Chocolate Orange Truffles. And—Two Wondrous Years!

Astonishingly lovely weather and a brand new year. Suddenly the future seems to be filled with a million new possibilities and wildly beautiful things. And—it’s only just begun.

Happy, Happy New Year!

Hope you had a dazzling time ringing in the New Year, and more, a dazzling start to twenty thirteen surrounded by love and laughter and loved ones.

I had a luxuriously quiet year-end with cozy blankets and page-turners—and tea—many, many cups of tea. And an even more low-key beginning lost in whims and fancies and the beauty of daydreams. Sometimes quiet is as beautiful as fun, and perhaps a wee more comfortable. This was definitely one of those times.

With the end of 2012, I’ve reached a momentous two year blog anniversary. Plateful is two. Oh baby.

It all began just over two years ago.

Two wondrous years of fabulous food. Cutting, squeezing, drizzling, sautéing. Followed by the thrills of recipe developing, food styling, food portraiture, prop lusting, story weaving and ha, connecting beyond boundaries. 

Food, photographs and stories, packaged and delivered beautifully and most romantically. To create passion. To evoke. To inspire.

With every ending, there is a new beginning. As I begin anew, I’m positively brimming with happiness. Why? My fb page hit 4k+ likes in the new year—an amazingly spectacular leap from the paltry 700+ on new years eve. This third year sure did begin on a positive note.

A walk down the memory lane makes me smile in reminiscence. Frankly, my labor of love has blossomed into something I can be proud of. Something I can solely take credit for. It’s written with a language I love—beauty. You see, at heart I’m an artist and true romantic. I heart beautiful things. Even more, I love to bring a little more beauty and loveliness into this world.

So it’s a new week, new month and a brand new year. Time for a recap, ha. Short, sweet, simple recap. Not the same as my first anniversary post.

My stats are not too impressive, I admit. With a mere 115 recipes, way too many photographs, wildly sporadic posting, and a plain point and shoot camera, 24 months fluttered by beautifully, and somehow I arrived at my 25^th.

But, despite my shortcomings, or especially because of it, I’m ever so grateful and much delighted to experience the love and support of each and every one of you, my most wonderful audience. Plateful has 8000+ followers on pinterest, 4000+ followers on facebook, 700+ followers on instagram.

My nutella lava mug cake, published on the eve of valentines 2012, quickly topped the most popular recipes with 35k+ hits to date. I get a good number of daily visitors for this recipe alone, mostly sourced from Huffington Post.

This year Plateful has been featured on few websites including The Huffington Post, justb., BuzzFeed, Yummly, theKitchn, babble.

I have to say, there’s plenty of beauty and inspiration on the web—perhaps much more than your eyes and heart could hold. I’m positively inspired by beautiful talents, especially when they come with an even more impressive personality. One such person I want to highlight here is Sneh of the inspiring space, Cook Republic. I truly admire her work. Her creativity. Her dedication. I’m totally in awe of how much a mother of two (handsome boys) with a day job, can achieve. And so beautifully. There’s Kankana of Sunshine and Smile—I love, love her stunning photography. And effortlessly striking styling. Not to mention, Chinmaye of Love Food Eat, Tanvi of Sinfully Spicy and Lakshmi of Pure Vegetarian—my favorite blogger friends whose blogs are on my radar list. Of course, these are but just a few names. Truly, there are so many more who inspire and touch my world and make it more beautiful.

I promised I’ll keep this short and simple. So let me stop by extending a huge, huge thank you. For all the helloes and notes and love and affection. Thank you for the wonderful moments you spent here, reaching out to spread a bit more warmth and happiness into my world. Thank you for making all the challenges and difficult times fade away. Means a ton.

And as the journey continues, there’s much to look forward to, and many beautiful things to get lost in. But I have to say, my life is better because you are in it. Thank you.

Today, let’s trifle with truffles. Orange truffles. The fun and flirty kind. For that’s the mood I am in currently.

Never made truffles before? Then you’ll be surprised at how quick and easy they are. Sure a bit messy—but the good fun kind of messy.

Simple but elegant, I made these bite sized chocolaty confections with a combination of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, orange and cinnamon giving it a fantastic flavor. Coated half of them in a simple dusting of healthy cocoa powder, and rolled the rest in colorful nuts for a bit of bite and texture.

I used a vegetable peeler for larger strips of orange zest and diced it into smaller pieces before adding to the hot cream. You may substitute mandarin or tangerine for orange in this recipe. Similarly, use chocolate of your preference. I hit the right balance with a combination of dark and milk. You may want to play around with the flavors, as the taste is hugely determined by the type of chocolate you use. Don't skimp on the quality either. Go for the best you can afford.

Truffles are slightly messy to roll. The trick is to make sure your hands are not warm—wash in cold water and wipe dry with a towel. Then dust hands liberally with cocoa to control the goo while rolling. 

Now, when I’m in a creative mood, I never tire of styling and shooting. And that’s exactly what happened here. Enjoy!

Chocolate Orange Truffles

Ingredients

Makes about 26

Prep+cooking: 10 mins, plus chilling

¼ cup double cream

100gm dark chocolate (I used Lindt extra dark, 60% cocoa)

100g milk chocolate (I used 100g Lindt extra creamy milk chocolate)

1 tablespoon +1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon orange zest

pinch cinnamon powder

unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted, for rolling

shelled pistachio nuts, finely chopped, for rolling

Directions

Melt chocolate in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl on high for about 90 seconds until melted and smooth, stirring every 30 seconds with a metal fork.  Mix in cinnamon powder. Set aside.

Microwave cream for about 50 seconds, or until cream is just heated through and starts to bubble. Add orange rind to the hot cream and allow to steep for 10 min. Strain out the zest and pour the cream into the melted chocolate. Mix in orange juice and stir with a spatula until smooth and combined. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or until firm.

Use a (teaspoon size) mellon baller to scoop out chocolate mixture, and quickly roll between the palm of your hands into rough balls. The key is to wash hands with cold water, wipe dry with a towel, and dust liberally with cocoa powder before rolling. This will help the truffles from sticking to the hands as they start to warm up while rolling. Immediately after shaping, roll each truffle in cocoa powder, or chopped nuts—or do half the truffles in cocoa, and half in chopped pistachios—and transfer to a plate as you work.  Serve with wooden forks.

If not using immediately, store in an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to serve—will stay fresh up to 2 weeks.

Truffles make fantastic homemade gifts. Place each truffle in individual mini foil or paper candy cups and wrap them in pretty boxes tied with satin ribbons. Leave them in the fridge until you are ready to give them.

So yes, to two years and many more. 

Happily looking forward to the third and hoping it's every bit as beautiful as the first two — Nashi signing off with love xx