Smoked Truffles with Strained Yogurt and Homage to Leila Brandao

Almost two months ago I attended a food bloggers conference Food bloggers Connect held in the sophisticated Hempel Hotel in London, where I met lots of fellow bloggers and learnt and discovered many things. One of the best and yummiest discoveries being the artisan chocolates of Leila Brandao. So beautiful with attention in every little detail, exquisite and classy they deserve to grace the most elegant celebration!

I confess it the most irresistible Petit Delice for me was the white brigadeiro with pearlised tiny white waffle dragees! Just look at them!

So in homage to Leila I decided to decorate this tea-infused truffle with pearlised mini dragees.

I though about infusing the truffle with the smoky Lapsang Souchong tea (it's all part of my obsession with home-made tea-infused chocolates)- which on a first try is quite weird and to be honest I can't really drink it. Just the smoky taste is too much for me.

But on the other hand it works perfectly for infusing chocolate as the chocolate smoothes its strong flavour and the combination works really well with strong dark chocolates. To smooth it even more I added a spoonful or two of strained Greek yogurt and to keep indulgence under control, a 0% fat one. But I think the full fat yogurt would have given it more shiny texture and richer taste.

I was really pleasantly surprised to find out this experiment actually worked and the inspiration to try various different liquids fr ganache came from Paul A. Young's book Adventures with chocolate which I recommend, although he does not use strained yogurt.

And at the end, what better way to say good bye to the summer which came back for a week to the cool and wintry British isles pulling out thousands of people out of their homes and bringing them to the beaches and in the parks, gathering around barbecues and enjoying the sunshine and warm weather.

Now I really feel I can let the summer go and embrace autumn and winter.

See you next year, summer!

Products:

(yields around 30)

100 ml water

2 tbsp lapsang souchong tea

1 tbsp dried goji berries

60 ml tea

3 even tbsp greek yogurt 0% fat

200 gr dark chocolate 72% cocoa (I used Green and Black's)

for decoration: pearl mini balls and stars sprinkles

Method:

Bring the water to the boil and add the tea and berries. Simmer for 5 minutes then set aside for more 15 minutes and strain. The reserved liquid should be around 60 ml.

In a bowl chop the chocolate into pieces.

Heat the liquid, then remove from heat. Add the yogurt and mix until smooth.

Pour the liquid over the chocolate and stir until the ganache is soft and smooth. Leave to cool and store in a fridge for 2 hours.

Take out of the fridge and with a spoon form balls like truffles. Roll in sprinkles and place in paper cases.