Steve Hodge, master chocolatier and judge on Food Network’s Great Chocolate Showdown, shows off his easy-to-make vegan blueberry chocolate ganache bonbons!
Watch Great Chocolate Showdown and stream all your favourite Food Network Canada shows through STACKTV with Amazon Prime Video Channels, or with the new Global TV app, live and on-demand when you sign-in with your cable subscription.
ingredients
directions
Special equipment: 1 bonbon tray, baking/candy thermometer, piping bag.
Mix ¼ cup water, 2 Tbsp glucose, and 1 cup white sugar into a pot and heat the mixture to 347°F.
Allow your mixture to cool slightly before slowly adding 1 cup of blueberry purée. Heat the combined blueberry purée and sugar mixture back up to 237°F.
Once your pot reaches 237°F, pour the mixture into a bowl filled with ¾ cup 70% vegan chocolate and mix until smooth.
Add ⅔ cup vegan butter (can substitute with regular butter at a 1:1 ratio) to the mixture and mix well until fully combined.
Add ¼ blueberry vodka. The vodka gives the mixture a burst of flavour while also preserving the ganache.
Allow the ganache to cool to 89.6°F before piping them into your chocolate bonbon shells. Be sure to leave a 1mm gap between the ganache and the top of the mould, and tap the tray to work out any air bubbles. Let your ganache sit in the mould until it forms a skin (approximately 20-25 minutes).
Cap your bonbons with more chocolate and tap the mould again to ensure even coverage of the chocolate. Use a straight-edged tool to scrape the excess chocolate off the top, sealing in your chocolate ganache. Once you’ve scraped the excess, tap the mould again to let any air bubbles escape.
Let the bonbons set at room temperature overnight. Once ready, twist the mould to separate the bonbons and quickly flip them onto a flat surface.
For added wow-factor, brush the bonbons with edible gold lustre dust.