Matcha, White Chocolate and Oat Truffles
Yeast hates me. This is all I can say after another failure with this capricious baking ingredient. I love good home-made yeast cakes, but whenever I try making them at least one in three ends up in the bin, just like my yesterday’s attempt. I do not give up, of course, but such an incident is always a bit depressing, so, instead of starting another battle with yeast, I felt I needed to cheer myself up with something completely different.
Since I made Matcha and White Chocolate Truffles and have fallen in love with matcha and white chocolate combination, I have been planning to make their rustic version with oats. I have based my recipe on the popular black chocolate and oats truffles I sometimes make and the truffles have turned out perfectly in terms of both consistency and taste. Contrary to Matcha and White Chocolate Truffles, these are crunchy, slightly chewy, rather filling and definitely healthier thanks to the presence of rolled oats. Last but not least, I was thrilled by their beautiful, bright, green grass hue obtained with a more expensive matcha I have recently bought. In short, these cute snacks have obviously improved my mood and almost made me forget yesterday’s disappointment.
If you look for an easy, quick sweet treat with a healthy twist and a sophisticated matcha touch, I strongly recommend these truffles. I wish you all a joyful and sunny Easter, happy Passover and wonderful holidays!
In case some of you are interested in experiments with matcha, here are some delicious suggestions:
and the above-mentioned Matcha and White Chocolate Truffles.
TIP: The most advised method to melt chocolate is in a water bath (in a small pan put into a bigger pan filled with very hot water), but I am used to a very slow melting process directly on the stove or in the microwave. The important thing is not to overheat the chocolate. Otherwise it will become hard and grainy and impossible to use.
Preparation: 15 minutes + 1 – 2 hours in the fridge
Ingredients (about 15 truffles):
100 g rolled oats (not oatmeal!)
100 g white chocolate
1 full teaspoon matcha
7 teaspoons liquid cream (any fat content works here, as long as the cream is not thickened or soured; I have used 25% fat cream)
Chop roughly the chocolate, put it in a small pan with the cream and the matcha powder.
Let the chocolate melt on a very low heat, constantly stirring. Make sure it doesn’t “bubble” and take off the stove, stirring, if you are afraid the temperature increases too quickly. If the chocolate becomes grainy and very thick, it’s ruined.
Put aside.
(If you use a microwave, put the broken chocolate, the cream and the matcha in a bowl and heat for 15 seconds. Give it a stir and put back for another 15 seconds and so on until the chocolate melts.)
Throw the oats into the pan and combine them with the chocolate mixture.
Prepare a bowl with cold water.
Dip your hands in the water and form walnut-sized truffles.
Moist your hands at least every second truffle.
Put the balls on a plate or in a flat container and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Sissi these are so bright and cheery! Lime green is one of my favorite colors, and as soon as I opened your posting my eyes were glued onto how adorable these healthy snacks are! I’ve NEVER used yeast before, though my Mom has and they are good to her, though I am sure they can be temperamental. Don’t be discouraged, have a couple more of these oat truffles!
Thank you so much, Jeno. I am happy you also like their colour. It makes me feel happy, although not for a very long time because I will soon finish them… Thank you for your encouragement. I won’t give up! There is one yeast cake I have successfully made so I will manage the failed one too, it’s a question of time I suppose…
The green color does look really appealing. And white choc and green tea sounds quite unique. I am glad this dish worked out and it ended up in your stomach instead of the bin:)
I have never made or eaten yeast cake. One day I will try, and I will choose a day when my tolerance and patience is high:)
Thank you so much, Mr. Three-Cookies. White chocolate is perfect with green tea because it doesn’t have any bitterness, any acidity I think (my experiments with green tea and slightly sour products were inedible).
I must say I was a bit nervous when making them, putting to fridge and waiting to taste. After one cooking failure I always expect another one…
Some people never have problems with yeast cakes, so maybe you are one of them. Until now I have only baked one good yeast cake (it’s somewhere in old posts), but there is something special I have been trying to make and cannot manage and it makes me furious…
“there is something special I have been trying to make and cannot manage”
You’re making me SO curious about what it could be. 🙂
I’m a bit ashamed I cannot manage making something I have seen on so many blogs… I have bought today a different kind of flour to make another test, so I hope I’ll succeed soon.
What gorgeous happy looking truffles. They look like spring in a delectable little bite. 🙂
I’m so sorry you have problems with yeast. Like you, my mother was an extraordinary cook but couldn’t manage to produce any yeast product with any success. I wish I could send you some of the baked goodies I’ve produced. I’m thinking of standing on street corners and handing them out to strangers as all my friends/coworkers seem to be on diets and don’t want to eat carbs. 🙂
Thank you so much, A_Boleyn. I have made one good yeast cake in my life (and I also make sometimes doughnuts) but there are also many failures… Among them a certain type of cake I even don’t want to name, which I really love and cannot manage.
