Cribbed from here, this recipe is really nice, but a little messy to make.
Makes around. 40 small truffles
INGREDIENTS
3-4 tbsp reasonably fresh Szechuan peppercorns
8 oz whipping cream
4 oz light muscovado sugar
Zest of 1 orange
Pinch of salt
3 bars of 70% dark chocolate for 300g total
Cocoa (for dusting)
METHOD
In a dry pan roast
3-4 T Szechuan peppercorns
on medium heat for ca. 3 minutes (almost to the point of smoking, being careful not to burn any of the peppercorns). Grind in a spice grinder
In a small food processor, chop fairly finely
3 bars of 70% dark chocolate
and place them in a warmed 2 qt cast-iron pan
In a small saucepan combine
8 oz whipping cream
4 oz sugar
Bring to a simmer over a low flame. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat. Add
the crushed peppercorns,
zest of one orange
pinch of salt
and leave to infuse for 10 minutes before straining the infused cream through a fine tea strainer
Gently re-heat
the strained cream
on a low flame until the cream feels hot to the touch.
Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
Cover the mixture with clingfilm and place in the fridge for 4 hours to set.
Prepare a bowl with cocoa powder. Roll teaspoon-sized chunks of the cooled mixture (easy to grab with a melon-baller that's been dipped into hot water and then quickly dried) into small marbles and roll each in the cocoa (you can shake off excess cocoa by adding a handful of truffles to a fine sieve and gently shaking the sieve over a sink). Alternatively, you can roll the truffles in ground cacao nibs if you like your truffles extra bitter or in powdered sugar for a sweeter alternative.
Stored in the fridge, the truffles will keep for 1 week (if people don't eat them first).
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