Ferrero Rocher Angels - Easy To Make and SO Darn Cute !

One day in the supermarket, I spied a box of Ferrero Rocher.... and something inside screamed at me to turn them into angels!

It's not something I've seen done before, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. So darn adorable and perfect as little Christmas decorations and gifts. With all that chocolate, nutella, piedmont hazelnuts and salt caramel, what's not to love ?

You'll see I even utilized part of the wrapper for the little ruffle collar round the neck. However, if you prefer different colours - we've got a load of mini muffin / cupcake cases that are an ideal size to choose from.

You will also need a 12 cell silicone Dariole mould to make these.

I guess you have been looking at them long enough - so I have best show you what to do !

I'm afraid I didn't work out quantities of ingredients for these. It depends if you want to leave the body part empty or fill it 1/2 with nutella and half with salt caramel (just a suggestion)

Ingredients :

Belgian couverture  milk chocolate

a few roasted hazelnuts

a medium sized jar of nutella

one batch quantity of salt caramel

Ferrero Rocher

You will need :

plastic bowl

a pastry brush

silicone spatula

offset spatula (or a wide flat knife will probably do)

a heart shaped cookie cutter

a rolling pin

a clean tea towel

a granite of marble chopping board (frozen overnight) - or a glazed tile

Scissors

microwave

Put the couverture chocolate in the plastic bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts at 75%. After every 30 seconds, remove from the microwave and stir with a silicone spatula - even if it looks like it hasn't started melting at first.

The good thing about couverture chocolate is that as long as you melt in short burst and the temperature stays really low, your chocolate will stay in temper. Chocolate needs to be in temper - or it will go gritty if you get it too hold or lose it's shine and get a mouldy look due to either sugar or fat bloom.

When the chocolate is about 70% melted, don't put it back in the microwave. Just stir, stir, stir until almost all of the chocolate melts. Don't worry if it won't all melt. The remaining chunks can be removed with a fork. The chocolate should be around body temperature when ready to use. Touch a little bit to your upper lip. If you cannot feel it at all, it should be ready to use.

Use your pastry brush to apply a coat of chocolate inside the cells of your mould - making sure to cover all the silicone. Allow to start to set and have a matt finish before adding a second coat. Use a 3rd coat if required - we only used two coats.

This dariole mould has only had one coat at this point. You can still see the silicone shining through the chocolate on the furthest away cell.

Pop two or three roasted hazelnuts into each cell if desired.

Using a disposable piping bag (or a sandwich bag with a corner snipped off), pipe some nutella into each cell - followed by salt caramel. Be sure to leave at least 5mm gap above the filling to the top of the mould.

Of course, you can leave these hollow if you choose to.

Fill the gap at the top with more chocolate and give the mould a tap so the chocolate levels.

Once this is done, pop into the fridge for about 30 mins to set nice and hard before attempting to release from your silicone mold.

Whilst these are setting, we're going to make the wings !

Unfortunately, I forgot to take some photos here.....

Take your frozen granite / marble chopping board out the freezer. Leave for about 2 mins, then scrape the ice off the surface.

Next, spread on a small amount of chocolate using a flat knife or angled spatula. Use the heart shaped cookie cutter to cut the chocolate.

Free the chocolate right away from the slab with a knife / angled spatula. Place a clean tea towel over a rolling pin and place the heart on to that. The chocolate will be firm but "bendy" at this stage and curve a little round the pin.

Next, cut the bottom third of the heart off with a pair of scissors before making the next heart.

You need to cut that bottom bit off, or the wings just don't fit properly on the angel. Do make twice the amount of wings that you actually need. They are very thin and fragile - some will get broken during assembly.

If you wish to box these and give as gifts, I'd suggest putting some chocolate on a 3" dia cake card and then placing the chocolate filled dariole on top. Of course - this isn't required - I actually think they look better off cards.

Next, put a little blob of chocolate on the top of the body, then place on the mini cupcake case / frilled wrapper on top.

Another little blob of chocolate on top of that, and you can stick on your Ferrero Rocher / angels head.

A small amount of chocolate on the centre area of the trimmed chocolate heart and the wings can now stick on !

Voila ! That's it - your angel is complete :-)

If you like this tutorial, please do feel free to share it. I'd also love to see your chocolate Ferrero Rocher angels :-)

Happy Baking and Creating

Sarah-Jane - http://www.siliconemoulds.com

http://www.facebook.com/SiliconeMoulds

Awesome Honeycomb / Puff Candy Recipe - Fast and Easy !

