I’d like to think of these truffles as bed time happy pills. You know how they say that if you have trouble sleeping you should put a little lavender essential oil on your pillow? Forget that daaahlings. Dr Housewife says pop two of these and call me in the morning. Included in these little babies are everything I need to ensure sweet dreams.
You know what else makes me happy about these truffles? I got to make them with some of my favorite blog dollies. A big hug and kiss to Steve from Wierd Combinations for coming up with the idea, and more kisses to my other readers who decided to join in on the fun. We all worked with the fabulous Ina Garten’s chocolate truffle recipe to get us started. Just looking at their beautiful confections makes me feel like a proud mama (a very young and beautiful mama, mind you). Please check out all of their fabulous creations:
Ros, The More than the Occasional Baker
Shelly over at Franish Nonspeaker
Erika Beth, the Messy Chef at Life’s Too Short to Skip Dessert
And now for some useless but interesting lavender facts:
Once upon a time, girls would wear little lavender bags in their cleavage to lure suitors. I don’t know about this one, it sounds a bit scratchy to me.
The scent of lavender has been used to attract men for generations. There was a study done by a Chicago research foundation that found that the combined scent of lavender and pumpkin was the most arousing of all the scents to male subjects. Note to self: must bake lavender pumpkin cake… Housewife needs a new pair of (ridiculously expensive) shoes.
Alpine girls would tuck lavender under their lover’s pillow so their thoughts would turn to romance. Once married they would put some lavender under the mattress to ensure marital passion.
So tell me daaaaahlings, how will you use lavender? Do you plan on using it for good or evil?
Fresh Lavender Infused Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound of bittersweet chocolate
- 1/2 pound semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup heavy (double) cream
- 4 tablespoons of lavender buds
- cocoa powder
Directions:
Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife. Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.
Heat the cream and the lavender buds in a small saucepan until it just boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate and discard the lavender. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.
With 2 teaspoons, spoon round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, until firm. Roll each dollop of chocolate in your hands to roughly make a round ball. Roll in cocoa powder, and decorate with lavender garnish if you wish. These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but serve at room temperature.
What fun! Love all the links. Your presentation is adorable and yes, I’d love one of those right before bed.
I’ve done a lot of cooking with lavender. Now I’ve got one more to try!
oh, boy I would eat anything with lavender…combined with chocolate…heaven!!!
~~~This is what the Gods must eat.
And the lavender just makes it that much more Scrumtious!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh goodness…. you are a temptress indeed! How I love lavender and putting it with chocolate… inspired, lovely lady… Here’s hoping hubby will dream of a fetching pair of Laboutin lovelies for his lady fair after a few of these babies!
I’ve been dreaming for some lavender cookies for a while now, but after seeing your truffles I have to rethink the order. Look amazing
happy weekend daaahling
DARLING HH – I have missed you and yeah – that does sound a bit scatchy to me too …lol…
Your truffles however would bring out the wicked in me and the contempt of all around me as I polish off the whole lot
chow! Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
wow, would love to have this everyday before bedtime! Sounds lovely!
What a great line up of fun people to cook with! Wish I had jumped in, as I love making truffles but am still suffering from Blogger’s Slump. I am really trying to get my groove back, though. Yours look completely divine. Interestingly, whenever I travel (as there is no such thing as lavender anything here) I always seek out the lavender chocolate. Pierre Micolini (sp?)’s is fantastic. I love them all.
I will have to put this on my list when I get back into my kitchen in a serious way.
Valerie
This looks yummy….you have a lovely blog…I am having a giveaway in my blog..Y dont you check and join that
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/2011/05/chocolate-recipe-and-chocolate.html
Those look divine! And all this time I though men were smitten with the smell of vanilla. Someone needs to create a pumpkin lavender perfume asap!
Gorgeous, perfect truffles!! How did you ever get them so perfectly round? Wow! And fun to do this with other cool bloggers! But I must admit that I do not like lavendar as it hurts my nose. Ugh. But I did have some in my lovely wedding bouquet.
Well my lavender loving friend…these are divine! And love the trivia too…I use lavender for everything from the bath to soups…plus my garden is over grown with these beauties all year round so I have to be creative. On that note, truffles, in all forms these are the greatest invention ever!
Be back in a flash!
Happy to peek at the other creations as well
Those truffles sound and look positively divine! Although I have not cooked much with lavender I do keep lavender sachets in my drawers – loooove that scent! Thanks for all the lavender info too & hope you have a fabulous weekend:)
These truffles next to my computer would be lovely right now!
We are in our final week of Get Grillin’ – Dessert is the theme and we would love if you submitted up to any 3 recipes (they don’t have to be grilled) to our link up. This one would be perfect! This week we have a Rouxbe Cooking School giveaway. http://su.pr/2YaIiV
These look so pretty! I have to try this one. It would be a fun candy to give on Valentines or Mother’s Day. Of course you could give me a box of these pretties anytime!!!
Wow! It makes me feel addicted to that truffle recipe! I want to try it this coming Christmas and share it to my friends! Thank you for sharing this truffle recipe! Keep up the good work!
Tried this tonight, and although I didn’t have lavender buds, I substituted by steeping 4 lavender tea bags in the cream while it was simmering and the the flavor of the truffles was still absolutely divine! The lavender flavor still shines through as the star of the show, and I rolled mine in powdered sugar instead since I also made raspberry truffles which were rolled in the cocoa powder. Thank you for the recipe!