My Chocolate Season 2022: Jasper's Tartufo

It has been several decades since my husband and I dined at Jasper’s Italian Restaurant in its original location. For those of you who live in the Kansas City area, that’s when the Mirabile family operated their upscale dining destination  near  75th Street, in Kansas City, Missouri (Marco Polo's Italian Market arrived a bit later).
 
Little did I know that I would later interview Jasper J. Mirabile, Jr. for a national magazine, serve on the board of Slow Food Kansas City with him for many years, or win one of his dessert recipe contests (he adored my Chocolate Lover’s Pumpkin Pie). Although we don’t see each other often now, we stay connected over social media and our love of great food.
 
Through our long acquaintance I have often enjoyed Jasper’s Tartufo at the end of meals. Mine aren’t anywhere near as ‘polished’ as the ones that he serves in the restaurant but they taste great. I also asked him several questions about the recipe before I began.

As always, V.O.E. notations indicate my experience in trying to recreate a dish. Enjoy!

FROM JASPER’S KITCHEN COOKBOOK (Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2009)
 
                                                       JASPER’S TARTUFO
                                                                  Serves 8 
                                                               INGREDIENTS
 
1 cup vanilla ice cream, slightly softened                              1 ½ cups chocolate shavings
8 maraschino cherries                                                            Chocolate syrup, for serving
2 cups chocolate ice cream, slightly softened                        Whipped cream, for serving
 
                                                            INSTRUCTIONS
 
With a small ice cream scoop, make 8, walnut-sized balls of the vanilla ice cream. Place a cherry in the center of each ball, then place the balls in the freezer to harden, while you prepare the chocolate ice cream. (V.O.E. - I quickly decided to use rubber gloves against the cold, when handling the ice cream in this recipe. I also frequently washed and dried my gloves during the process).

With a large ice cream scoop, shave out 8 flat portions of chocolate ice cream, enough to cover the frozen vanilla ice cream balls. Remove the frozen vanilla ice cream mixture and pack the chocolate ice cream around it, completely covering the vanilla ice cream. Freeze for 30 minutes. (V.O.E. - My slabs weren't exactly square but they still worked. My ice cream also melted fairly quickly so I worked with my vanilla ice cream 'balls' two at a time, while keeping others in the freezer.)

Put the chocolate shavings on a piece of wax paper. Remove the frozen tartufo balls from the freezer and roll them in the chocolate shavings. Serve with chocolate syrup and freshly whipped cream. (V.O.E. - Because we had espresso-flavored balsamic vinegar in the cupboard, we used it as a substitute for chocolate syrup. In addition, if you aren't sharing all eight servings at once, wait to add the shavings until you DO enjoy more servings.)