Product Testing And A Learning Experience
Recently MagicalButter.com sent me their whole kit and kaboodle for making herbal infusions. I have been really felt the call to study herbalism lately and chocolate too. I wondered if there was a way their kit could bring the two together and I thought, what about Earl Grey infused truffles?!
Please note you can of course just infuse the tea on the stovetop in the heavy cream! You do not need the machine to make these.
I of course have made truffles before but not infused truffles! I had a Bergamot truffle at SOMA’s last fall and immediately swooned over its delicate but uplifting flavour. Could I recreate that foodie flavour and experience?
The Machine
You can watch the unboxing video here with all the many goodies the company sent me.
What I will be focusing on today though is the machine, Love Glove and Purity Bag; all of which I washed well by hand before using.
Please note! Do not submerge any part of this machine under water. There are mechanical components that must be protected so no, this is definitely NOT dishwasher safe.
Basically there are two components to the machine. The base which holds the liquid and the herbs.
The top which has the programming console and underneath the chopping blade.
This is a high quality stainless steel container which is good considering that heat is added to the chosen fat and herbs. It makes me feel more comfortable about food safety issues.
At the base of the handle you will find the outlet for the detachable cord. Note! Put the cord in a safe place but not TOO safe. Nothing worse than misplacing the damn cord. And yes, I speak from experience!
Making The Infused Cream
When you make anything in the MagicalButter Machine you need at least 2 cups of liquid so I added 2 cups of heavy cream.
To that I added 5 decaf Earl Grey tea bags. FYI: this was not a smart idea.
There are two steps to using the machine. Selecting temperature and time. Which sounds easy but I actually had a very hard time reading the Celsius numbers of the temperature section. I ended up choosing 130F/54C for 1 hour.
This is a groovy and slightly frightening machine! It lights up with multiple colours flashing like you are at a rave and gets noisy at random intervals. So much so that it totally spooked out Scout the cat who went running for his life out of the room when it started nosily churning again.
Well the tea bags got absolutely disintegrated! Clearly this machine is tough and means foodie business!
Next time? Just add the tea.
I used the 190 Purity Bag and the Love Glove to safely squeeze out the warm cream while preventing any of the Earl Grey tea from getting through.
Making The Ganache
I heated the cream even more until it was hot but not boiling on the stove and then poured 16 oz chocolate chips.
I waited a few minutes and then started to whisk at the centre of the bowl.
See how the chocolate begins to incorporate?
Keep doing so until it is unified and glorious. Bring to room temperature. Chill for a couple of hours. Form into truffles and roll in cocoa powder or icing sugar.
Foodie Results
These truffles were delicious but I am sad to say the Earl Grey flavour was, for me, too subtle. My friend Dawn disagreed but she does not like Earl Grey. Everyone else could sort of taste it but it was very faint.
Phase 2!
Bergamot comes from the Bergamot orange so I thought, why not add more flavour by dipping more truffles in orange-infused chocolate instead of rolling them around in cocoa powder or icing sugar? Then sprinkle with orange zest and salt!
I had some of the MagicalButter chocolate left so I melted it and things were going great!
Then I added the orange extract. Damn it! The chocolate totally seized! Sometimes you can add extracts to chocolate but not this time…
Well they were not gorgeous but I did like the orange flavour. Clearly though it would be better to use more Earl Grey tea next time and not flavour the dipping chocolate.
Did things go perfectly? No! But I am in uncharted territory here so I think I did a good job and learned a ton. I was certainly impressed with the MagicalButter Machine which is a foodie BEAST!
So much more to explore with it which is ridiculously exciting! Now that Christmas is done, my birthday is done… (it has been a busy time) I will be experimenting a lot with it from now on. So far? I see tons of potential delicious herbal projects ahead.
I dunno, Suzie. They look pretty darn good to me.
Yay!!! Thank you!
Yeah, I’d stuff my face full of ’em too!
I like Bergamot but yes, it is a very subtle flavour. Is using tea or teabags the best way to get it? Is it possible to buy a Bergamot Extract in a specialty store or online? Might that be the way to bump up or intensify the presence of this flavour.
Good point Debra! I will check for extract instead, that would rock. I love the flavour and because I can’t use regular tea, that could also be why it was so subtle. You are brilliant!
If your extract had any water in it, it would cause the chocolate to seize. You need oil based extracts when working with chocolate. But I bet they still tasted delicious!!!
Elana, good question, I will check! Definitely not making that mistake again. I mean I have added vanilla extract and that isn’t an oil so I thought this would be fine.