Ah - so who was it wanted this recipe again ?

Let me see...... I think it was almost all of out on our Facebook Page !

Sorry it's taken me so long. Time to get this little blog back up to date.

In the UK, we call this stuff honeycomb, hokey pokey and even puff candy. You'll know the stuff - it's like the inside of a Crunchie Candy Bar. However, if you have ever made it at home, you'll find it's never quite like the inside of a Crunchie bar.

The biggest differences are that the air bubbles in the home made stuff are normally much bigger.

It really sinks in the middle of the pan.

Impossible to score into chunks and shatters into crumbs or millions of pieces.

Sticks to your teeth and your jaws lock together.

Well - this recipe sorts out almost all of the problems. I say ALMOST as it's still a devil to cut.... but as long as you score and then snap, it's an awful lot better than the way most people make it.

I made the pretty Bird house gift box using the Crafters Companion Sweet Treats boards  - which lets you make loads of cute gift boxes in various shapes such as milk cartons and takeout boxes very simply with A4 card stock. Even better - currently comes as a bundle with a DVD.

You should be able to see from the photos that the air bubbles are tight and close together than when golden syrup is used. For this recipe, you DO need corn syrup - otherwise the texture and bite is very different. Most larger Tesco's now stock it in the American section - or you can buy it on Amazon.co.uk

This honeycomb candy will store for a few days only in an airtight jar - but if you dip (totally) in tempered chocolate, it stores well for a couple of months... if you can resist it that long.

1/2 tsp gelatin granules 

1 tsp of water

1.1/2 cups (375mls total measure in a jug) of white, granulated sugar

1/2 cup / 125mls corn syrup

1 tablespoon of honey

1/2 cup / 125mls water

1.1/2 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda (sifted)

Preparation is key here. Get everything ready before you start and have it all to hand.

You will need an 8" square silicone bakeware pan / mould.

Mix the gelatine granules and 1 tsp of water together and set aside.

Sift the bicarbonate of soda and set aside.

Keep both of these very close by you - along with a whisk !

Put the corn syrup, honey, sugar and water in a large heavy based pan. Give a little stir to combine and then put on heat and bring to the boil. DON'T STIR !

Brush the sides of the pan down on the inside with a wet pastry brush to make sure no sugar is crystallizing in the pan.

Using a candy thermometer, take the temperature up to around 146 > 148deg C. The syrup should be a mid honey colour.

Remove from the heat and let it sit until it stops bubbling. Whisk in the soaked gelatine granules until they melt - it's going to bubble up..... and put back on a medium heat.

The mix will start to loosen up again very quickly. Dump in the bicarbonate of soda and give it a good whisk. It will foam like a volcano. You need to mix in all the white powder - but it's critical to only just mix it in and no more. Whisk too much and the whole lot will go flat ! It only takes about 20 seconds.

Tip the whole lot out in one swift move into the 8" pan. It will rise a bit - probably above the pan - then fall back some.

Set aside (don't move it) for 3 or 4 hours to cool and harden.

Score with a serrated knife and snap into strips. You can then score again and snap into chunks.

Any left over rubble like chunks are awesome sprinkled over ice cream.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - February 2014

Chocolate Baileys Salt Water Taffy Candies / Chewy Sweets

My poor blog is feeling somewhat ignored these days. I'm really sorry - but sometimes life takes over and other things get in the way ! Time to show you a few things I've been up to and share some recipes.

I created this Chocolate Baileys sweets just before Christmas. They've kept amazingly well and are still fresh as a daisy. These are verging on hard candies. They're not chewable - more like boiled sweets and last ages and ages in the mouth. If you want chewy, drop the temperature a few degrees.

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup of corn syrup

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tsp salt

2 tablespoons of corn flour

1/2 cup of good cocoa powder

1/3 cup water

1/2 a cup of Baileys Irish Cream Liquer

Combine all the ingredients in a large, non stick pan and stir to make sure there are no lumps.

Put on the heat and boil until temperature reaches 260deg F / 126 deg C

Pour out on to a well buttered / greased pan or on to a massive silicone work mat. Leave it for 5 mins to cool a little.

Put on two lots of vinyl gloves and grease your hands well with favourless oil or butter.

