Toffee and Truffles for Mother’s Day

I knew I wanted to make something special for my mother and grandmothers for Mother’s Day, but was guided by a few perimeters. Since they all live half way across the country I needed to make something that would be sturdy enough to be shipped and that would be able to survive a day or two in transit without spoiling. I also wanted my gift to seem more special than an everyday treat. Two sweets out of Kate Zuckerman’s The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle seemed perfect for the occasion. I became intrigued by this cookbook when her Apple Cider and Caramel Ice Cream was featured on Dessert First. The rest of the cookbook does not disappoint. For a high end restaurant dessert cookbook there are a surprising number of recipes that are appropriate to make at home. This excited me because I really like restaurant dessert cookbooks but often find they focus on plated desserts that seem more appropriate for a dinner party than everyday eating. I chose to make Kate’s Milk Chocolate and Almond Toffees and Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Espresso Truffles with Walnuts. (You can find an adapted version of the truffles here.) Both recipes were surprisingly easy to make (though a bit time consuming) and came out wonderfully.

I was a little worried that the toffee would be TOO much between the full flavor of the nutty toffee and the sweet milk chocolate covering, but they were actually perfect and quite addictive. According to Kate toffee can easily absorb humidity so dipping it in chocolate helps it from becoming unpleasantly tacky and chewy. However, even though the toffee was addictive in its own right, the truffles were still my favorite. They involved a rich dark chocolate ganache infused with cinnamon and flavored with a hint of espresso. The scooped ganache balls were then enrobed in more dark chocolate. While the recipe called for the truffles to be rolled in toasted walnuts, I switched it up by also using unsweetened flaked coconut and cocoa powder. I only tasted one because I wanted to save as many for my mother and grandmothers as possible, but it was amazing. But before you feel TOO bad for me I will say that I scraped the extra ganache out of my mixing bowl with my fingers. The ganache truly is the star of this truffle. The cinnamon and espresso add dimension to the ganache without overpowering the chocolate. Even my sister who doesn’t really drink coffee or eat dark chocolate enjoyed these, or so I was told. I packaged the sweets up in some cute boxes from Martha Stewart that I found at Michaels and sent them off for my family to enjoy.

The verdict: I really enjoyed the process of making these candies as well as the flavors that resulted. I would definitely make both recipes again as these candies seem perfect to put out a a party for people to nosh on.