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Right, I’m not going to lie to you, these vegan and gluten free Cherry Brandy Truffles are a bit fiddly to make but they are so worth it. I personally love cherry brandy chocolates and always stockpile them at Christmas time but never thought to make my own. I also like chocolate truffles so I thought ‘why not merge the two’?
This homage to the traditional Cherry Brandy Chocolate has all the punch of a brandy soaked cherry in the centre. It also has the outer shell of a chocolate truffle, a thicker shell to the normal dark chocolate casing and infused with dried cherries and rich cocoa.
What Equipment do I need for these Cherry Brandy Truffles?
Like I say these are a wee bit fiddly to make but not what I’d call ‘masterclass’. Given the effort, and how gorgeous these delicious monster truffles are to look at, I’m considering making more and boxing them up as gifts this Christmas.
What equipment you need:
Silicone Cake Pop Mould – this is a bit of a must really, however, if you’re not set on having perfect circular truffles you could use a mini muffin tin and have more of a caramel cup shape to finish.
Food Processor or Hand Blender – needed to blend all the truffle shell ingredients together.
Measuring Spoons – using a 1/2 tablespoon measure is the perfect size to scoop 20 equal portions of truffle mixture into the cake pop mould.
How to make the Cherry Brandy Truffle filling
To make the brandy soaked cherry filling I use 10 Maraschino Cocktail Cherries, cherry jam and brandy and mix them all together. You could go one step further and add cherry brandy instead of normal brandy.
I actually make this the day before I plan to make my Cherry Brandy Truffles but this is not necessary it just gives the brandy more time to soak into the cherry. Plus it acts as a reminder that I need to make them when the bowl is on the side covered in foil!
The flavours will continue to infuse after you’ve made the truffles anyway so it’s your call.
How do I make the Chocolate Truffle coating?
This is super simple. To make the truffle element of these Cherry Brandy Truffles you add gluten free biscuits, dried cherries, cocoa powder, butter and golden syrup to a food processor and blitz it all up to combine.
How Much do these Truffles cost to make as a gift?
This recipe makes 10 Cherry Brandy Truffles and after a slightly dodgy bit of maths I worked out that it would cost £2.50-3 for 5 truffles and about £6 for 10 truffles. This gives you a ball park figure if you budget wisely for Christmas presents.
What cherries can I use for the truffle centres?
I state above that I use Maraschino Cherries for this recipe. These are the vibrant coloured cocktail cherries you get in jars at most supermarkets. An alternative to the Maraschino cherry is a glace cherry, you could opt for a red died cherry or a more natural dark glace cherry.
These will have a different flavour to the Maraschino cherry and you’ll get a more subtle taste if you go for the glace option.
What biscuits do I need for the cherry truffle shell?
I tend to go for gluten free digestives when I’m turning a biscuit crumb into something else. The humble digestive doesn’t argue with other flavours, isn’t too sweet and the crumb behaves itself structure-wise.
You could use chocolate chip cookies to add an extra chocolate element. I’d avoid shortbread as the higher butter flavour will overpower the dried cherries in the truffle mixture.
How do I get a liquid filling inside my truffle?
This is the fiddly bit I was telling you about. Trust me though, follow my photo steps and you’ll be fine. I use a 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon to measure out 20 scoops of truffle mixture. Then with a teaspoon or my finger I press the mixture flat. Finally I use a round ended utensil and press deep holes into each half shell (this bit is really satisfying).
Then you simply add 10 cherries to 10 shells. The remainder of the cherry and brandy jam to the remaining 10 shells and pop the whole lot into the freezer for 30mins to chill out.
Can I make these Cherry Truffles alcohol free?
You certainly can make these Brandy Cherry Truffles alcohol free. You have options. First option is use a few drops of brandy flavouring and 1tbsp water. Second option, just add water to loosen the cherry jam. Third option add a cherry flavour syrup.
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Can I make these Truffles vegan?
This recipe for Cherry Brandy Truffles uses all vegan ingredients, IF you use a vegan brandy. Some brandy’s use egg white in the distillation process (albumin). You will need to go onto the manufacturers website for full information as to whether your brandy is vegan or not.