Pull and twist, pull and twist into ropes for about 15 minutes - until you can pull no more.

Cut into 1" long pieces with oiled scissors and allow to fully cool and harden before wrapping in silicone baking paper.

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - February 2014

Peanut Nougatine Chocolate Truffle Slicing / Sharing Log - A Real Treat !

Often, my creations don't come out as I originally intended. Like this one... 

In the beginning, I intended to make a peanut nougat - but on tasting the mixture, decided it was a bit too sickly sweet on it's own and then transformed it into these slicing bars.

Thankfully, I made a note of exactly what I did / used along the way ! If you have made marshmallows before, you'll find this a breeze.

Actually, I think it would be mind blowing done with pistachio nuts and dipped in white or dark chocolate.... 

This recipe creates quite a large batch. Either 6 large slicing bars, or 4 large / 4 medium or 8 medium. Ideal for Christmas hampers !

Recipe

 Ingredients .... For the Nougatine : 

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar 

150ml corn syrup (or glucose)

150ml golden syrup

2tsp of Frangelico (hazelnut liquer) - if you have any
2tsp vanilla extract

60ml water

150g of crunchy peanut butter - eg Sunpat / JIF
sea salt

125g of white chocolate

200g salted peanuts

Ingredients ...... for the ganache

500g of milk (or dark) chocolate
1 tsp glucose / corn syrup
275g double cream

Belgian couverture chocolate for coating (sorry - I did not weigh how much I used)

You will need liquid glucose. Liquid glucose is very very thick and sticky - not unlike golden syrup I suppose - but totally clear and even stickier still. Most supermarkets stock it in 140g tubes, or you can buy it from Boots The Chemist. Do ask for it at Boots though as it is generally not on display. Alternatively, corn syrup is what is used in most American recipes for nougat. I've just found it on Ebay and Amazon in the UK, so if you are struggling for liquid glucose then you will need some corn syrup.

You CAN use all corn syrup / glucose in this recipe if you prefer. I wanted a golden tint from the golden syrup for this nougat, but all golden syrup would have made it far too sickly sweet. It's seriously sweet as it is ! I'd suggest you invest in some corn syrup...

You WILL need a sugar thermometer. Don't even think of trying this without one - temperature is absolutely critical. Too high and you'll burn the caramel part and too low it'll just never set....

For those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible. Some larger branches of TESCO now also have a small American isle and now stock corn syrup.

METHOD

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside (if using instead of extract). Put the pod itself and the sugar, corn syrup, golden syrup and water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248  to 250deg F. This will take about 15 to 20 mins.

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter and vanilla / frangelico together.

Whip the egg whites to firm peak. With the mixer on full, pour in the hot syrup on to the egg whites. Now mix in the melted chocolate / peanut butter / vanilla / frangelico. Only mix for about 1 > 2 minutes after adding the peanut butter mix. 

Scrape into a well oiled 8" square silicone mould / pan and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt. Leave to cool and then refrigerate until set.

Remove from the mould and place between two sheets of greaseproof paper. Roll out to approx 14" square. You can now cut this into two pieces, or leave whole and cut later....  I put my nougatine (bottom paper still in place) on top of my tray. The tray I used is a vegetable roasting tray that came from Lakeland. It's very handy and big - also fits perfectly over my sink !

Pulse the salted peanuts a couple of times in a food processor to break up a little, then spread all over the nougatine and press into the surface.

------------------------

To make the ganache : scald the cream - ie put in a pan and bring just to the boil. Make sure to stir constantly so it does not catch on the base of the pan.

 Put the chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute to start it softening. Take cream off the heat, and then pour over the chocolate. Add the glucose / corn syrup. Mix with a spatula until all the chocolate has melted and emulsified with the cream. Set aside to cool and thicken. It's ideal if you shove it in the fridge for an hour or two.

When spreadable (a bit like nutella out of a jar - actually - that would be a damn good cheat !), use all of it to spread over the nougatine.

Put in the fridge to harden up a bit for another hour or so.

I then trimmed up the end with a knife and cut it into two pieces.

Dust your hands and work surface liberally with icing sugar. Use the paper to help roll each piece up from the long end, much like a swiss roll. You'll end up with what looks like those marrowbone things for the dog !

Roll out each large sausage and then divide as required. I made 4 great big fat pieces about 8" long and 2" dia, plus 4 smaller ones - approx 6" long and 1" dia.

