Bourbon-Hazelnut Truffles

Brown Sugar Kitchen

Bourbon. Hazelnuts. Chocolate. I love all of these things, and have had this recipe bookmarked for a long time. The holiday season seemed like the PERFECT time to finally make them! They're not hard to make, though if I make them again I would definitely research better ways to scoop and shape them. I ended up with really messy hands (which is fine) but also the scooping was not as easy as I expected.

They're mostly chocolate, so use something you like! I had a hard time finding hazelnuts locally for some reason, but the roasted, unsalted ones I did find cut out one step (toasting the nuts) and worked just fine for the recipe.

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[00:00]: foreign
[00:05]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather today we're going to be
[00:09]: working from Tanya Holland's Brown Sugar
[00:11]: Kitchen cookbook and we're going to be
[00:12]: making something that I'm super excited
[00:14]: about because it just all of the
[00:16]: ingredients are things that I love we're
[00:18]: going to be making bourbon hazelnut
[00:20]: truffles
[00:23]: so we're gonna go ahead and get started
[00:25]: I've measured everything out one step
[00:28]: we're not going to have to do is to
[00:31]: toast the hazelnuts I had a hard time
[00:34]: finding hazelnuts and the only ones I
[00:37]: could find were these dry roasted
[00:39]: unsalted ones so they've already been
[00:42]: sort of roasted and
[00:44]: um we don't need to toast them after
[00:45]: that
[00:46]: she doesn't say that I need to make sure
[00:50]: all the Skins are off so I'm not going
[00:52]: to worry about that
[00:54]: um if you care I hear that uh rubbing
[00:58]: them in a dry
[01:01]: kitchen towel will help get those skins
[01:04]: off but I don't think it's going to
[01:05]: matter in here because we're going to
[01:06]: end up mixing it with a bunch of
[01:08]: chocolate and so it's not gonna be
[01:11]: something that will
[01:13]: Mar the looks of it which is really all
[01:16]: that matters because it's not
[01:18]: um
[01:19]: it's not bitter or anything like some of
[01:22]: the stuff around pecans
[01:24]: um
[01:25]: so we've got we've got our food
[01:26]: processor
[01:28]: I maybe should have used the smaller one
[01:32]: but that's okay but we're combining the
[01:34]: hazelnuts and we've got some brown sugar
[01:38]: I weighed my hazelnuts because I
[01:41]: with nuts and they're all separate you
[01:44]: know they're different sizes and getting
[01:46]: them anyway she does have a cup
[01:49]: measurement but I weighed them
[01:52]: um so
[01:53]: we're supposed to grind the sugar the
[01:56]: brown sugar and the hazelnuts until the
[01:58]: nuts are uniformly pulverized so
[02:05]: I think that's good they're going to be
[02:07]: a little bit
[02:08]: um
[02:10]: a little bit chunky we don't want to go
[02:13]: for a nut butter here but
[02:18]: I'm gonna call that good
[02:21]: so I'm just going to put this it back
[02:23]: into the bowl that the hazelnuts were in
[02:26]: we're all done with the food processor
[02:28]: so I'm going to put that away so the
[02:30]: next thing I need I need to do is to
[02:32]: chop my chocolate so it's already
[02:34]: um
[02:35]: when my cream is heated so I'm not going
[02:38]: to start heating that right now because
[02:40]: some chopping chocolate takes time and
[02:43]: honestly I really don't like to chop
[02:45]: chocolate I'm gonna put this out of my
[02:46]: way so I don't
[02:47]: get all over
[02:50]: so this is
[02:52]: best quality semi-sweet or dark
[02:55]: chocolate that I'm supposed to finely
[02:57]: chop it
[02:58]: oh I'm not super happy about chopping
[03:01]: chocolate but I did choose these thin
[03:04]: bars this is 70
[03:06]: cacao dark chocolate and it's an a lint
[03:15]: so
[03:16]: I'm gonna
[03:20]: and I measured this by weight as well
[03:23]: because I really don't I mean that's
[03:26]: what the measurement is
[03:28]: uh
[03:31]: ounces or grams she has both in here
[03:44]: okay so this is why I don't like
[03:47]: chopping chocolate I've managed not to
[03:50]: get it all over me but my hands are
[03:52]: full of chocolate and I'm gonna
[03:55]: play like this and then wash my hands
[03:57]: because it's all over the place and then
[03:60]: probably clean this up some
[04:02]: I'll be right back so now I'm ready to
