Whiskey and cardamom truffles

It has been so quiet here on hoglundshomemade, some of you might wonder what I have been up to. I have not forgotten about my blog, not at all. I have just been working so much lately that there has simply been no time for experimenting in the kitchen. But things are looking brighter and I am now ready to start cooking up some yummy stuff again.
October is coming to its end and that means Halloween. Not my favourite holiday I have to say, but any reason to eat chocolate is good enough for me. There is all sorts of chocolates and sweets around at this time of the year, big bags of them that can be bought very cheap in the supermarkets, but unfortunately this stuff is not very tasty at all. Most of it is full of unnecessary . "Since when do the put paprika extract in chocolate?" I asked myself one day when reading the label of a well known chocolate bar. It just does not seem right.
After the dry spell in my kitchen and a few too many of those not so tasty chocolate bars I decided to make some really tasty chocolates but without all those unnecessary ingredients. An old and well tried recipe for chocolate truffles became very handy as it is very easy and does not require a lot of ingredients; some good quality chocolate, cream, butter and which ever flavour you like. The day i made the truffles I was loking for something rich, heavy and a bit on the boozy side. A dark chocolate and cardamom truffle flavoured with whiskey is what I made and they were so delicious. We had them in the evening after dinner with a cup of green tea, but they go just as well with black tea or coffee for those who like that. This recipe makes about 12-15 truffles.

100 grams dark chocolate (70%)
100ml cream
20 grams butter
20ml whiskey
2 cardamom pods

100 grams dark chocolate(70%), cocoa powder

Crush the cardamom pods open so the little black seeds come out, crush the seeds lightly. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Bring the cream and cardamom to boil, pour through a fine sieve over the chocolate, stir until the chocolate is melted. Add butter and whiskey, stir until smooth and shiny. Chill for at least 4 ours, preferably over night.
Dust your hands lightly with cocoa powder and roll teaspoons of the truffle mix into little balls. Chill for 1 hours. Melt the chocolate and roll each truffle in the chocolate until the surface is covered, roll in cocoa powder and chill. Keep in the fridge in an air tight container.

Pear, chocolate and almond tart

A few years ago I lived in an area in Dublin with fabulous gourmet food shops. Unfortunately they tend to be quite expensive so for daily grocery shopping they're not ideal, but for the occasional treat they do fill their purpose. One of these shops is a vegetable and fruit shop that also stocks farm fresh eggs, hand made cheeses, pasta, jars of all sorts of condiments, grains and pulses...The list is nearly endless and I always seem to find things in there that I might have been looking for in several other shops without any luck.
The other day I did not really need anything from there, I just cycled by and decided to have a look and there they were; these amazingly pretty pears, they were red, green and shiny. To pretty not to buy so I got two of them not even knowing what to do with them. But then an idea took place in my head after finding both ground almonds and dark chocolate in my cup board. Think chocolate frangipan in a cocoa flavoured pie crust, on top of that these juicy pears baked until slightly caramelized. Success.

Pastry

25 grams caster sugar

50 grams butter,at room temperature

65 grams plain flour

10 grams cocoa powder
1 egg yolk

Almond filling

75 grams butter,at room temperature

50 grams caster sugar

50 grams dark chocolate, finely chopped or grated
75 grams ground almonds

1tbsp plain flour

1 egg+1egg yolk

1 pear

Mix flour, cocoa powder and sugar, rub in the butter until it forms crumbles. Add the egg yolk and quickly mix into a dough. Roll out between cling film and line the baking tin. Put in the fridge while making the almond filling.

Beat butter and sugar pale and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk and continue to beat until smooth and well combined. Fold in almonds, flour and chocolate. Spread out in the pie crust. Peel the pear and cut into very thin slices. Arrange the pear slices on top of the almond filling and bake for 30-40min on 160C. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate and hazelnut muffins

I love to bake but find it terribly hard to control myself when I keep baked goods in the house, it is as if I cant walk by the kitchen without having another little sample. Lucky I have a job where I get to bake most days and that way get it all out of my system before I come home.
I do however still bake a lot at home, mainly before having guests, or if I am going to someone I can bring some fresh pastries. That way I can nearly pretend I am working and don't have to eat it all myself.
The other night though I just had a craving for something sweet to go with a cup of tea. After a look around in my cupboard I found some ground hazelnuts and decided to make some muffins. Hazelnuts are so delicious when toasted and added to cakes or muffins and goes really well with chocolate. So there it was; chocolate and hazelnut muffins. This make 8 normal sized muffins.

