Tag: Chocolate

January 26, 2015

It’d be roulade not to…

I promise next week will be more diet friendly. Well, actually I don’t. I really like food, and the sweeter the better as far as I’m concerned.

Last week we had some buddies round for a sleepover and I couldn’t resist making a naughty pud. This salted caramel chocolate mousse filled roulade is the perfect edition to a girls’ night in, or a dinner party, or breakfast.

Buckle up, it’s not a speedy bake, but it’s worth it.

You will need

For the sponge:

130g/4.5 oz Caster sugar

100g/3.5 oz Plain flour

4 Eggs

35g/1.5 oz Cocoa powder

For the chocolate mousse:

200g/7 oz Dark chocolate

3 Eggs

40g/1.5 oz Caster sugar (golden if you have it)

90ml/3 fl oz Water

For the salted caramel frosting:

300g/10.5 oz Icing sugar

250g/9 oz Butter

80g/3 oz Soft brown sugar

100ml/3.5 fl oz Double cream

2 tbsp Golden syrup

2 tsp Salt

Step one

Sift together the cocoa powder and flour. Usually I’m not one of life’s sifters, but for this one you’ll want to; you don’t want to knock out all the air trying to get the lumps out of the flour.

Step two

Whisk the four eggs until they are pale and shiny and so that the tracks of the whisk stay for a few seconds before sinking back into the main mixture.

Step three

Gently fold the flour and cocoa powder mix in two halves. Do this with a metal spoon and imagine you are stirring a bowl of baby kittens. Softly.

Ideally I guess it should all be one colour, but mine was still a little marbled and it didn’t seem to impact the bake.

Step four

Slowly pour batter evenly across a lined tin. Mine’s not actually a swiss roll tin, it’s a bit bigger. Try not to knock any air out.

Step five

Tilt the tin to distribute the sponge mix as evenly as possible and get it right into the corners. You want to avoid spreading it with anything but you do need it to be as flat as possible on the surface. There’s no fat in this recipe to melt down and level everything off.

p.s. the GIF makes it look quicker than it is, be patient.

Step six

Bake in a preheated oven on 220C/ gas mark 7/ 450F for 10 minutes.

Step seven

While the sponge is in the oven, dust a sheet of greaseproof paper with icing sugar.

Step eight

As soon as it’s finished cooking turn the sponge out onto the paper.

Cut a small groove about 1cm in from the edge to start the roll. Place another sheet of greaseproof on top and roll the cake up. Leave it to one side to cool.

Step nine

Move onto the mousse. In fact, probably do the mousse first, it needs a while to chill.

Separate the three eggs into two bowls and finely chop the chocolate.

Step ten

Place the chocolate and 90ml water in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then stir in the egg yolks. The mixture will become thicker and should be glossy.

Step eleven

Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks, add the caster sugar and whisk again until combined. You should be able to turn the bowl upside-down without it all falling out.

Step twelve

Place a spoonful of egg white into the chocolate and stir quickly to loosen the chocolate mix. Then add the rest and gently fold in with a metal spoon.

Put in the fridge for an hour or two, the longer the better really.

Step thirteen

Make the salted caramel for the buttercream by melting together 100g of the butter, the brown sugar, golden syrup and salt. Do this slowly and then bring the heat up to a simmer.

Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir regularly so that it doesn’t catch and burn. Leave to cool down for about half an hour or so.

If you think you’ve seen this before, you have, this is about the 5th time I’ve used this salted caramel recipe.

Step fourteen

Once the caramel has cooled down a bit, stir in the 100ml of cream. Set to one side and make the buttercream.

Step fifteen

With an electric whisk beat together the rest of the butter and the icing sugar. Cover with a tea towel to begin with, or you will wind up looking like a cloud.

Step sixteen

Add the salted caramel to the buttercream and whisk. Voila. Place in fridge for at least 15 minutes until cooled completely.

Step seventeen

Once the chocolate mousse is set get ready to assemble.

Unroll the sponge and spread a layer of caramel over the surface. I didn’t use all the buttercream so go with what feels right. I used the rest of it up on some cupcakes. Apparently I want my housemates to be obese.

If you’re wondering why mine looks darker than yours it’s because I used dark soft brown sugar and cooked it for too long.

Step eighteen

Spread the mousse over, try to keep air in it if you want, but you’ll abandon all hope fairly soon.