Thank you for the kind comment 🙂 It would be so easy if we all lived closer. I could learn for example some yeast baking precious tips from you…
I would love to cook/bake with so many of the people whose blogs I subscribe to as well as you’re all such innovative cooks and from the humorous accounts in your blogs I imagine cooking together would be a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for such kind words. I also would love to cook together with you and some other bloggers. We would certainly have fun and learn a lot!
That’s such a happy green colour! Don’t get too upset over the yeast incident! am sure you’ll be an expert in using it soon!
Thank you so much, Sylvia. Expert, I doubt, but I hope I will manage this one cake I have been failing. Thank you for the kind words.
Love them! So easy and so pretty and you don’t have to feel guilty about having a few 🙂 Whole grain, after all, is good for you. I love the green colour. Bet they taste fantastic. Sorry about your yeast experiences. I do ok with yeast which is amazing considering most baking is horrendous at my altitude. Stay strong!!
Thank you so much. I kept on thinking this: white chocolate is the least healthy of all, but oats have lots of health benefits 🙂
Thank you for the encouragement. I will not let yeast win of course!
Oh, those are very original! I love the addition of rolled oats.
I’m so sorry to hear that yeast hates you… Fortunartely for me, yeast is my friend. 😉
Cheers,
Rosa
Thank you so much, Rosa. I’m sure you are a much better baker and cook than me. I do make doughnuts and one (only one I think!) yeast cake which works, but I would like less failures in other things I prepare…
That is a vibrant green, my goodness! I still haven’t used matcha – I’m really curious as to the flavour, still. I bet these truffles are delicious – probably much more easy to eat in large quantities than plain truffles, due to the oats, so they must be less sweet I guess. They look very good – I still can’t get over the colour! 😀 So fun and happy!
Thank you so much, Charles. Actually they are not very easy to eat – luckily! – exactly because of oats… Oats make them very filling, so it’s difficult to eat as much and as quickly as I did with standard ganache truffles.
Try a yeast drink 😀 that never fails … unless it explodes …. ok, so “never” isn’t the right word. Heh.
Never mind, without that small failure, this wouldn’t have emerged. They are super gorgeous. I’d hang them all over my Christmas tree if it’s the season already.
Thank you so much, Ping. I think I will make your drink one day. It sounds more and more intriguing… Seriously there is one yeast cake I make (+doughnuts), but I want to bake more with yeast!
I thought they looked “Eastery”, but you are totally right. They would be great on a Christmas tree too.
Oh, your truffles look fabulous! I love the vibrant color…and the oats give such beautiful texture. I just know you’ll conquer yeast very soon 🙂
Thank you so much, Liz. I hope I will, but I know the battle will not be easy.
I love these green crunchy truffles… I would love one right now… great way to start my day 🙂
Thank you, Giulia.
Sissi, these are fantastic. You know I’m with you on the Matcha love – I tend to stay away from white chocolate because… well, it’s not chocolate 😉 and I just can’t stop eating those highly addictive sugar sources…having said that, these look absolutely gorgeous and I think it’s a stroke of genius to include the oats. It’s a definite WOW. Perhaps I will try them with dark chocolate – they won’t be nearly as pretty but I might have a hope of keeping it to two at a time instead of 12 ;-). Have a brilliant weekend Sissi!
Thank you so much, Kelly. I’m happy we are both matcha fans 🙂 I never ever eat or buy white chocolate with one exception: to make matcha truffles. White chocolate is simply perfect with matcha. I have never tried milk chocolate, but dark, bitter one (my favourite!) is often too bitter to pair with matcha.
Do try the dark chocolate version (when I make dark chocolate oat truffles, I don’t add any cream; here matcha thickened the chocolate, so I felt I had to add some cream, otherwise it was too solid). Have a lovely weekend too!
Oh wow I love the matcha green, green anyway is my favourite colore so I am specialy attracted to your gorgeous truffels. Ah believe me Sissi since I am in india I have troubel with yeast too. Last carneval I wanted to surprise everyone with home made krapfen, the yest didnt rise…
I understand how annoying it is at times. =/
Wish u a happy Easter! =D
Thank you so much, Helene. I sometimes think that yeast has to be adapted to the weather conditions, kind of flour and probably each yeast is a bit different. I have however two foolproof yeast recipes (one of them are doughnuts which always works somehow, but I had to make two experiments and modify the recipe slightly before it worked). Happy Easter to you too!
Those truffles look so perfect Sissi that a almost don’t look real! Have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you so much, Sportsglutton. I also thought the colour is so bright, it’s almost unreal, but they are far from being perfect. Thank you for the compliment! Have a lovely weekend too.
A wiesz, ze moje drozdze tez dzis srednio chcialy ze mna wspolpracowac? Dlatego mysle, ze i u Ciebie to wina ‘felernych’ drozdzy. Albo zmiana pogody ;))
A takie zielone truffelki zawsze sie przydadza na oslode 😉
Bon weekend de Pâques!
