Dukka spiced chocolate truffles

If you live round these parts you may well have eaten at The Masons Arms otherwise known as  'The Strawberry Bank' a lovely pub in a lovely spot, serving very nice food. 

Last time I went there we had Dukka for a starter ~ Oh my!! I'd never tried, or heard of it before ~  I was incredibly excited by it's deliciousness, so I asked the waiter what was in it and he nipped off  and got the recipe for me! 

Then, one Christmas, probably after a few, I thought it would go rather well in a Chocolate Truffle, so the Dukka is made into a Praline then added to a Chocolate Truffle mixture.  

And amazingly enough ~ today is National Truffle Day!!  So here, for your delight, is the recipe.

First make the Dukka.  You can use any combination of nuts and seed, Pistachios work well too.

For the Dukka:

40g Hazelnuts

40g Almonds

40g Sesame seeds

40g Sunflower seeds

Toast these nuts in a pan over a medium heat, keep stirring so they don't burn, leave to cool in a bowl.

2 tsp Coriander seeds 

2 tsp Fennel seeds

2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp Smoked paprika

2 tsp Sea salt

1 tsp black pepper

Toast these spices in a pan over a medium heat then add to the nuts ~ leave to cool then whizz them all together in a food processor, or if you don't have one  put the mix in a sealed bag and bash with a rolling pin. 

This makes about 180g of Dukka, next thing is to make this into Praline, but first test out the deliciousness of Dukka  ~ dip your bread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar, then into the Dukka! 

If you happen to live in Lancaster then use the best bread in town from Filberts Bakery, it goes perfectly with it!

For the Praline:

80g Sugar
100g Dukka

Pour the sugar into a heavy bottomed pan, and turn on a medium/low heat. The sugar starts to melt around the edges after a few minutes, DO NOT STIR, just gently shake it now and again until it's all melted and bubbling, as soon as steam appears turn it off, this is your caramel, it's hot!

Add 100g of Dukka to this, stir with a wooden spoon and pour onto a baking tray or baking paper to cool. When cooled whizz or bash or grind into crumbs. This makes about 200g of crumbs as long as you didn't eat too much Dukka before hand.

For the Truffles:

180g Dark chocolate

75ml Double cream

40g Butter

100g of Dukka praline crumbs (the rest will be used later)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl in a pan of water, over a low heat. Don't let the water boil over into the chocolate and don't let it get too hot. Do stir from time to time. 

When it's almost melted ~ chop and add the butter. When the butter's melted turn off the heat and add the cream. Stir gently, then add the Dukka crumbs, stir it all in well and leave to cool. 

I put mine in the freezer to speed things up, taking it out every 10 mins to give it a stir, it won't work if you let it completely freeze though!

Finally roll into walnut sized balls and roll in the remaining Dukka crumbs.  Makes about 20 ~ 24.

You may want to eat them all straight away but if you don't they keep pretty well for some time in the fridge.

Hooray!!