Valentine's Day Recipe: Fresh Mint Truffles

Photo by Emily Clack

I was excited to work with Shenandoah Growers to make Fresh Mint Truffles on our Sweet Endings episode.  For the truffles, I infused the cream with the fresh mint to give them the perfect amount of minty flavor.  Then I added some Mint Chocolate Bailey's and I rolled them in crumbled thin mint cookies.  Wait until you taste them!  

Fresh Mint Truffles

1/2 pound good bittersweet chocolate
1/2 pound good semisweet chocolate
1 bunch Shenandoah Growers' fresh mint leaves
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons Mint Chocolate Bailey’s, optional
1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract
8 crushed Thin Mint cookies

Bring cream and mint leaves to boil in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Cover; let steep 1 hour. Strain into large bowl, pressing on leaves to release cream.   

Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife. Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.

  
Return cream to the small saucepan until it just boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the Mint Bailey’s, if using, and vanilla. Refrigerate until firm.

 
Scoop out balls of chocolate. Roll each dollop of chocolate in your hands to roughly make a round ball. Roll in crushed cookies. These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but serve at room temperature.

Special thanks to our Capital Cooking team:  Nick Szpara, Bim Mamber, Mike Sahl, Diana Blass, Kathryn Ruleman, Emily Clack, Kristen Finn, Tammy Hargrove and Corey Then.

These photos are copyrighted by Emily Clack 2011 and licensed directly to Capital Cooking.  For permission and pricing please contact Emily at Emily.clack@mac.com. You do not have permission to use, alter, crop, or remove the watermark.  Copyright will be enforced.