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

Garlic Biscuits

These biscuits are great. I had one guy tell me they were so good, that if my wife ever dies, he would marry me. I told him if my wife ever dies, I will stay single. I figure if a guy wants to marry me over biscuits, then, Russ buddy, here is a way to get a date. HA HA

Anyway, here is the recipe.

1 pound 15 ounces cake flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon each, salt and sugar
1 pound cold butter
3 Tablespoons dried parsley
3 Tablespoons granulated garlic
10 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
or your favorite shredded cheese.
2 cups buttermilk

Mix all the dry ingredients, then blend in the butter by hand, mixer, or pastry cutter. Mix the cheese in after you have blended in the butter to about the size of peas. Add the buttermilk and mix just until mixed. The dough might even be a little dry, and that's fine. Do not add more milk. If the mix is a little dry, it will turn out really good and flaky. If you add more milk because you don't want a little dry spot, then they will be good, but not as good.



You can roll them out and cut squares, that way there will be no re-rolling or you can do a spoon-drop method, or use an ice cream scoop or biscuit cutter. If you cannot get cake flour, then all-purpose will work just fine. Cake flour has less protein so the biscuit will be flakier.



Use parchment paper or Silpat on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on how thick your biscuits are. These are very good.

Rosemary Flat Bread

18 oz (3cups) semolina flour
13 1/2oz (3 cups) flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 2/3 cups water
1/2 cup olive oil.


Mix the dry ingredients with the rosemary, then add the water and oil, and mix by hand to form a smooth dough. Knead about 2 minutes. Do not over mix. Wrap in plastic and let rest about 1 hour.

Cut dough balls about 2oz each, and roll cracker thin. Bake on a baking stone at 475 degrees F until golden brown. Remove from oven, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.

I like mine with more rosemary, so you can increase or decrease rosemary to taste.

If you do not have a baking stone, take a metal sheet pan and turn it upside down, and bake it that way. If you want to change it up, you can add a mix of herbs, like rosemary and basil, maybe some sun-dried tomatoes, or whatever you want. Enjoy!
Rick b