In their purest form, truffles are made from ganache, a simple mixture of chocolate and cream. Cream is heated slowly and then combined with rich chocolate to create a smooth, creamy mixture. Wonderful on its own, ganache also creates a brilliant canvas for a variety of flavors while still allowing chocolate to play the starring role.

This recipe infuses cream with the flavors of the New World spice trail and East Asia with a hint of allspice and a subtle note of aromatic black tea. Allspice is the dried berry of the pimiento tree and is native to the West Indies as well as South America. It combines the flavors of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg with a nuance of spicy-fruity black peppercorns.

Crushing the berries yourself allows you to extract the maximum amount of flavor from them. You can find whole allspice berries in most supermarket spice aisles. Look for loose long-leaf black tea in your local specialty foods store or just snip open tea bags from the supermarket (suggested: Lipton Black Pearl).

Heating the cream slowly allows for full flavor extraction, and a last minute addition of butter rounds out the flavors. Pair these truffles with a tawny port or a fruit-forward red wine. With their alluring harmony of flavors, these chocolate truffles are the perfect end to a day of boutique treasure hunting.

Black Tea and Allspice Chocolate Truffles

Yield: Thirty truffles

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Pound good quality bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 Cup heavy cream
• 1/2 Teaspoon whole allspice berries
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon loose long-leaf black tea leaves
• 1/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
• Chocolate shavings or cocoa powder, for rolling truffles

Method:

• Using a sharp knife, finely chop chocolate and place in heat-proof bowl.
• Crush allspice berries with the bottom of a small saucepan.
• Place cream, crushed allspice berries and tea in small saucepan. Heat the cream over medium heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and steep 30 seconds.
• Pour cream through fine mesh sieve into chocolate. Slowly whisk until chocolate is completely melted.
• Stir in vanilla and butter.
• Refrigerate 45 minutes to an hour.
• Using a 1/2 teaspoon measure, scoop balls of the mixture onto parchment-lined tray.
• Refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Place chocolate shavings in pie pan. Roll truffles in your hand to melt the outer layer of ganache, and then roll in chocolate shavings or cocoa powder.
• Serve at room temperature.

PHOTO CREDITS

Photo courtesy of VendiRei Jones