Christmas recipes: How to make rum and raisin truffles, by Amelie in Cambridge

It’s the time of year for indulgence, and here’s a delicious treat.

Our food columnist, Alex Crepy, from Amelie restaurant at The Grafton centre in Cambridge, shows us how to make rum and raisin truffles.

Look out too for his recipes for roast rib of beef with Béarnaise sauce and financiers petits fours.

Rum and raisin truffles

Makes: 25 truffles

Ingredients

30g raisins
20ml dark rum
120g milk chocolate, cut into pieces
40g bitter dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), cut into pieces
1 teaspoon water
15g granulated sugar
40ml sweet condensed milk
15ml liquid glucose
50g salted butter, softened
20g cocoa powder

Method

Soak the raisins in the rum for at least an hour.

Melt the milk and dark chocolate in a bain marie or a basin suspended over a small saucepan of simmering water.

Put the water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then add the condensed milk, glucose and softened butter. Mix well before stirring in the melted chocolate and soaked raisins. Beat everything together and then leave in the refrigerator for 24 hours, until set.

Using your hands, divide the chocolate mixture into 25 pieces and roll each one into a small ball, about the size of a grape. Dust lightly with cocoa powder and store in a container in the refrigerator. Serve the truffles at the end of a meal with coffee.