Spice / chai truffles

[Larry]

I want to make some chai spiced chocolate truffles for valentine's day but don't want to buy a whole container of the concentrate. Would it turn out ok if I just added some ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves? Should I add it to the cream?

Just wondering how others have gone about doing this and any other suggestions you might have.

Thanks

[nightscotsman]

You certainly can add tea and spices to the cream. Just let steep for about 10 minutes then reheat and strain into chocolate. The trick, of course, is developing a well balanced blend of spices. I used chai tea bags (cut open the bags and add loose to the cream) that I purchased at Starbucks (their Tazo brand). Everybody uses a different mix of spices, but I liked their use of black pepper and the cinnamon and ginger didn't overpower everything.

[Steve Klc]

Larry--chai is usually more complex than ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves...and yes you can easily infuse your own tea and spice concentrate and use it in various ways, including to flavor ganache. Here's an old recipe of mine from when chefette and I started pairing chocolate and chai back in 1997:

http://204.57.86.137/new//recipes/recipe_a...reme_brule.html

just to give you a rough idea of a possible "chai" blend. You might try this, ground and infused in 2 C cream for your ganache:

5 t black tea, 10 green cardamom pods, 10 cloves, 3" cinnamon stick, 1 t black peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 t grated nutmeg, 4 thin slices ginger

and then adjust to your taste and to the particular milk or dark chocolate you're using. It's always better to use whole spice and loose tea. A nice touch can be to sprinkle a little of the chai dust on your finished bon bon, but that makes the flavor a little more pronounced.

[claire797]

Nightscotsman,

I've been thinking of incorporating Chai into ice cream and truffles too. How many tea bags would you suggest per 1 cup of cream? This is probably subjective, but I'd be interested to know your ratio as a starting point.

[nightscotsman]

I used 14 grams of loose chai for 250 grams of cream - based on the earl grey ganache we made in school, which calls for a 58% dark chocolate melted with about 1/5 milk chocolate. The flavor was on the subtle side and did not overpower the chocolate. If you wanted more pronounced spice you could bump it up to 20 grams.

[claire797]

Thank you! That will get me off to a nice start.

[Stacey TC]

Hello! I've been reading your helpful forums for a few weeks and am enjoying the friendly chatter and enthusiasm for foodstuffs. I thought I'd post a quick intro before asking questions.

I'm Stacey and live in the Midwest, USA. I've been making candies with my family since I was very little, using traditional recipies passed down for generations. I consider myself a hobbyist, but I do sell a bit from time to time. I've recently taken an interest in chocolate work.

I've had some trouble with a couple areas and am hoping someone might have a few tips!

I've been trying to make spice truffles (five-spice, cardamom, cinnamon, chili varieties) and have not yet been succesful. I'm using recipes from "Truffles, Candies and Confections" by Carole Bloom. The recipe calls for boiling cream, adding about 3tbl spice and steeping for 15 min, bring back to boil and strain cream into the chocolate. Each time I end up with gluey thick cream that sits in the strainer instead of passing through. I have to add extra cream to the chocolate each time, and the ganache has a grainy texture from the spice.

Any suggestions for improving the final product?

Should I perhaps use a cheesecloth bag to hold the spice instead of mixing it in the cream?

Edited February 9, 2007 by Stacey TC (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Welcome Stacey, nice to have another confectioner on board. One day we shall rule - there is getting to be so many of us.

Are you using whole or powdered spices? I would assume that whole spices would give you a less gluey cream if that were the case.

I've never much liked the whole cream infusing thing myself, I tend to use the essential oils in small quantities to get a nice strong flavour or I use alcohol infusions of the spice added in place of the booze in the recipe.

I'm sure there are others here who do more infusing in cream and who will be better able to answer your question.

[Rhubarb]

Infusing cream--particularly for long periods of time--draws a lot of moisture out of the cream, and the resulting truffle. Covering the pan while infusing will help, or you can use more spice and infuse for less time (I usually go about 4 min). Another option is to use whole milk (or half and half) instead of cream--after the infusion enough water will have evaporated the it will have the consistency of a thicker cream. A little experimentation should get something you like.

[Sebastian]

many spices will have so many starches - and some gums - in them that if you steep them, you get exactly what you're talking about. Some cinnamon powders, for example, are very, very high in these and can form an incredibly thick mass when exposed to hot water.

[Stacey TC]

Thanks for the tips! I'll do some experimenting. It's helpful to hear that I'm probably experiencing a "typical" problem with using powdered spices.

[Geminigirl]

Thanks for the tips!  I'll do some experimenting.  It's helpful to hear that I'm probably experiencing a "typical" problem with using powdered spices.

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From what I know steeping is usually done for whole spices instead of powdered spice.

Gemini girl

[Kerry Beal]

Update on this thread. I'm just working my way through the CIA book Chocolates and Confections. The author,Peter Greweling, suggests that the weight of cream be brought back up to the weight required by the recipe with milk after straining. He states that water is preferentially removed in the steeping process rather than fat so replacing it with milk is preferable to topping up with cream.

