Skip to main content

A trip to Charlie's Chocolate Factory

This Book Makes Me Cook is reading a chocoholic's dream this month. Our book club's pick was Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - a fantasy story of young Charlie Bucket who wins a trip to Willy Wonka's extraordinary chocolate factory.

Willy Wonka, the factory's owner, is quite a character and equally fabulous is the dream world that he has built. I'm sure Dahl had concealed lots of morals in the book - what with all the other children who accompany Charlie on this trip falling prey to one of their faults and Charlie, the virtuous one, winning the factory as a grand prize. But what always fascinates me is the world Willy Wonka created inside this factory - chocolate rivers, Oompa-Loompas and that most amazing glass elevator that moves all-ways.

I've read this book many times over the years and enjoyed it every time. I've also craved a lot of chocolate during and after reading this book. So for this month's post, I decided to make chocolate truffles.



Start by making a firm ganache. Chop 150 gms semi-sweet chocolate into small bits. Heat 100 ml cream with 1/2 tsp vanilla essence in a small pan until it is simmering. Pour it on the chocolate, wait a minute and then mix to make a smooth paste. Cover the ganache with a plastic wrap and chill for a couple of hours.

Remove from fridge and carve out small bits with a melon baller. Roll between palms to make a round truffle, then roll into cocoa powder. That was half my truffles. For the other half, I rolled the ganache balls into finely ground almonds for that lovely white speckled effect.

Want to know what other members made from the book?
Sweatha did what I did and made truffles too.
Rachel made Chocolate Almond Bars.
Sunshinemom made Puffed Rice Balls

In February, we are reading my all-time favorite author Agatha Christie. Out of her 100-odd novels, we have picked "Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", a Hercule Poirot mystery. If you would like to join us on a trip to Poirot's world, leave a comment here and I will get back with more details.

Comments

Sunshinemom said…
On the dot, Sim! I am making mine today and posting in the evening - hoping to get creative! Your truffles look pretty. I always have a vision of these covered in pista flakes!
CurryLeaf said…
Simran I too made truffles. !!!!
CurryLeaf said…
Simran,I will be posting mine tomorrow.Its still saturday night here.I know they are delish.I always associate Charlie with Truffles.
Great Minds think alike.This is the second time we did it.Lets wait and see what others post.
I couldn't join in this month despite it being a grand opportunity for chocolatey stuff.:(
But at least I can visually savour the rest of chocolate delights!
I just saw Sweatha's truffles and now some more and in two variations. I'm feeling very happy now.:)
Anonymous said…
yummy truffles everywhere... I need to make soon. too tempting. loved the way ur coated urs.
Uj said…
Truffles look yummy..I always felt that they are difficult to make.. yours look perfect
Wonderful!I have been focusing on other things that I did not think of event. Your blog makes me want to do something though I have not read the book recently.

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru