Ultimate Brownie Points

One of the 'joys' of this pregnancy has been an absolute inability to consume chocolate without being violently ill.  That is, until now.  Thirty-two weeks pregnant and I can now safely eat, and enjoy, chocolate.  I think this little bit of background must give you a slight insight into the pure elation that was exploding from my kitchen (and heart) as I created this recipe!

I often cook brownies (using a range of different recipes) and dislike the eggy taste that the majority of them have.  Last week, I was very generously given a vintage cookbook from the beautiful mother of a close friend who knew that I would truly appreciate it!  This cookbook contained a recipe for brownies that intrigued me - it contained no actual chocolate, just cocoa.  I doubted that it would be the brownie of my dreams but gave it a go anyway.  And do you know, it wasn't that bad. In fact, it was pretty darn good. 

So the recipe that I share with you contains the elements of this darling 'vintage' brownie with elements of other brownie recipes (read: chocolate!) that I love.  Given that my husband has just made himself sick, eating three: I'm thinking it's pretty good!

Ultimate Chocolate Fudge Brownies

300g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

150g unsalted butter, chopped

330g dark brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

110g plain flour, sifted

140g white chocolate melts, chopped in half

120g sour cream

110g walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tbsp cocoa powder, for dusting

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius and line a 25cm x 25cm slice or cake tin.  Melt chocolate and butter, either in the microwave or over a low heat on the stove.  Once melted, incorporate the brown sugar and vanilla.  Transfer into a mixing bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Add the eggs, mixing well after each addition.  Then stir in plain flour before adding sour cream.  Fold the white chocolate and walnuts through the batter.  Pour into your lined tray and use a spatula to spread and level.  Bake for 50 minutes.

Chocolate heaven,

F. x

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

After the craziness of the end of the school year, it's been lovely to be back at home with my family.  This basically means loud chatting, baking, copious cups of tea, shopping trips and lunches out.  I always take advantage of staying at my mother's house because she has two ovens...yes, two.  It's absolute heaven.  This necessity arose when I was a teenager and poor Mum would always have to compete to use her own oven.  She'd be wanting to cook dinner but we'd have a batch of something-or-other baking that just couldn't wait.  So the solution to that problem has served me well and I can have TWO different things baking at TWO different temperatures.....it's the best.

I only ever make biscotti at Christmas time.  Not sure why, exactly but it just feels right.  Biscotti, or biscotto, means "twice-baked" and this scrumptious, crispy little biscuit holds its own against a strong cup of coffee and loud family chatter.  I love this particular recipe because it's not too sweet.  The sugar, chocolate and roasted almond crunch complement each other perfectly.

Chocolate and Almond Biscotti

270g plain flour, sifted

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

30g dark cocoa powder, sifted

165g caster sugar

3/4 cup blanched almonds

3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees celsius and line a flat baking tray.  Mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar and almonds.  Add the eggs and the vanilla and combine to form a dough.  Your dough consistency can range between smooth and sticky depending on the size of your eggs, but don't add any more flour.

Divide the dough in two and lightly knead each piece on a floured surface until smooth - this won't take long.  Shape the logs and flatten slightly.  Place on your pre-prepared tray and bake for 35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Use a serrated knife to cut the log into 5mm slices.  Place back onto your baking tray and bake for a further 15 minutes until your biscotti are crisp.

Happy baking,

F. x

Sweet tooth...satisfied!

Tonight, we are madly packing for a flying trip to Brisbane for my father's birthday.  Despite this, I just had to try out this recipe that I've been turning around and around my head for days!  These cupcakes are sweet and rich and divinely fudgy.  Delicious chocolate morsels are a sweet surprise inside these heavenly cakes.  There isn't much better - except maybe for the choc-hazelnut buttercream with adorns these beauties.  Cupcakes for grown-ups...a indulgent hit of whisky means that no kiddies will be licking this bowl!

