Bloodshot eyeball truffles for Halloween

I used to be a bit sniffy about Halloween. With no research whatsoever I’d claim in a haughty fashion that it wasn’t British, (erm… neither is curry Holly but you shove that down your chops twice a week, plus well Halloween is British isn’t it?) that it caused great upset amongst the elderly and therefore is was B. A. D.

Now I have little kids and whilst I don’t dress them up as pumpkins and ghouls for Halloween, I have noticed they rather like a novelty treat or two. So I thought I’d make some treats for them. Myself, I’ve got my eyes on some glow in the dark nail varnish stocked in the Halloween section of our local shop. No, I’m not going trick or treating, but it did occur to me I could use it to navigate to the bathroom without turning the lights on and risk waking my youngest up.

Makes about 28 but really depends how large you make your eyeballs.

Ingredients:

• 300mls double cream
• 100g dark chocolate
• 200g milk chocolate
• 1 tsp orange essence – Taste the Diff Sainsbury’s one very good (you can use any flavouring you like – booze if not for kiddies for example)
• 400g white chocolate (I use Sainsbury’s value range for melting)
• Dr Oetker Bright Gel Food Colour (red)
• Dr Oetker Regal Ice or Renshaw professional depending on whether you shop online or in supermarket (5 pack Dr O contains black plus 4 colours for iris’)

This is easy. Put the cream into a small saucepan with the orange essence. Heat on the hob until just starting to bubble away. Remove and add the dark and milk chocolate which you’ve broken into squares. Beat with a whisk until smooth. Pop in the fridge to harden for about 2 hrs. (I make this part in the morning and come back to it after the kids are in bed – there’s no point watching truffles solidify, so to speak.)

When you’re ready to make the truffles pop the white choc, in broken squares, into a microwavable bowl and melt for about 1 minute until smooth. If your microwave is powerful then blast in 10 second shots as white choc burns easily. Stir until completely smooth then set aside (not in the fridge) until almost cool but still molten. This bit’s important.

In the meantime make your truffle balls. Get a little production line sorted. (I find Eastenders and a glass of wine are both intrinsic to truffle making.) You need a big plate for popping the truffles on by your side. Take a large teaspoon of mixture and roll between your palms into a ball shape and then pop on the plate. Repeat until all the mixture has gone. This bit is messy by the way.

Grab a large piece of greaseproof paper and place on a platter or chopping board. When the white choc is almost cool (and it really can’t be warm or it’ll melt your truffle and you’ll be left with a pool of white choc and truffle mix only good for spooning straight into your mouth… oh hang on…) take a teaspoon and pop your truffle into the white choc, make sure it’s covered by spooning the choc over it gently, then remove, let the excess choc drain and place on the greaseproof paper to dry. Don’t worry if a bit of the dark choc truffle shows through – you can double dip some of the truffles to overcome this once they’re dry, or just live with it as it adds to the Halloween style effect in my opinion. Continue to dip all the truffles and leave to dry. Don’t wash the white choc bowl up – you need it!

Make the pupils and iris’ by taking a small blob of coloured Regal Ice (I used green and red) and rolling into a ball. Then take a smaller blob of black Regal Ice, roll into a ball and squash into the coloured blob, then gently squash onto a small piece of greaseproof paper to make them flatish. Peel the greaseproof paper off gently and then using a little of the scrapings of white choc attach to the truffle. I attach to the top to stop the iris sliding off.

Lastly take the red Gel Food Colour and use to make the blood shot bit of the eyes. You can use a paintbrush and red liquid food colouring if you like but it won’t have that really shiny blood clot effect.

NB: If you store these in the fridge the choc might develop a ‘bloom’ – white mottled effect. They’re still fine to eat, just look a bit less pretty.

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