Blue cheese and chocolate are like having dinosaurs in Downton Abbey... I'd watch that!

Blue Cheese and Lindt Chocolate Truffles

Ok I know this sounds insanely disgusting and should be confined to gastronomic purgatory.

"How bad could it be?" was my exact thought before eating this... "Not too shabby" was my next thought.
“How bad could it be?” was my exact thought before eating this… “Not too shabby” was my next thought.

Yet, somehow the flavours go really well together. I first saw this pairing done by Heston Blumenthal (on a show called Kitchen Chemistry) and thought he must have a brain tumour that’s effecting his taste or something, until he went to have the aromas analysed in a lab. There was a whopping 60% overlap in aromas between chocolate and blue cheese!

Blue cheese and chocolate are like having dinosaurs in Downton Abbey... I'd watch that!
Blue cheese and chocolate are like having dinosaurs in Downton Abbey… I’d watch that!

The recipe is quite simple – Chocolate ganache with  blue cheese added. I couldn’t find a recipe so this is just me hacking wildly in the dark: (I think it worked)

  1. 100g slab of 70% Lindt Chocolate
  2. 200ml thick Cream
  3. 80g Blue Cheese
  4. 1 large tablespoon of Butter
  5. 1 large tablespoon Sugar (add more if it’s to bitter)
  6. Cocoa powder to coat the truffles

In a double boiler warm up cream and add the chocolate, stir until it’s all melted nicely together. Add the butter – this gives a it a nice glossy look. Add sugar to taste.

Then came the moment of hesitation – I had no idea how much blue cheese to put in… then I remembered the cheese on my chocolate cracker was slightly less than 1:1 and the chocolate bar was 100g so I went for 80g blue cheese.  I really think this ratio is a cracking good one.

This was the point of no return - either it tastes good or I'll have to wait till next year's birthday for another slab of chocolate to eat in my slanted house with my grandparents...
This was the point of no return – either it tastes good or I’ll have to wait till next year’s birthday for another slab of chocolate to eat in my slanted house with my grandparents…

Stir till everything has melted, then pour into a container and put it in the fridge freezer to firm up. Don’t put a lid on it or the steam will condense and run into your ganache, unless you want liquid in there.

After I superbly spooned out the thick ganache and sprinkled them with cocoa, I deftly rolled them into balls.

There is perhaps a slight chance I added too much butter or cream because these melt incredibly quickly and are really hard to roll into balls...
There is perhaps a slight chance I added too much butter or cream because these melt incredibly quickly and are really hard to roll into balls…

Place them back in the freezer to firm up some more in their new shape and presto! Blue cheese and chocolate truffles.

I gave one of these gems to someone that hates blue cheese without telling her what was in it... she loved it!
I gave one of these gems to someone that hates blue cheese without telling her what was in it… she loved it!

I hope you try this out and let me know what you think – as always comments are welcome.