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I friggin’ LOVE the Poe Sisters.
I know, I love a lot of things. This is special! Here’s an fun fact: when I watched a Let’s Play of the Forest Temple to brush up on some details, my husband asked if my phone was ringing. Why? My ringtone was the Forest Temple theme for over a year. Even now, my phone’s lock screen is this incredible piece of fanart by HolidayBlue.
Don’t ask me why a minor miniboss struck such a cord with me. As a kid the whole atmosphere of the Forest Temple just left me utterly spellbound, and even now I just love how the level and its inhabitants look. They were such great designs… especially Meg, who’s always been my favorite. I have a save file that begins midway through the temple specifically so that I can replay her battle for fun.
So I admit I left behind simplicity and went for a total labor of love with these. These truffle pops are definitely work intensive, but the result is totally worth it for any Zelda fanatic. Plus, if you arrange them on a styrofoam block with some black fabric around the base, they even look like they’re floating. Spooky!
There’s another reason I wanted to do this entry now. You may have seen me mention in Twitter that next month’s Fandom Foodies theme is #ZeldaMonth, hosted by Lvl. 1 Chef! While this is technically still October, I felt it was a great time to get some spookiness in for Halloween and also welcome #ZeldaMonth.
Before I begin my recipe, a note: I know that in most tutorials I recommend using modeling chocolate, marzipan or fondant. Well, for this one I won’t do that. Please, use marzipan. I know it can be a bit more expensive and hard to obtain in some places, but it’s truly worth it. Even the best fondant will take away from the delicate flavor of these tea truffles. Marzipan is a classic pairing for chocolate, and the way marzipan tears makes for a much cooler and more rustic-looking Poe. Marzipan also lends an ivory base color to everything that really works in favor of this project.
In short: use the marzipan. I promise you’ll be happy you did.
POE SISTERS TEA TRUFFLES
FLAVORS: Joelle: Earl Grey. Beth: Coconut Black Tea. Amy: Matcha. Meg: Lavender.
YIELDS: 12 truffle pops.
TIMING NOTES: These have to chill for several hours, so starting a day ahead is a good idea.
SUPPLIES
Styrofoam block
Fine paint brush
Scissors
Sharp knife
Popsicle sticks
INGREDIENTS
350g (12 oz) dark chocolate
450 (16 oz) white chocolate
300ml (1 1/4 cups) heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp dried lavender
1 tbsp matcha powder
2 bags (or 2 tbsp loose) coconut tea (I used a coconut black tea, it was lovely!)
2 bags (or 2 tbsp loose) earl grey tea
550g (20 oz) tempered dark chocolate or candy melts
500g (18 oz) marzipan
Lime green, blue, purple and red/orange food coloring
Vegetable oil
Pearl or silver luster dust
Gold luster dust
Clear Extract
Corn syrup
Corn starch
White and pewter powdered food colorings (optional)
1. Arrange 4 bowls and 4 small cups on your counter. Put one type of tea in each cup. Split the white chocolate between two bowls and the dark chocolate between the other two. We’ll be making 4 separate ganache flavors.
2. In the microwave or on the stovetop, heat the cream until steaming. Split the cream between the four cups as follows: 4 tbsp in the matcha, 4 tbsp in the lavender, 6 tbsp in the coconut and 6 tbsp in the earl grey. Stir all of them to get the tea going. Mix the matcha a bit more than the others.
3. Strain the cream teas over the chocolate. The lavender and matcha are for the two white chocolates, and the earl grey and coconut black for the dark chocolates. Stir all of them to combine into smooth ganaches. If the cream has cooled down too much to melt the chocolate, pop the bowls into your microwave for 30 seconds to help them along. Refrigerate until firmed up, 2-3 hours.
4. Split each ganache into 3 parts and use clean hands to roll each segment into its flavor corresponding poe sister’s shape. The illustration below should help you get an idea of shapes. All the shapes are a variation of a simple cone, with some of them having buns on their heads. Just make those with smaller balls of ganache! Be sure not to handle the ganache too much, or it’ll melt. It’s okay if she shapes aren’t perfectly smooth right now. Arrange all the truffles on a tray and freeze for 4 hours.
