Blueberry-Black Currant Truffles from Lagusta Yearwood’s Sweet and Salty

Blueberry-Black Currant Truffles are luscious vegan truffles from Lagusta Yearwood’s highly anticipated cookbook Sweet and Salty. You’ll get the recipe and a chance to win the book on the blog today.

If you’ve ever thought you can’t have spectacularly delicious, black-tie worthy, heartbreakingly gorgeous chocolate confections, and eat ethically, and vegan, too, then you don’t yet know about Lagusta Yearwood and her chocolate shop, the first vegan chocolate shop in the world in fact. Her luscious artisanal chocolates and confections combine her deep commitment to social justice, environmentalism, and veganism, with a love of bold flavor and an obsessive commitment to artisan techniques. And then there is her writing, too. I’ve got my copy of this groundbreaking book on pre-order. You will want to do so too. I’ve known Lagusta for years and have hoped she’d write a book. Now she has and what a beauty it is! Thank you Lagusta.

Sweet and Salty

I’ve been to Lagusta’s, and have mail-ordered her confections, too. But today’s post is about Lagusta’s highly anticipated cookbook, Sweet and Salty: The Art of Vegan Chocolates, Truffles, Caramels, and More, from Lagusta’s Luscious. The book launches Sept 24^thand is available to for preorder now. One of my readers will have a chance to win a copy by entering the contest on today’s blog, but honestly, everyone should buy a copy.

‘I’m over the moon that Lagusta is my guest blogger today, sharing her recipe for luscious vegan Blueberry-Black Currant Truffles.

Blueberry-Black Currant Truffles

The Hudson Valley, and particularly New Paltz, where our shop is, is a blueberry world. College kids and old hippies and homeschooling families and Brooklynites with foraging-focused Instagram accounts hike up to wild blueberry patches along the Shawangunk Ridge and emerge with packs swollen with tiny feral contraband berries. You’re technically not allowed to harvest the blueberries, but enforcement is lax and a small band of hardscrabble back-to-the-land nouveau anarcho-punks make a living doing just that.

I (a fake back-to-the-land anarcho-punk who holds a mortgage and employs many people and is a huge hypocrite) usually spend a few afternoons in July picking blueberries up on the mountains, to be made into a jammy puree to use in these truffles. Don’t tell.

These truffles burst with blueberry flavor and are pretty much just as terrific made with cultivated blueberries as foraged wild ones. They can be a bit soft, but the flavor is worth the annoyance.

Cassis is a black currant liqueur available in wine shops. Blueberry powder can be made by grinding freeze-dried blueberries (available in most health food stores) in a spice (coffee) grinder until powdery. If your blueberries are too moist to grind, let them dry out by setting them in your oven turned to the lowest temperature for half an hour or so until crispier, but watch closely so they don’t burn.

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Blueberry-Black Currant Truffles

These truffles burst with blueberry flavor and are pretty much just as terrific made with cultivated blueberries as foraged wild ones. They can be a bit soft, but the flavor is worth the annoyance.

 

Makes 20 to 25 truffles

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword vegan truffles

Yields 20 truffles

Author Lagusta Yearwood

Ingredients

• 1 cup (260 g) ganache (below)
• 2 teaspoons (8 g) cassis
• 3 tablespoons (65 g) blueberry jam (below)
• Garnish: blueberry powder

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients, except the garnish, in a medium-size bowl and stir together until emulsified.
2. Taste and adjust the flavor as necessary—though be aware that the more cassis and jam are added, the softer the ganache will be.
3. Form into truffles as directed in the Truffles Master Recipe (below).
4. To garnish, sprinkle with a little blueberry powder, or drop each truffle into a shallow container of blueberry powder, then turn upside down once set, for a blueberry top.

Recipe Notes

Recipe from Sweet + Salty by Lagusta Yearwood, on sale September 24, 2019 from Da Capo Lifelong

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Ganache Master Recipe

Makes 45 to 50 truffles 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword vegan ganache

Yields 45 Truffles

Author Lagusta Yearwood

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (200 g) full-fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup (45 g) refined coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon (10 g) water
• 2 cups (345 g) dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Instructions

1. Place the milk, oil, and water in a 2- to 4-quart pot and bring to a full boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat when the mixture just begins to climb the pot.
2. Add the chocolate; gently swirl the pan to cover the chocolate with the milk, but do not stir. Cover the pot. Let stand, undisturbed, for 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Slowly whisk until the mixture is combined and uniform.

Recipe Notes

Recipe from Sweet + Salty by Lagusta Yearwood, on sale September 24, 2019 from Da Capo Lifelong

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Blueberry Jam

This really isn’t blueberry jam, but blueberries are so filled with pectin that just heating them with some sugar and letting them hang out for a while makes a workable fake.

Makes 1/3 cup/100 g jam

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword blueberry jam

Author Lagusta Yearwood

Ingredients

• 2 cups (320 g) blueberries fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar

Instructions

1. Combine the blueberries and sugar in a 2-quart pot and bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes, or until the blueberries thicken and break down a little.
2. Remove from the heat. Let cool, then strain (save the juices to stir into vegan yogurt, pour over vegan ice cream, or mix with seltzer for a blueberry soda). Store in the refrigerator 1 week or for 2 months in the freezer.

