White Chocolate Pistachio Ganache
Can you think of anyone you know that doesn’t like chocolate? Even those without a sweet tooth often enjoy a “healthy” bite of dark chocolate. It’s a versatile ingredient that can be used so many ways that it can please anyone’s palette. Ganache is one of the best and easiest ways to use any type of chocolate you prefer, and it’s the gateway to many interesting desserts!
For traditional ganache, scalded milk or cream is poured over then stirred into finely chopped chocolate. It can be dipped into or drizzled over, poured on a cake as a dense glaze, chilled and rolled into truffles, or even whipped into a fluffy frosting! If you’re feeling rebellious, you can also just eat it straight from the spoon!
How to infuse different flavors…
Flavored ganache takes it to another level. By steeping the cream first, it allows complimenting flavors to be added, which gives the creamy chocolate even more diversity and appeal.
Steeping lets you infuse flavors into the cream naturally. Tea, herbs, zest, even your favorite cereal can be infused into cream! There’s really no limit to what can be steeped, although some will release more flavor than others. Infusing can be done both hot and cold, but for this recipe, we are hot steeping.
The process…
First, you’ll scald your cream with the item you are using to infuse it with flavor. Gently heat until you see steam and small bubbles around the edge of the pot, but no big bubbles popping in the center. Cover and turn the heat off, giving the cream time to soak in the flavor. This can be done for as little as 5 minutes to as long as overnight. Taste the cream, and if it’s not the strength of the flavor you are looking for, wait longer or add more of the ingredient. If it’s too strong, add more cream.
Once the cream has finished steeping, scald it again, strain out what was being infused, and pour over the chopped chocolate. Different types of chocolates will hide or highlight the steeped flavor differently, so it may be a bit of an experiment to get the exact flavor you are looking for, but hey! That’s part of the fun!
Why this is different…
In this ganache recipe, instead of straining the nuts out, blend the scalded pistachios and cream in a food processor until smooth then add it back to the hot pan. Then stir in the chopped white chocolate until melted. Besides thickening the ganache, blending in the whole pistachios highlights maximum pistachio flavor while adding a bit of texture. This is a thicker and coarser ganache with visual texture. I prefer to let natural colors shine, but you can absolutely add green food coloring to match the pistachio flavor.
For my White Chocolate Pistachio Ganache, I pair the sweet smoothness of a creamy white chocolate with the distinctive, yet mild flavor of pistachios. If you don’t care for pistachios, you can easily swap them out for any other kind of nut. I suggest toasting un-roasted or raw nuts to intensify flavor, color, and texture, although since we will be blending the nuts and cream together, the crunchier texture isn’t as important.
This week’s Feature Dessert…
This ganache recipe is used as the main flavor of this week’s feature dessert. I share three flavor combinations for these French Macarons, including White Chocolate Ganache and Lemon Curd.
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White Chocolate Pistachio Ganache
Ingredients
- 150 g white chocolate finely chopped
- 125 g heavy cream
- 50 g whole pistachios roasted
Instructions
- toast pistachios in oven, if not done already
- Add pistachios and cream to small pot.
- Scald cream, turn off heat, and place lid on pot. Let sit for 10 minutes (see text above about infusing flavors)
- Scald cream mixture again, then immediately transfer to bowl of food processor.
- Blend on high until smooth and thickened.
- Return to hot pot, add in chopped chocolate and stir until melted. Turn heat on for 10-20 seconds if needed to fully melt chocolate.
- Remove to bowl and let cool to room temperature.
- Store in refrigerator.
