Sunday, October 2, 2016

Kathy Aaron's Chocolate Truffles

Join us here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen in welcoming guest Kathy Aarons, author of the Chocolate Covered Mysteries, who brings us a very special treat today: a chocolate truffle recipe!

Chocolate Truffles by the Expert

People think that writing the Chocolate Covered Mystery series means that I know how to make truffles. I certainly didn’t know how at the beginning, but I (kind of) do now.

Luckily for me (and the readers), the recipes are provided by a real chocolatier -- Isabella Knack, owner of Dallmann’s Fine Chocolates in San Diego, California. She creates gorgeous works of art that taste amazing.

Unfortunately, I just have to test all of the recipes in the books. I have no choice – it’s in my contract! Even after all of my testing, my truffles end up being little ugly lumps, but they are still delicious.

This recipe – Irish Cream Ganache - is in Behind Chocolate Bars, the third book in the Chocolate Covered Mystery series. I took photos as Isabella made them in her work kitchen. The recipe is a little different at the end – she put the ganache in beautifully air-brushed chocolate instead of premade chocolate molds. But the end result of both is sheer delight.


Irish Cream Ganache (yields 100 pieces)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup glucose syrup
1-3/4 cups dark chocolate
4 tsp. butter (softened)
2 TB Irish Cream

Premade chocolate molds – available at candy shop and online

Preparation:

A. Combine the heavy cream and glucose syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil.




B. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes.



C. Using a spatula, stir the mixture in small circles of the bowl until it emulsifies.



D. Stir the soft butter into the ganache until it’s incorporated.

E. Add the liqueur, stirring until the mixture is homogeneous.

F. Pipe into premade chocolate molds. 



G. Chill

H. Serve




And if that's not enough sweet goodness, Kathy is offering a giveaway! Leave a comment here (with your email) and you can choose from any of the books in the series: 
Death is Like a Box of Chocolates, Truffled to Death, or Behind Chocolate Bars. (If you live in the continental United States, you can choose either print or ebook format; if you're outside, only the ebook format) 



BEHIND CHOCOLATE BARS


DOUBLE, DOUBLE-BOIL, AND TROUBLE…

Best friends and business partners Michelle and Erica have a monstrous to-do list as they prepare for the annual West Riverdale Halloween Festival. Their shop, Chocolates and Chapters, will have a booth at the event, where Michelle will serve spooky delights while Erica displays an assortment of spine-chilling books. Thank goodness the teenagers from Erica’s comic-book club are chipping in to help. But one of their volunteers winds up in trouble after a woman’s body is found in an abandoned house—with the teen’s superhero key ring close by.

The teen swears he didn’t do it, but he’s obviously hiding something—leaving Michelle and Erica with a witch’s cauldron of questions. Soon they discover that the dead woman was tricking a whole bunch of people out of more than just treats. Now these two friends must go door-to-door if they hope to unmask a killer…


Kathy Aarons is the author of the nationally bestselling CHOCOLATE COVERED MYSTERY series by Berkley Prime Crime. Research for the series was such a hardship: sampling chocolate, making chocolate, sampling more chocolate, and hanging out in bookstores.

She began writing when her youngest daughter attended school five days a week and pursued publishing more seriously when her oldest daughter went off to college. Now an empty-nester, she continues to advocate for arts education for youth, serving as president of the board of directors for Playwrights Project (http://playwrightsproject.org/), advising and teaching for the Middle School Writing Series, and volunteering for the CCA Writers’ Conference (http://ccawritersconference2016.weebly.com/), the only free writing conference for high school students in the country.

She’s also president of Partners in Crime – the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime, a national mystery writers’ organization (http://www.sistersincrimesd.org/ ).

You can follow Kathy on Facebook or Twitter or visit her at: www.kathyaarons.com.


42 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the Irish cream truffles recipe, Kathy. I still make homemade chocolate truffles as holiday gifts, using either cognac, amaretto or Irish cream as my liqueur. They are certain not as uniform as Isabella's since I do not use molds but are nonetheless, very tasty! Thanks for the chance to win one of your books. grace dot koshida at gmail dot com

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    1. They sound delicious! Good luck!

      Kathy Aarons

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  2. Love this truffle recipe! And ALL of the books sound amazing! EMS591@aol.com

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  3. I enjoy seasonal themed mysteries and who can resist a book with chocolate in the title? dbahn(at)iw(dot)net

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    1. Hope you enjoy the Halloween theme! Good luck!

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  4. The revipe sounds so doable for someone that has never made candy! I may give it a try. I am definitely going to read this series! Love chocolate!!!

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  5. Love this series even got my Mom into it! And those truffles look absolutely delicious. kkdaley(at)comcast(dot)net

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  6. Great recipe. I look forward to reading these books. I keep finding new authors, to me, to read. Leona
    mnleona@aol.com

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  7. Delectable recipe. Thanks for this wonderful feature and giveaway. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

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  8. This looks yummy centraleast2 at gmail dot com

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  9. The recipe is enticing as are the books. Many thanks. elliotbencan(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  10. This looks like a winner for Christmas. suefoster109@netzero.net

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  11. Thanks for sharing with us today! Such a generous giveaway to let the winner choose which book in the series they want! I love the Halloween goodies on the cover of the new book.

    Bec
    Rlewis11797 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  12. Recipe sounds wonderful, as does your series - which I haven't read YET!

    kpbarnett1941[at]aol.com

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  13. By using a chocolate mold you don't have to think about lumpy shapes.
    clever and yummy.
    libbydodd at comcast dot net

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  14. I am very a big fan of this series! I can't wait until the newest book comes out. Especially since it takes place during Halloween time! These truffels sound delicious! And I love the idea of using the chocolate molds. It makes these seem doable. Thank you so much for the chance to win!!! magicgirl2357@yahoo.com

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  15. This is a new series and author to me and I can't wait to read this series. Especially, for the recipes. Can't wait to read.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

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  16. Thank you for the chance and love the series so far!!
    tiggercat24alisha@yahoo.com

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  17. Maybe you could bring some of these truffles to our next critique group mtg?! Congrats on the upcoming release of book #3!🍾

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  18. I can't live without chocolate, and I love truffles! Thanks for the recipe and the giveaway!

    Dblaser(at)windstream(dot)net

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  19. Awesome! I love chocolate and your books sound so much fun to read!donamaekutska7@gmail.com

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  20. Love your recipe, Kathy! And your book sounds delicious! Can't wait to read it.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you like it! When is your next mystery coming out?

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  21. I am always looking for food gifts for the holidays. These would be great in a cute tin for my friends.
    Thank you for the recipe and the great giveaway!

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  22. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Looks great and I will have to try this one as Christmas and Halloween are coming. Please enter me in the contest.
    Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com

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  23. Thanks so much to all of you Mystery Lovers Kitchen authors for having me on your blog!

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  24. Those look absolutely AMAZING. I can't wait to try them. I'm going to gain so much weight this season, too many great books and recipes right now. =) Thank you for sharing!!! konecny7(at)gmail(dot)com

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