Chocolate truffle Advent calendar

Method

1.  For the filling (you’ll need to do this for each flavour): put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and sit it over a pan of barely simmering water until melted – don’t let the water touch the bowl. Remove the bowl and leave to cool to about 34°C or just below blood temperature.
2. Beat the butter with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Add the liquid glucose and beat together well. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix together well. Add the flavouring of your choice. Cover, then chill for 30-40 minutes until firm enough to scoop and roll into balls, but not too hard.
3. Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls between your hands (wearing thin plastic gloves makes it a far less messy job). Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes or until firm.
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4. For the coating, put the chocolate pieces into a small heatproof bowl. Sit it over a pan of barely simmering water (don’t let the water touch the bowl) and leave until melted. Remove the chilled truffles from the freezer. Spear each one with a cocktail stick, then dip into the melted chocolate. Shake off the excess and stand stick-up on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Leave to set. (If you want to, you could coat half the truffles in dark chocolate and half in white chocolate – in which case, you will need to put 2 bowls over pans of hot water and melt 75g of each type of chocolate.)
5. Re-melt any remaining chocolate. Carefully remove the cocktail sticks from the truffles and seal each hole with a generous dab of melted chocolate. While it’s still wet, add whatever decoration you wish and leave to set once more. Store the truffles somewhere cool until ready to create your advent calendar.