[alanamoana]

Update on this thread.  I'm just working my way through the CIA book Chocolates and Confections.  The author,Peter Greweling, suggests that the weight of cream be brought back up to the weight required by the recipe with milk after straining.  He states that water is preferentially removed in the steeping process rather than fat so replacing it with milk is preferable to topping up with cream.

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is this counterintuitive to lengthening shelf life of candies? by adding water, in the form of milk, back to your mixture are you decreasing shelf-life?

[Kerry Beal]

Update on this thread.  I'm just working my way through the CIA book Chocolates and Confections.  The author,Peter Greweling, suggests that the weight of cream be brought back up to the weight required by the recipe with milk after straining.  He states that water is preferentially removed in the steeping process rather than fat so replacing it with milk is preferable to topping up with cream.

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is this counterintuitive to lengthening shelf life of candies? by adding water, in the form of milk, back to your mixture are you decreasing shelf-life?

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The reason given is that by using more cream you are increasing the fat and increasing the chances that your emulsion will break. By using milk to replace the water that has been sucked out by the spices you are not adding 'extra' water, just replacing the removed water.

[escry]

I infuse cream alot and use whole spices never powders, including whole chiles.

I too replace water lost through evaporation. With a lid, five minutes infusion and a moist herb or spice (rather than dried) it is rare to lose more than 5% by evaporation. (Perhaps more with smaller quantities).

With a dried herb or spice (which for me is ancho chile by preference, and others only when I cannot get fresh) the infusion will soak up alot of moisture and some dairy fat. Using milk to replace the lost weight is a marvelous idea here. I'm going to give it ago. I have used water and cream and kind of guessed on how much of each. I guess one could also hydrate the infusion first - though I have yet to try this.

By replacing evaporation one can achieve consistency across batches and by doing the maths ensure water activity is kept under control.

[ChristopherMichael]

The reason given is that by using more cream you are increasing the fat and increasing the chances that your emulsion will break. By using milk to replace the water that has been sucked out by the spices you are not adding 'extra' water, just replacing the removed water.

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[Kerry Beal]

The reason given is that by using more cream you are increasing the fat and increasing the chances that your emulsion will break.  By using milk to replace the water that has been sucked out by the spices you are not adding 'extra' water, just replacing the removed water.

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I was always under the assumption that a higher butterfat% of cream (less water) is a very good thing. So if some water is lost in the infusion process and adding cream back instead of milk or water, then the cream would have a higher butterfat vs. water percentage. Is that correct or am I missing something? I'm just asking, because I have never heard anyone saying that you don't want to use a 40% over 35% butterfat cream, it's always the opposite.

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I think it's all about the texture of what you are trying to make. A traditional truffle ganache is a 2:1 dark or 2.5:1 milk or white emulsion of liquid in fat. Upsetting the ratios significantly increases the chance of the ganache breaking. I think the idea is that the spices are upsetting the ratio more significantly than the difference between 35 and 40% cream. That is what I'm getting out of the book anyway.

Edited February 28, 2007 by Kerry Beal (log)

[prasantrin]

Is it possible to use powdered spices to make truffles? I'm not really worried about a slightly grainy texture since they're for personal consumption only. I was thinking of adding some chai spice mix--it's just ground spices, not an instant chai mix--to ganache.

[Kerry Beal]

Is it possible to use powdered spices to make truffles?  I'm not really worried about a slightly grainy texture since they're for personal consumption only.  I was thinking of adding some chai spice mix--it's just ground spices, not an instant chai mix--to ganache.

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No reason not to. I've used the chai spice mix before and quite like the flavour. I also tried making an alcoholic infusion of chai spices and adding that. Gave an entirely different effect.

[escry]

I have developed a perspective on the percentage of fat in the cream used to make ganache, and correspondingly to the replacement of water lost through evaporation and cream through absorption.

To my taste, I like a ganache which has a ratio of dairy fat to cocoa fat of 0.80, and a moisture (water) level of 24%. I then ensure total sugars such that the sugar water syrup is 50 Brix. By using sugars of different relative sweetness, and some of a non-crystallizing nature, I can achieve any relative sweetness (9% being my favourite) and retard sugar crystallization.

OK, the maths sounds somewhat more complicated than a usual recipe. However, I have found the formula works pretty well for couvertures of different percentages (including milk chocolate) and across different manufactures. It has also guided my "what if" experiments and helped me decide on the percentages that suit my palate (or rather my customers palate).

[tammylc]

Is it possible to use powdered spices to make truffles?  I'm not really worried about a slightly grainy texture since they're for personal consumption only.  I was thinking of adding some chai spice mix--it's just ground spices, not an instant chai mix--to ganache.

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No reason not to. I've used the chai spice mix before and quite like the flavour. I also tried making an alcoholic infusion of chai spices and adding that. Gave an entirely different effect.

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I made a truffle center once that many people described as tasting like chai. It was made with a cream infusion of Cardamon-Cinnamon herbal tea from the Republic of Tea, which contains cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pink peppercorns, and star anise.