Fudgy Chocolate Mudcakes

175g good quality dark chocolate

175g unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

80 mL whisky

200g brown sugar

200g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

225g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

110g chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Melt chocolate, butter, vanilla and whisky together until smooth and glossy (I do this in the microwave).  While the mixture is still hot, beat in the sugars.  Add the eggs and combine well before mixing in the sifted flour, baking powder and salt.  When batter is well-mixed, stir through the chocolate chips.  Distribute batter into baking cups and bake for 20-30 minutes.  Baking time will depend on the size of your baking cups.  When cooked, cupcakes will have a hard crust and a skewer, inserted, will be mostly clean.  Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Choc-hazelnut Buttercream

125g unsalted butter

3 cups icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp nutella

3 tbsp cocoa, sifted

Beat butter and sugar together for 10 minutes until almost white.  Mix in vanilla, nutella and cocoa. 

F. x

Afternoon Delight

The brilliant thing about a brownie (well, one of the many brilliant things about a brownie) is that even though it's aesthetically ugly, the uglier, the goey-er, the browner....the better! There's absolutely no fussiness in serving them up.  They are a guilty comfort which should look homemade and rustic.  Having some gorgeous ladies over this afternoon meant that I simply had to bake something.  Not sure how much time I would have (if only babies worked around our schedule!) my decision was based on ease and people pleasing.  Who doesn't love a brownie?!

These brownies are quick and easy but also have a yummy twist - coconut.  I, however, cannot take the credit for this addition after being inspired by my mothers groups' recent obsession with Summer Rolls (hence the name of these delights).  You know, that delicious chewy nougat covered in chocolate and coated in coconut - heaven!  As a result, I have also rekindled my lost love with the humble Summer Roll which has obviously now filtered in other aspects of my culinary existence.  Prepare yourself for mouthfuls of chocolatey goodness as you bite through the crisp exterior to reveal a molten and decadent core.  These glorious things are appropriate for all levels of entertaining, be it accompanying a coffee as you steal a quiet moment at home to yourself, or as a dessert served warm with icecream and a dusting of cocoa as you entertain.  And all put together in 10 minutes before you set the oven timer and forget about it until your house fills with the devine scent of warm chocolate baking.  It's too much!  Do yourself a favour...bake these!

Summer Brownies

175g unsalted butter, chopped

175g dark chocolate, chopped

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1/3 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius. Melt butter and chocolate together in a microwave safe dish, stirring every 30 seconds.  Set aside to cool slightly.  Sift together flour and cocoa.  In a different bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, coconut and vanilla.  Fold through chocolate mixture and combine well before adding flour and cocoa.  Ensure all ingredients are combined and pour mixture into a pre-prepared 20x20 baking tin (or a slice tin).  Bake for 35 minutes.  Top will be crisp but inside will still be soft.

This will become your 'go to' brownie recipe, I am sure of it!

F. x

Smiles.

After an incredibly hectic first week back at school, I was more than happy to spend today baking up a storm. A day in the kitchen is simply the perfect way to relax. However, relaxation was not, in fact, my main reason for today's 'session'.  Tomorrow afternoon, I will be taking a cupcake decorating workshop with a group of 12-year old girls.  One of my colleagues runs a wonderful program called GirlLife.  In a nutshell, GirlLife gives these girls an opportunity to broaden their world view by seeing that there is so much more for them in life than they may have experienced.  I simply cannot wait to show you some of their creations which we intend to enjoy in a lovely high tea. 

In order to conduct such a workshop, of course, I have to prepare the cupcakes for the girls to decorate.  So I was busy, busy, busy.  Naturally, when I found that I had some extra cupcakes, I couldn't resist having a mess around with some of the yummy toppers that I had prepared for tomorrow! I baked my Mum's Chocolate Cake recipe before topping with Vanilla Buttercream and a sweet chuck of liquorice allsort. Both my chocolate cake and buttercream recipes are tried and true.  How could you not look at these and smile?

F. x

For the love of cake.

Last week marked yet another wonderful Wednesday at Blackwater North State School.  Apparently the intrigue began as early as 8am as to what was 'inside' the cake that lay on the table. 

Mud cake?
No.
Carrot cake?
No.
White chocolate cake?
No.

