Hungry?

The Bible study spring dinner was this past Thursday at my house. The fiends were perturbed. They were incarcerated for the duration of the actual dinner (it was about 1 1/2 hours and they were in the bedroom, so don't feel to sorry for them. They also got tuna).

I made tuna salad, cheese puffs and truffles. There were other things brought, but that's what I made. I'm not fond of mayo, so I looked through some cookbooks for a dressing idea. I used the Cilantro Lime Pesto from Moosewood Daily Special. It contained cilantro (duh), scallions, dill, lime juice and olive oil. It was quite tasty. I think that when I make this again, I will either use less olive oil or use plain yogurt instead. The salad consisted of albacore tuna, toasted pine nuts, apple, grapes, onion and celery. It was very tasty.

The cheese puffs are not those poofy fake cheese powder covered things you find in the potato chip aisle. These were made with choux paste (what cream puffs and eclairs are made with) and I added garlic chives and cheddar cheese. Yum. They didn't turn out quite as I was expecting -- I think this has something to do with the fact that there is something wrong with the oven.

Truffles: white chocolate butterscotch, dark chocolate plain, milk chocolate mint and dark chocolate raspberry. Very tasty, much appreciated. I gave some to my mother for Mother's Day as well.

The basic truffle recipe:

• 6 oz chocolate (this is a little less then 2 Ghiradelli bars)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons flavor (I've used Schnapps, Godiva chocolate liquor, creme de menthe, Amaretto, Chambord)

1. melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water. Do not let it boil and make sure the top part of your double boiler doesn't touch the water. Stir occasionally.
2. remove from heat.
3. add cream and flavoring agent. I usually have the cream and flavoring already mixed in a separate bowl that I pour the chocolate into. This way, I can start another batch without washing and completely drying the double boiler between batches.
4. If you are adding any texture items, coconut, nuts, etc, add them now.
5. Let cool. If you're going to put it in the fridge, keep an eye on it. You don't want it to get to hard. For white chocolate -- you will need to put it in the fridge.
6. Form into balls. If rolling truffles, roll them in finishing agent (cocoa, 10x, nuts, coconut). Place in fridge.
7. If dipping in chocolate put the truffles in the freezer for ~30 minutes right before dipping, melt chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water. Remove from heat. I usually set on a trivet so my potholders don't get soaked. Place truffles in chocolate, roll to cover, remove and place on wax paper.
8. Refridgerate
9. Eat and enjoy.

Each batch (6oz chocolate) will yield around 2 dozen truffles depending on size and how much chocolate you eat while making :)

I usually make 4 batches at a time, as heavy cream comes in a 1 cup container.