Vára Gin & Tonic Truffles

So, with Stu’s birthday and spring on the horizon I thought I’d try my hand at making some gin-based truffles for the adults in the house!  Although I love to bake and make desserts whenever I have the time or occasion, I have never made truffles before.  After reading lots of lovely recipes and gazing longingly at all the fantastic images on Pinterest I finally settled on trying Sarah’s Gin & Tonic Truffles recipe at www.tamingtwins.com/gin-and-tonic-truffles-recipe/.  Sarah’s truffles looked so beautiful sitting on their wooden platter with a slice of lime, I was lulled into a false sense of security that these would be relatively easy to make.

As per Sarah’s guidance I used good quality chocolate which in my limited experience I feel is a must, especially if you’re using a good quality gin, such as ours.  I chose to use our Vára Gin; with its’ distinctive pink and orange Puffin label it means ‘become Spring’ in Old Norse, so I thought this was quite fitting for a March recipe.  The Vára Gin is also able to carry its flavours through the chocolate, thanks to the heady blend of rose, elderflower and lemongrass botanicals.

To compliment the botanicals I used Franklin & Sons Pink Grapefruit Tonic water, a favourite of Stu’s (I’m afraid I don’t like grapefruit, full stop, but it wasn’t too obvious in the end result!).  We have supplied Franklin & Sons tonics for a few years now in our Luxury Gin Hampers and always have a few on hand, they have a fabulous range worth experimenting with if you get a chance.

The afternoon I was making these I was juggling a few other tasks at the same time, DIY springs to mind and so I didn’t quite follow the recipe to the T.  I certainly left the truffles in the fridge chilling for longer and I may have accidentally added a little bit more gin than specified, however the recipe was very forgiving.  As I didn’t have a lot of time spare, I thought I would ‘get away’ with just one layer of white chocolate coating and they would look beautiful!  However, I soon discovered coating the truffles was not as easy as I thought it would be.  After some trial and error, I found dipping the chocolate ball on a teaspoon into the white chocolate coating was the easiest way for me.  I then let them harden slightly on the plate before drizzling some more white chocolate on top and finally garnishing them with rose petals.  I was really delighted with how they turned out, they could have looked a bit prettier, but they tasted fab!!

I’d love to know how they turn out for you,