[04:06]: uh get my cream warm so that it can melt
[04:11]: my chocolate so I'm going to put it in a
[04:12]: small well she says a medium saucepan
[04:14]: this is pretty medium it's plenty big
[04:16]: enough for all of this and I'm going to
[04:18]: put it on medium heat and bring it to a
[04:21]: simmer I'm gonna watch it
[04:25]: use this because all of the stuff is
[04:27]: going to go together anyway and there's
[04:28]: no reason to
[04:31]: um dirty another
[04:34]: spatula so I'm going to put this in here
[04:37]: I'm going to put it over medium heat and
[04:39]: we're going to bring it to a simmer and
[04:41]: I'm going to watch it like a hop because
[04:43]: this will boil over because it is milk
[04:46]: based
[04:48]: uh yeah meaty meat I'll let you know how
[04:50]: long it takes
[04:52]: so this just started to simmer and it
[04:56]: says to put the chocolate in with the
[04:57]: cream but I'm going to put the cream in
[04:59]: with the chocolate because it will be
[05:02]: easier to whisk in this bowl than it
[05:05]: will be in this pan so
[05:07]: now I've put it onto a um
[05:13]: a hot pad just so the
[05:16]: granite countertop doesn't steal all the
[05:19]: heat so now we need to let this sit for
[05:21]: two minutes undisturbed
[05:24]: so this has been sitting for about two
[05:26]: minutes and now I'm supposed to whisk
[05:28]: this I only have my large whisk but
[05:30]: that's okay
[05:32]: whisk it until the chocolate is entirely
[05:35]: melted
[05:39]: it's all Incorporated
[05:42]: look at that
[05:44]: all right
[05:47]: so there's that
[05:49]: and now I just need to add the bourbon
[05:53]: I'm using larceny which is one of my
[05:56]: favorite flavors my favorite Bourbons
[05:58]: that's not flavor bourbon but you know
[05:60]: the every bourbon has a slightly
[06:02]: different flavor
[06:05]: and I like this one
[06:09]: it doesn't say to whisk this in so I'm
[06:12]: just it just says to stir
[06:14]: so we're adding the bourbon and our
[06:16]: hazelnuts and brown sugar mixture
[06:20]: and stir it all up
[06:34]: okay
[06:35]: so this is all stirred up looks pretty
[06:38]: good to me I now just need to cover this
[06:43]: with plastic wrap put it in the
[06:45]: refrigerator until it is entirely
[06:48]: um cold fully chilled about three hours
[06:52]: so we'll see in about three hours
[06:55]: so my truffle mixture my chocolate and
[06:58]: hazelnuts and all of that has been in
[07:01]: the refrigerator for a little over three
[07:02]: hours and now I'm gonna use a melon
[07:05]: baller she says you can use a
[07:07]: teaspoon and your hands we're supposed
[07:10]: to form it into small balls so I'm not
[07:14]: going to use the tiny one I'm going to
[07:15]: use the small the medium
[07:18]: well this is larger than my scooper the
[07:22]: the smallest scooper I have so I'm going
[07:25]: to try and
[07:27]: form this into kind of a ball I'm not
[07:29]: very good at this but
[07:32]: I might have to use my hands and I'm not
[07:33]: sure it will even
[07:35]: come out very well
[07:38]: Yep this is not very easy
[07:42]: my hands are gonna be chocolatey
[07:45]: so this is supposed to make 24
[07:51]: I don't I don't know
[07:54]: what size that is
[07:59]: but
[08:00]: it's okay for them to be a little bit
[08:03]: rough
[08:07]: definitely got to be okay for everything
[08:09]: to be covered in chocolate when I'm done
[08:10]: because that is what's going to happen
[08:18]: and wash my hands
[08:21]: or I'm gonna have my husband get me
[08:24]: another tool
[08:27]: yeah I think that's the smallest one
[08:35]: this is much larger than that
[08:39]: but at least
[08:43]: pop it out
[08:47]: it's much larger I don't know we'll see
[09:02]: these are messy as all get out and I
[09:06]: made
[09:08]: 22 so probably the size is somewhere in
[09:11]: between this and this
[09:16]: my hands and then I'm going to cover
[09:19]: this Loosely with plastic wrap and it
[09:21]: has to sit in the fridge for about an
[09:22]: hour before we finish them up
[09:24]: it's been about an hour and I've set out
[09:27]: some of these little paper uh cups candy
[09:31]: cups I don't know what they're called
[09:33]: but they're like mini muffin cups
[09:36]: and we're about to finish our Truffles
[09:40]: and we're going to coat them in
[09:43]: cocoa powder so this is just the
