Earl Grey Truffles

I have a new and special treat for tea lovers today – earl grey truffles! The tea flavor in these is subtle, but still identifiable. That’s kind of the trick with tea infused truffles. You have to find the perfect middle point between too weak and too strong (and bitter).

Also, a quick note on tea. Most of you have probably heard when cooking with wine to choose one you’d be happy to drink, and the same goes for tea. I tried a few different earl greys for these truffles, and found that this tea yielded the best flavor.

Our good friend Patrick is the winemaker at Merry Cellars Winery (Pullman locals or anyone passing through town, you should definitely stop by!), and he asked me to make these for an event a few months ago. I have to admit that it’s not a flavor I would have probably thought to make, which is one reason why I’m so excited about them!

You’ll see below, or if you’ve looked at any of my other truffle recipes, that truffles take a few steps. I know that can look a little daunting, but I actually love that about these. It means that I can break the recipe into multiple stages, and I don’t need to be in the kitchen all day if I don’t want to be!

Ingredients

3/4 cup heavy cream
4 tbs earl grey tea (you can also use tea bags – just cut open and pour out the leaves.)
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions

Add heavy cream to a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the tea leaves. Continue stirring the cream regularly so it doesn’t scald on the bottom. You will know it’s ready when the cream turns a light brown color (see photo below for reference), and it has reached a low boil.

 

Pour the cream and tea mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a measuring cup, and strain out the tea leaves. I like to use a small spoon or spatula to press extra liquid out of the leaves before discarding them.

Note on the cream: You actually need 1/2 cup of hot heavy cream, but the tea leaves soak up a decent amount of it. After removing the tea leaves I’m left with usually just slightly more than a 1/2 cup of cream. Truffles have a little wiggle room, so a little more than 1/2 cup is just fine – waste not!

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips, in a heat safe bowl. Wait a few minutes, and then stir together. If the chocolate chips haven’t completely melted, heat in the microwave in 10 second increments until the chocolate is smooth. Stir in the sugar and salt until all combined.

Chill the chocolate mixture in the fridge for 1.5-2 hours. It’s ready when you can easily roll the chocolate into balls without it becoming a gloppy disaster, but it hasn’t hardened so much that the chocolate can’t be formed.

Roll 1/2 Tbs balls of the chocolate ganache – I usually get about 30.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate chips in the microwave (again, in increments) until smooth.

Dip the ganache balls in the melted bittersweet chocolate. Chocolate dipping tools are actually super handy for this step! The first time I made truffles I didn’t have them, and they still tasted great, but didn’t look super fancy.

After dipping the truffles, put them back into the fridge until the chocolate has hardened.

Truffles are wonderful because they seem fancy, but they’re actually really easy. They’re also a fun way to play with new flavors, like I did with these.

I hope you enjoy!

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