1 egg
75 grams butter
130 grams caster sugar
100 grams plain flour
30 grams ground hazelnuts
1.5tsp baking powder
75ml milk
1 1/2tsp cocoa powder

Melt butter and put aside to cool down. Combine flour, cocoa powder, hazelnuts and baking powder. Whisk egg and sugar until very fluffy and pale, add butter and stir until smooth. Add the dry ingredients through a sieve and fold in, last add milk and stir until all is well blended. Fill muffin cups to 2/3 and bake on 175C for 20min or until a skewer comes out dry. Let cool down.

Morehampton chocolate cake

When making these chocolate cup cakes a few months ago I explained the history of the cake called Morehampton; a Swedish sticky chocolate cake that turned into a hazelnut fudge cake when I lived on Morehampton Road. Last week I baked one of those and brought to a BBQ, it was very appreciated and nobody could belive this was put together in 35min, including the time in the oven. I used dark muscovado sugar instead of caster sugar, and put little chunks of dark chocolate on top of the cake before it went in to the oven, it made the cake even tastier.

150 grams butter
2 eggs
200 grams dark muscovado sugar
80 grams plain white flour
40 grams cocoa powder
90 grams hazelnuts
pinch of salt
50 grams dark chocolate

Chop the hazelnuts finely and toast in a hot frying pan until golden brown. Melt butter and let cool down. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, add melted butter and the egg, stir until well mixed. Pour in to a cake tin and sprinkle chopped dark chocolate on top. Bake for 25min on 175C.

Chocolate mousse

On a friday night after a lovely home cooked meal I crave dessert. It does not have to be big or fancy, just something sweet to hit the spot. After making parfait the other week I still had my mind set on chocolate and raspberries so after a quick look I realised I had all ingredients at home to make a chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis. This is an easy version containing eggs, butter, sugar and chocolate, it tastes very "chocolaty" so make sure you use good quality chocolate.

2 eggs, separated
70 grams dark chocolate
1tbsp butter
4 tbsp caster sugar

Melt chocolate and butter, let cool down to room temperature, carefully stir in the egg yolks. Beat egg whites until soft peaks appear and start adding sugar bit by bit. Whisk to a firm meringue. Fold the meringue into the chocolate. Divide in to cups or glasses and chill for a couple of hours before serving with fresh raspberries or raspberry coulis.

Raspberry chocolate parfait

Sometimes I don't really think things through before starting to cook or bake something and the result will always be a bit of a surprise then. This was the case when making this parfait; all I knew was that I wanted a yummy dessert and that I had to use what was in my freezer and cupboard. I always keep a bag of frozen raspberries in the freezer, I like to eat them defrosted with yogurt in the morning or to put in sponge cakes or muffins. Chocolate is another must have ingredient that always hangs around either my fridge or cupboard, dark, milk or white...
These two ingredients go so well together so there was no doubt the flavour of the dessert was going to be nice. Semifreddo has been a hit the last few times I made it so I decided to make something similar, but in French it is called Parfait.
The dessert went down a treat together with fresh raspberries and hot chocolate sauce.

Parfait
2 eggs, separated
200ml cream
60 grams caster sugar
40 grams dark chocolate
60 grams raspberries

Melt chocolate and let cool down. Whisk egg yolks and 30 grams of sugar until white and fluffy. In a separate bowl whip cream until soft peaks appear. Beat egg whites in a third bowl, when soft peaks appear start adding the sugar bit by bit while beating to a firm meringue. Divide the egg yolk mix in two and mix with raspberries in one bowl and chocolate in another. Add half of the cream to the raspberries and the rest of the cream to the chocolate. Last gently fold in the meringue. Pour in the chocolate mix in a tin and the raspberry on top. Freeze for 4 hours. Take out in room temperature 10min before serving.

Chocolate sauce
2tbsp cocoa powder
2tbsp caster sugar
1tbsp golden syrup
3tbsp water
1 pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a pot, stir until well combined. Bring to boil and let simmer for 3-4min while stirring. Serve hot on the side of the parfait.

