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Posts Tagged ‘M&M’s’

  1. M&M’s Truffles

    January 31, 2012 by Tali

    Yes… I said it! Truffles and M&M’s in one single delectable form!

    Where does this come from you ask?

    Well, Let me tell you!

    Last weekend was a friend’s birthday. After a little research, I discovered that she was a big fan of both original choco and crispy M&M’s.

    How was I to take humble M&M’s and turn them into something exciting, slightly unusual and totally delicious?

    I began by trying to see what others had done creatively with M&M’s, and most of my research drew me to cakes, brownies, cheesecakes and cookies. I wanted to do something a little different… something special… something unique!

    Now… I guess I had noticed for some time, that there is a definite trend in truffles popping up online, and I suppose that is what triggered the idea of M&M truffles!

    Having a brief that included both original and crispy M&M’s in the mix, I began to imagine, a crispy M&M, surrounded by a rich and creamy milk chocolate ganache, coated in crushed choco M&M’s, with the intention of all the broken up colourful shells to pop brightly against the rich warmth of the chocolate tones.

    Mmmmmmmmmm!

    I did a little research to see if anyone else had thought up the same idea, and to my surprise there was a complete lack of truffle recipes containing M&M’s!!! I found one single truffle recipe which mentions M&M’s from Busy-at-Home. This though, was nothing like what I had in mind.

    Had I thought up something original?

    Had I stumbled upon the almost-undiscovered?

    (possibly not – someone may have made these and just not blogged about it.)

    I got very excited about these truffles – I wanted to make them instantly. Only, for some reason I found it a little difficult to get hold of M&M’s from my local supermarket. Shameful! I had to go to my 3rd choice store!

    Anyhow! Once I had got my ingredients together I set to work on making these marvelous confections.

    I was using a fairly humble confection as my feature ingredient, yet I still wanted these truffles to be of the highest standard. So, I threw together a ganache using a high quality milk chocolate and luxurious double cream. The truffle element needed to be refined – to allow the M&M’s to be taken to the next level.

    M&M Truffle Recipe

    Makes: 25-30 pieces  Time: 30-35mins

    Ingredients:
    300g good quality milk chocolate
    150g double cream
    60g crispy M&M’s (2 small bags)
    185g choco M&M’s (large bag)

    • Chop your milk chocolate very finely, a serrated knife works best. Place into a shallow bowl or dish.
    • While preparing your chocolate, start to heat up the cream in a saucepan over a medium to low heat to avoid overheating it and scalding the cream.
    • Once the cream has heated (but not boiling) pour over your chocolate, let it settle for a few seconds, and then gently stir together.
    • When fully combined, cover the surface with cling film, and place in the fridge until firm, or until you are ready to make the truffles (the ganache can be made a day or 2 in advance).
    • Prepare 2 baking trays by placing a sheet of greaseproof paper on each.
    • Place your choco M&M’s in a sealable bag, and using a rolling pin, or another device, evenly crush the M&M’s. be sure to leave some remnants of the colourful sugar shells. Pour some out into a shallow dish or plate.
    • Scrape a heaped teaspoon of the ganache, and warm up gently in your hands (I wore gloves for this process) when slightly softened, take a crispy M&M and place it in the centre, enrobe it in the smooth milk chocolate ganache. Roll into a ball, and place onto one of the baking sheets. Continue to do this until you have used up all of your ganache and/or crispy M&M’s
    • Once you have all the balls ready, they will have firmed up slightly, so you will need to warm them up gently in your hands before coating in the crushed choco M&M’s.
    • Place your coated M&M’s truffles onto your clean, lined tray, and place in the fridge to firm up. Store in fridge.
    • Wrap up for a gift, or eat and ENJOY!

    Making the Truffles

    These should last about a week. However I seriously doubt they would live to see more than 3 days… even if they’re lucky. My left over truffles lasted no more than a day and a half.

    (I feel I must stress they were not all eaten by myself!)

    This recipe could produce more truffles if you chose to make them a lot smaller. The ganache to crispy M&M’s ratio is not exactly 1:1, so if when I make these in the future, I will definitely play around with the size of the truffles! Maybe use a level teaspoon of ganache? If you chose to do this, you will need more crispy M&M’s and possibly more crushed choco M&M’s for coating.

    I should add, that I tried two methods in breaking down the M&M’s for the coating, the first was the obvious – placing the sweets in a zip-sealing bag, and hammering them with a rolling pin or other utensil, the other method I attempted was putting the sweets in a food processor, and pulsing until ready.

    By Hand

    By Machine

    I found that the first method produced better results.

    In my opinion, the machine didn’t process them evenly, so I was left with some pieces which were just too big and mounds that were just too fine for coating the truffles. Therefore I recommend the ‘by hand’ method, making it a lot easier to control AND you get to relieve yourself of some frustration… those poor little M&M’s dudes!

    For their purpose I filled a jar with as many M&M truffles as could fit. I presented these babies to my friend, who very quickly hid them at the back of her fridge for her own personal consumption. I don’t blame her – and neither would you!

    These things are EPIC!

    Therefore there is no real need for the recipient of these delightful gems to share them with anyone. You have my blessing.

    These could quite possibly only be bettered by using pretzel M&M’s in the centre… Or peanut butter M&M’s… Or just plain ol’ peanut!

    Oh WOW!

    Off I go to track some down!