Christmas Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla pod
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 star anise
• 175 ml whipping cream
• 150 g white couverture chocolate
• 350 g milk couverture chocolate (32% cocoa content)
• 80 g soft butter
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder

Instructions

1. 1.

   Slice the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and pod to the cream, along with the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, and star anise. Bring the cream to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let steep for 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve and reserve the infused cream.

2. 2.

   Chop both types of couverture chocolate and set aside 100 g of milk couverture. Put the remaining chocolate in a bowl. Reheat the spiced cream, pour over the chopped chocolate, and gently stir until melted. Let the mixture cool and rest for at least 5 hours.

3. 3.

   Cut the butter into small pieces and gradually fold into the chocolate cream. Transfer to a piping bag with a large round tip and pipe equal-sized mounds or half-spheres onto parchment paper.

4. 4.

   Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then quickly roll each mound between your palms into small cones. Melt the remaining couverture, dip the truffles in it, let them drip, roll on a chocolate grid to give an uneven surface, and coat with cocoa powder.