The idea for making this recipe for Nipples of Venus (Capezzoli di Venere) came from seeing a photo in an online article. Also, for those who have seen the movie Amadeus, they make an appearance. We thought that it was quite amusing, and decided to try making them at home. At first, the recipe seemed pretty simple, but ours did not come out like the photo! The original recipe comes from All Recipes, and their photo of the final product is much prettier.
The main tip I would share is that the truffles really need to be smoothed out before chilling them, as they keep that shape. Our truffles came out a bit lumpy. However, the taste was still delicious! I would also suggest to make the truffles slightly smaller and more delicate. Finally, we used real Cognac and could definitely taste it in the filling.
Ingredients
⅓ cup white sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
14 ounces whole chestnuts
1 pinch salt
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup brandy or Cognac
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons milk, or as needed
paper candy cups
1 drop red food colouring, or more as needed
Instructions
First, in a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter together with a spatula until light and creamy. Set aside.
Next, heat an inch of water in a pot set over low heat. Melt dark chocolate in a heat-proof bowl placed over the pot. Stir with a small spatula. Set aside and keep warm.
Place chestnuts in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Then, add chestnuts to the butter mixture and stir until combined. Mix in the salt, cayenne pepper, vanilla extract, and brandy. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix again until filling is well blended.
Scoop filling onto a silicone-lined baking sheet and smooth out on the top. Cover the balls in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the white chocolate coating.
Reserve about 20% of the white chocolate to stir in later. Then melt the rest in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water until melted. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining white chocolate until smooth.
Place one chocolate truffle on a fork and hold it up above the white chocolate coating. Spoon on the white chocolate until ball is well coated. Use another fork to push the truffle onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining truffles and coating. Place the bowl of coating back over hot water if the chocolate starts to harden.
Finally, mix confectioners’ sugar with about 2 tsp milk to make a very thick paste that will hold together well. Dye it pink with red food colouring. Transfer into a piping bag and pipe a small dot on top of each truffle. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve in small cupcake papers.
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