Matcha Truffles

When on a matcha kick, it only stands to reason that I would make a matcha truffle. I mean, come on now! When incorporating something like matcha into a raw recipe, I find it’s really important that you use high quality matcha. Whereas with cooked recipes, the tea is being cooked and, therefor, looses some of it’s colour anyway. But in raw recipes, the colour remains in tact, so it’s important you use one that’s bright! Culinary grade matcha tends to be duller in colour.

This matcha gold is still my favourite. It’s creamy, earthy and a little grassy, which I love, actually. In this recipe, you get that grassiness when you bite through the outside powder into the dark shell, then comes the soft, cool ganache to absorb the powder and leave the flavour dancing in your mouth while the chocolate slowly begins to envelope your taste buds. Culinary bliss.

Notes

• You can replace the lemon juice with any citrus you’d prefer, such as, lime or orange.

• Using xylitol or honey will keep the recipe light and bright, if you use maple or coconut sugar, it’ll have a darker flavour to it and may not highlight the delicateness of the matcha as much.

• These don’t need to be enrobed, you can also just roll them in matcha, cacao powder or ground pistachios.

• I used Matcha Gold from Lalani & Co based in London. The general rule in cooking will always be to use the highest quality that you can afford, so just use the matcha that makes the most sense for you.

70g ( ¼ cup ) coconut butter
200g ( 1 cup ) water, hot/warm
150g ( 4 oz ) cacao paste, baking chocolate or your favourite chocolate – shaved
100g ( ½ cup ) xylitol or coconut sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp matcha powder
½ tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp tamari ( optional for added depth )

Method

• It’s important the water is warm / hot and the chocolate is shaved before you start this recipe.

• The liquid being hot and the chocolate being shaved will mean that the mixture melts very quickly and can properly emulsify in the blender.

• Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and process, starting on low-medium and then increase to full power until all ingredients are smooth and creamy.

• Pour the contents into a large bowl so the ganache can set quickly. If the bowl is tall and narrow, it will take longer for the mix to set. Create as much surface area as possible for faster setting.

• Leave the mix uncovered at room temp until it’s completely cooled. Wrap with plastic wrap, or transfer to a container, and place in the fridge for a few hours to set completely.

• Once set, dust your hands with a little cacao powder and roll the mix into small balls.

• Don’t use too much cacao powder or the chocolate won’t stick to them when you go to enrobe them. Alternatively, you can simply dust them in matcha and call it a day.

• To enrobe them, place them back in the fridge to set up again while you get the chocolate ready. You can garnish them with chopped pistachios nuts or simply roll in matcha tea powder.

• Here’s a video on how to enrobe using cacao paste, but it’s the same for using any type of chocolate. The benefit of using paste is that it’s less expensive than buying chocolate bars and it doesn’t contain any sweeteners, it’s 100% cacao.