10 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
2-4 tablespoons guajillo chile paste (recipe to follow)
1 tsp vanilla
heavy pinch of fine sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
Chile paste:
Dried Chile (of whatever kind, I like guajillo)
Toast chile(s) in a dry pan on high heat for a minute on each side. Remove stem and seeds. Put seeds aside. Bring enough water to submerge the chile(s) to a boil, and turn off heat. Add chile(s) and steep for 15 minutes. Transfer chile and a little of the steeping liquid and as many of the seeds as you would like (depending on how hot you want the paste to be) to a blender and pulse, adding liquid as needed, until the desired consistency is reached. For this application I made it a little more liquid to better incorporate into the chocolate. I didn’t add any seeds because I wanted the flavor on the chocolate without the heat. Up to you. This paste can be used in salsa, added to rice, soup, what have you. Will keep in the fridge for a few weeks. If it is too liquid for whatever you’re using it for, simply boil off some of the liquid before using.
For the truffles:
Heat the cream until bubbles appear around the edge and it is steaming. Take off heat and pour chocolate in the pan. Wait one minute and whisk until smooth. Add vanilla, salt, and chile paste, spread in pie dish and place in the freezer to cool. About an hour should do it.
Add cinnamon and chili powder to sugar.
Use miniature scoop or tablespoon to scoop balls of chocolate and round out in hands (this will get messy, and it’s important to work as quickly as possible, because these are not m&ms – they will melt in your hands).
Roll in spiced sugar.
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