Strawberry Mojito Truffles and Roaring Cherry Pate de Fruit

Welcome to my FIRST Daring Baker's Challenge!!


Please excuse the small font. This is going to be a LOOOONG post with LOTS of pictures!


The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

To win the prize, my chocolate candies had to use tempered chocolate. Which I did NOT use. :( But I didn't have the supplies, and as a poor college kid... well, you understand. But it's still on my to do list!


The recipes below are super delicious. The truffles couldn't be any easier to make, and they are SO addicting - especially if you love lime flavored anything, like I do! The Pate de Fruit, or "fruit jellies" as the American nation calls them, are also tasty and really remind me of my childhood. 


I use to take ballet when I was very young, although I don't remember the exact age. I was still being homeschooled, I do know that. It was probably around 5th grade or something. I remember that there was a girl in my class; I think he name was either Eliza or Elisa or something like that. I went other house one day, and her mother was making chocolate pudding in a blender. Made with none other than... tofu! Oh, I thought it was the most BIZARRE thing. And I didn't like it, either. I bet I would like it now!


Anyways. Some days after ballet class (which, BTW, my teacher was EXTREMELY rude!! I couldn't stand her. She would call us marshmallows, piles of dung, watermelons...basically, she kept calling us fat.) we would go to this little store down the road that had lots of little knick knacks. 


And fruit jellies. 


You know, the ones that are in the shapes of orange, lime, and lemon slices. With edible rind and covered in sugar. I'm still CRAZY about those things, although I don't eat them anymore. 


With my recipe here, I took the original recipe and made it a *bit* better for you by using evaporated cane juice instead of white sugar. I call them "roaring" cherry pate de fruit because  I used a combination of bing cherries and dragon (ROAR!) fruit to make them!


Let's start off with the Strawberry Mojito Truffles! 


Strawberry Mojito Truffles


Ganache Filling: 
1 3/4 c. vegan chocolate chips (I used 365 brand semi-sweet)
2/3 c. Mimicreme (alternatively, you could use coconut milk here, or soy/nut milk)
1 T. lime zest
Juice of 1 small lime (Approximately 2 T. juice)
1/4 t. peppermint extract

You will ALSO need:
1 bag vegan chocolate chips
Freeze dried strawberries, ground to a dust in a food processor
Optional: sea salt

1. Place chocolate in a large heatproof bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, warm Mimicreme or vegan milk of choice. 
3. Pour warmed milk over chocolate and stir until all chocolate has melted. 
4. Add remaining ingredients and stir until everything is well combined. 
5. Pour chocolate mixture into a deep container to firm up (I used an 8x8 cake pan, but you can use any deep container).
6. Allow to cool in the fridge until mixture is firm.

While that is chilling....


7. Melt another full bag of vegan chocolate chips in a saucepan (this recipe calls for almost 2 bags total of chocolate chips - this includes what was used already in the ganache filling).


Then...


8. Pull filling out of fridge and using a teaspoon or melonballer, scoop out little balls of filling. 
9. Roll filling in hands (wear gloves so this won't be messy!) until you have little balls. With a fork, dip each ball in melted chocolate and set aside. 
10. While chocolate is still melted, sprinkle each truffle with the ground strawberry dust. Alternatively, sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt for that tequila feeling (lime, salt...you get it?)

These things are so addicting. Seriously. The 40 it made were gone in two days!!

Now, onto the fruit jellies! You can use three cups of any fruit you want for this. If you want strawberries, just use three cups. Or any fruit. At all :)

Roaring Cherry Pate de Fruit

Ingredients:2 cups fresh or frozen bing cherries
1 cup fresh dragonfruit, diced

1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups evaporated cane juice
2½ tablespoons liquid pectin

1. Prepare an 8x8 pan by lining it with aluminium foil or parchment paper and spraying it with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Place fruit in a food processor and blend until pureed.
3. Pour fruit through a strainer into a medium saucepan. Stir in the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar, place the pan over medium-high heat, and insert a candy thermometer.
4. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it is hot, around 140°F/60°C. Add the remaining sugar and the liquid pectin, and lower the heat to medium.
5. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture registers 200°F/93°C.Turn the heat to low and hold it at 200°F/93°C for 2-3 minutes. After this, return the heat to medium and bring it up to 225°F/107°C.
6. Once the fruit paste reaches 225°F/107°C, turn the heat to low and keep it at that temperature for an additional 2-minutes.
7. Remove the pot from the heat and pour mixture into the prepared pan.
8. Allow the fruit mixture to set at room temperature for several hours, until completely cool and firm. Cut into 1'' squares and roll in the evaporated cane juice.

Sorry mine aren't the prettiest :) But they were yummy! You could totally substitute kiwi for the dragonfruit. The dragonfruit did give this mixture a bit of a kiwi flavor, and its edible seeds definitely remind me of kiwi as well! Yum. 

Please excuse the weird faces. It was tasty.