Step nineteen

Using the greaseproof paper roll the roulade up. Now. I probably didn’t get my first bit tight enough, but regardless, this bit ain’t pretty. Just do it, put it on a chopping board/tray put it back in the fridge and don’t think about it.

Seriously. The mousse will splurge ~~a lot~~ a bit. Pretend it never happened.

Step twenty

After about an hour or so in the fridge the mousse will have firmed up again. You can take it out, wipe away any excess filling and dust some more icing sugar over it.

Yeah. Enjoy that my friend.

January 12, 2015

A bit of bread and butter

Hi there. Welcome back.

This week a cheap and cheerful bake was on the cards for everyone out there cutting costs this January. The perfect pudding to blast away those winter blues. I apologise in advance for laughing in the face of all your 2015 diets, but if you’re going to break them, this is a great way to do so.

This recipe is ideal for people who doubt their skills in the kitchen, I’ll be seriously impressed if you managed to mess this one up. Send me photos if you do.

You will need

For the pudding:

500ml/17 fl oz Double cream

100ml/3.5 fl oz Condensed milk

2 Eggs

Vanilla pod/2 tsp Vanilla extract

100g/3.5 oz Dark/Milk chocolate

50g/2 oz Soft brown sugar

6 – 8 Slices white bread (let’s be honest, you will need to get a loaf anyway, and I wasn’t counting properly)

3 Bananas

Butter for spreading

Ramekins if you’re feeling a bit posh.

For the salted caramel:

100g/3.5 oz Salted butter

80g/3 oz Soft brown sugar

100ml/3.5 fl oz Double cream

2 tbsp Golden syrup

2 tsp Salt

(Makes 6)

Step one

Whisk together the cream, condensed milk, vanilla and eggs. Set aside, and try not to think about how much cream that was.

Step two

Butter the bread slices generously. I just used regular spreadable butter for this, but if you’re a purest you could buy unsalted.

Using a cutter that’s the same diameter as your ramekins, cut circles out of the bread. Chop the offcuts into small pieces and leave to one side.

Step three

Slice the banana into thin pieces and chop the chocolate into small chunks (as if I haven’t said it enough – a bread knife is the best way to do this).

Step four

Assemble!

Butter the ramekins and layer up the puddings. Bread, banana, chocolate, sugar, repeat. Finish the last layer with bread using the offcuts and sprinkle some caster sugar on top, this will make a lovely crisp topping.

Step five

Once all the ramekins are layered up, pour the custard mixture on top, try to fill them evenly.

Leave to sit for 20 minutes to let the custard soak into the bread.

Step six

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 35 minutes on 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Step seven

While you are baking the puddings, place all the ingredients for the salted caramel into a saucepan (minus the cream).

Heat gently until melted and then bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir regularly so that it doesn’t catch and burn. Leave to cool for about half an hour.

Step eight

Once cooled, stir in the 100ml double cream.

Not the prettiest things but they aren’t too shabby to eat. Bon apetit!

December 22, 2014

The final sprint

Some years (every year) I have grand plans for home made gifts and decorations at Christmas. Rarely does this materialise in the lovely relaxed and whimsical way it looks in my head. Generally I end up covered in the contents of my baking cupboard feeling totally harassed by the number of hampers I’ve decided to make.

If you’re anything like me, or if you’re completely handmade/craft-phobic in the first place, this one is for you. Three super quick festive crafts to brighten up the house and fill up stockings at the last minute. You don’t need an ounce of artistic/baking ability for any of these. So no excuses.

#1: Cute Christmas bunting

You will need

String (I got this two colour spool from Tiger for £1)

Christmassy washi-tape

Step one

Cut a random length of tape and place the string in the middle. If you really want to punish yourself you can try and make them all the same length, but I really like them random and it’s much easier that way too.

For this step I cut loads and stuck them on the edge of the table so I had them ready and did them in batches so I wasn’t constantly cutting one then sticking it etc etc.

Step two

Fold over the wash tape and stick together. Again, I found it easier to do this step in bulk and then snip them in one go (see below).

Step three

Cut an upside-down ‘v’ shape into the end.

Step four

Hang them. 

#2: Twig decoration

You will need

Some twigs foraged from the nearest tree

White or cream spray paint

Fairy lights or decorations

Jug/vase/plant pot

Step one

Spray twigs.

Step two

Place in holder.

Step three

Decorate.

Just in case you want the tutorial, here’s how to make the candle holders in the photo.

