Salted Star Anise Truffle (aka Dutch Licorice Truffle)

Few things inspire more animosity in Americans than the word "Licorice." Maybe it's leftover disappointment from all those Good n' Plenty boxes at the bottom of our Halloween sacks as kids. Or perhaps we equate licorice with multicolored ropes that taste nothing like real licorice at all. Whatever the reason, the resistance was enough to make me change the name of my truffle.

I personally love salted black licorice; the bolder the flavor and the saltier the better.  I recently picked up some German licorice that was so strong it was almost medicinal. I could only take a tiny bite at a time; each nugget exploded with anise flavor, followed by the zing, tang, and scratch of crusty salt. If you hate licorice you've probably thrown up by now. If you love it, you understand my inspiration for this chocolate.

I figured I would have to tone down the intensity a bit to make it appealing to my customers, so instead of loading the ganache with extracts I infused real star anise into organic cream.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoosvanrobin/ / CC BY-SA 2.0)

For sweetness I used milk chocolate and for saltiness I added Maldon flaky sea salt.  The Dutch like their licorice salty too, so I piped the ganache into this cute clog mold. The finished truffle is delicate in flavor and accessible enough that several licorice-haters have not only agreed to taste it, but have loved it.

I challenge you to give it a chance ;-)