Chocolate Covered Strawberry Truffles with Freeze-dried Strawberry
Skip the chocolate covered strawberries this year and make these delicious Chocolate Covered Strawberry Truffles for your Valentines. Put them on lollipop sticks for double the fun!
Add freeze dried strawberries to a food processor and grind into a fine powder. Let the powder settle before opening the food processor and transferring it to a bowl with the white chocolate melting wafers. Optional: sift the powder through a fine mesh sieve to remove any seeds and larger pieces.
Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering but not boiling. Or microwave for about 45 seconds, watch so that it doesn’t boil over. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and strawberry powder. Let sit for a minute, then stir with a spatula or whisk until the chocolate completely dissolves and the strawberry powder is incorporated.
Refrigerate for 1 hour to let the truffle filling harden but still workable. Use a small ice cream scoop to portion the truffle filling into 13 pieces.
Roll each portion into a ball, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 1 hour. Reshape into rounder balls if necessary, if the truffles are still too soft, place the tray in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
Melt the dark chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a simmering pot of water, stirring with a spatula or whisk. When almost all of the chocolate has melted, remove it from the heat and continue to stir until it melts completely and smooth. Transfer melted chocolate into a glass jar.
Take the truffles out of the freezer and add lollipop sticks, keep refrigerated or in the freezer, you will work with just a few at a time.
Dip the truffle on the lollipop stick in the melted chocolate, swirl around to coat completely. Allow the excess to drip off back into the glass jar and allow the chocolate coating to dry with the truffle lollipops standing up.
Decorate with sprinkles if desired before the chocolate coating dry completely.
Notes
When processing the freeze dried strawberries, drape a towel over the food processor to keep the powder from flying everywhere.
If not using lollipop stick, keep the melted chocolate in the bowl instead, place a truffle on the tip of a fork and dip the bottom of the truffle into the melted chocolate. Use a spoon to drizzle melted chocolate over the top to cover it completely.
Use a block of foam as a drying stand for the truffles, see photo in post.