#3: Hot chocolate stirrers

I saw one of these at the shops today, it was £3! These make a great little stocking filler, present topper-upper or gifts for the neighbours. Just swirl into hot milk for a luxury hot chocolate.

You will need

400g/ 14oz Milk chocolate

50g/ 1.5oz White chocolate

Condiment cups (if the closest McDonalds doesn’t have these you can buy them online, or use mini-muffin cases)

Mini mini marshmallows (these tiny fellows are from Waitrose)

Fudge pieces

Cake pop sticks

Edible glitter (optional)

(Makes 10-12. You need roughly 35g chocolate per cup so adjust the above to suit the number of hot chocolates you want to make).

For wrapping

Cellophane roll (available online or from craft shops)

Chrismassy ribbon or string

Step one

Chop the fudge into little chunks so that they’re roughly in proportion with the marshmallows.

Step two

Melt the chocolate slowly in the microwave and put into piping bags. You can temper it if you want, but given that you won’t see much of it, it might not be worthwhile. I go into a bit more detail as to how to temper chocolate here.

Step three

Fill cup to near the brim with milk chocolate. Add a little white and swirl in with a cocktail stick.

Place stick in and surround with fudge and marshmallows.

Leave to set.

Step four

Dust on a little glitter.

Step five

Wrap up. Cut a square of cellophane wrap and place cup in the centre, bring corners up to the middle and secure. I used a loom band to do this, you could use a small elastic band or go straight in with the ribbon/string.

Trim off the corners and ‘foof’.

Go on. There must be one spare you can treat yourself to?

December 15, 2014

Grown up milk and cookies

In England we tend to leave Santa a sherry or a brandy and a mince pie. I’ve heard that in some Scandinavian countries he gets ‘treated’ to porridge…lucky guy. Well this post is a nod to our North American friends from whom Santa receives milk and cookies. I decided to jazz up the traditional a little, after all, you hard working parents deserve a little more than a glass of milk on the 24th.

I should start off by saying that the recipe leans more towards a sort of whoopie pie consistency than a cookie, a whookie if you’d like. Perhaps if you wanted to commit to whoopie pies you could sandwich them with the salted caramel buttercream I made a couple of months back.

Without further ado here’s an easy Bailey’s (Irish cream) cocktail (which is more like a pudding really) and triple chocolate Mars Bar whookies.

You will need

260g/9 oz Plain flour

150g/5.5 oz Soft dark brown sugar

100g/3.5 oz Unsalted butted

100g/3.5 oz White chocolate chips

40g/1.5 oz Cocoa powder

50-100g/2-3.5 oz Dark chocolate

3 Eggs

3 Mars Bars

1.5 tsp Baking powder

1 tbsp Full fat milk

For the Bailey’s cocktail

Bailey’s Irish Cream

Chocolate milk

50g/2 oz Dark chocolate

Rum/Brandy if you have some (I went without)

A sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

Step one

Chop the Mars bars into small chunks.

If you, like me, can’t control yourself around chocolate, you might want to add an extra one to the mix. There’s just something about chopped up Mars bar that is excessively moorish.

Step two

Combine all the dry ingredients (minus the chocolate) in a large bowl.

Step three

Make a well in the middle and add the eggs, milk and butter. Stir to combine. Ideally your butter will be room temperature, otherwise you’ll be mixing for a while.

Step four

Add the white chocolate and Mars bar and mix again until the chips and chunks are evenly distributed.

Step five

Drop dessert spoonfuls of the mixture onto baking trays lined with greaseproof paper. They won’t spread too much so flatten down a bit.

Step six

Bake on 180C/gas mark 4/350 F for about 15-20 minutes.

Step seven

Leave to cool and then melt the dark chocolate and drizzle over the top.

Step eight

Melt the remaining dark chocolate in a small bowl and dip your glasses in to coat the rim.

Step nine

Add a shot of Baileys (and a dash of rum if you have it). A sprinkle of both cinnamon and nutmeg. Top up with approx 150ml of chocolate milk.

As you can probably tell, I didn’t exactly measure this one out, so go with your taste as a measure.

Step ten

Leave out for Santa.

November 17, 2014

Drip drop

A couple of months ago my lovely housemate got engaged. A couple of weeks ago we celebrated that fact.

I decided I wanted to make some party food. Given that we’re fast approaching Christmas (I mean, it’s the 17th November already, what?) this little series of posts should furnish your party season with delightful nibbles and may double as last minute Christmas present/hostess gifts.

