hazelnut rum truffles

Remember that old Conan O'Brien sketch If They Mated ... ?

Well this is, in my mind, what would happen if Captain Morgan got it on with a jar of (vegan and fairly traded) Nutella.

These truffles are intense. They're for and inspired by J, who was recently accepted into the university program of her choice (yay for going back to school! I so miss academia ...). When asked what kind of treat she'd like to commemorate the occasion, she shyly inquired if it would be much trouble to make my truffles again. And would it be possible (little grin) to make them with rum?

So these truffles are for her, and with any luck will have her dancing on a table with a lampshade on her head by the end of the night (and: tonight is a double-celebration -- her husband B just got a new and awesome job. His celebration treat will make an appearance in my next post).



hazelnut rum truffles

what you need ...

100 g. whole raw hazelnuts (filberts)

5 oz. Dagoba fair trade Milagros chocolate drops (68% cocoa)
5 oz. CocoaCamino fair trade Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbsp. non-hydrogenated vegan margarine (room temperature)
6 Tbsp. dark spiced rum
1 Tbsp. soy cream

50 g. sliced raw hazelnuts

what you do ...

First, you need to roast your whole hazelnuts. Set your broiler to 400° F and put your hazelnuts into a shallow pan, then place the pan in the upper third of your oven. Let the nuts roast for about 5-8 minutes, watching them carefully -- they can go from toasty to burned in a blink. Once they're all toasty, remove from the oven and let cool. When cool, rub them between your fingers to remove as much skin as possible and then grind to a coarse meal. Set aside.

In a small pot over medium-low heat, combine margarine, rum, and soy creamer and cook, stirring constantly, until margarine is melted. Lower heat and dump in chocolate, stirring constantly until melted (this should only take a moment or two), then add ground hazelnuts, remove from heat, and mix well.

Pour contents of pot into a shallow pan and refrigerate until the chocolate sets up (you want it firm enough that you can roll it. Don't worry if it gets too hard, you can always let it sit out a bit to soften).

While the chocolate is setting, get your work surface ready. Put sliced hazelnuts in a shallow dish and lay down parchment paper.

When chocolate is set, roll Tbsp.-sized balls between your palms (yes, this can get messy ...) and then either roll in sliced hazelnuts or place a few sliced nuts on top. Repeat until there's no chocolate left, then place truffles in fridge to re-set (the truffles will be soft with all that rolling, but don't worry -- they set up perfectly). Once set, store in the fridge in well-sealed containers.

* Remove truffles from fridge about 10-20 minutes before you want to serve them and let them sit in a cool place.


Because there seems to be a blogging event for just about everything, and because these truffles are most definitely rummy, I'm submitting them to Joelen's TGIF: Caribbean Adventure event.