Almond and mandarin truffles

Almonds and mandarins... A great combination of flavours for these little sweet treats which can be served anytime and not only during the Festive season! Great gift idea for friends and family

Recipe of Argyro Barbarigou,

a prominent Head Cook

Check out her site Argiro for more Festive recipes

Ingredients (for about 30 pieces):
1½ tea-cup of finely ground blanched almonds
4 large mandarins
1½ tea-cup of granulated sugar
½ tea-cup of fresh mandarin juice
½ tea-cup of mandarin or orange flavour liqueur (or cognac)
granulated or icing sugar for decoration

Method:
Wash the mandarins well and pat dry. Take the skin off and put along with the almonds in the bowl of a blender. Chop the ingredients to become very fine-almost like a pulp.

Put the sugar and the mandarin juice in a saucepan on medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves completely.

Add in the saucepan the mandarin/almond mixture and stir until it turns into a mass which doesn't stick on the sides of the pan. Take off the heat and leave the mixture to cool completely so to be able to handle it later.

Lay some baking paper on a couple of baking sheets and keep aside.

Put the liqueur or the cognac in a bowl. Dip your (clean) hands into the drink and then get a small quantity of the mixture on the palm of your hand. Shape the mixture into medium-small balls. Each time, before using more mixture, wet your hands again in the drink. In this way the mixture doesn't stick in your hands and at the same time the truffles get flavoured by the liqueur.

Arrange the truffles in a row on the baking sheets and leave to get dry. They are ready when they are not sticky at all and not damp either. This might take a few hours so be patient.

When the truffles are ready, pass them through the sugar and transfer on a serving plate.