5. Take out the frozen ganache balls and use clean fingers to smooth them out. Re-freeze for 10 minutes. Next take popsicle sticks, dip the tips in melted chocolate and insert one into the bottom of each pop. Stick them in a styrofoam block to keep them standing. Return the pops to the freezer for 30 minutes.
6. Put your melted chocolate in a deep bowl for dipping. Stir in a small splash of oil to thin the chocolate. Once you’re ready to dip, pull out a pop and dip it in at an angle, twisting it to cover. Make sure the bottom is covered well, as this will be where the weight of the truffle sits. Gently shake off any excess chocolate and stick the pop back into the styrofoam block. (Note: Check out this video for some great dipping tips!) Repeat until all your truffles are covered, then return the truffles to the fridge.
7. Split the marzipan into 5 parts, with one part about half the size of the others. Leave the smaller portion uncolored. Color the remaining four green, purple, blue and reddish orange. If you want the marzipan more opaque, add a small amount of white food coloring to each ball.
8. Cover each poe as follows: Using the corn syrup, brush all around the body, avoiding where the face will be. Pinch off a piece of marzipan in the right color that’s about half the size of a golf ball. Roll it out on a counter dusted well with cornstarch, until it’s quite thin (~1/16″). Carefully drape it over the poe body. Pinch the back together a bit and trim off the excess, then smooth the seam with your hands. You should have a simple draped ghost shape.
9.Use your scissors to “hem” the poe’s dress and snip at it at random. Use your fingers to tear at the snips and make the dress look shredded. Finally, use a sharp knife to carefully cut out the shape of the Poe’s face. Repeat for all your truffles. If they don’t look perfect, don’t sweat it! The characters look very beat up to begin with, so it just adds to the vibe.
10. If necessary, use some marzipan to pad out the hair and bun shapes as shown above. Shape the hair and accessories using marzipan, as well. To make the hair, roll out a strip of uncolored marzipan and snip at it with your scissors. Roll it up to create the ponytails, or trim it down to make the bangs. This is the basis for all the hair items!
11. Fill two small containers with gold and pearl luster dust, respectively. Add a few drops of clear extract to each to make a thick paste. Paint on eyes with the gold, using a fine paint brush. I added noses using modeling chocolate, but in retrospect I think it would have been far easier to just pipe them on with melted chocolate. So: fill a little chocolate into a bag with the very end snipped off and pipe on the noses! Keep in mind their noses are all different lengths.
12. If you want, add some smaller details: a red strip around Amy’s ponytail, a strip wound around the bun for Beth’s hat, some thinly rolled marzipan ropes for Joelle’s hair tie, and a little crown for Meg. How detailed you want to get is up to you. I added some gold to some of the hair accessories and painted Meg’s crown with the pearl luster dust. To add shine to her gems, I also brushed them lightly with corn syrup.
13. At this point you can be done if you want, but to add some dimension I suggest brushing the nooks and crannies of the Poes with some powdered grey food coloring. If you look above, you can see the difference; it really adds a spooky and realistic touch. Once you’ve added the grey shading (or not), you can store the Poes in the fridge until you’re ready to serve!
The tea flavors in these pops are very much discernable, but still subtle. It’s really amazing how much depth can be added to a simple ganache with some tea leaves. My personal favorites were the matcha and earl grey, which went particularly well with the marzipan.
What are you guys up to this Halloween? Have you played the awesome Google Doodle Halloween game? I would love to see costume photos or Halloween goodies in the comments!
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Such a great tutorial! I know I suck at sculpting, but this makes me want to try make clay versions for future display and food staging. Also had no idea lavender and matcha also went with dark chocolate. That had to a be absolute heaven! Great job!
I would love to see you try sculpting! I bet you’re a lot better than you think. I’ve found that both bitter and floral flavors pair fantastically with dark chocolate, so I really enjoyed both. We stirred some of the leftover ganaches into warm milk for a fancy hot chocolate and it was divine.