CHOCOLATE WALNUT TRUFFLES - ORAHOVE KUGLICE

Place of origin: Croatia

An old truffle recipe (from Dalmatia) that I found in my granny Elisabeta's (mum's side) cookbook from mid 20th century. Easy and delicious :-)

INGREDIENTS

250 g walnuts

250 powdered sugar

100 g dark chocolate (powdered or grated)

1 egg white or app 100 ml kirsch

1. Grind walnuts and grate chocolate – or you can put them together (cut chocolate in small pieces) in a food processor and process until finely ground. Of course, some small chunks will remain, but if you don’t mind them…. I didn’t :-) You just might want to stop the processing one or two times and break the mass with a spoon to grind it more finely.
2. Add egg white or kirsch (don’t add all of it if using kirsch) and process again or mix with wooden spatula if you’re doing it by hand. If using kirsch, check if the mixture is compact enough by trying to make a small ball. If it’s too dry and is falling apart add the remaining liqueur. If necessary, add a bit more. You can do the same when using egg white (as they vary in size) – if the mixture is too dry, you can add some water or also a liqueur.
3. Using a teaspoon, place small amount of the mixture on your palm and roll into a ball. I usually keep the bowl on a digital scale to make them of the approximately same size (15-20 g each).
4. Roll the truffles into unsweetened cocoa powder or sugar, if you like, or just leave them as they are
5. Place them in truffle cases and let them dry in the air for couple of hours before refrigerating (or serving) them.

HINTS:

• if you’re serving truffles to kids, use the egg white ;-)
• if you’re using the liqueur, you don’t have to use kirsch. I didn’t as I didn’t have any. So I looked at my bar to see what I have there that would go well with walnuts and chocolate. And I’ve picked Cointreau. But it has very strong and distinctive taste so I’ve used 70 ml of Cointreau and 30 ml of Brandy. I think Rum would be a good choice too. Or some other orange or nut flavored liqueur.
• this is an old recipe from my granny’s cookbook from the mid 20th ct. So it asks for a lot of sugar. Personally, I found it too much. If you like it sweet, keep it as it is. If you don’t, reduce sugar according to your taste. Start with around 2/3 of it (app 170 g sugar for 250 g walnuts) and taste the mixture. If you find it sweet enough, leave as it is. If not, add more until you reach the desired sweetness. You will need little less liqueur if using less sugar. If you’re using the egg white and the mixture is too sticky, add some more ground walnuts or chocolate.

ORAHOVE ČOKO KUGLICE
 

Recept za ove  kuglice od čokolade i oraha sam našla u staroj kuharici none Elizabete iz sredine 20. st. Tako su jednostave, a vrlo ukusne. :-)

SASTOJCI

250 g oraha

250 šećera u prahu

100 g tamne čokolade (ribana ili u prahu)

1 bjelanjak ili 100 ml maraskina

1. Sameljite orahe i naribajte čokoladu - ili ih zajedno možete staviti u multipraktik (čokoladu nasjeckajte / izlomite na manje komade) i "mljeti" ih dok ne postanu fino mljeveni. Naravno, ostati će nešto većih komadića, ali ako vam ne smetaju.... meni nisu :-) Zaustavite rad multipraktika jednom ili dvaput i razbijte masu žlicom/kuhačom kako bi se sve bolje samljelo.
2. Dodajte bjelanjak ili maraskino (ako koristite maraskino, nemojte dodati sve odjednom) i ponovno uključite multipraktik da se sve dobro izmiješa (ili miješajte kuhačom ako radite ručno). Ako koristite maraskino, provjerite da li je smjesa dovoljno kompaktna tako da probate napraviti lopticu. Ako je smjesa presuha i raspada se, dodajte preostali liker. Možete, prema potrebi, dodati i malo više. isto možete učiniti i s bjelanjkom (s obzirom da su različitih veličina) - ako je smjesa presuha, dodajte malo vode ili likera.
3. Žličicom stavljajte malo smjese na dlan i oblikujte loptice. Obično kad radim truffles držim zdjelu na digitalnoj vagi tako da mi kuglice budu otprilike jednake veličine (15-20 g).
4. Uvaljajte kuglice u nezaslađeni kakao ili kristal šećer, ako želite, ili ih ostavite kako jesu.
5. Stavite ih u košarice za truffles i ostavite da se posuše na zraku prije posluživanja ili spremanja u frižider.

SAVJETI:

• ako ćete kuglice posluživati djeci, koristite bjelanjak ;-)
• ako koristite liker, možete upotrijebiti i neki drugi, a ne samo maraskino. Tako sam i ja učinila jer ga nisam imala. Pa sam zavirila u vitrinu vidjeti što ima, a da bi se slagalo s orahom i čokoladom. Odluka je pala na Cointreau, no kako on ima vrlo snažan i izražen okus, upotrijebila sam 70 ml Cointreaua i 30 ml Brandyja. Mislim da bi i rum bio dobar izbor. Ili neki drugi liker s okusom naranče, višnje ili orašastih plodova (orahovac recimo).
• kako je ovo stari recept iz sredine 20. st., traži puno šećera. Meni osobno je po originalnom receptu malo preslatko. Ako volite slatke kolače, zadržite navedenu količinu šećera. Ako ne, smanjite šećer na 2/3 (dakle oko 170 g šećera na 250 g oraha) i probajte smjesu. Ako vam je dovoljno slatko, ostavite tako. Ako nije, postepeno dodavajte ostatak šećera do željene slatkoće. Ako stavljate manje šećera, trebat će vam i manje likera. Ako koristite bjelanjak i smjesa je preljepljiva, dodajte još malo mljevenih oraha ili ribane čokolade.

Recipe by Linda