Delectable chocolate truffles gently infused with lemon balm. What a treat. The recipe is an easy one with milk chocolate ganache shaped into balls and rolled in cocoa powder. The result is a smooth and creamy truffle with a subtle fragrant tone.
In a small pan, bring the cream to the boil. Turn the heat off. Throw in a handful of fresh lemon balm leaves and clamp the lid on. Leave for a couple of hours or more to infuse.
When you're ready to make the truffles, gently melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of hot water.
250 g milk chocolate
Bring the cream back up to near boiling point again, then pour through a sieve over the chocolate. Squeeze as much of the cream out of the lemon balm leaves as you can, then discard them.
Add the honey to the bowl, then use a whisk to gently stir, almost fold, the liquids together until you have a beautiful glossy mass. Stop stirring as soon as it's mixed to avoid splitting the ganache.
½ tsp honey
Leave the ganache to set.
Sift the cocoa powder into a shallow bowl.
1 tbsp cocoa powder
Either roll the set ganache into small balls between the palms of your cold hands or use a small scoop. Place the balls a few at a time into the bowl of cocoa powder and roll them around until covered. Transfer to a clean plate. Repeat until you've used up all of the ganache.
For a cocoa free version, pour the ganache into chocolate moulds and leave to set. Once set, place in the freezer for an hour. You can then turn them out without fear of them sticking.
Notes
For a stronger lemon flavour, use lemon verbena instead of lemon balm.Try to use a good quality milk chocolate. If you can't fine one that's around the 40% cacao mark, swap 50-100g of the milk chocolate for dark chocolate.You’ll find additional tips and info about this recipe in the main body of the post.Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on serving size and exact ingredients used. Please refer to my nutrition disclaimer for further information.