "boil' the tea. Steeping works best, but when boiled, the "tea" becomes bitter, and has a tendancy to split the cream.

I'm also hesitate to "boil cream for shelf life reasons". If typical cream is 33-35% b.f., then the remaining 65% is water. Same holds true for booze, typical booze @40% acl. content is still 60% water. I typically have 3 week shelf life of bon-bons using warm cream and tempered couverture in the ganache.

[mostlylana]

I'm also hesitate to "boil cream for shelf life reasons".

That's something I learned in a Wybauw class to ensure that mold spores are killed when doing cold infusions of spices, herbs and teas. I say 'boil' but I always take it off just before it boils - don't have an issue with the cream separating. This heating is done AFTER straining.

[Mjx]

I do a cold infusion for 24 hours to reduce the amount of tannins I'm getting in the infusion. Mjx, with the way you do your infusions - boiling twice - do you find that you get a lot of tannins? I warm my cream at the beginning and end (and boil it once it's strained for shelf life purposes) to help coax the oils out but I'll bet you'll get more of the oils with boiling. Perhaps I'll try that next time.

I haven't had noticeably tannic results with this method. I've also steeped more leaves as briefly as 3 minutes, and the flavour has been intense and complex.

I never boil the cream with the leaves in it: I boil the cream, remove it form the heat, add the leaves, steep, remove the leave, and bring it just to a boil once again, before combining it with the chocolate.

I've made several tea ganaches, and have had excellent results from steeping a pinch the leaves (in a tea bal) directly in warm cream for about a quarter of an hour.

I forget which chocolatier recommends boiling the cream twice, but essentially, that's what I do: boil the cream, steep the tea in it, bring it once again to a boil, remove the tea ball, and carry on.

This is exactly how I do it as well! Except I just dump the tea in and strain it out

I've done that too, but putting the tea in a tea ball (or my tea shark) does makes for slightly quicker leaf removal

[mostlylana]

I never boil the cream with the leaves in it: I boil the cream, remove it form the heat, add the leaves, steep, remove the leave, and bring it just to a boil once again, before combining it with the chocolate.

Ahhh, I thought you were boiling with the leaves in the cream. Makes sense to me now

I love cold infusions for most things. With coffee it's awesome - all the flavour and no bitterness.

But I've always struggled with earl grey tea - probably as I'm not getting as much of the bergamot oils that the leaves are steeped in without the heat - and yet cold infusions work like a dream with orange peel.

Maybe bergamot oil is more waxy??