This one falls into the second category, so get online and buy yourself some cellophane bags and a roll of ribbon, your colleagues and your milk man will never have been happier. Well, I hope their lives are better than that, but either way, there won’t be any disappointment, and that’s all anyone’s looking for at Christmas.

Things you need

200g/7 oz White chocolate

200g/7 oz Milk chocolate

200g/7 oz Dark chocolate

Decorations (I used freeze dried raspberries, fudge pieces and pecans)

Cocktail sticks

Piping bags or strong sandwich bags.

Cellophane (from a florist or a craft shop, or you can use greaseproof but the bottoms won’t be shiny)

Food thermometer (ideally)

Step 0.5

Prepare your toppings if they need preparing. I wanted my drops to be quite small so I chopped up my fudge and pecans.

Step one

Now. This is the first time I have actually tempered chocolate. It was easier than I expected and well worth it for the shiny finish. I encourage it. I also encourage the purchase of a thermospatula. I’m not being paid to say that, it’s changed my life (in a small but significant way).

If you’re joining me on the tempering train you need to split the chocolate into a third/two thirds split. Ignore the photo above and just chop it all into big chunks. I learned as I went with this one.

Step two

Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water; make sure the water isn’t touching the pan.

Add two thirds of the chocolate and allow to melt slowly. Stir occasionally. Mainly so you can feel like you’re doing something productive.

Bring to 45 degrees C and remove from the heat.

Step three

Add the rest of the chocolate and stir until its melted in. Keep stirring until the whole lot has cooled to 28 degrees C.

Step four

Place back on the heat and bring to 32 degree C.

Step five

Take back off the heat and dry the bottom of the bowl with a tea towel. Trust me, you don’t want water in your chocolate.

Step six

Pour into a piping bag.

Don’t trim the end yet. In fact, once you have twisted the opening to close it you should push any chocolate in the tip end back towards the rest, otherwise it will cool and solidify there while you’re tempering the rest.

Step seven

Repeat with the rest of the chocolate.

Step eight

Lay down the cellophane and start piping.

You want to hold the piping bag at a 90 degree angle to the table and squeeze. The chocolate will flood into a lovely little pool.

Add a small blob of another colour on top and swirl about with a cocktail stick to create a marbled effect.

Step nine

Sprinkle your decorations on top.

Some cranberries would go down well for christmas drops, but I was explicitly instructed not to buy any. These freeze dried raspberries looked rather pretty and tasted good too. See children? Compromise isn’t always bad.

Step ten

Keep going until you run out of chocolate/the will to live. But look…so shiny. You did well to temper it, it was worth it after all.

Step eleven

Go forth and make someone’s day.

August 18, 2014

Soft on the inside

Hullo chums. Just a little heads up that this is my last post for a couple of weeks as I’m heading off on holiday and didn’t quite have the organisational skill to do enough to tide you over until I’m back. Something my new design guru seanwes would not be impressed with.

But anyway. This is a real good’un I’m leaving you with, there’s not much point making any of the rest of the afternoon tea series after you’ve done these. Your guests won’t look back. Partly because they will be bouncing around the room on a sugar high.

You will need

For the cakes:

200g/7 oz Plain flour

200g/7 oz Caster sugar

30g/1 oz Cocoa powder

250ml/8.5 fl oz Water

5 tbsp Vegetable oil

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp Cider vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla extract

For the ganache filling:

100g/3.5 oz Dark chocolate

100g/3.5 oz Milk chocolate

200ml/6.5 fl oz Double cream

For the salted caramel frosting:

300g/10.5 oz Icing sugar

250g/9 oz Butter

80g/3 oz Soft brown sugar

100ml/3.5 fl oz Double cream

2 tbsp Golden syrup

2 tsp Salt

(Makes 48)

Step one

Combine all the cake ingredients into one bowl and whisk until there are no lumps. This makes quite a thin batter that you will find a bit disturbing if you are used to putting egg and butter in cakes.

This recipe is great for vegans (as long as you don’t add the icing or filling – use substitutes instead perhaps). It’s my favourite recipe for chocolate cupcakes now, I originally found it when baking for a lactose intolerant friend.

Step two

Spoon into mini cupcake/muffin cases. I filled mine about halfway and could have gone to two thirds. There’s not a huge amount of rise in this mixture, perfect for cupcakes because they are nice and flat for icing onto.

