Sweet tooth and citrus
December 18, 2009 11:04 PM Subscribe
Orange + coffee = truffles?
So, I'm making some truffles to bring to a Christmas dinner. Googled up recipes, seems fairly easy all in all, and I went shopping today for ingredients.
I don't drink very much at all, so I went for the smallest bottles of liqueur I could find at the store. I was originally going to use Grand Marnier because I love chocolate + oranges, but I hadn't the faintest clue how to use up all that orange liqueur unless I planned to be making truffles very often. Plus it was about twice the price of coffee liqueur. I ended up getting the coffee liqueur, figuring I can burn it on tiramisu if need be.
However, now that I finally got myself a Microplane (for my key lime pies! Really!) and now feel an urge to zest everything in sight... I'm still tempted to add some orange flavour to my coffee-flavoured truffles. I was thinking of adding a bit of orange zest to my coffee truffles to give it some zing. Would that be weird? Go badly together?
So, I'm making some truffles to bring to a Christmas dinner. Googled up recipes, seems fairly easy all in all, and I went shopping today for ingredients.
I don't drink very much at all, so I went for the smallest bottles of liqueur I could find at the store. I was originally going to use Grand Marnier because I love chocolate + oranges, but I hadn't the faintest clue how to use up all that orange liqueur unless I planned to be making truffles very often. Plus it was about twice the price of coffee liqueur. I ended up getting the coffee liqueur, figuring I can burn it on tiramisu if need be.
However, now that I finally got myself a Microplane (for my key lime pies! Really!) and now feel an urge to zest everything in sight... I'm still tempted to add some orange flavour to my coffee-flavoured truffles. I was thinking of adding a bit of orange zest to my coffee truffles to give it some zing. Would that be weird? Go badly together?
Your zest for zest is admirable, but this is a bad idea. The awesomenesses of orange/chocolate and coffee/chocolate are pretty mutually exclusive.
Starbucks had an orange mocha frappuccino for about one month a couple years ago. They do not now. There is a lesson here.
YMMV, of course. Maybe throw some zest in just two or three of this batch, and if it turns out to be delicious, you can make a bigger batch of orange coffee truffles next time.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 11:56 PM on December 18, 2009
Starbucks had an orange mocha frappuccino for about one month a couple years ago. They do not now. There is a lesson here.
YMMV, of course. Maybe throw some zest in just two or three of this batch, and if it turns out to be delicious, you can make a bigger batch of orange coffee truffles next time.
posted by Schlimmbesserung at 11:56 PM on December 18, 2009
I dunno, Panera used to carry a "cafe borgia" which was a latte with chocolate and orange, and those things were like crack. (Well, like booze. They actually discontinued them because the orange flavoring was more alcoholic than is okay to be serving to kids.) So I thought that combo was delicious, but the flavoring in something like that is WAY more orange/chocolate than orange/coffee.
posted by olinerd at 4:02 AM on December 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by olinerd at 4:02 AM on December 19, 2009 [1 favorite]
I don't think it would taste very good, but I think Schlimmbesserung had a good suggestion -- try it in part of the batch as an experiment. That way you can find out firsthand if you are on to something amazing, but, if they aren't very good, you still have plenty of regular coffee flavor to bring to your Christmas dinner.
Please update to let us know what you do, and if you try them how they turn out!
posted by tastybrains at 4:32 AM on December 19, 2009
Please update to let us know what you do, and if you try them how they turn out!
posted by tastybrains at 4:32 AM on December 19, 2009
A little orange zest in a latte or something can be a dream if we kick some spices. But in a truffle where it's trying to play with coffee? That's a lot of weird acid, boozy, dense flavors. Keep it away! Also, if you need some Grand Marnier for truffles next time, you can usually get it in those little $1 bottles at the counter.
posted by GilloD at 5:20 AM on December 19, 2009
posted by GilloD at 5:20 AM on December 19, 2009
My bread machine cookbook has a recipe for a sweetish Mexican bread involving chocolate, orange juice/zest, cinnamon, and coffee, and it's one of my favorite recipes in the whole book.
Even if Starbucks dropped their version, I spy several purveyors of orange-chocolate flavored coffee beans, and multiple recipes for chocolate-orange coffee drinks out there on the web. So someone must like the combo.
posted by drlith at 5:53 AM on December 19, 2009
Even if Starbucks dropped their version, I spy several purveyors of orange-chocolate flavored coffee beans, and multiple recipes for chocolate-orange coffee drinks out there on the web. So someone must like the combo.
posted by drlith at 5:53 AM on December 19, 2009
How much coffee liqueur actually goes in the recipe? Are they supposed to actually be coffee flavored, or is the coffee liqueur just there to enhance the chocolate flavor? If the latter, I say go for the orange; if the former, I say go with the "try it in just a few at first" recommendations above.
posted by pluckemin at 6:01 AM on December 19, 2009
posted by pluckemin at 6:01 AM on December 19, 2009
Starbucks had an orange flavored drink called a mocha Valencia for years. And I loved them and still miss them almost daily.
