Chocolate Snaps

This is my take on a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Ingredients

300g Milk Chocolate

2 Crunchies

Bash the Crunchie into crumbs and sprinkle evenly over grease proof paper melt your chocolate then drizzle over the Crunchie in all sorts of shapes and let cool. Once set break up into fragments and sprinkle with edible glitter if you like :-)

For a minty take

Ingredients

300g Dark Chocolate

4tbsp Demerara Sugar

2tbsp Mint Flavouring

1-2tsp Green Colouring

Mix the sugar, colouring and mint flavour, sprinkle over your greaseproof paper and leave for 30 mins so the sugar dries out again. Melt your chocolate and then drizzle as before over the sugar and then let set. Again break it up into fragments to serve.

Cocktail Time!

Ingredients

150ml Cointreau

150ml Vodka

150ml Chambord

1 Punnet Strawberries or Raspberries

Cranberry Juice

Basil (to top)

Mash your strawberries or put them in a food processor blend and then sieve them to get all the juice add all your alcohol and then top the jug with cranberry juice. When your serve place a basil leaf on top and add a couple ice cubes.

For an individual glass reduce the amounts of alcohol but keep the measures even and use about two tablespoons of the strawberry or raspberries and top again with cranberry juice.

Florentines

Makes 18-24

Ingredients

50g Butter

50g Golden Caster Sugar

2tsp Runny Honey

50g Plain Flour

50g Candied Peel

50g Dried Cranberries

30g Light Toasted Almond Flakes

100g Chocolate (of your preference)

Firstly turn your oven to 160oC. In a saucepan melt butter, sugar and honey then set aside to cool a little. Mix the rest of the ingredients (apart from the chocolate) add the butter mixture and mix. Put teaspoons of the mixture on a flat tray and flatten slightly with the back of your spoon. Bake for 7-8mins until light gold in colour.

Let the Florentines cool then melt the chocolate and drizzle over the top or spread chocolate over the backs and let cool. Enjoy :-)

Mulled Cider

Ingredients

2Litres Dry Cider

4 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Whole Nutmegs

2 Apples

Cloves

Zest of 1/2 Orange

This recipe is very simple and very quick. Stud your apples with cloves and put in a pan with the cider, nutmeg, orange zest and cinnamon sticks let simmer for 10 to 30 mins. Serve with a slice of apple and orange and enjoy. Something very simple but lovely, warm and festive :-)

Lazy Light Mince Pies

Makes 24

Ingredients

270g Ready made Filo Pastry

822g Ready made Mincemeat

1 Egg (beaten)

Icing sugar  and edible glitter to dust

This is a really simple lazy and quick mince pie to make and I think they look a little like Santa's sack. Turn your oven to 180oC. Grease a cup cake tin, then cut your pastry into even squares and set aside. Take one square and dab a little egg in the middle then place another square at an angle on top (it should look a bit like a star). Place a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat in the centre then from the top layer of pastry pull up each corner and squidge in at the top of mincemeat leaving a little frill at the top. Lightly cover the bottom layer in egg and do the same (it will make it all stick together). Put a little egg on the frills at the top. Place in the oven for 8-10 mins until the tops go golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Hot Chocolate

Serves 1

Ingredients

50g Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa at the least

250ml Milk

1tsp Cinnamon

Sugar to taste

Cream and Marshmallows (optional)

Grate your chocolate and add this to a pan of simmering milk leave a little to sprinkle on top. Slowly let it simmer (not boil!) until the chocolate melts and the mixture thickens slightly. As it is dark chocolate you will want to add some sugar to taste. Add half a tsp of Cinnamon to the mix and pour into a mug. Top with cream, marshmallows a sprinkle of remaining Cinnamon and chocolate. Sit back put a Christmas DVD on a relax! :-)

Gingerbread House

This recipe is from the BBC Good Food magazine. I halved the recipe below and managed to make two gingerbread houses, 3 large gingerbread men, and about 15 smaller biscuits. The dough can be frozen and so can the baked biscuits so if there is too much for you just now dig the rest out later!