Chocolate Macaroons

The other day I baked Macaroons again and they turned out nearly just the way I wanted. A crisp chocolate meringe shell with a chewy inside, filled with smooth milk chocolate ganache. I used this recipe and added 1tsp of cocoa powder to the icing sugar/almond mix. The milk chocolate ganache is very easy to make and I chose to kepp it plain, next time I might flavour it with some liqour or whiskey. I used Fair Trade milk chocolate of good quality.

Milk chocolate Ganache
100 grams milk chocolate
50ml cream
1tbsp butter

Bring the cream to boil and take off the heat. Add butter and chocolate, stir until the chocolate has melted and it all looks smooth and well combined. Set a side to cool down. The ganache is set when not runny anymore and thick in consistency. Fill the Meringe shells with the ganache and put together two and two. Chill before serving and store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Melt in your mouth chocolate biscuits

I got a lovely christmas gift 2010 containing a cookie stamp saying "Home made", so while baking these cookies I had the perfect opportunity to try the stamp out. The fancy cup and saucer is a christmas gift too and it really feels like a treat drinking tea out of a cup so fragile I should not be aloud to hold it.
I dont think I need to explain the biscuits, the name kind of says it all. They are very tasty and it is the potato starch that makes them melt in your mouth. In Sweden potato starch or potato flour can be found in nearly every super market, but in Dublin I had to go to the Asian market to get it.


10 biscuits

100 grams butter, room temperature
30 grams icing sugar
80 grams potato starch/potato flour
80 grams plain flour
1tbsp cocoa powder

Mix all dry ingredients. Beat icing sugar and butter white and fluffy with a hand held electric whisk. Gradually start to add cocoa powder, plain flour and potato flour while still beating. Continue until all flour is added and the mix is very smooth and easy to work with.
With Cookie stamp: Divide into 10 pieces about he size of a golf ball. Place on a baking paper on a baking tray, press the stamp on top of each cookie.
If you don't have a cookie stamp simply roll out small marble sized balls or you can press the mix through a nostril for a piping bag and will then get little "frilly finger-shaped" cookies.
Bake on 175C for 10min.

Baci

I came across "Baci's" a few years ago when I was working in an Italian restaurant in Dublin. They are wonderful little chocolates individually wrapped in blue and silver foil. Basically it is milk chocolate and hazelnut truffle, but the fast that each one of them also has a little toasted hazelnut on top as well as being dipped in dark chocolate just makes them divine. During my holiday in Italy last year I found them again and could not have been happier.
I have a book called "The Chocolate factory" (straight transalation from Swedish) and it is full of delicious chocolate recipes. I have my own kind of basic recipe for ganache/truffle but in this book I gladly found a brilliant recipe for milk chocolate truffles so in December 2010 I combined this recipe with the idea of Baci's and voila!

100 grams milk chocolate
50 grams butter, room temperature
50 grams icing sugar
50 grams hazelnuts, toasted and peeled

100 grams dark chocolate

Finely chop the hazelnut, it needs to be nearly like powder, leave 7 nuts whole. Melt chocolate in a bain marie, let it reach 35C but not more. Set a side. Beat butter and icing sugar until white and fluffy, slowly add chocolate while still beating. Last fold in haelnuts. With a piping bag pipe 14 small truffles on a tray lined with baking parchment. Chop each whole hazelnut in half and put one half on top of each truffle, let set in the fridge for 1h.

Temperate the dark chocolate and dip each truffle in the chocolate with help of a fork and spoon. Let chill again before serving or wrapping.

While making the Baci's I recalled having seen a bottle of home made Wild Strawberry liquor in the fridge that I wanted to use in desserts (dont really like drinking it on its own). Now strawberry and milk chocolate is for me always going to be a success so truffles I made. Same recipe as for the Baci's but instead of hazelnut I used 25ml of liqour. Dipped in dark chocolate and decorated with some icing colored red they turned out to be delicious!

Remember December

It is january 2011 and nearly half way in to this absolutely grey and dull month I am going to treat you all to a little peak of what was going on in my house in december 2010. A lot of sweet treats were made since Christmas seems to be the time of the year that everybody (including me) indulges in chocolates, cakes and biscuits, all washed down with mulled wine.