Other delicious Chocolate Festive Recipes
Finest Vegan Cherry Brandy Truffles Recipe
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Finest Vegan Cherry Brandy Truffles
Ingredients
For the truffle shell
- 10 gluten free digestive biscuit(s) broken into small pieces
- 35 g dried cherries
- 40 g butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter) melted, I use Flora Vegan Blocks of butter
- 1 tbsp golden syrup (corn syrup)
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
For the cherry filling
- 10 Maraschino cherries (cocktail cherries)
- 2 tbsp cherry conserve
- 1 tbsp brandy
To coat and decorate
- 180 g dark chocolate use a dairy free option
Instructions
To make the brandy cherries
- Add your cherries to a bowl along with the brandy and cherry jam.
- Soak the cherries in the sweet jam and brandy mixture for at least 30mins, in the meantime crack on with making the truffle centre.
To make the truffle
- In a blender add the melted butter, golden syrup, cocoa powder, digestive biscuits and dried cherries. Blitz until you have a sticky dough.
- Take scoops of the dough (I use a ½ table spoon to get the right size scoop) and press into your cake pop mould, do this 20x. Press the mixture flat with a teaspoon.
- Using a rounded kitchen tool or your thumb press a cherry sized indent into each piece of moulded dough to make a little cup shape
- Add a soaked cherry to 10 of the halves and spoon any excess brandy syrup into the moulded cup.
- In the remaining 10 cups add the remaining cherry conserve and brandy syrup and pop into the freezer for 10mins to set the truffle.
- Whilst waiting for the truffle centre to firm you can set to work melting the dark chocolate. Do this by heating in the microwave or in a bowl over boiled water to keep melted.
Making and coating your truffle
- Once chilled the truffle cups will pop out of their moulds easily. to seal the two halves together using the handle of a teaspoon dipped in chocolate and paint each half of the truffle cup with a cherry in it with your melted chocolate.
- Take a truffle cup filled with cherry conserve and press down gently onto your painted cherry cup, repeat until all halves are stuck together.
- Return to the freezer to allow the chocolate paint to harden.
- Once hardened remove each truffle and dip into your remaining chocolate to coat, placing each coated chocolate on a silicone baking sheet or grease proof paper on a baking tray. Now pop into the fridge to allow to set.
Nutrition
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I’m currently looking for edible gifts to make my nan so these are going straight on the list!
Super-clever. LOVE the idea of homemade Cherry Brandy Truffles. They look perfectly oozy and quite delicious. Genius for Christmas xxx
Thanks for sharing #CookBlogShare
Corr these are a bit too easy to eat! Brilliant for presents for Christmas.
These sound absolutely fantastic. Making a shell out of tiffin is pure genius. And what’s not to love about brandy soaked cherries? Now the question is do I order one box or three?
Delicious, I love chocolate truffles and your cherry brandy filling is right up my street. Sweet treat perfection.
It’s a retro classic!
Wow this is a fantastic idea for a gift! thanks for sharing the recipe
There’s something so gloriously traditional about these – they take me straight back to 1980s Christmas’s at my grandparents’ house.
I love this, food memories are the best in my honest opinion.
I love cherry brandy, these look delicious thanks for the recipe and giveway x
Another stunning creation you clever lady :)
Thank you darling xx
Great job! Go you! They look incredibly fiddly, but they have turned out amazing (and sound delicious). Cherry Brandy takes me back to my youth though…… not good memories! x
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Those truffles look amazing! x
Oh wow Rebecca, your chocolates look amazing, and I admire you for attempting something like this: I think I would stick to the chocolatier’s ones (my nan is very good to me and always buys the finest chocolates as my Christmas pressie – she knows me well!). Your photos are absolutely stunning too. You’ve really got your own style and I love it!!! xxxxx
Oh these look like a lovely treat for a grown up, and would make a lovely handmade gift #freefromfridays
Wowsers! They look amazing!! Definitely don’t look free from anything. I am so with you on the cherry brandy thing – so nice! So I just can’t imagine how lovely these must be. Great idea for homemade Christmas pressies (though I fear if I ever made them I’d just scoff the lot!) Eb x
I made some chocolate with an Indigo Herbs kit a while ago and it was fantastic. These look great and I’d love to try one!
They look stunning and sound absolutely delicious! Would love to see them over at #TreatPetite if you’d like to link up :)
Thank you Kat, what a lovely thing to say xx