Chevre Truffles with The Goat Cheese Lady

Lindsey Aparicio milks her own goats twice a day. And she raises chickens (for which she and her husband sell a variety of very cute chicken houses).

A mother of 2 sons, Lindsey grinds her own wheat, makes her own cheese, bakes her own bread and grows her own vegetables. She does all this on the edge of a fairly large city- Colorado Springs, so she refers to herself as an urban farmer.

She’s best known for her cheese making classes. She teaches at least 5 morning classes from 8:30-11:30am every month (year round). They sell out way in advance, so if you’re interested- click here. She also teaches cheese making classes for kids, and classes in bread making, making goat’s milk soap & lotions and raising backyard chickens.

I asked Lindsey to share her post about chevre truffles with us because I am planning to give them to everyone I know during the holiday season. They are as easy to make as they are to eat (and that’s saying a lot!). I have been making little chevre balls and freezing them until I’m ready to dip them in chocolate and give them as gifts. What could be better?

Update – January, 2016 – Lindsey has moved 45 minutes south of Colorado Springs to Penrose, Colorado to expand her farm, continue teaching cheese making classes and to open The Goat Cheese Lady Creamery this spring! She plans to make and sell farmstead cheeses using the milk from her growing herd of goats. We wish her the very best!

Some of mine are are plain and some are chocolate. You can make them any flavor you wish.

Recipe of The Day #14: Chevre Truffles
By The Goat Cheese Lady

Sometimes you just have to make something out of chocolate. If it were me, I’d make things out of chocolate all the time, but I make goat cheese so much that there’s not enough extra time to make all the chocolate stuff I want.

Except for this.

Chocolate Chevre Truffles…with a kick.

I first found the recipe online here, and tweaked it a little to satisfy my new-found addiction to sweet and spicy bitefulls. Or, sweet and dark chocolate balsamic vinegary bitefulls. Either one. They’re both delicious. Mouth watering, actually.

And the little crystal of salt on top of the spicy gives it a special, unexpected zing.

Start with 3 ounces semi-sweet and 3 ounces bittersweet baker’s chocolate.

Melt it in a double boiler, or in my case, a heat resistant bowl set on top of a pan of deep boiling water (in other words, a makeshift double boiler.) The bowl fits snugly into the top of the medium sized sauce pan.

After the chocolate is melted, stir in 6 ounces of fresh chevre. I used my fresh, raw milk chevre. You can use any kind…raw or pasteurized…or plain chevre. (Note: We sell a chevre culture with directions for making it included.)

It’ll look shiny and glossy like this. Don’t eat it yet though. Have patience. And, now let it cool. It’ll get thicker and pastier. Put it in the fridge if you want to speed up the cooling process.

Divide the cooled chocolate in half and add 1 tsp (or more, depending on your spice tolerance) cayenne pepper to the first half. Also add 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup. Mush it all together.

In a second bowl, put the other half of the chocolate and add 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup and 2-3 tsp dark chocolate balsamic vinegar if you can find any. I got mine at The Olive Tap. Stir that all together. If you can’t find the vinegar, just double the maple syrup.

Now, roll them into cute little balls and put them on wax paper. You may have to chill the chocolate again if it starts sticking to your hands.

Melt the rest of the chocolate in the double boiler.

Stop drooling. Just keep working. Your patience will pay off. Now that the chocolate is melted, carefully pour it over the top of each ball…and put a piece or two of coarse salt on the top. If you want. I’m just into the coarse-salt-on-chocolate thing these days.

But, no matter what, you might want to put some little identifier on top of the spicy ones so you don’t confuse them with the balsamic ones. Your friend who hates spicey might never come over again if you give her the wrong one by accident. Yikes.

Once you’ve coated them all, let them cool so the chocolate dries. And, finally………drumroll please………

Now presenting….Chocolate Cayenne Chevre Truffles!

And, Dark Chocolate Balsamic Chevre Truffles!

Now, you can eat them all. Share them with others if you are willing.

And, if you look closely, they have cute little feet. You might want to nibble the feet off first. Just a technique my 4-year-old pointed out.

The Goat Cheese Lady

P.S. This recipe is posted and was created in honor of Belle Chevre and their Kickstarter Project to fund their new creamery. Go check them out!

Recipe:

9 ounces semisweet baker’s chocolate

9 ounces bittersweet baker’s chocolate

6 ounces chevre, plain

1 tsp cayenne pepper, or more, to taste

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1-2 tsp dark chocolate balsamic vinegar

Coarse salt

1. Melt 3 oz semisweet and 3 oz bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler.

2. Stir in chevre until fully combined. Let cool.

3. Separate chocolate mixture into two batches. Mix cayenne pepper and 1/2 maple syrup into one batch. Mix the other 1/2 maple syrup and the balsamic vinegar into the other batch of chocolate.

4. Roll into 1″ balls and place them on a piece of wax paper.

5. Melt the remaining chocolate in the double boiler.

6. Drizzle melted chocolate over chocolate balls. Top one of the flavors with a crystal or two of coarse salt. Let cool until outer chocolate shell is hard. Enjoy!