White Chocolate Strawberry Truffles with Pink Peppercorn

There are times when I wish I could buy every cookbook in the world. Even though I know my collection of books and food magazines has already exceeded the capacity of bookshelves and I need new solutions desperately.
When I try to think reasonably I tell myself it would be useless anyway, because... well, how many times do we get carried away looking at stunning food photographs, intriguing recipe titles, buy a book or a magazine, only to discover at home, that the number of recipes you're actually going to make doesn't justify the purchase at all?
Well, this is one of the reasons I love food blogging world. You get to pick up a recipe your blog friends shared and you feel relieved that you don't have to buy the whole book... Or? Oh, there's another direction things might take. Just one recipe from a certain book may wake up the desire to get THAT book that you didn't even know existed. 
I'm glad I didn't have to buy the book to get my hands on this recipe, another blogger did it for me... But that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to check the whole book out... Just saying, in case someone's listening... 
These truffles are simply delicious. If you let them rest for a couple days they'll taste even better. That slightly peppery bite of pink peppercorn, wrapped in a sweet fruity flavor reminiscent of a berry gives these truffles a real kick, makes you reach for another one and another one again.

White Chocolate Strawberry Truffles with Pink Peppercorn
(from the book Adventures with Chocolate by Paul A. Young)

(for approx. 40 truffles):
* 200 g strawberries
* 75 g brown sugar
* 200 g fresh heavy cream
* 450 g white chocolate
* 5 g pink peppercorn (*the original recipe calls for 10 g)
and...
* 300 g white chocolate 
* pink peppercorn

Wash and hull the strawberries. Cut them into smaller pieces.
Mix them with sugar and cook on medium heat until the strawberries are very soft/turn into pureè and they've reduced by half. It won't take long.
You may leave them as they are or pass through a strainer to get a smoother consistency.
Mix in the heavy cream and the crushed pink peppercorn.
Put the mixture back on heat and bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and pour into a bowl with finely chopped white chocolate.
Stir until the chocolate's melted completely and the mixture is smooth.
Wait until it's cooled down, then cover and store in the fridge overnight.
Take the mixture with a teaspoon and shape into balls with your hands. If it should get sticky, dust your hands with a little powdered sugar.
Once you have shaped all the truffles put them in the freezer while you are prepering the chocolate.
Melt and temper the chocolate (you may even skip the tempering, just melt the chocolate and stir a little bit to let it cool down a little, because once you dip the cold truffles in, the chocolate will harden almost immediately).
Dip the cold truffles into melted chocolate, coat them well, then remove with a fork and place on a piece of baking paper. Sprinkle a little crashed pink peppercorn over them before the chocolate's hardened completely.
Wait until the chocolate's hardened, and then store the truffles in the fridge. They will keep well in the fridge for several days.

Tartufi al cioccolato bianco e fragole con pepe rosa
(dal libro Adventures with Chocolate di Paul A. Young)

(per circa 40 tartufi):
* 200 g fragole
* 75 g zucchero di canna
* 200 g panna fresca
* 450 g cioccolato bianco
* 5 g pepe rosa (* 10 g nella ricetta originale)
... e ancora...
* 300 g cioccolato bianco
* pepe rosa 

Lavate bene le fragole e togliete il picciolo. Tagliatele a pezzettini.
Mescolate le fragole con lo zucchero e fatele cuocere a fuoco medio finché non si disfano/trasformano in purea e la quantità iniziale si sarà dimezzata.
Potete successivamente passarle o lasciare così come sono.
Aggiungete la panna e il pepe rosa pestato alle fragole.
Rimettete sul fuoco e quando inizia a bollire, abbassate la fiamma e lasciate sobbollire per un paio di minuti..
Togliete dal fuoco e versate nella ciotola con il cioccolato bianco spezzettato o tagliato a pezzettini.
Mescolate finché non si sarà sciolto il cioccolato e la massa diventi omogenea.
Coprite e lasciate in frigo tutta la notte.
Prelevate la crema solida con un cucchiaino e formate delle palline. Mettetele nel freezer mentre preparate il cioccolato per la copertura.
Sciogliete/temperate il cioccolato e tuffatevi le palline dentro, una alla volta. Prelevatele con una forchetta e lasciatele solidificare su un foglio di carta da forno.
Cospargetele con altro pepe rosa pestato mentre il cioccolato e ancora morbido.
Quando il cioccolato si sarà indurito, trasferite i tartufi in un contenitore con coperchio e conservateli nel frigo.
Si conservano per diversi giorni.

Tope se u ustima. Imaju poseban okus. Bez ružičastog papra bili bi samo tartufi s jagodama. Obični. S ružičastim paprom imaju poseban okus. Kad odstoje nekoliko dana i okusi se prožmu još su posebniji. Preporučam ne izostaviti ružičaste perlice, osim ako ne možete do njih.

Tartufi od bijele čokolade s jagodama i ružičastim paprom

Za 40-ak tartufa:
* 200 g jagoda ili šumskih jagoda
* 75 g smeđeg šećera
* 200 g svježeg slatkog vrhnja za šlag
* 450 g bijele čokolade
* 5 g ružičastog papra*
i još...
* 300 g bijele čokolade ružičasti papar

Jagode dobro operite, očistite od peteljki i nasjeckajte.
Stavite kuhati zajedno sa šećerom na srednje jakoj vatri dok se potpuno ne raspadnu/pretvore u pire i početna količina upolovi.
Po želji ih propasirajte ili ostavite tako kako jesu.
Dodajte jagodama slatko vrhnje i smrvljeni ružičasti papar.
Vratite sve na vatru i pustite da lagano zakuha.
Pustite da se kuha na laganoj vatri dvije minute.
Maknite s vatre i ulijte u zdjelu u koju ste stavili prethodno sitno nasjeckanu bijelu čokoladu.
Miješajte dok se čokolada ne istopi i smjesa postane homogena.
Pričekajte da se ohladi, a onda pokrijte i stavite u hladnjak preko noći (smjesa ostane dosta mekana, tako da što je duže ostavite u hladnjaku lakše ćete oblikovati tartufe kasnije).
Žličicom vadite smjesu i oblikujte kuglice dlanovima. Ako vam se previše lijepi za ruke, pomozite si s malo šećera u prahu.
Oblikovane kuglice stavite u zamrzivač dok pripremite čokoladu.
Otopite i temperirajte bijelu čokoladu (ako vam se ne da temperirati, možete i samo otopiti i miješati da se malo prohladi, kad umočite hladne kuglice čokolada će se ionako odmah stegnuti).
Stavljajte jako hladne kuglice u otopljenu čokoladu, izvadite ih vilicom i stavljajte na rešetku ili na komad papira za pečenje. Pospite s malo smrvljenog ružičastog papra.
Pričekajte da se čokolade stegne i osuši, a zatim tartufe spremite u hladnjak.
Obavezno ih čuvajte u hladnjaku. Mogu stajati nekoliko dana bez problema.

Recept je iz knjige Adventures with chocolate, Paul A. Young
*Po originalnom receptu u smjesu za tartufe ide 10 g ružičastog papra, ja sam prepolovila i, po meni, sasvim se dovoljno osjeti.