Easy indulgence

Valentine’s Day is Friday? This Friday?

Oh dear, but it’s bucketing down with rain! I have a little one home from pre-school! I have 1,001 things that should have been done yesterday! There is no way I’ll be able to go browsing around the shops for a lovely little gift for Darling Husband...

Never fear, I have the absolute easiest chocolate truffle recipe *ever*, with storecupboard ingredients.

Take one large bar of chocolate (100g), either milk or dark; about 80ml of condensed milk; and a teeny splash of either vanilla or almond extract.

Optional ingredient: a few teaspoons of Cointreau, Amaretto or other liqueur.

Melt the chocolate and milk in a saucepan over very low heat, stirring gently once the chocolate starts melting, until you have a thick, creamy, smooth mixture (add a touch more condensed milk if chocolate is too thick, like dough).

Remove from heat and add any additional flavourings, then chill in the refrigerator for two hours.

Meanwhile, gather some coatings, such as these:

When the mixture is firm, scoop and roll into bite-sized balls, then coat decadently in preferred toppings

Chill until firm, then present lovingly to your sweetheart(s)! This recipe makes 10 truffles (okay, 11...but the cook must test one for quality control!). 

The children love the milk chocolate truffles, my oh-so-sophisticated palate prefers the dark chocolate...but what I love best about this recipe is that, surprisingly, the truffles aren’t overly sweet or too terribly rich. Very moreish! My mother made these at Christmas by the bucketful, and we gobbled them up! So of course I found another suitable holiday for indulgence...

Bon appetit, sweeties!

Chrissie x