Chocolate toffes made with my dads mums recipe...

Mint kisses; a typical Swedish treat usually made around christmas.

Wild strawberry and milk chocolate truffles.

My own Baci; italian milk chocolate and hazelnut truffles

Mocha cup cakes

This recipe is something myself and my Swedish friends all remember from our childhood. It was something our mums would bake a large tray of and cut into squares, decorate with either coconut or colourful sprinkles. They freeze very well so sometimes we kept them in the freezer but the best is of course to enjoy them fresh. I made cup cakes out of the recipe and gave away some to my Swedish friend Stina, she knows how to appreciate a mocha cup cake. A little taste of Sweden in Ireland.

Muffins
1 egg
75 grams butter
130 grams caster sugar
130 grams plain flour
1.5tsp baking powder
75ml milk
1 1/2tsp cocoa powder

Melt butter and put aside to cool down. Combine flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Whisk egg and sugar until very fluffy and pale, add butter and stir until smooth. Add the dry ingredients through a sieve and fold in, last add milk and stir until all is well blended. Fill muffin cups to 2/3 and bake on 175C for 20min or until a skewer comes out dry. Let cool down.

Frosting
50 grams butter, soft
1tbsp cocoa powder
3tbsp coffee
180 grams icing sugar

3tbsp dessicated coconut

Beat butter, sugar and cocoa powder until smooth, slowly add coffee while still beating, continue beating the frosting until fluffy.

Spread the frosting on the cold muffins, sprinkle with dessicated coconut.

French chocolate meringues

I talk a lot about my mums and grandmothers recipes here on my blog but there is one particular thing (among other) that my dad thought me in the kitchen; Meringue. I remember a page cut out from a newspaper with the recipe for Italian meringue and it was quite the sience project at home when we made meringues. To make Italian meringue you need a kitchen thermometer to get the exact temperature of the sugar syrup that then is to be added to whisked egg whites slowly while constantly beating the mix until cold. Baking on low temperature for 3 hours sounds like a lot but it is so worth the trouble. I still remember waiting for all that time and then the pleasure of biting in to a crumbly, sweet, home made meringue. As if things were not good enough already it could get better; having the meringue served as a dessert with whipped cream and chocolate sauce...delicious.
Soon as I am the owner of a kitchen thermometer I will indeed make them and put up he recipe. For now these French chocolate meringues are not too bad either, and a lot easier to make.

50 grams eggwhite (usually around 2 egg whites)
125 grams caster sugar

50 grams dark chocolate

In a metal bowl combine egg whites and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, stir with a wooden spoon canstantly and remove when the mix is 60-70 or when you can not keep your finger in the mix without burning. Take off the heat and whisk the mix with an electric whisk until the mix is firm and has doubled in volume.
Melt the chocolate and fold into the meringue, leave it a bit uneven for more marbled effect. Use two large spoons to place big dollops of the mix on a tray with baking paper. Bake for 35min in 130C

A cupcake called Morehampton...

I have a new hobby; Cupcakes. These lovely treats I see everywhere I go and still it took me ages to actually make them myself. The other day I made Blackberry lemon cupcakes and they were lovely but I have now taken the concept cupcake a step furter. It started with a trip to my favourite shop Kitchen Compliments, Dublin, where I spent 10min trying to choose only 1 packes of muffin cups out of 2 baskets filled with all sizes, colours and materials. Then there were piping bags and nostrils and a few well spent euros later I came home and created this recipe. But before I give you the recipe I need to tell you the story of Morehampton...
..two years ago I lived on Morehampton road, Dublin4, in an old georgian house with 3 flatmates. In this house there was always people and most of them interested in food, either cooking it or eating it. A Swedish sticky cake is something absolutely delicious and so simple that even a small child could make it but as a chef it is always fun to take a recipe like this and give it your own personal twist. In this case a plain chocolate fudge cake is turned into a hazelnut brownie with chocolate ganache on top....I need to say no more. Here is the recipe for Morehampton Cupcakes with Chocolate frosting and dark chocolate ganache.

