5 Ingredients or Fewer

White Chocolate and Fennel Truffles

by:
December 11, 2012
4
1 Ratings
  • Makes 15-20 truffles, depending on size
Author Notes

Ever since trying a fennel-flavoured milk reduction that was paired with a thick rich chocolate pudding at a supper club a few months ago I have been obsessed with adding fennel to sweet dishes and these little truffles might be my favourite recipe so far.
Adding fennel to chocolate is an unusual combination but it totally works. The subtle spice combined with the sea salt flakes cuts through the richness of the white chocolate ganache and makes this a lovely grown-up after dinner treat. —Sophia R

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Ingredients
  • 8 ounces white chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon fleur de sel
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
Directions
  1. Start by toasting the fennel seeds in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant. Crush in a pestle and mortar.
  2. Gently heat the cream together with the crushed fennel seeds. Once the cream starts steaming, turn off the heat and let the cream infuse for 30 minutes. Strain and discard the fennel seeds.
  3. Re-heat the cream until just below the boiling point and pour over the chopped white chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Let cream cool until it is thick enough to shape truffles (you can place it in the fridge for a few hours if you want to speed up the process).
  4. Grab teaspoon-sized chunks of the ganache and roll into rough balls. Sprinkle sea salt flakes over the truffles and roll in the cocoa poweder. Finish with a single sea salt crystal.
  5. The truffles should keep for 1 week if kept in the fridge. If not serving right away, re-dust with coca powder just before serving.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Hi, my name is Sophia and I have a passion (ok, maybe it is veering towards an obsession) for food and all things food-related: I read cookbooks for entertainment and sightseeing for me invariably includes walking up and down foreign supermarket aisles. I love to cook and bake but definitely play around more with sweet ingredients. Current obsessions include all things fennel (I hope there is no cure), substituting butter in recipes with browned butter, baking with olive oil, toasted rice ice cream, seeing whether there is anything that could be ruined by adding a few flakes of sea salt and, most recently, trying to bridge the gap between German, English and Italian Christmas baking – would it be wrong to make a minced meat filled Crostata?

2 Reviews

Gingarr December 25, 2019
So tasty, never knew truffles were so easy to make! I let the mixture cool on the counter for 3+ hours, but it was still too liquid-y so I stuck it in the fridge for a day which firmed it up nicely.
Gingarr December 25, 2019
So I just made these again and realize I missed the step of straining the fennel seeds the first time. I strained most of them except for 1/4th of teaspoon for the second batch to give the truffles a bit of texture.