Pistachio and Saffron Truffles

Now that all truffle recipients have received theirs, I can share the truffle recipes... I made 3 different types this year: dark chocolate with mint (I did these last year, and they are not at all after-dinner-mint-like); Cointreau and almond (a variation on white chocolate and Frangelico truffles, I just use whichever liqueur I fancy and an appropriate match); and pistachio and saffron truffles.  First time.  These are from coffee & bites by Susie Theodorou, a recipe book I purchased pretty much for the white chocolate and cardamom truffles, of which these truffles are a variation.  Possibly slightly concerning that the book opens up to this page, which has flecks of white chocolate just evident...

Ingredients:
550g white chocolate (Valrhona is specified of course)
400mL (1 2/3 cups) whipping (light) cream
50g butter (this is in the ingredient list, but not involved in the instructions - ???)
100g unsalted pistachios, finely ground
good pinch of saffron
50g icing sugar

Method:
Cut 350g of the chocolate into small pieces and put into a bowl.  Heat the cream until just boiling.  Stir the cream into the chocolate, and continue stirring until the mixture is completely smooth.  Add the pistachios and saffron, and mix to combine.  Whisk the chocolate with an electric beater - the mixture will thicken.  Allow to thicken until the whisk leaves a trail in the mixture when lifted.  Chill for 1-2 hours.  (I always allow an overnight setting time, as I nearly always make truffles at Christmas time when the weather is rather warm and very humid).
Ensure your hands are quite cold - run your wrists under cold water, if necessary.  Take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture and roll it between your palms into a ball about the size of a walnut.  The ball should be quite smooth.  Place on a tray (I always line mine with foil) and repeat to make 34 truffles.  Place in the fridge for 15 minutes (again, I allow much longer).

Melt the remaining 200g chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave if you're me).  Let the chocolate cool, but remain runny.  [The next 2 steps I omit, partly through laziness, and partly from my memory of what happened last year.  They are: to sift the icing sugar onto a flat dish - I used a small sieve directly over the truffles; and to set a cooling rack over greaseproof paper - if you have a cooling rack with really small gaps this should be fine, but my truffles last year fell a bit, and I had scores resembling those from a char grill on my truffles.  Not ideal].
Take the chilled truffle balls and, using two forks, gently roll each truffle in the chocolate to coat completely.  Well, I just use one teaspoon and a hand.  This results in a chocolate glove on my left hand but I can coordinate much better this way.  Now, I returned my chocolate-covered truffles to the tray, but if you want to follow the official instructions, rest them on the cooling rack until the chocolate has set, then roll them in icing sugar.

 I just dusted them while on the tray.  Actually, I found that after a couple of rows of chocolate-covering, they were starting to soften - hence the above photo.  A few trips to the fridge later, and I had a batch of chocolate-covered, sugar-dusted truffles.

To package for gifts, I just managed to fit them into little Christmas-themed patty pan cases, and then into a small noodle box with the mint truffles and Cointreau truffles.

Although these are rather classy, I do like the simpler Cointreau truffles, all those stripes... And these I did without the whole piping bag thing this year - I think they look just as good.