12 small cupcakes
75 grams butter
1 egg
100 grams caster sugar
40 grams plain white flour
10 grams vanilla sugar
20 grams cocoa powder
45 grams hazelnuts
pinch of salt

Chop the hazelnuts finely and toast in a hot frying pan until golden brown. Melt butter and let cool down. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, add meled butter and the egg and stir until well mixed. Fill Muffincups 2/3 and bake for 18 min on 160C. Let cool down while making the frosting.

Frosting
20grams cocoa powder
150 grams icing sugar
30 grams butter, room temperature
70 grams philadelphia cream cheese

Beat all ingredients in a bowl until fluffy and smooth.

Ganache
20 grams dark chocolate, chopped
20ml double cream
1/2tsp honey
1/2tsp butter

Place the chocolate in a bowl. Heat butter, honey and cream in a small pot until melted and close to boiling. Pour over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted and looks shiny and smooth.

Decorating
Pipe chocolate frosting in a pattern around the egde of the cupcake, place a small dollop of chocolate ganache in the middle, chill before serving.

Chocolate dreams

I could write pages full of praise for these melt-in-your-mouth biscuits. In fact I belive that if you bake these once you will never look at a shortbread recipe again. It is a sweet, crumbly and buttery pleasure to bite in to a Chocolate Dream.

The raising agent in this recipe is called powdered ammonium carbonate, I found it in the Asian Market in Dublin, but I get it sent over from Sweden as well since it is more widely used there. It is neccessary to use this particular ingredient for these biscuits, it is what makes them so fragile and crumbly.

75 grams butter, rommtemperature
160 grams caster sugar
120 grams plain flour
15 grams cocoa powder
1tbsp vanilla sugar
1/2tsp ammonium carbonate
75ml vegetable oil

Beat sugar, vanilla sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, slowly add oil while still beating. Combine flour, cocoa powder and ammonium carbonate and add to the butter/oil/sugar-mix.
Mix with your hands just until the crumbs forms a dough. Divide the doug in to equal size pieces and roll small balls. The size can be varied, I like them quite small so I'd say this recipe would give around 15-20 biscuits. Put the dough-balls on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake on 150C for 20 min.

English chocolate fudge

There is a few recipes that I promised never to give away but some promises can be broken if one starts a food blog and feel very giving in the autumn darkness. A couple of weeks ago I made these lovely treats that I have eaten for as long as I can remember, due to the recipe being from my grandmother. And if she did not make them it was my mum, and eventually myself. Home made English fudge is nothing like what you buy in the shop, no this is proper treats made with butter and cream, no way near a healthy option, just simply delicious, melt in the mouth chocolates...

Use salted butter, it is neccessary to break the rich and sweet flavour.

250 grams caster sugar
200ml heavy cream
30 grams butter
1tbsp vanilla sugar
3tbsp cocoa powder

In a pot combine all ingredients and let melt on a low heat. Bring to the boil and continue to simmer while stirring occaisonally.
The mix needs to reach "hard ball" temeprature wich is around 120C. I have never used a thermometer while making fudge, I just put a small bit of the mix into a glass of cold water. If the mix sets enough for you to make a little ball that keeps the shape, the mix is ready.
With a wooden spoon whisk virgously until the fudge has gone paler in colour and starts to change in texture, it should feel "sugary" when you taste it. Pour the mix onto a tray with baking paper on and let cool down before cutting into small squares with a sharp knife. When completely cold store in an airtight jar in the fridge.

Cornflakes in chocolate fudge...

This is the Swedish version of rice crispies treats; cornflakes+chocolate...well this recipe is a little bit more complicated than that, but still very easy to make. I remember the first recipe I ever tried was just equal amouns of honey, butter and cocoapowder put in a bowl in the microwave for a minute or so, then a couple of handfulls of cornflakes were covered in the chocolate mix. Later in life I discovered this recipe and wont go back!

50 grams butter
80 grams caster sugar
2tbsp golden syrup
2tbsp cocoa powder

cornflakes

Melt butter, sugar, syrup and cocoapowder on low heat in a pot. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 1min. Take off the heat and add enough cornflakes to be covered in the chocolate mix. Spoon the mix into little muffins cups and let set in the fridge before eating.