It was Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake: the smooth, moist centre in stunning contrast to the sweet cream cheese outer.  As soon as this beautiful cake was cut, it was a fight as to who could get a piece before it ran out and it was completely and utterly worth the fight.  This cake is impressive to say the least, and yet a one pot wonder (yes, I did say pot).  All of the ingredients are combined and whipped up in a large saucepan before entering the oven.  It's certainly minimum effort for maximum effect.  I recommend that this be the next wonder to come out of your oven.

Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake

250ml Guinness

250g unsalted butter

75g cocoa

400g caster sugar

1 x 142ml pot sour cream

2 eggs

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 1/2teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line the bottom of a 23cm springform tin with baking paper.

In a large saucepan, place your guinness and butter and stir over a low heat.  When the butter has melted into the guinness, add the sugar and cocoa.  Separately beat the eggs, sour cream and vanilla together before whisking into the dark guinness liquid.  Finally you can stir in the plain flour and bicarb until combined.  Pour the batter in the cake tin and bake for an hour. 

I literally baked this cake twice within a week.  It freezes beautifully if you want to slice it up, as I have, for my lovely husband to take in his lunch; it is simply sublime with custard or icecream as a dessert; or you can frost it, as I have here, with my divine Cream Cheese Frosting and adding some chocolate coated strawberries.

F. x



Who's a clever girl?



Isn't this a magnificent thing of beauty?  Look out, because this weekend I will be sharing the recipe for this amazing Dark Chocolate Guinness Cake.  Yum! Yum, indeed!

F. x

Happy Easter!

A very important lesson that I learnt during my childhood was that chocolate is not an acceptable breakfast food.  Except....if it's Christmas or Easter!  And so, in paying homage to this, here I am - with book, cuppa and the quintessential Lindt Bunny.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I am eating chocolate for breakfast: how could today not be a good one?! 

I wish everyone the happiest of days for Easter!

F.x

Hazelnut Dream

Every year, I make a ridiculously chocolately Easter cake.  Even though, this year, I will be spending Easter away from my family, I could not let this little tradition go so easily.  The cake I chose is a Torta All Gianduia.  Sounds gloriously fancy, doesn't it?  Basically it's a flourless hazelnut cake, or a Nutella cake.  Despite calling for a whole jar of Nutella, dark chocolate, 6 eggs and Frangelico, this cake is surprisingly light.  Of course, the beautiful lightness comes from the whisked egg whites which are carefully incorporated but I'm also talking in flavour.  This looks like a solid, rich cake but you can very easily have more than a small slice.  It's delightfully nutty which balances out the sweetness of the Nutella and the richness of the dark chocolate.  The beautiful roasted hazelnuts on top announce to the world that this is no ordinary flourless chocolate cake and the dark chocolate ganache glistens underneath in contrast.  This cake is definitely for a special occassion and one that will now form a regular part of my kitchen repertoire.  Credits must go to Nigella Lawson and her book, How to be a Domestic Goddess, as this is a recipe that I have not messed around with - it is simply perfection as it is.

Torta All Gianduia

6 large eggs, separated

pinch of salt

125g unsalted butter, softened

400g jar of Nutella

1 tbsp Frangelico (or rum, which I used)

100g ground hazelnuts

100g dark chocolate, melted

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and prepare a 23cm springform tin.

Whisk the egg whites and salt to stiff peaks.

Separately, beat the butter and Nutella together.  Incorporate the Frangelico (or rum), egg yolks and ground hazelnuts, then fold in the cooled melted chocolate.

Add a large dollop of the egg whites to lighten the batter.  Beat this in well.

Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites, a third at a time.

Pour into the tin and cook for 40 minutes.  The cake should be beginning to come away at the sides. 

Leave the cake to cool in the tin.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Roast 100g of hazelnuts in a 180 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before rubbing of outer skin.

Add 125mL of double cream, 125g dark chocolate and 1 tablespoon of your chosen tipple from earlier.  Heat this gently and stir until chocolate has melted.  Remove from the heat and whisk until the ganache thickens.  Pour over the top of cake and top with roasted hazelnuts.

Heaven!

F.x

Today's Kitchen

Look at the magic happening in my kitchen today! It all feels a little bit naughty and let me tell you why - I have just bought and scooped out an ENTIRE jar of Nutella to put into this cake.  Mind you, the smells coming out of the kitchen completely justify this!  Now I have stolen this picture (above) from the cookbook How to be a Domestic Goddess but if my finished product even looks half as good as this, it will be a sight to be seen. You definitely want to hold out for this recipe - the perfect Easter cake!

