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Old 11-20-2009, 09:19 PM
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ideas for garnishing truffles

I am making these chocolate raspberry truffles from King Arthur Flour:



I could not find any decent fresh raspberries, and I think that they would look a little "bare" without some sort of garnish (they are for a gift), so does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
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Old 11-20-2009, 09:25 PM
ChristyMarie ChristyMarie is online now
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A white chocolate curl?

"Adult" sprinkles - those nice silver ones that I can never remember the name of...

Powdered sugar sprinkled over a snowflake dolie thingy to leave a pattern? Only if serving immediately...

Take melted white chocolate and drizzle?
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Old 11-20-2009, 09:50 PM
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Nooooo! Not chocolate curls! I have tried several times and I absolutely s*ck at making them! But I do like the idea of drizzling white chocolate... that I can do without screwing it up! Thanks for the suggestion, ChristyMarie.

I have a gold gift box with a cello window, and white paper cups to nestle the squares in, so it's not like I'll be giving them on a plain ol' plate...
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Old 11-21-2009, 01:15 AM
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An artful drizzle of raspberry coulis?
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Old 11-21-2009, 10:19 AM
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A sprinkle of toasted, chopped pecans would be really nice.
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Old 11-21-2009, 11:01 AM
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Canice, would the coulis "survive" being packed in a box? I've never done this kind of thing and am wondering if it would "melt" into the glaze or slide off... Although I am going to note that they should be refrigerated, they may be sitting in the gift basket, on a desk in the receipent's office, for a couple of hours.

Lia, I had never considered nuts-- thanks!
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Old 11-21-2009, 11:31 AM
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How about a dried raspberry or a curl of orange zest?
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Old 11-21-2009, 03:16 PM
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What about just grated white chocolate? (shave/grate finely using a microplane)
If they were flavored with caramel I would suggest a little sprinkle of sea salt on top, but I am not sure the salt would go with the raspberry flavor...
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Old 01-30-2010, 07:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by VictoriaL View Post
I am making these chocolate raspberry truffles from King Arthur Flour:



I could not find any decent fresh raspberries, and I think that they would look a little "bare" without some sort of garnish (they are for a gift), so does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
VictoriaL...I'm curious how did these turned out? I am looking for interesting ideas for Valentine's Day to bring to the office.

TIA
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Old 01-30-2010, 08:44 PM
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How about a candied flower? Or, since you have a flat surface, stencil a fine layer of powdered sugar in some sort of pattern.
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Old 01-30-2010, 08:55 PM
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Vinca,

They turned out great!



I went to the cake decorating aisle of a craft store and found Wilton glitter decorating gel in both white and gold. A squiggle was piped on the top of the squares, then I used a large star tip and piped a pink flower (for Christmas, I made the flower dark pink to suggest a pointsettia). Gold gel went in the center, and a mix of red and pink sugar crystals were sprinkled on top.

These were incredible. Absolutely delicious! Dense and chocolatey with a raspberry flavor. You can make them now and they will freeze beautifully (undecorated) until Valentine's Day.

May I make another suggestion? Another King Arthur recipe, Cherry Almond Brownies. These were great, too, and only required a little more effort (dipping them in chocolate). You could use red-and-white decorations on top. Again, they can be frozen for a few weeks (before dipping and decorating).



For both of these, I would strongly recommend lining the baking pan with foil, then coating with cooking spray. I found (because I made multiple batches of both) that you can get much cleaner, even cuts after they've cooled for several hours then are lifted from the pan before cutting.

Good luck, what ever you choose to make!

Oh, and after decorating, the truffle squares kept nicely, wrapped in plastic (after the flower firmed up) for a week. The brownie squares, also wrapped but kept in a cool place (not refrigerated), kept for 10 days. I made it my duty to taste one of these, every other day, to make certain that they were keeping well...
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Last edited by VictoriaL; 01-31-2010 at 07:57 PM. Reason: added "before dipping"...
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Old 01-31-2010, 03:15 PM
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Thank you for getting back to me. I appreciate very much all your suggestions and tips. The make ahead options are a definite plus! The results you got are very nice. You must have been so pleased.

A few questions about the Cherry Almond Brownies...what is Peter's Burgundy Semisweet Chocolate Chunks, where can you find them and is there a sub?

Quote:
Originally Posted by VictoriaL View Post
I made it my duty to taste one of these, every other day, to make certain that they were keeping well...
Of course without question! It was your moral responsibility to make sure they were safe.

These recipes are in the running. I need to make a decision very soon as to what I will be making. A trip to Michael’s may be the deciding factor depending what they have left.

Thanks again
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Old 01-31-2010, 05:42 PM
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i was going to suggest tiny mint leaves, either coated with an egg wash/sugared or not. what you did looks lovely.
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Old 01-31-2010, 07:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vinca View Post
what is Peter's Burgundy Semisweet Chocolate Chunks, where can you find them and is there a sub?
There is always a sub. I used the best semisweet chocolate that I could find (perhaps it was Lindt? I can't remember, I bought a lot of chocolate in the past couple of months...). Although I have had great success with KA recipes, their specialty ingredients are usually too expensive for me to justify ordering (esp. when you add the shipping costs).

Let me know if you have any more questions.
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