Step three

Bake in the oven at gas mark 4/180C/350F for around 40 minutes or until springy to the touch.

Step three

Whilst the cakes are in the oven, make the ganache. Chop the chocolate finely; I always use a bread knife for this and recommend you do too, you’ll never go back.

Place chocolate pieces in a small mixing bowl.

Step five

Gently heat 200ml double cream in a small saucepan. Let it get to the point where there is steam sort of dancing across the top and it’s beginning to simmer/bubble at the edges. You don’t need to wait longer than this, it doesn’t need to be piping hot – as Mary Berry always says in her wonderfully whimsical way – chocolate can melt in a child’s pocket.

Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Set to one side.

Step six

Once the cakes have completely cooled use a small vegetable knife to cut a hole in the centre. Yes you can eat the bit that pops out.

I found it was easiest to put the ganache into a piping bag as the cakes are quite small. Fill the gap entirely until the ganache is level with the top of the cake.

Step seven

Just keep filling, filling, filling, what do we do? We fill.

Leave them to set.

Step eight

Melt together 100g of the butter, the brown sugar, golden syrup and salt. Do this slowly and then bring the heat up to a simmer.

Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir regularly so that it doesn’t catch and burn. Leave to cool down for about half an hour or so.

Step nine

Once the caramel has cooled down a bit, stir in the 100ml of cream. This will bizarrely make the caramel darker. Maybe a scientist can tell me why? Answers on a postcard please.

It will also get much runnier, I understand that bit.

Allow to cool to room temperature.

Step ten

With an electric whisk beat together the rest of the butter and the icing sugar. Cover with a tea towel to begin with so you don’t choke on the clouds of icing sugar…

Once the mixture is well combined gradually mix in the caramel you made earlier. Set a bit of this aside (about 50-100ml or so) to decorate later on.

Step eleven

Pop the frosting into a piping bag and top off your little cakes with a drizzle of caramel once iced. I used a different nozzle than I usually do just because. Forgive me that some of them look a little wonky.

What’s that? I made another GIF?

Step twelve

Sink into sugar coma.

February 24, 2014

Stack ’em high!

If your country doesn’t stock Mars bars then I am truly sorry…for these are delicious, and you will probably never experience the joy of tasting one. If you live in the UK then get down to your local newsagent, there’s no time to be wasting.

A little disclaimer before I begin: the combination of the fact that a) I was making these for a charity bake sale and b) I couldn’t find a regular 4 pack of Mars bars means that the recipe below is rather substantial. Divide in half or into thirds if you are baking these for home and don’t fancy obesity as a life choice (you won’t be able to stop eating them).

You will need

6 Mars bars

3 tbsp Golden syrup

250g Unsalted butter

9 cups of Rice crispies

(this is basically a whole box – I used the cheap Tesco knock off kind, no need to break the bank)

400g Milk chocolate

An appointment with your GP to test your blood sugar levels.

Makes 24 (at least)

Step one

Chop up the Mars bar.

Oh go on then, there’s at least one piece going spare…

Step two

Put Mars, butter, and golden syrup in a pan on a medium heat to melt.

Those fluffy bits in the middle of the Mars bars take what feels like forever to melt, but they do get there, just keep stirring, and maybe stick a bit of Dragon’s Den on or something.

Step three

Put most of the rice puffs in a big bowl. I always hold a few cups back to add later, as this isn’t an exact Science so you won’t always need them all.

Pour the melted mixture over the puffs. You probably deserve another little taste at this point.

Step four

Stir together until rice crispies are evenly covered. It’s up to you whether to add the rest that you kept to one side or not, I added the whole lot to mine.

Step five

Line a couple of tray bake tins with foil and distribute your mixture accordingly. Again, it’s up to you how deep/shallow you want your crispy cakes to be, so choose your tins with that in mind.

Step six

Squash the mixture down with the back of a spoon until it fills the various crevices (or with your hands when you get tired of doing it the PC way – wash them first though, there are some standards to be upheld).

Make sure the mixture is squashed down firmly or it will all fall apart later. Literally.

Step seven

Melt the milk chocolate and cover the top of the crispy cakes evenly. Again this will sort of depend on what tin you use and what consistency you want as to how much you need, as you want enough to cover it all. If you chose a shallower tin then you’ll need a bit more chocolate and so on.

Step eight

Cut the crispy cakes into slices now before it all sets up, it’s just all a bit easier that way.

Step nine

Devour.

Happy Monday all.