Wrap each piece individually in cling film / saran wrap and pop in the freezer for an hour or two to harden. They need to be quite firm and stay rigid when you handle them for dipping in chocolate.

When hardened (but NOT frozen solid !) remove from the freezer. Temper some Belgian couverture chocolate - either milk or dark - white will be much too sweet. I have no idea how much chocolate I used - but I'd guess around 500g.

Put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and dunk the whole bar in the chocolate, allowing excess to run off. Don't try dipping these with forks etc - at this size, you've no chance ! The gloves may stick to the chocolate a little, so take fingers straight back off and immediately re dunk.

Place on a silicone baking sheet and allow to harden. The chocolate will harden quickly as the bars are quite cold.

Store and serve the bars at room temperature. Slice with a warm, sharp knife into 1cm / 3/8" thick slices.

Enjoy !

Mum - one is on it's way to you. Oliver and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit from Nanny and Pappy last weekend. x

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2013

Scary Edible Eyeballs - Marshmallows To Trick or Treat ! HALLOWEEN

Anyone fancy an eyeball ? 

I had a blast making these up this afternoon. From the moment I thought of the idea, I just knew that my little boy (Oliver) would adore them. 

Oliver has his 5th birthday coming up, and his party will be on 27th October - which is rather close to Halloween. I rather like the idea of potting up these edible eyeballs with some green gummy jelly in pots for his party bags and perhaps filling a chocolate skull with them too.

"Oh WOW - you're the coolest Mummy I know !", Oliver declared on the way home tonight. I'm guessing that means that he likes this idea..... Certainly made me giggle !

Might be even better with red goo in the middle. Deeeelicious !

Want to know how to make them ?

You will need : 

gel paste food colouring (I used black, blue and green). I prefer Wilton gel pastes as they dissolve easily in water, whereas some of the others don't. 

cocktail sticks

piping bag - I use these disposable 18" ones for this (you can wash out and re-use...)

4 x 15 cell bonbon (semi sphere) silicone bakeware moulds (or do a smaller batch and use two)

sugar thermometer

cake release spray - or sunflower / vegetable oil

2 or 3 plastic 3ml pipettes (or small, empty syringe - available from chemist shops)

INGREDIENTS - makes 30 eyeballs ( and a little spare mallow)

FOR A SMALLER BATCH, MAKE HALF THE RECIPE VOLUME

pack of Gelatine granules. I used Dr Oeteker.

300g sugar

2 egg whites

water

some flavouring (vanilla extract, essences or Lor-Ann candy oils)

Make sure your flavourings are CLEAR.

PUPILS AND IRISES

Prepare your 4 x 15 cell semi sphere silicone bakeware molds by spraying with cake release spray, or oil using a vegetable oil on some kitchen roll. Marshmallow is the stickiest stuff you can imagine. If any of the mould is not properly prepared, the marshmallow WILL stick to it !

Put 50g of sugar and 100g or mls of boiling water into a jug. Stir to dissolve.

Set aside until luke warm, then sprinkle over a sachet of gelatine granules and stir well.

Pop this in the microwave, and cook in short bursts. Once the gelatine is all dissolved into the sugar solution, it is ready to use.

Pour about 1/3 of this into a separate bowl. Use a cocktail stick to add some black food colouring gel paste and mix well. The colour needs to be strong - not wishy washy - for the desired effect.

Using a pipette or syringe, put 3 drops of the black gelatine solution in 30 of the cells.

Take the remaining solution and colour it as desired for the iris. You may want to split into two or three batches for multiple colours.

Do not worry if it is setting hard too fast. You can zap it again in the microwave.

The gelatine mixure needs to be warm and very fluid. If you start getting lots of bubbles on top of the solution after piping, it may be getting too cool. 

Do make sure it's also not too hot - as we don't want the colours to bleed into each other.

By the time you have put black solution in for all the pupils, the first ones will have set. Go ahead and put approx 2mls of your coloured solution over the top of the set black gel.

It will now look like this....

The next stage is to make the marshmallow. This is a stronger / little more dense marshmallow than my normal recipe, as I want the eyeballs to stay intact even if subject to quite a lot of handling. As a result, it WILL start to set up on you quickly once mixed - so you need to work fast.

MARSHMALLOW

Put 500g of sugar and 250g of water in a large, heavy based pan

Put the sugar thermometer in, and turn on the heat. DO NOT STIR.