Dzieki, Bea, za pocieszenie. Nigdy bym nie wpadla na pogode! Te zielone trufelki jem od dwoch dni i faktycznie zielony kolor jest bardzo rozweselajacy. Joyeuses Pâques et à bientôt j’espère !
Sissi, I’ve never heard of matcha before. (I’ll need to do some research.) I kept looking at the truffles to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me or if they were really green. I love the idea of adding oats to a truffle. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Thank you so much, Barb. Matcha is an incredible ingredient. It is powdered green tea (very fine powder) and apart from the slightly “grassy” taste, I love the visual effect it gives. This is the second and more expensive brand I have bought and I don’t regret it because the colour is even brighter than before. Almost unreal. Black chocolate and oat truffles are probably the first sweets I made as a child, so this is a a grown up modification. Oats are great because they are healthy but also because they are quite filling, so one cannot eat a lot of these truffles.
Once I get through my current can of matcha powder, I’m considering spending the $22/oz for the more expensive brand. I still don’t think I’m enamoured enough to go for the $26 or $32 per oz versions. 🙂
I used to buy the cheapest matcha available (which was not cheap either), but now the more expensive one has more grassy colour. The previous one produced a bit blueish, less bright colour.
I have issues with yeast too – such a finicky ingredient. I love your matcha truffles – how gorgeous are they! So beautiful. xx
Thank you so much, Charlie.
these are gorgeous truffles! I love matcha so these have definitely caught my interest. White chocolate – YUM! I’m also going to check out the Matcha Cream. That sounds good as well!
Thank you so much, MJ. They are not as elegant as matcha and white chocolate truffles (only ganache), but oats make them healthier.
Gosh…matcha, whit chocolate and oat truffles…yummy…that is a great combo! I want to have this matcha cream 🙂 I love anything that has matcha in it :))) Have a wonderful Easter holiday with your loved ones !
Thank you so much, Elin. Have a lovely Easter too!
Dear Sissi,
These look really classy and round chocolates somehow seem more elegant to me. Maybe I’m thinking Ferrero Rocher 🙂
Thank you very much, Chopinand. You are reading my mind because I’m thinking of preparing a dessert with coconut and matcha…
Ah the many failures I had with with yeast! Yeast and I eventually got to know one another. It took a few decades though. Still I am thinking of saving my wrists… I think my next big purchase will be a breadmachine. Get a breadmachine Sissi. The breadmachine will handle the yeast so you won’t have to. You can still bake the loaf in the oven.
Thank you, Zsuzsa. From what another friendly and yeast-experienced blogger says it might be my yeast too. I think I will stick to the same brand and see what happens. I don’t knead the dough with my hands though, but with my food processor… It always works with home-made pizza and doughnuts… I am afraid of bread machine. I already eat too much bread and carbs now and it would be a huge temptation.
Sissi you probably know this, but often times old yeast is the culprit. Yeast has an expiry date. I keep my yeast in the fridge. It lasts longer in the fridge than in the cupboard. If you don’t use yeast often, keep it in the freezer. In the freezer, dry yeast can last for up to two years and cake yeast will last for up to 6 months.
Yeast dough will flop from draft and cold air; never open the window during winter when you have yeast dough raising nearby. Direct contact with salt inhibits yeast as well. If the water or the milk is too hot, that too can kill the yeast. Cake yeast raises dough higher without spreading it out. If using dry yeast, the right size of baking pan with sides where the dough can climb upwards is a big help to combat horizontal spreading. I love instant dry yeast, I just add it to the flour and no proofing is required. All the old recipes call for scalding the milk, this is unnecessary, just heat the liquid to lukewarm. If the ingredients are either lukewarm or at room temperature the yeast should develop quickly.
A homemade dough enhancer is very useful when making bread. Homemade bread is healthier and if you make it regularly, the novelty wears off, trust me on this. Here are a few useful links; this young woman is the queen of bread making:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Byym8zS0VSw
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL93C8DE558AFDF395&feature=plcp
Thank you so much, Zsuzsa. I usually heat liquid in the microwave, never open the windows, look at the expiry date, etc… I always pay attention to all these details… and yet, it doesn’t always work! I think I will 1) stick to dried yeast (less failures with this one) and 2) never ever buy the organic yeast (I feel it just doesn’t work, they probably care more for the organic label than for the way their product works). I also feel some recipes are more foolproof than others (which doesn’t mean they don’t work for others).
Thank you for the precious advice and for the links.
Yes, i agreed, match and white chocolate are just perfect combo..This look beautiful and tempting!
Thank you so much, Sonia.
Matcha and white chocolate combination – oats was unexpected and love the texture you added to these truffles!
Thank you so much, Nami. It’s a bit like healthy energy bars in form of truffles 😉 Very nourishing!