February 18, 2014

Churronimoooo

Hmm, blogging Monday seems to gradually becoming blogging Tuesday, apologies chaps.

I’ve been on my travels up and down the country recently (well, mainly side to side actually). So not a huge amount of crafting has been a-happening.

One such weekend was spent with some of my bests in NW London, and at brunch time I took my camera out and started snapping. We decided that churros bites were the order of the day (if you don’t know what churros are, then you’ve not really lived yet, fact).

None of us had made them before and at least one of us was terrified by the prospect of a pan fire (no deep fat fryer for us). It was actually gob-smackingly easy and very fun, so go on, have a go.

You will need

1 cup Water

2 and 1/2 tbsp Caster sugar (plus some for coating)

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Plain flour

1L Vegetable oil

Ground cinnamon (for coating)

100-200g Chocolate (for dipping)

Serves 4 (recipe sourced at allrecipes.com)

Step one

In a saucepan combine the cup of water, 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar, salt, and 2 tbsp vegetable oil.

Heat over a medium heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture comes to the boil.

Step two

Take water off the heat and pour in a cup of plain flour.

Step two and a half

Stir stir stir.

The mix will a) get too heavy for a whisk very quickly b) get very lumpy very quickly c) look plain wrong.

Persevere though, if you keep mixing you will manage to smooth it out considerably in a matter of minutes. I promise.

Step three

Heat the rest of the oil in a sizeable pan. SLOWLY.

You want it to be on no more than a medium heat the whole time, and this will take a while. You know the oil is at the right temperature when you drop a little mixture in and it bubbles and floats rather than sinking to the bottom.

Step four

Fill a large piping bag with the mix and squeeze to the end.

A star shaped nozzle will give you the most authentic looking churros, but I would advise a fairly small one. Ours was the biggest in the pack, and the chunkiness turned our churros into churros bites fairly early on…we didn’t want to end up with only 4 massive ones…less space for the chocolate that way.

Step five

Pipe into the pan. We had one person piping and another using a pair of scissors to snip the mixture in at a desired length. Manageable with one person though I suspect – if you don’t have a helper.

This is where you need to keep an eye on the heat because if you’re not careful you risk cooking/burning the outside and then having uncooked dough within. We learned by doing on this one!

So keep the pan on a low-medium heat and just cook them by eye. Even the most novice chef can see when one of these is ready.

Step six

Lift the churros out of the pan and drain on a plate covered with a few sheets of kitchen roll.

A slotted spoon would be ideal for this if you have one.

Step seven

Cover another plate in caster sugar and cinnamon (adjust quantities to taste), and roll drained churros around until coated in the mix.

Step eight

Stack em high!

Step nine

While the churros are cooking, draining, and being coated, task somebody with melting the chocolate.

Do this in the microwave and don’t get impatient. A 30 second blast followed by some 10 seconds with stirring in between will do the trick.

Step ten

Eat until you can’t move.

February 12, 2014

Last minute lolly

When making the maple truffles I ended up with a decent amount of left over chocolate from the dipping stage. So I decided to create another little Valentine’s treat. There’s still time to dash to the shop and whip one up tomorrow evening for a yummy treat that’s more heartfelt than hallmark.

This is a little bit of a cheat post (hence the mid-weekness of it all). I’m afraid there are no photographs of the stages, just the final product. But all is not lost…I do go through making homemade chocolate lollies here.

To create the heart shape you just need to create two circles next to each other and then sort of pipe down and drag to make the point. More info can be found on the Christmas Lollies post (link above). Once the outside is touch dry you can melt a couple of squares of white chocolate and drizzle over the top. Feel free to experiment with different decorations, types of chocolate, or just chuck a load of sweets on top while it’s still drying. You might even want to try piping a message to your beloved?

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week, see you on Monday!

February 3, 2014

Sweeties for my sweetie

Valentine’s Day is the marmite of all the celebrations; people seem to either love it or hate it (I’m actually fairly in the middle on the whole thing, much like my relationship to marmite). The US tends to go mad for Valentine’s*…but let’s be fair, they’re a lot more chipper about everything than the rest of the world anyway. We Brits stay true to form, far more cynical, but with the inherent sense of obligation that both forces us to celebrate something, and then resent the enjoyment we get from it.

Chocolates are a typical Val Day gift, but they tend to lack the personal touch that well, let’s face it, is the fault of the whole shebang. I figure if you’re going to do it, do it right, make your own.