I say make a small test batch and see how they turn out.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:05 AM on December 19, 2009
I say make a small test batch and see how they turn out.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:05 AM on December 19, 2009
A coffee shop near me makes an orange zezt cafe au lait that is great. For another data point.
posted by Coatlicue at 9:24 AM on December 19, 2009
posted by Coatlicue at 9:24 AM on December 19, 2009
Why not just do a few separate orange truffles? Assuming you're doing some sort of ganache filling I'd put the orange zest in with the cream as it was heated. Please use organic fruit if you're planning on using the zest.
posted by ecurtz at 10:08 AM on December 19, 2009
posted by ecurtz at 10:08 AM on December 19, 2009
orange/lemon peel are often served with espresso. whenever I have orange peel around, I'll put some of the zest in with the ground coffee when I use my coffee press. it's delicious. can you just test on a couple? I don't want to ruin your truffles.. but it sounds pretty good to me.
posted by citron at 10:16 AM on December 19, 2009
posted by citron at 10:16 AM on December 19, 2009
Loved the Valencia from Starbucks (mentioned earlier).
Caribou Coffee went through an orange phase too and mixed it into lattes, mochas, and frozen drinks. I loved them all.
I think orange + coffee + chocolate is awesome.
posted by simplethings at 10:40 AM on December 19, 2009
Caribou Coffee went through an orange phase too and mixed it into lattes, mochas, and frozen drinks. I loved them all.
I think orange + coffee + chocolate is awesome.
posted by simplethings at 10:40 AM on December 19, 2009
I once bought a bag of "Big Orange" coffee beans in the Knoxville TN area. While I did it just for yuks, it was actually amazingly yummy. So, I know that dark roast coffee + orange (zest) tasted much better than it originally sounded to me, at least. I'm not a fan of chocolate, so I can't speak to that, but I say make a small batch and give it a shot!
posted by NikitaNikita at 12:07 PM on December 19, 2009
posted by NikitaNikita at 12:07 PM on December 19, 2009
Buy Orange Triple Sec. It's much cheaper, and Cooks Illustrated said that they actually slightly prefer it to Gran Marrinier. Or buy the tiny "airplane" bottles of either liquor. You can usually find them at the counter of the liquor store and not on the shelves, because they'd be easy to steal otherwise. They're cheap and don't leave you with a bunch of booze you have no use for.
If you are left with a bunch of orange liquor, I cannot go on enough about how awesome crepes suzette are. They're a great Sunday morning breakfast. They're lighter than pancakes, and a much cooler spectacle.
I've never really liked coffee and oranges, so I wouldn't give it a shot unless you were willing to risk losing the ingredients. Maybe it's something only some people like, like cilantro. If it's a gift, go for something most people will like. Bite the bullet and buy some tiny bottles of orange liquor.
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:28 PM on December 19, 2009
If you are left with a bunch of orange liquor, I cannot go on enough about how awesome crepes suzette are. They're a great Sunday morning breakfast. They're lighter than pancakes, and a much cooler spectacle.
I've never really liked coffee and oranges, so I wouldn't give it a shot unless you were willing to risk losing the ingredients. Maybe it's something only some people like, like cilantro. If it's a gift, go for something most people will like. Bite the bullet and buy some tiny bottles of orange liquor.
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:28 PM on December 19, 2009
1. Microplane the orange zest.
2. Bring the zest twice to boil in fresh changes of water, then strain & throw out the water, to remove bitterness.
3. Bring the zest to boil in simple syrup: 2 parts sugar, 1 part water.
4. Allow to cool to "very warm", then pour through a fine sieve. Rinse quickly to clean off excess sugar.
5. Spread on wax paper, and allow to dry. If you are in a hurry, spread on a china plate, and dry in oven on lowest setting - but remove as soon as dry.
6. Sprinkle pinch of peel on tops of (freshly made, still impressable) truffles, which are flavored with curacao, cointreau, or (worse case) orange flavoring.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:56 PM on December 20, 2009
2. Bring the zest twice to boil in fresh changes of water, then strain & throw out the water, to remove bitterness.
3. Bring the zest to boil in simple syrup: 2 parts sugar, 1 part water.
4. Allow to cool to "very warm", then pour through a fine sieve. Rinse quickly to clean off excess sugar.
5. Spread on wax paper, and allow to dry. If you are in a hurry, spread on a china plate, and dry in oven on lowest setting - but remove as soon as dry.
6. Sprinkle pinch of peel on tops of (freshly made, still impressable) truffles, which are flavored with curacao, cointreau, or (worse case) orange flavoring.
posted by IAmBroom at 7:56 PM on December 20, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:46 PM on December 18, 2009