Amarula Truffles

Amarula chocolate truffle with a chocolate pastry dung beetle.

INGREDIENTS

PASTRY DUNG BEETLE

Butter 115g
Brown Sugar 125ml
Egg 1 large
Vanilla Essence 5ml
Cake Flour 470ml
Cocoa Powder 30ml
Baking Powder 5ml
Salt pinch

Baking Milk Chocolate 50g

AMARULA TRUFFLES

Dark Chocolate 160g
Butter 15g
Amarula 30ml
Cream 80ml
Pistachios 50g
Shortbread Biscuits 50g

Cocoa Powder 30ml
Desiccated Coconut 30ml

METHOD

PASTRY DUNG BEETLE

This chocolate pastry mixture will make enough for two large tart bases and a couple of dung beetle biscuits, depending on the size and thickness.

Cream the butter and sugar and add the egg and vanilla essence and beat until light. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt, mix well. Roll out to approximately 2mm thick between two sheets of plastic wrap, lightly floured. 

Bake at 180°C for 5-10 minutes for the dung beetle biscuits (and 10-20 minutes for the tart bases).

Allow to cool then decorate with baking milk chocolate.

AMARULA TRUFFLES

Chop up the chocolate evenly and place in a bowl with the butter and Amarula. Heat the cream until it is just about to boil, then pour over the chocolate and stir well until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. 

Remove the roasted, salted pistachio nuts from their shells. Roughly chop up the nuts and the shortbread biscuits, you want them to be quite chunky, add them to the ganache and mix well.

Spoon the chocolate mixture into semi-sphere moulds and place in the fridge for a couple of hours, or overnight. Once firm, remove from the moulds and place together to form a ball. Mix the cocoa powder and desiccated coconut in a bowl. Slightly warm the edges of the Amarula truffles by rubbing them gently in your hands, then roll in the cocoa and coconut mix.