The sugar needs to stay on the heat and boil until it gets to 120deg C

Put 125ml of cold  water in a cup or bowl and add 3 sachets of gelatine granules. You can add flavouring to this as desired. I used 5 drops of Blackcurrant Lorann Candy Oil (use a pipette - it's strong stuff... Stir well and set aside....

When the sugar syrup gets to about 110deg C, whip the egg whites to firm peak.

Remove sugar syrup from heat at 120deg C. Allow  a few seconds for the bubbles / boiling to subside, then stir in the gelatine granules mix and dissolve.

Using a hand mixer on highest speed, whip the egg whites whilst pouring in the hot sugar syrup mix. It will be really soupy to start with. Whip hard and fast until thickening and increasing in volume. It needs to remain pourable.

Transfer into an 18" disposable piping bag. Snip a tiny bit off the end, and then pipe the mallow into all 60 cells, until level with the top of each cavity.

That's it !

Leave alone for a couple of hours, undisturbed.

Carefully, place one mould with the pupils and irises on top of a mould with just plain mallow cells - carefully making sure they line up.

Press down gently on the top of each cavity, to make sure the bases of each mallow stick together.

When the top mould is removed, you'll have eyeballs just like these !

Lightly oil your hands with vegetable or sunflower oil (or cake release spray).

Remove eyeballs from mould. The small amount of oil on your hands will stop the mallows sticking to you or anything else. These can now be potted up with some jelly in little pots as I did, put onto lolly sticks (dip stick in chocolate first), eaten as is, or frozen for future use.

I so want to make a specimen jar full of eyeballs and jelly worms !

Emma and Oliver loved them !

Happy Halloween when it comes .....

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - 10/10/13

Sweeney Todd Halloween Cakes with Chocolate Fingers - Gruesome !

Yes - this IS just cake, fondant, chocolate and some piping gel with food colouring...

The cake has been made to look like a meat pie. 

I've had this idea of making Sweeney Todd cakes for Halloween for some time, so created a new silicone bakeware mould to make chocolate or cookie FINGERS  that really do look like fingers !

This mould is a unique registered design belonging to SiliconeMoulds.com , and is being released today for the first time at £4.50 per mould.

Our 6 cell Spooky Fingers chocolate mould makes six life-size cookie or chocolate fingers. It is suitable for use in the freezer down to -40deg C or in the oven up to +260deg C. Do always use on a baking tray for support.

 The fingers you see in these pictures (other than mine) are made from white chocolate with a tiny bit of Wilton red Candy colour added to give it a fleshy colour.

Note that if colouring chocolate, you cannot use gel paste colourings for fondant / icing. They MUST be oil based - hence why you need to use the candy colours.

You could make spooky witches finger cookies for halloween and place a nut on the nail bed with some icing..... or green chocolate zombie fingers and fill them with red coloured fondant centres.

These are bound to be a hit for all ages - though a few may take a step back in horror !

You could also use coloured sugarpaste or modeling chocolate if you want to be able to bend the fingers at the knuckles.

If there is enough local interest, I'd also be happy to put on a 3 hour evening class in October at our new Cookery School in Attleborough, Norfolk for those that want to make Sweeney Todd cakes. Please email us or call 01953 457699 to register interest.

I'd love to see what you do with our latest release mold. 

Happy Baking !

Sarah-Jane Nash, August 2013

Bailey's Irish Cream Marshmallows - Luxurious Hot Chocolate Topping

This is a delightfully indulgent and sinfully good ADULT treat. These Irish Cream Liqueur marshmallows are pillowy soft and would make a lovely inclusion to any Christmas gift hamper. Serve on top of hot chocolate with whipped cream and relax in front of a roaring log fire.

Alternatively, pop three or four on a stick, coat in chocolate and roll in chopped nuts.

These are truly delicious. However due to the alcohol and fat content in the cream liqueur, these marshmallows get a slightly gritty texture after a couple of days so are best eaten fresh. However, they'll keep a good couple of weeks in an air tight container for putting on top of hot chocolate and the texture isn't an issue when they're melted !

This recipe is adapted from River Cottage

500g sugar

250mls water

2 sachets (about 24g) of gelatine granules - I used Dr Oeteker
125ml Bailey's Irish Cream Liqueur

2 egg whites - room temperature

Put the sugar and water in a large heavy based pan.

