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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Hazelnut Truffles!



Ohhh boy. Hazelnut coffee every morning. Hazelnut Creamer. In Italy, the gelato of choice: nocciola. Favorite thing to go with peanut butter: Nutella. Needless to say, I was totally excited about this week's choice: Hazelnut Truffles. Yummm!!

But! Some things got in the way of making them strictly according to the recipe in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I went to virtually every store in Central Florida and found no hazelnuts! Ug! I know for a fact that I've purchased hazelnuts this time of year in New York... when I first came back from Italy last July armed with an authentic and delicious hazelnut biscotti recipe, I went to the closest Stop and Shop and picked up a big bag of them to immediately bake into the crunchy italian cookies. However! Just like I have trouble finding almond paste here in Fla year round (no such problem in NY) I could not get my hands on any hazelnuts. Arghh!! So I bought some macadamia nuts (which turned out to be half price, gotta love those at-the-register surprises!). And Dan's mom surprised me by picking out all the hazelnuts from a big container of mixed nuts! Is she not the nicest ever??? So, I learned how to blanch nuts, too... which turned out to actually be rather simple, really. And I wound up with a delicious mixture of toasted macadamia nuts and hazelnuts. The smell as they were toasting was... increddddddible.



After they were toasted, and cooled, I pulse chopped them in the food processor:


For the chocolate, I didn't use anything super fancy-shmancy. I chose the Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chocolate chips.


Oooh and the smell of the toasted nuts, the melted chocolate mixed with the Frangelico... mmmmm


For my topping, I experimented! After reading Nina's post on the Truffles P&Q page of the Sweet Melissa Sundays group site, I totally copied her idea for coating in Rice Krispy treats. Thanks, Nina! And it turns out great minds think alike, because when I read her post on truffles, I saw she decided to coat with Graham Cracker Crumbs, too. I had four toppings: Graham Cracker Crumbs, Nilla Wafer Crumbs, Rice Krispies, and the toasted nut mixture:


The end result? Ohhh so good. Even Daniel who "doesn't like chocolate" could be spotted poppin' a few in his mouth.





Be sure to read the other SMS Bloggers' posts on Truffles! And see Annie of Living Life Foodcariously for the recipe. Nice pick, Annie! It was a winner in this house.

22 comments:

Flourchild said...

Wow great choices for all the toppings! Im so sorry you could not find the hazle nuts...it is so frustrating when you can't find ingredients. I lucked out and found them in the bulk section at the store I grocery shop at! I was all ready to just use walnuts. I ended up using both. YOur truffles look splendid!

Katiecakes said...

Wow, what a cool variety of truffles! I love the Rice Krispy coating.

Katie xox

Nina said...

hahah great minds do think alike!
I was thinking about using wafer crumbs too, but I didnt have too much chocolate left after I covered the few truffles. I think of the truffles got lost on the way to getting covered. OOPS!

<3

Cristine said...

WOW! What wonderful varieties!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

They look good Stephanie! I'm in Central FL too and know that it can be fustrating. DO you have a Fresh Market or Whole Foods relatively close to you? I am about 25/30 minutes from each one in opposite directions. I only go there when I'm looking for something special. Also, Publix will special order a lot of things. I just ask the manager.
~ingrid

margot said...

Love the variety of toppings, they look amazing! That was so nice of Daniel's mom to pick out the hazelnuts for you; I guess next time you actually find hazelnuts you'll know to stock up!

Fallon said...

I love hazelnuts too! I will toast them up and store them in the freezer, taking a handful for a snack sometimes. Do you have a Wholefoods or Trader Joe's near you? I know they carry hazelnuts year round. Trader Joe's has a better price on them as well.

Mrs. G said...

Great variety (love that plate).

Mermaid Sews said...

Wow, great post, love what you did!

k.a.r.e.n said...

I love all the toppings, esp. the toasted macadamian nuts.... yummmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Sarah said...

Your truffles look great, I'm glad they were a hit!

HanaĆ¢ said...

Nice variety you got there! Which one was your favorite?

Jennifer said...

Oh my goodness I love all of your variations!

apparentlyjessy said...

Yuuuum!! They look so good!

Lauren of Fried Pickles and Ice Cream said...

i giggled when i saw the rice krispies. i bet those were great!

Jeannette said...

oh wow!! the graham crackers gave me an idea for cheesecake truffles. i wonder if i could sub some ingredients and make em. hmmm...

thanks for the inspiration!! your truffles are so cute!!

Smitten Sugar said...

Wow look at your topping assortment! I love it.

spike. said...

I love all of your variations! I'm making notes for when I finally get to this one

Joy said...

Wow, Stephanie! What an impressive array of gorgeous truffles... way to be creative with the coatings. And boy, are you a lucky lady to have someone who will pick out hazelnuts one by one from a mix for you! That is the sweetest thing I've ever heard. I'm glad that in the end, you got to taste the double hazelnut version, especially since you're such a fan!

I'm super excited to be hosting SMS this week, and I really hope you will bake along with me- it just wouldn't be the same without you! Hope you're doing well, and I look forward to talking to you again soon. Have a great rest of your week :)

-Joy

becky said...

they look crazy amazing!

Karin said...

They look wonderful! The macademia nuts sound delicious!

Patrizia said...

Droooolss..!

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