I love making chocolates and candy and experimenting in the kitchen with combinations of chocolate, sugar, fruit and occasionally alcohol. One of my go-to chocolate truffle recipes originally featured on a River Cottage TV show a few years ago.

The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity and versatility. It just requires chocolate and jam with optional alcohol and cocoa powder. The possible combinations are only limited by your imagination.

In the past I have had success with combos such as Thai whisky, pepper jelly and dark chocolate, limoncello, lemon curd and white chocolate and homemade strawberry liqueur, strawberry jam and milk chocolate.

With the festive season fast approaching it was time to do an inventory of the various jams, boozy infusions and bottles in my basement and see what confectionery magic I could conjure up.

There were a number of tempting permutations but my eye was drawn to a jar of homemade blueberry and ginger jam, as I knew I could pair it with Stone’s Ginger Wine, a staple in many British households, especially during the festive season.

The recipe simply combines the jam with melted chocolate and a little bit of alcohol.

After chilling the mixture the centres of the truffles are made by rolling the mixture into balls and coating them with cocoa powder. These are then coated in more chocolate to produce a decadent treat.

Blueberry and Ginger Wine Truffles

7oz Blueberry Ginger Jam (Mine was made using this recipe from the excellent “Food In Jars”)

14oz Dark Chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60%)

2 tbs ginger wine

Unsweetened Cocoa powder

Melt 7oz of the chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler (or use a glass bowl over a pan as I do).

Once melted add the jam and wine and stir to combine. Allow to cool and then put in the fridge until the mix is firm.

Use a teaspoon to scoop walnut sized balls from the chocolate mix and roll into balls before covering with a light coating of cocoa powder. Put the balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and then return to the fridge to firm up again.

Melt the remaining chocolate over medium heat in a double boiler and then coat the chocolate balls. Once again place them on a parchment paper lined baking tray for the chocolate to cool and set.

These make an ideal gift but make sure you test a few first for quality control purposes.