F. x

A Quick Shot of Espresso

Last week, I discovered that my favourite coffee shop started selling chocolate coated coffee beans and I was oh-so-excited!  As I promised, Cupcakes + Chocolate Coated Coffee Beans = Loveliness.  These gorgeous Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean cupcakes are to die for - so rich and soft - and perfect alongside a nice cup of tea.  They make the grade on every one of my levels: chocolate - tick, aesthetics - tick, and did I mention chocolate?  Thoroughly impressive and minimal effort, definitely give these ones a try.

Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean Cupcakes

125g soft unsalted butter

125g dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

125g S.R. Flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 shot espresso

50g dark chocolate, melted

1-2 tbsp milk





Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar before gradually adding your eggs.  Tip in the flour, cocoa and espresso and mix until you have a smooth, thick batter.  Add in the slightly cooled chocolate and thin the batter with milk.  Pour into cupcake cases and cook for 15-20 mins.  Let the cakes cool. Makes 12.

Frosting

300g dark chocolate

50g unsalted butter

1/2 espresso shot

Place all the ingredients into a microwave safe container.  Zap and stir at 30 second intervals until the chocolate has melted.  Whisk well to combine and thicken. Pipe onto cupcakes and top with a chocolate-coated coffee bean.

Thank me later,

F. x



Tea-time Tempter

It couldn't be a bad day if you had one of these babies, could it?  Don't leave me while I am away, lovelies, because I will be back with the recipe for these Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean Cupcakes next week.  Don't miss me too much, now!

F. x



Pure Indulgence



I have been wanting to try this elegant chocolate treasure for quite a while now.  Every time I open Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess, I can't help but read this recipe and take pleasure in the eloquent way in which she gives directions for its creation.  Well time is of the essence and all of that, so today was the day! And it was wonderful.  How fantastic is the feeling when you complete a recipe and it looks identical to the illustration you have been lusting over?!  Food is all about the senses...first and foremost, the visual.  When the visual is matched by the taste, aromas and texture, you have achieved the holy grail of cooking - hallejulah!

This rich dessert provides a beautiful balance of sweetness and chocolately bitterness. Truly, a gorgeous dinner party people pleaser, this dessert can be prepared well ahead of time and be cooked straight out of the fridge.  I would highly recommend completing a practice run to ensure the perfect cooking time in your oven.  A solid outer, with that insanely indulgent molten centre is difficult to achieve first go but so incredibly satisfying when you do.  Serve them with sweet vanilla icecream and tart raspberries.  A sweet raspberry sauce would also compliment the dessert wonderfully.  These cakes are a labour of love - share them with your favourite sweeties.

Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes

50g soft unsalted butter

350g dark chocolate

150g caster sugar

4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g plain flour

Preheat an oven to 200 degrees C, putting your baking tray in at the same time.  Prepare your pudding moulds by greasing with (extra) butter and lining the base with baking paper circles.

Melt the chocolate (I used the microwave for ease) and put it aside to cool slightly. I must admit that I only used 250g of chocolate as that was all I had in the fridge and the Babycakes were still incredibly rich. 

Cream the butter and sugar before gradually beating in the eggs.  Once these are well combined, mix through the vanilla extract.  Sift and mix in the flour until the mixture is smooth.  Scoop in the cooled chocolate and blend to a smooth, glossy batter.

Divide the batter between six moulds.  Place them on the heated baking tray and put back into the oven.  Nigella dictates 10-12 minutes for cooking, in my oven with dariol moulds, my puddings took almost 20 minutes.  Keep checking them.  The Babycakes will rise like souffles.  You will be able to see the ring of cooked batter quite clearly.

As soon as you take them out of the oven, tip these luscious little babies onto your serving plate. Be gentle, banging and shaking has no place here. Icecream suits perfectly as an accompaniment but so would a creme anglaise or whipped double cream.

F. x

Happy Friday!