Whatever continent you live on, and whatever occasion you’re celebrating this February, here’s another recipe fresh from my kitchen. Great for gifting or gorging on, I present milk chocolate truffles with a hint of salty maple goodness.

* source: Pinterest…which is a completely accurate representation of American life.

You will need:

500g Milk chocolate

75ml Evaporated milk

50ml Double cream

1 to 1 and a half tbsp Maple syrup

2 tsp Salted butter

Pinch of table salt

Rock salt to decorate

Makes 20-30 truffles

Step one

Chop 250g of the chocolate finely, and place in a bowl. The more you chop the easier the cream will melt it. Use a bread/serrated knife for this…you can thank me later…I just changed your life.

Step two

Put the cream, evaporated milk, maple syrup, a pinch of salt, and the 2 tsp of butter in a small pan.

Don’t put more than a tablespoon and a half of maple syrup in your truffle filling – whilst tasting delicious it won’t set up, ergo it won’t be easy to cover in chocolate (yes, I did find out the hard way, but I’m kind enough to give you recipe 2.0).

Place on a low heat and bring to the boil, stir regularly. Leave that heat on low, I mean it! Patience is the way to go with cream, it’s the hormonal teenager of the baking world (volatile and breaks down easily).

Step three

Once the cream starts to bubble, take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Stir quickly with a hand whisk until all the chocolate is melted and it’s thick and glossy.

Step four

Wait.

Step five

Once your truffle mix is holding its shape (pull the whisk out and dribble it around, if it’s not merging back into one clump then it’s good to go) put into a piping bag/good quality sandwich bag. If you’re impatient then stick it in the fridge or freezer to help it along (but don’t forget about it – you don’t want it to be un pipe-able)

Snip off the corner and pipe into evenly sized blobs. Don’t worry if they are a bit misshapen, this is just to ensure evenly sized truffles more than anything. My mix wasn’t quite solid enough when I did it above (this is partly because it was the too-much-maple batch) so wait a while longer than that.

Leave for another 15-20 minutes.

Step six

Roll truffles into balls. You will need cold hands for this, I found washing them in cold water a few times throughout helped. You might need to give them a little squash first so that they roll (you’ll understand when you get there).

Step seven

Melt the remaining chocolate (keep about 50g back for a moment). You want to put it in a fairly small bowl so it’s nice and deep for dunking.

Do this in a microwave, but watch it closely, it turns in seconds. Pop it in for 30 seconds to start it off and then 10 second intervals, stirring in between.

Once it’s fully melted put the remaining 50g in and allow the heat from the rest of the chocolate to melt that too. This will help to temper it making the texture and shine better in the end product.

Step eight

Find something to dip with. You can buy fancy tools for this but I happened to have a metal kebab skewer with a whirly bit on the end. If you don’t, then snap the middle two prongs off a plastic fork.

Step nine

Dip.

I’ve tried to show the stages above, but essentially: 1. Tilt bowl and put truffle on dipper 2. Drop into melted chocolate 3. Lift out using dipper 4. Flip over and drop back in to coat the other side 5. Lift out and allow excess chocolate to drip off.

Don’t tap dipper on the side of the bowl, or your truffle will get stuck onto it. If you are overwhelmed by the urge to tap, then sort of thwack it on the melted chocolate, sounds counter productive but it does work.

Step ten

Dip all the truffles and rest on greaseproof paper in rows, leave to set for 10 minutes or so before decorating.

Step eleven

Put excess melted chocolate into a piping/sandwich bag and snip a small opening in the bottom. Allow the chocolate to start pouring from the bag and move your hand back and forth over the rows of chocolate. This creates the stripey bits on the top. There’s no need to squeeze really, it will pour out of the bag at the right speed.

Don’t worry about the bits that fall down the middle, you can put them on top of your ice cream. Nothing wasted when it comes to chocolate.

Step twelve

Put a little bit of rock salt on the top of each truffle. Don’t overdo this or it will be unpleasant, but a little salt is actually really nice with sweet or caramelly things like maple syrup and chocolate.

Step thirteen

Leave them to set. Have a little taste. Go on. You’ve got a few to spare. They’ll never know. Unless of course you write a blog about it, and then never actually produce any of the chocolates (sorry boyfriend).

Oh, and I made a little baggy…

Step fourteen

Stay tuned to fabrefaction for the making of the bag, and the using up of the left over dipping chocolate.

Until next time friends!