Journey to the sweet side: Chocolate coffee truffles

Calling all chocoholics and coffee addicts!

Chocolate and coffee have always been BFFs, so it was a no brainer what to make for my husband's birthday, who cannot get up in the morning without a cup of coffee. Well he will get up, but his brain is left behind somewhere curled up in a bed upstairs.

A small sugar fix in the morning is also right up his alley, so I came up with this super easy recipe for a treat that combines both. Soooo I didn't really invent something special, since this is just dark chocolate ganache with coffee, but still ... these were actually my beginnings or better yet beginnings of a blog, which I started a little over a year ago (the original one, where I write in my language).

If you disregards the time that it takes for the ganache to thicken, it takes 10 minutes to make these small bites - 5 minutes to make the ganache and 5 minutes to form the truffles.

For approx. 20 truffles:

100 ml cream
200 g dark chocolate
3 tsp instant coffee
bitter cocoa

Chop chocolate in small chunks and put it into a bowl. Pour your cream into a small pot and heat it up to boiling point ( do not boil it), remove from stove and mix in instant coffee until it has completely dissolved. Pour the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes.

Mix the cream and chocolate until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is completely smooth. If not, heat it in a microwave for additional 15 - 30 seconds and mix until there are no hard pieces of chocolate left.

Cover the mixture with a foil, so that the foil touches the mixture. By doing so you prevent the mixture from crusting and then you don't end up with hard chocolate pieces in your truffles. You will loose a bit of the ganache when you peel of the foil, but it is really a small amount and I wouldn't worry about it. It is much nicer to have an even smooth mixture that lets in your mouth. Leave the mixture on a counter overnight or if you are in a hurry stick it in a fridge, but it will not thicken evenly as it would on a counter. It will become harder on the edge of the bowl and stay softer in the middle, so I would mix it a couple of times during cooling; you do not need to mix it, if you leave it on the counter. Leaving it overnight also has the added benefit that the coffee flavour can develop over time. You will taste the coffee much more the next day than when you initially mix it in, so don't overdo it.

When the mixture has thickened, you can it into truffles. You will know it is thick enough, when you can spoon a bit in your hand and form it into a ball shape. It won't thicken so much that you can form a perfect ball, but you can certainly make a ball like shape, kinda more rustic looking. If it does not want to thicken enough, put it in the fridge for a bit and try again. Roll the truffles in bitter cocoa. You can also use sweet cocoa, but the bitter one goes so much better with the coffee mixture.

If there are any left that need storing (not likely ... :) ), store them in the fridge, but leave them at a room temperature before serving again.