What better way to share the Friday cheer than with a scrummy recipe?  Here is my Chocolate Caramel Slice recipe...and it tastes even better than it looks!  These are perfect for morning tea, giving away as little gifts or just to have as a sweet treat.  Believe me, you will be making these little darlings over and over again!  Thank me now because you'll be too busy munching on these later on.

Chocolate Caramel Slice

Base

1 cup P flour

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup brown sugar

125g unsalted butter, melted

Caramel

1/2 cup golden syrup

125g unsalted butter, cubed

2 x 395g cans of sweetened condensed milk (heaven!!)

Chocolate

200g dark chocolate

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix together dry ingredients for the base before adding the melted butter.  Bring together and press into a prepared 20cm x 20cm tin.  Place in a moderate oven (about 180 degrees) and bake for around 20 minutes. It should have started to brown a little on top but the gorgeous smell will alert you to its readiness.

If you start getting your caramel ingredients together when you've popped the base into the oven, it seems to time itself pretty well.  Place all the ingredients into a saucepan over a low heat.  Stir until the butter has melted and then cook for another 6-7 minutes.  Don't expect it to thicken much or change in colour, just keep stirring it so that you don't burn the bottom! 

When the base is ready, pull it out of the oven and pour the caramel over the top.  Place the tin back into the oven for another 20 minutes.  The caramel will darken and start to bubble...best thing ever!

Let the tin cool on the bench before popping it into the fridge.  Leave it for a good couple of hours (I usually let it go overnight) to make sure that it is nice and cold.

While I do prefer to melt chocolate over a pot of boiling water, I use my Tupperware microwave jug for this recipe.  Break the chocolate into pieces and drizzle the oil over the top.  I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.  This ensures that you have no disasters.  When the chocolate is completely melted and is shiny and smooth, pour it over the chilled caramel.  Tip and tilt the tin to allow the chocolate to spread evenly across the whole slice.  Put it straight back into the fridge and leave until set.  This usually only takes about 30 minutes.

Lift the slice out of the tin.  To slice, I use a knife dipped into boiling water.  This stops the chocolate breaking and makes you cuts clean and neat.  Wipe the knife with a cloth in between to remove any melted chocolate.  I start by chopping off the 'crispy' edges.  (This is the favoured part in my house and hardly the scraps with all the dark, 'burnt' caramel!)  Then you can cut the slice into pieces sized to your liking.  Steal a piece at this point because you won't get a look in later on!

Too yum!

F. x

Parcels of Sweetness and Light

In the kitchen, I find my "happy place".  At the end of a long day, cooking dinner or baking becomes the stress relief that I long for.  A recipe that I turn to again and again is my Chocolate Caramel Slice.  I love that this recipe is not about instant gratification but about working through the steps and the processes.  My abosolute favourite part of this process, is at the end - slicing through the layers with a hot knife, forming perfect little rectangles of creamy, sweet joy.

Seeing as I love eating this slice, just as much as cooking it, I wrapped it up into darling little parcels to share with my wonderful teaching partners, Mel and Alana, as well as a few other special someones. 

F. x

Comfort.

Chocolate is nature's way of making up for Mondays -- Anon.

When it all gets too much, there is but one place to go...chocolate.  I am dreaming about being able to bake these chocolate-y comfort cookies some day soon but until then I will stare longingly - as I'm sure you already are!  I have said time and time again, and strongly maintain, that staring into a bowl of melting chocolate is one of the most theraputic and calming things you can do.  Naturally, these amazing 'chunks' of heaven involve this very process.  Melted chocolate rivers gently folded with dry ingredients before yet more chocolate chips are added.  Comfort in the truest of forms, these are truly divine. 

Just what the doctor ordered.

F. x

Chocolate Hazelnut Deliciousness

Well hello, my lovelies.  Hasn't it been a while?  Even though I have continued to create delicious morsels, it has taken a certain telecommunications company a ridiculously long time to sort out our internet situation in our new home.  However, good things come to those who wait (and goodness knows how long it feels I have waited!) and here I am again.  Just to make up for such a long absence, I am going to share with you one of my favourite recipes for a sweet fix - naturally, chocolate-based.