[09:46]: unsweetened cocoa powder the same stuff
[09:48]: I used for the hot chocolate which I'll
[09:50]: link up here which is
[09:52]: great
[09:54]: um you're supposed to measure it I'm not
[09:56]: going to because the measure that I'm
[09:58]: supposed to use is in the dishwasher it
[10:00]: doesn't really matter because we're not
[10:01]: going to use all of it as long as I have
[10:02]: enough
[10:03]: and so we're sifting it I've got a small
[10:08]: sieve and I'm just going to make sure it
[10:10]: all goes through there so we don't get
[10:13]: clumps on our troubles
[10:23]: here we go if I need more I can always
[10:25]: add more so
[10:28]: let me close that up for me
[10:34]: okay I'm gonna get a little
[10:37]: full so I'm just trying not to get my
[10:38]: hands too dirty so I'm going to start
[10:40]: with the larger ones and just a couple
[10:43]: at a time I put them in here and
[10:46]: roll them around and this will keep
[10:49]: your hands from getting super messy
[10:53]: and then
[10:56]: these little muffin cups and that will
[10:58]: help keep them from sticking together
[11:01]: yeah I wish they were a little bit
[11:03]: smaller but you know it is what it is
[11:10]: that one doesn't want to roll
[11:29]: so she says to serve these at room
[11:31]: temperature but to keep them longer you
[11:35]: can store them in an airtight container
[11:36]: in the refrigerator
[11:38]: for about a week she says
[11:42]: so I guess if you want when you want to
[11:44]: eat them you might want to take them out
[11:46]: of the refrigerator for a little while
[11:53]: the lid will still close so I'm going to
[11:55]: put these in the refrigerator for later
[11:57]: and I'm going to go ahead and coat these
[12:00]: smaller ones and we will leave these out
[12:03]: at room temperature
[12:05]: and try them a little bit later and let
[12:07]: you know what we think
[12:10]: [Music]
[12:17]: on this episode of cooking the books
[12:19]: with Heather you watch me make bourbon
[12:21]: hazelnut Truffles and get my hands full
[12:24]: of chocolate
[12:26]: um
[12:27]: and now there's some cocoa on my shirt
[12:30]: and all over us but
[12:34]: I really enjoyed these they taste very
[12:36]: much like the chocolate that you use so
[12:39]: choose a chocolate that you like
[12:41]: I would not go milk chocolate
[12:44]: might be a little soft
[12:46]: um
[12:47]: but the darkest chocolate that you like
[12:49]: please feel free to use that I enjoyed
[12:52]: that they the hazelnuts give it a little
[12:55]: bit of texture
[12:57]: um so they're tiny but you still feel
[12:60]: like you kind of have to chew them a
[13:01]: little bit
[13:02]: but they melt nicely in your mouth and
[13:05]: um they're they're just they're
[13:07]: delicious uh truffles tastes a little
[13:10]: bit like hazelnut a little bit like
[13:11]: bourbon there's not a whole lot in the
[13:13]: recipe so you know I let my daughter
[13:15]: have one it was fine
[13:18]: um my son actually refused to eat them
[13:20]: but she liked it she said it tasted a
[13:22]: little bit like banana which maybe was
[13:24]: bourbon flavor
[13:26]: coming through for you know somebody who
[13:28]: doesn't drink Bourbon and doesn't like
[13:29]: bananas so maybe that's what that was
[13:33]: um
[13:34]: but uh we we really enjoyed them and
[13:36]: they're not that difficult they're a
[13:38]: little messy
[13:40]: do require a food processor of some sort
[13:43]: to be able to get those nuts small
[13:46]: enough
[13:48]: um but other than that it doesn't
[13:49]: require a whole lot of special equipment
[13:52]: uh and it just takes some time to let it
[13:55]: Harden before you can actually you know
[13:58]: form it into balls
[13:60]: was a little difficult to do that
[14:03]: and
[14:05]: I'd have to I think I'd need to come up
[14:07]: with something
[14:08]: different to do that next time because I
[14:11]: didn't enjoy either of the
[14:13]: uh ways that I did
[14:16]: um so if I plan to make these again I
[14:19]: might look up some other techniques
[14:21]: about how to
[14:23]: make them balls of truffle
[14:27]: but it was fine they're a little rustic
[14:30]: it's fine
[14:31]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[14:33]: give me a thumbs up hit the Subscribe
[14:36]: button and come back and watch me make
[14:37]: something else next week
[14:39]: [Music]