Hazelnut Truffles

Taking their name from their resemblance to fancy fungi, hazelnut truffles are little balls of luxuriousness. They're also surprisingly simple to make. From essentially four ingredients you can create a creamy chocolate ganache whose richness is perfectly complemented by the crunch of roasted hazelnuts. It's the kind of decadent treat that can make an impressive after-dinner appearance, an incredible gift to your nearest and dearest, or something to treat yourself with if you've had that kind of day.

Pure cream is the best kind of liquid to use for your truffles, as you'll need something pourable to flow through the chocolate and melt to a ganache consistency. You'll also want to get some top-notch chocolate - the better quality it is, the better your truffles will be. Select a bar with a higher percentage of cocoa if you want a more intense flavour.

As mentioned below, roasting the hazelnuts is simple enough, but removing their skin is something that's best to do with a good distraction as it can be somewhat tedious. Once you've got the ganache out of the fridge, you'll need to make sure you've got a good assembly line set up. The ganache will soften quickly when you're working with it, so you'll need to get it back in the fridge as soon as you can. Be prepared for chocolate all over your hands and the bench... it's about to get all sorts of messy!

For some extra pizazz, feel free to throw in some extra cocoa, melted chocolate, icing sugar or sprinkles when you drop the ganache in your hazelnuts.