Recipe: Chocolate Spearmint Truffles for Nelly

Chocolate Spearmint Truffles
My first try, today, was using Spearmint Oil, also from Lhasa Kharnak. Making the Spearmint Oil extract: Take pure food-grade Spearmint Oil, and add 3 -4 small drops to a one ounce dropper bottle filled with vodka or grain alcohol, I used Everclear. Shake well to mix thoroughly.

Spearmint Extract, prepared as indicated in the paragraph above.
10 ounces of high-quality bittersweet and semisweet chocolates.
1 cup of whipping cream.
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 cup high-quality cocoa

Mix the whipping cream with the maple syrup and 1 - 2 dropperfuls of Spearmint Extract (one will be more subtle, two more pronounced in flavor), and whip until the whipped cream is firm.

Important note: I would recommend using 1 dropperful if you're going to each the truffles the same day, or 2 droppersful if you are going to eat them in following days. The reason is that after a day, the flavor becomes much more subtle.

[Note: If you omit whipping the cream mixture, you get balls of flavored chocolate instead of Spearmint or Jasmine truffles, but I prefer the whipped texture. If you choose not to whip, however, you should only chill the final mixture for about an hour or less, or it gets too hard to scoop and shape into truffles.]

Melt chocolate in microwave (about one to two minutes, but stir after one minute), and then stir until completely smooth, let cool for a few minutes, and then blend into the whipped cream completely.

Chill at least two hours in your refrigerator.

Place cocoa into a small bowl. Scoop out small portions of the chocolate-whipped cream mixture and shape into small balls (about 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch in diameter) and roll into the cocoa to coat them completely.