Christmas Pudding Truffles (GF)

Instructions

1. Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and then add the dark chocolate and double cream to a small microwaveable bowl. Microwave in 30 second blasts, stirring and allowing to sit for 30 seconds in between, until fully melted and smooth.
2. Crumble the gluten free Christmas pudding into the bowl with the chocolate and cream, then mix well with a spoon to combine. Place in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes.
3. Once cooled, use a teaspoon to scoop pieces of mixture out and roll into balls with your hands. You should end up with 16-20 balls, and remember to keep them fairly small as the end result truffle will have a full chocolate coating plus topping. Place the balls on a greaseproof sheet and then prepare the milk chocolate coating.
4. Chop the milk chocolate into pieces and then add two thirds of it to a small bowl, keeping one third of it aside. Microwave the chocolate in the bowl in 30 second blasts until fully melted. Now add the remaining milk chocolate to the melted chocolate and stir through until these new pieces are melted too - this will help temper the chocolate slightly to ensure a smooth, glossy finish to the chocolate truffles.
5. Now carefully place one truffle ball at a time into the molten milk chocolate and use two teaspoons to coat the truffle, then carefully lift out and place onto a wire cooling rack above a sheet of greaseproof paper. This will allow any excess chocolate to drip off the truffle rather than pooling at the base. Once you have coated all the truffles, set them aside to allow the chocolate to set fully.
6. Next the white chocolate "brandy sauce" topping. Transfer the truffles from the wire rack to a tray - don't worry if any milk chocolate sticks to the tray and comes off the truffle, as you can use the white chocolate to cover the gap. Follow the same steps as set out in 4. to melt and temper the white chocolate. Now use a teaspoon to pour the white chocolate onto each truffle, carefully edging some of it down the sides of the truffles to create a drip effect (see photos below). Leave to cool fully until the white chocolate is set.
7. Finally, time to add your holly leaves and berries! I use royal icing for these and simply shape with my hands (if the icing gets sticky, dust with icing sugar to help you handle it) , but you can also buy holly leaf cutters on Amazon for a more professional finish. To fix them to the top of the truffles, just squish the top of the leaves onto the truffle using the point of a knife, then gently push the berries on top.

You can keep these truffles for up to a week in the fridge, but they will also be okay sitting out for a few hours as there is only a small amount of cream in them.