Ghost Chili, Chocolate Truffles

My brother found this recipe online and passed it onto me. This is not overly hot, but does have some heat. I made these and brought them to the Tongues of Fire event, and they were a huge success. Over all, I thought they were pretty good, but I could not taste lime or much coconut. Down below, I will post some ideas on what I think would make them better.


1 1/2 cups coconut cream
2 Tablespoons corn syrup
4 3-inch long kaffir lime leaves, crumpled to bruise
2 2-inch long ghost chiles, top snipped off (handle with gloves or tongs)
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 pound semisweet or Dark chocolate, chopped
Cocoa powder for dusting

Place the coconut cream and corn syrup in a small sauce pan and heat to just under a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the kaffir lime leaves and ghost chile, cover, and let them infuse for 5 minutes. Using tongs or a gloved hand, remove the ghost chile, emptying any cream that is inside the chile into the pan before discarding. Let the lime leaves infuse for an additional 5 minutes.

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.
Remove the lime leaves and return the coconut cream to the sauce pan. Heat it just until it is below a boil.

Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate, and let it stand for a minute or two. Once the chocolate begins to melt, begin whisking in small circles in the center of the bowl. As the ganache begins to come together, increase the diameter of the circles to incorporate more chocolate and cream into the mixture. If all of the chocolate does not melt, place the bowl over a sauce pan of hot water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat the ganache gently while continuing to whisk. Whisk or blend in the butter one piece at a time.



After I made the ganache, I put everything in the refrigerator to set up nice and hard. I scooped out little balls, while wearing rubber gloves, and covered them in cocoa powder.




I do not know of any stores that sell the ghost chili. Most people do not even know them by that name. They are called "Bhut Jolokia" peppers. You most likly need to know someone to get these or order them online. I was lucky enough to know someone who grew fresh ones, and he gave me a bunch. If you cannot get these online for some reason, maybe price or they are out of stock, you can find powdered Bhut Jolokia on line. Simply play around with amounts and start with maybe a tablespoon of dry Bhut Jolokia mixed into your cream.

I really love habanero peppers, so I will try making the truffles with habanero peppers. I am thinking to add more coconut flavor, I will toast some coconut and mix that in to the chocolate mixture along with some lime zest. If you do not like coconut, then you can use heavy cream instead. Remember, wear gloves when working with these really hot peppers, and do not give them to people as a joke if they cannot handle extreme heat. Rick b