This Chocolate Hazelnut (faux) Fudge is easy as pie, and even easier than that.  It combines two of my most favourite ingredients, dark chocolate and sweetened condensed milk.  Both of these ingredients are just too fabulous on their own so you can only imagine how wonderful they are in combination.  The reward you receive for such a small amount of work is to die for....beautiful dark squares bejewelled with crunchy hazelnets. Oh, yes please!

The thing to keep in mind with this recipe is that even though I have used hazelnuts (I just happened to have them in the pantry at the time), any nuts that take you fancy would suit.  I am yet to try with pistachios but love the idea of the visual aspect, bright green contrasted against the dark chocolate...amazing!

For this delightful Faux Fudge you will need, 350 grams of chopped dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, 30 grams of unsalted butter, a pinch of salt and 150 grams of chopped hazelnuts.  Pop the chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy based saucepan over a low heat, stirring to melt.  What you will get is a stunningly smooth, glistening and luxurious chocolate lava, too good for words.  Stir the nuts into this mixture well and feast your eyes as you pour into a 23 centimetre slice square (or something similiar).  Use a spatula to smooth over the top.  This step, while being incredibly important, also works in the cook's favour and you can sample your wares prior to setting.  Allow the fudge to cool and refrigerate until set.  If you can leave it alone long enough to set, turn the fudge block out onto a board and cut into small squares. Nothing is better than cutting into the monochromatic fudge block to discover the bright hidden treasures that are the hazelnuts. Even though the glutton in you will be tempted to make the portions slightly larger, believe me, less is more with this rich indulgence. I then layer the pieces between baking paper and keep in the freezer.  This just allows it to keep for longer, although the fridge is also fine.  Surprisingly, the fudge is still soft enough to eat, kept in the freezer, but if you can't leave it for five minutes before you munch, watch out for those nuts!

F. x

Twas the night before Christmas...

Every family has their own Christmas Eve tradition.  Sometimes it's watching a particular movie, or visiting particular family members.  In my family, it was preparing for the next day's feast.  Since I was around sixteen, the job has fallen to me to make Rum Balls.  The recipe always started with ten weetbix in the food processor with cocoa, raisins, condensed milk and rum.  In the last couple of years, I have deviated from this original recipe to discover something wholly rummier, yummier and more calorific.

My "Rum Truffles", as I called them, are a perfect hybrid of Chocolate Truffles and Rum Balls. They begin with a rich, brownie base which is blitzed with a whole lot of rum once cooled. I then set to rolling this mixture into the obligatory 'ball' shape which I find to be a gloriously calming activity - much like any repetitive task.  Trays of the 'brownie balls' (not looking incredibly appetising, yet) are then refrigerated (or popped into the freezer if a quick fix is needed) until set.  Copious amounts of milk and dark chocolate are then melted before each lovely rummy, brownie ball is submerged into whichever is your pleasure.  The slightly wonky, dark brown creatures emerge, in a waterfall of shiny, chocolately glory, just begging to be eaten.  It is with great sadness that they are put back into the fridge.  However, this wait is made ever so slightly easier by the knowledge that the best is yet to come for these drunken darlings. 

There are a number of choices for titivating the seemingly boring (in appearance, of course, never in flavour) chocolate 'lumps' up. I chose two: one, the most dramatic and sophisticate looking; and second, the most childlike, whimsical way I could think of.  In option one, the trays are drizzled, haphazardly, with white chocolate which contrasts beautifully with the milk and dark chocolate.  I love the elegance of the result.  I do feel that option number two will also appeal to you, as much as it does to me.  While white chocolate is still used, it is less elegantly dolloped into the top of each chocolate sphere and topped with a piece of chopped glace' cherry, this emulating....a christmas pudding!!!

Whilst I truly believe that presentation and appearance is of the utmost importance, the key marker of whether or not you are dealing with an exceptional rum ball/truffle/whatever, the warming of the heart as it goes down. There is a fine balance between a hint of rum and that terrible burning sensation as your body registers the alcohol that has entered it.  My family anxiously awaits their Christmas Day delivery of these gloriously seasonal treats and they will not be disappointed tomorrow as my (and my husband's) discerning tastesbuds have already given this batch the "all clear."

Enjoy responsibly!

F. x