Ingredients

1Kg Plain Flour (plus extra for dusting)

300g Cold Butter

2 tbsp Mixed Spice

2tbsp Ground Ginger

1tbsp Bicarbonate of Soda

450g Light Soft Brown Sugar

3 Large Eggs

225g Golden Syrup

300g Royal Icing Sugar

Sweets, Edible Glitter of your choice to decorate.

Cut out a template for your house on baking paper. Make sure you get your measurements correct or google gingerbread house template to find one you like.

Pre-heat oven to 180oC. Then put half of the flour in a food processor with the butter and mix until there are no lumps. In another large bowl mix the remaining flour, spices, bicarb and a pinch of salt. Tip the butter and flour mix into this and stir in the sugar. Use your fingers or food processor to make the mixture look like bread crumbs. Whisk eggs and golden syrup together and pour into the flour mixing with a wooden spoon to combine then get your hands in to bring it all together.

Dust your worktop thoroughly then roll the dough out in sections at a time to about 1/2cm. Cut out your house shapes. Don't at this point cut out windows or doors. Bake for 8-10 mins until a lovely golden brown. When you take them out of the oven put your template back onto the shapes and cut any excess off and cut any windows doors you want. Let them cool.

Then decorate the individual pieces. A spare pair of hands is useful at this point to help hold your walls up. I recommend putting some icing on the bottom of your pieces so they will stick to the tray and help stay in place. And there you have it a gingerbread house!

Christmas Biscuits

Ingredients

100g Plain Flour

2tsp of Christmas spice (or make your own mix using ginger, Cinnamon, nutmeg)

1/2tsp Baking Powder

50g Soft Brown Sugar

1tbsp Milk

75g Butter

2tbsp Candied peel (optional)

To Decorate

Icing, Sprinkles, Edible glitter of your choice

Turn your oven to 180oC. Put all of your ingredients in a bowl and mix together using your hands. Once combined into a dough sprinkle your worktop with flour and roll out until about 1/2 a cm thick. (You may need to sprinkle your dough with flour lots to prevent it sticking) Put in the oven for 15-18 mins until golden. Let them cool on a rack.

Once cooled you can decorate however you want simply using a sprinkle of icing sugar, completely covering them in icing, or in my case lots of edible shimmer spray. It is completely up to you, have fun with them.

I used a Delicia cutter set which I found on Amazon

:-)

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Rum and Raisin Homemade Cake Pops

Makes 20

Ingredients

 4oz Caster Sugar

4oz Butter or Margarine

3oz Self Raising Flour

1oz Cocoa Powder

2 Eggs

100g Dark Chocolate

100ml Condensed Milk

2oz Raisins

2-3tbsp Rum

To Decorate

400g Milk Chocolate

100g White Chocolate (optional)

Sprinkles (optional)

This recipe is exactly the same as my other cake pop recipes but again with a few changes.

Some preparation ahead is needed. Put your raisins in a bowl with 2 tbsp of rum mix around cover with cling film and let them sit overnight and soak up the rum.

Turn oven to 180oC. Now bake your cake, cream sugar and butter together until light and fluffy then add one egg at a time. Use an electric whisk it will give you a lovely light airy sponge. Add flour and cocoa and whisk until combined. Put in a baking tray and bake for 25-35 mins depending on your oven and the size of the tin.

Once the cake is baked and cooled put in a food processor to crumb. Melt your dark chocolate and condensed milk together in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Take off the heat and pour in your cake crumbs, raisins and if you want a stronger rum flavour 1 tbsp of rum. Mix together roll into balls and then let these chill in a fridge for 1-2 hours.

Once the mixture has cooled melt your decorating chocolate. Cover in milk chocolate first then let cool. Drizzle a little white chocolate on top of each and add sprinkles. Let cool place them on cake pop sticks and then eat!