Passionfruit Melting Moments
These were lovely but I am slightly discomforted by the little speckles of food colouring that refused to dissolve! You can find the recipe here.
Espresso-Chocolate shortbreadAnother successful Dorie recipe. That makes 3 in a row, woo-hoo! These were fabulous. Incredibly easy to make and roll and with a real flavour hit (as long as you like coffee and chocolate and really why would you make or eat these if you didn't??). I only had one little piece as not-yet-born people don't like caffeine.
Fruit Mince TrufflesA variation on a basic truffle recipe (just chocolate, cream and vanilla). You can find the recipe here. We left out the brandy though so I could have some!
Peanut Butter SquaresMy all time favourite that I could eat by the truckload! These are Nigella's version of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and they come as close as anything else I've tried. Only annoying thing is that is impossible to slice without the chocolate layer cracking (and I've tried everything from letting it sit out, a hot knife, slicing upside down etc ... all to no avail)
Ingredients for the Base50g dark brown sugar
1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar
50g unsalted butter
200g peanut butter
Ingredients for the topping
200g milk chocolate
100g dark chocolate
20g unsalted butter
Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer (or just a wooden spoon and a bowl), stir all the ingredients for the base together until smooth. You may find that some of the dark brown sugar stays in rubbly but very small, lumps, but don't worry about that. Press the sandy mixture into a 9-inch square brownie pan and make the surface as even as possible. Place in the fridge to firm up. To make the topping, melt the chocolates and butter together and spread over the base. Place in the fridge to set. When hardened, cut into very small squares as it is incredibly rich and more-ish!
Classic Christmas Cake
It's become a tradition that I make this cake, one for us and one for my grandparents. I was actually quite organised this year and managed to not only soak the fruit for a few days but make the cakes 3 weeks ahead of time so they would mature and taste even more amazing. You can find the recipe here. A huge oversight is a lack of spices (?!?!?) so I always add at least 3 teaspoons of mixed spice or whatever takes my fancy.
We turned all these goodies into gift plates to be handed out on Christmas Day. Yummy!
These look fabulous Susan! A fantastic set of Christmas treats you have made, and the recipients are very lucky. I especially love the look of the fruit mince truffles and the Chrsitmas cake - love the nutty decoration (macadamias??). Hope you had a merry Xmas and wishing you and your family all the best in the ew Year.
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