Irish coffee muffins

Autumn has come to Dublin and I love it! The weather changes constantly, the trees are turning yellow, red and orange, the sky is blue and the air is crisp and clear. For me autumn is the time you start enjoying cosy evenings in with hearty stews, warm freshly baked bread with home made jam for breakfast and hot drinks in front of the open fire.
After living 4 years in Ireland, in several cold and damp apartments and houses, you might think I have learnt to drink whiskey. Unfortunately I still have a lot to learn when it comes to appreciating strong alcoholic drinks for their flavour and not effect, but I have come so far that one year ago I learnt to like Irish Coffee. Strange for someone who does not drink either coffee or whiskey, but it sure is something special with sipping hot coffee with a kick of whiskey through a layer of cold, thick cream that just makes me crave for more. Yesterday it was premier for our first Irish coffee for this season but I have taken the concept a little further; a very traditional Swedish cake recipe has been transformed in to muffins with flavours inspired by the Irish coffee. Here is the recipe for 12 delicious muffins that has to be tried.

130 grams butter, room temperature
170 grams caster sugar
2 eggs
280 grams plain flour
2tsp baking powder
150ml milk
2tsp cocoa powder
2tbsp coffee liquor (tia maria or kahlua)
2tbsp Irish whiskey

Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, add one egg at the time while still beating the mixture. Add flour and baking through a fine sieve and stir in the milk into a smooth, thick batter. Divide into to bowls. Flavour one part of the batter with the whiskey, flavour the other part with cocoa powder and coffee liqour. Add the white mix to the brown and give a little stir to create a marbled effect. Divide into 12 muffin cups and bake on 175C for 15 min .

Hazelnut and chocolate biscotti.

In Italy it is very common to be given a little biscotti with your cup of coffee and I love the idea. Something crunchy and sweet but simple enough. Here in Ireland, and in Sweden as well, we tend to make them a little bigger than those tiny nibbles the Italians serve us, so when I made these hazelnut and dark chocolate biscottis the other day I was generous on the size. It is so simple and they keep for very long in an airtight jar, so you always have something to offer when you get unexpected visitors.

220 grams plain flour

220 grams sugar

110 grams nuts

50 grams dark chocolate

2tsp baking powder

3 eggs

Chop nuts and chocolate roughly, mix with the dry ingredients. Add the eggs and mix until it forms a loose dough. Divide in two and make two sausage shaped rolls, put a tray with baking paper. Bake for 15-20min on 220C. Cut in 2cm wide slices, separate the biscotti and put on the tray with a little space in between. Let dry on 50C for about an hour. Serve with tea or coffee.

Raspberries and chocolate...

When I was in the last year of catering school I did my work experience in a very wellknown, old cafe/patisserie in Stockholm city. There was seperate kitchens for each department and I was lucky enough to try out each one of them. In the end I did end up working in one of them where we cooked light lunches such as soups, salads and sandwiches made on bread baked the same morning...

...but during my work experience my favorite was definatley the chocolaterie, that was a room one floor down that was almost completly covered in marble and filled with chocolate. I know, it was a dream coming true and in this very place I was thought how to make chocolate truffles. This place is going through a lot of chocolate every week so of course the whole procedure was a little different than when I make truffles at home, but the only difference really is the quantity.

My favorite flavours was always the truffles made from dark chocolate, and cardamom or raspberry are probably still the top two.

Yesterday I decided to make some raspberry truffles at home and it was a sucess! I here give you the recipe that will be enough for 12-14pieces, depending on what size you want them. Raspberry pure is just made from defrosted raspberries pressed through a fine sieve.

Ganache

100grams dark chocolate

50ml cream

50grams raspberry pure

1tsp honey

1tsp butter

25grams dark chocolate

5tbsp granulated sugar, red food colour

Break the chocolate in to small pieces and put in a bowl. In a pot mix cream, raspberry pure, honey and butter. Gently heat up, almost to boil. Pour this over the broken chocolate and stir until completly smooth. Chill for at least 4 hours.

With cold hands shape 12-14 round balls. Put in the fridge again.

Melt the chocolate. If you want the coating to be pink just add a couple of drops of food colour to the sugar and mix with a fork until the colour is even. Roll the chocolate balls in melted chocolate and then in the sugar. Store the truffles cold and dry.