From chocolate bunnies to bright, chipper Peeps, certain candies stick with us from childhood. That doesn't mean an Easter basket has to be free of adult-friendly, finger-licking flavor though. Why not parry the chocolate onslaught with bright and delicious citrus?
En route to a sugar coma this holiday, consider lemon: These white-chocolate lemon truffles are light, bright and fit well within the holiday color scheme. Though a tad time-consuming, they're well worth the effort. Just imagine biting through a bright, thin layer of silky white chocolate to get a tart burst of lemon -- it's our sprightly homage to the decadent Lindor truffle.
Easter never tasted so good!These Lemon Truffles are adapted from "The Ultimate Candy Book" Chocolate Creams recipe, using the white chocolate and lemon variations.
Ingredientsbutter - for greasing pan
3 cups sugar
1 cup + 1 tbsp water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tbsp lemon extract
2 tsp lemon rind
2-3 drops of yellow food coloring
24 ounces white chocolate -- chips or coarsely chopped
- Butter a 9x13 baking pan and line a large cookie sheet with wax paper.
- Prepare the fondant by combining sugar, water and corn syrup in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture comes to a boil.
- When it begins to boil, stop stirring, insert a candy thermometer and let the syrup bubble away until it reaches the soft ball stage, 240 F.
- As soon as it reaches 240, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, and let it cool undisturbed until the bottom of the pan is lukewarm to the touch. The mixture will look like a clear gel.
- Pour in extract, add food coloring, sprinkle on rind and begin to mix the syrup with a heavy wooden spoon. Eventually, after a lot of elbow grease, the mixture will cool, thicken and become opaque. (Some blogs, like Fahrenheit 350, suggest using a stand mixer and dough hook for this step: "It is in your best interest to have a stand mixer with a kneading hook, like a Bosch. I know that you can make candy without it, and I know that my Grandmother used to do it as well as countless other people, but I don't know why you would want to.")
- If hand mixing, settle down somewhere and begin to stir the mixture, using a figure-8 pattern and being sure to scrape the sides. Be careful not to place the pan somewhere where it can retain heat. For example, if the pan is resting on a tea towel, it will hold the heat longer and take more effort to cool and thicken.
- Stir this mixture until it forms a ball. It could seize into a very hard ball that can't be stirred. Either way -- seal the ball in a 1-gallon plastic Ziplock, removing as much air as possible, and let it rest for 1 minute.
- Roll the candy in the bag with the heel of your hand, pressing down. Continue to lightly knead the fondant until it looks smooth and creamy, and feels like cookie dough (approximately 10 minutes).
- Shape the fondant into the shape of your choice -- balls, squares, etc. -- and place on cookie sheet.
- Temper your white chocolate in a double boiler (unless you're using temper-free chocolate) and coat the fondant. Using a toothpick, spear each piece of fondant, completely dip it in melted chocolate, and release on the baking sheet.
- When all are covered, let the chocolates sit uncovered at room temperature overnight. Store in bags or layer, separated by wax paper, in airtight containers.
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