Recipe Notes

Recipe from Sweet + Salty by Lagusta Yearwood, on sale September 24, 2019 from Da Capo Lifelong

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Truffles Master Recipe

Makes 20 to 25 truffles

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Yields 20 Truffles

Author Lagusta Yearwood

Ingredients

• 1 cup (260 g) ganache
• 1/2 pound chocolate for dipping
• Desired flavor topping
• Garnishes

Instructions

1. Flavor your ganache as directed in the individual flavor recipes, then let the ganache sit at room temperature, stirring often, until firm enough to pipe, 30 minutes or so after being made: it should hold its shape when lifted with a spoon instead of pouring off, and feel semisolid, changing from an initial thick hand lotion consistency to a sort of thicker toothpaste kind of thing. If you’re working in a hot space (above 65°F), you can refrigerate the ganache, but it sets up fast in the refrigerator—watch it!
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment or waxed paper. Use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip or a disposable pastry bag (or resealable plastic bacut to make a 1/2-inch opening to pipe centers. Use a plastic bench scraper to scrape the ganache down to the bottom of the bag periodically, so you’re not wasting your precious ganache. Or forget the pastry bag nonsense and let the ganache firm up a little more and spoon out your truffle centers. It’s a little more time-consuming, but just fine.
3. Pipe the ganache into walnut-size truffle centers. Really the only thing that matters when piping is that you get those babies out of the pastry bag in some semblance of solidity. You can resize them later. Just go for good solid masses without hollow centers and don’t stress too much about size consistency right now. Pipe a straight, sure-footed plop of ganache (yes, I know exactly what it looks like), not tiered hollow-centered beehives. If you’re making multiple flavors, be sure to label the parchment paper sheet with the flavor names, lest you have to pinch off tiny bits of each one and taste them to remember what you were doing. If your ganache slides right out of the pastry bag, knead it a little and let it sit a few more minutes. If it’s too firm to pipe, pipe it anyway, because your hands on the pastry bag will warm it up.
4. Let the truffle centers set up at room temperature until firm. This is a good time to assemble all your garnishes and tools for dipping.
5. Roll the centers between your palms (rinse your hands often in cold water, then dry them thoroughlto make round truffle centers. If necessary, resize the centers by pulling off pieces from larger balls and rolling them onto smaller ones to ensure uniformity. You’re looking at 11 to 13 grams apiece, but who’s counting. Line up your centers like good little soldiers on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
6. At this point, you can let your ganaches sit at room temperature for a few hours or a day or so.
7. Temper the chocolate. To dip each truffle recipe (25 truffles or so), you’ll need 4 to 8 ounces of fluid tempered chocolate.
8. This step is optional, but it’s nice to give softer ganaches an extra chocolate layer to guard against weeping, seeping, or cracking their final chocolate shell: with your hands, roll each truffle center in a tiny bit of tempered chocolate (barely melted out-of-temper chocolate will be fine also; for heaven’s sake, don’t temper chocolate just for this step). Let cool on a parchment-covered sheet pan.
9. At this point, have all your tools and garnishes nearby and be prepared to work quickly, because chocolate hardens fast.
10. Dip one cooled truffle center into the melted tempered chocolate, using a truffle dipper, a fork, or your fingers (I prefer a truffle dipper, which will only set you back a few dollars, and my fingers. A fork will drive you up a wall). Let any excess chocolate drop back into the tempered chocolate bowl. Or roll the center in another coat of tempered chocolate with your hands, for a more rustic effect.
11. Your truffle dipper or hands or fork will quickly become unusable with hardened chocolate, so either have many on hand, or wash and dry them completely in between batches. Working quickly helps with this, too. To efficiently release your truffle from the dipper, give it a good definitive tap on the side of the sheet pan.
12. Place the truffle in the desired flavor topping. With a spoon, cover the truffle with the topping. Let sit in the bowl for a few minutes. Alternatively, dip the truffles onto a parchment sheet and spoon the topping over them. Garnish as desired.
13. Truffles should be eaten within 1 week, otherwise the perishable ganache center could get moldy. For longer storage, store piped, unrolled truffle centers in the freezer. Bring to room temperature and towel off.

Recipe Notes

Recipe from Sweet + Salty by Lagusta Yearwood, on sale September 24, 2019 from Da Capo Lifelong

About Lagusta Yearwood

Lagusta Yearwood is a restless rabble-rousing chef-turned-chocolatier. She trained at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City and is the founder of Lagusta’s Luscious, the first vegan chocolate shop in the world. In addition to their flagship production space in New Paltz, NY, Lagusta’s Luscious operates a café, Commissary, and a retail sweets shop, Confectionery! in the East Village in NYC, which is a collaboration with her best friend’s vegan macaron business, Sweet Maresa’s.

Lagusta generously has a copy of Sweet and Salty for one lucky winner this week. Follow the instructions below to enter. U.S. residents only, please. Contest ends at midnight on September 18th. Good luck!

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