Monthly Archives: February 2010

basic chocolate truffles


Posted by admin

375g (60-70% coco solids) chocolate
250ml double cream

1) Cut the chocolate into very small cubes and put into a large bowl.
2) Warm the cream, either in a microwave or in a pan on the hob until just below boiling point.
3) Pour the warm cream over the chocolate and leave for about a minute before stiring.
4) Stir till all the chocolate has melted.

    This is the point that you have to decide how you want your truffles to look…
    If you want cubes of chocolate, pour the chocolate cream into a square cake tin lined with greaseproof paper. Put the tin in the fridge for around 3 hours until solid then cut with a hot knife (dip sharp knife repeatedly in hot water and wipe with kitchen roll) into the right sized chunks. They will be very soft so it is up to you whether you would want to cover them in cocoa powder.
    The more traditional way is to leave the mix to set in the fridge still in the mixing bowl, then roll teaspoon fulls of the mixture in your hands into ball shapes. They can then be rolled in cocoa powder.

    This is just the basic recipe, check back in a week and you will see other variations.


    Innocent Products


    Posted by admin

    I have to admit to having a soft spot for this company, mainly because of the completely insane writing on the sides of the packs!! You do begin to wonder what they were taking when they wrote it…

    The smoothies are tasty and for the really lazy among us 1 small smoothie and 1 of their veg pots equals all of the fruit and veg that you need in a day :) you can’t really say fairer than that!!!

    The cynic in me has spent the last hour or more trying to find something wrong with them and I have found a whole 2 things…
    1) They sell to McDonalds… although how that can class as a bad thing i don’t know, giving people who are eating high fat junk food a tasty fruit option in my eyes is not a bad thing but they were classed as bad guys for doing it *shrugs*
    2) Selling a stake in the business to Coca cola… well that just makes good business sense… again, not a bad thing!!

    And that was pretty much it!!


    Shortbread recipe


    Posted by admin

    Everyone seems to have their own recipe for this biscuit and here is mine.

    250g salted butter at room temperature

    250g plain flour

    125g caster sugar

    125g ground rice or rice flour

    Cream the butter and sugar together till completely combined.

    Add the flours

    If you are using a mixer:

    • Gently mix until just combined, do not overwork the dough.

    If using your hands:

    • Move the butter and flours through your hands till you form breadcrumbs then combine into a dough.

    Gather it into a ball and put into the fridge for 30mins

    Preheat oven to 160 degrees centigrade.

    Roll it out till it is 1 cm in depth and cut into rounds.

    Bake for 20-30 minutes dependent on size of cutter, rounds work best.

    This makes a good base for other flavours and textures:

    • instead of rolling the dough out flat, roll into a cylinder, press demerera sugar onto the edges and slice 1cm cookies off and bake as before.
    • Mix 125g milk chocolate chips in with the dough.
    • Mix with a couple of handfuls of freeze dried strawberries.

    Gu naughties review


    Posted by admin

    I know these are not exactly new out on the market but they are definitely worth a try. If you haven’t come across them already, they are little chunks of rocky road, millionaire’s flapjack or chocolate rolls. Sold in the trademark black plastic packaging that is now synominous with Gu products.

    The concept isn’t original, most large supermarkets sell products like these in their bakery sections for about £1.50, or they were the last time I bought them. However, these are a little bit more special. More sweet that you would initially expect which makes it difficult to have too many at one time which is a bonus for me but in my opinion they are very tasty.

    Around £2.99 for a tub (found on website today) which contains around 18 snacks.