Put the Bailey's in a small bowl, sprinkle on the gelatine granules (you may want to stir) and leave to bloom for about 10 minutes.

Bring the sugar and water to the boil. Do NOT stir. Boil for about 5 mins until the sugar temperature reaches 122 deg C. You will need a little digital probe thermometer and these can be purchased for under £5.00 including postage on Ebay.

When the temperature of the sugar syrup reaches 110deg C, whip the egg whites to stiff peak.

When the sugar syrup gets to 122deg C , remove from the heat. Allow to sit for a minute or so and then stir in the Baileys / gelatine mix.

Whilst beating the egg whites, slowly pour in the sugar syrup mix - avoiding it directly touching the beaters. You can use a hand held mixer for this.

When thickened (but pourable) - pour into a lightly oiled Swiss Tray Bake silicone bakeware mould. Allow to set for at least 3 hours until firm.

Cut into squares and then roll in a 50 : 50 mix of powdered sugar and cornflour - or into cocoa powder.

Sarah-Jane Nash - September 2012

Maple and Walnut Fudge - It's Quick and Easy !

I've blogged my fudge recipe a few times before - it's quick, easy and very versatile. Just change a few small things and you can create any flavour you wish. I promise - this is far nicer than shop bought fudge.

It keeps a fair amount of time too - 2 > 3 weeks in a tupperware box in the fridge. I've never tried not refrigerating it - so no idea if it will survive non refrigerated for more than a few days.

The main thing is : DON'T FORGET TO STIR ! You do need to stir this stuff constantly or it will burn on the bottom of the pan in the blink of an eye.... 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (250ml liquid volume) of sugar

1/2 cup of evaporated milk

125g salted butter (or unsalted plus a pinch of salt)

1/4 cup of maple syrup 

100g of marshmallows

125g white chocolate (chopped)

1/2 cup of chopped "add-ins" (in this case walnuts) - plus extra for the top

Put the sugar, evaporated milk, maple syrup, butter and marshmallows in a large heavy based pan. Do make sure it is a large pan - and preferably non stick - as this stuff can and will bubble volcanically ! There is nothing worse than getting hot sugar on your skin - it can inflict some rather serious burns.

Bring slowly to a rolling boil. As soon as a gentle rolling boil is achieved, time for 5 minutes.

Stir constantly - there will be some carmelized brown bits come to the surface. This will not appear in the finished product. If you stop stirring, it will catch and burn however.

As soon as the 5 minutes of boiling is up, stir in the chocolate and add ins until the chocolate is melted.

Immediately pour into a 9" square silicone bakeware pan or alternatively a 12 sponge finger mould as I used in the video and put some extra walnuts on top.

Leave to cool before slicing.

For other variations, try milk or dark chocolate, 3/4 cup of evaporated milk plus some vanilla, rosewater or other flavour extract. For alcoholic versions - use 1/2 cup of evaporated milk and 1/4 cup of alcohol (ie Bailey's, Malibu, Whisky, Cointreau, etc). For add-ins..... pretty much any dried fruit and nuts work, broken cookies, candy / sweets such as maltesers, m&m's etc.

Have fun creating and let me know what combinations you make !

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com - September 2012

Chocolate Hazelnut Soft Nougat Recipe (and other varieties)

I made some Honey, Vanilla and Pistachio Nougat earlier this year. It was SO good.

Actually, I'd forgotten all about it until I was given an E book for my ipad of all my blog posts that Mum had made for me. Only looking back through it in book format, did I really appreciate the volume of things I've made over the last year and the amount of things Oliver and I have done !

Given Christmas is almost upon us, I decided to have another bash at nougat for Christmas gifts. I'll be making another batch of the original recipe - but my new adaptation of last year's recipe is just as good although not nearly so sticky to the touch. In an effort to create a chocolate nougat, I added some melted chocolate to the other ingredients. It gave a less sticky result. When white chocolate is used, it's really not detectable as having chocolate added ....

Recipe

2 egg whites

1.1/2 cups / 320g granulated sugar 

300ml corn syrup (or glucose)

1/2 vanilla pod

60ml water

200g toasted hazelnuts

40g good cocoa powder

100g of dark chocolate (I used 65%)

for those in the UK, corn syrup can be bought from Amazon.co.uk. Works out considerably cheaper than buying liquid glucose. Golden syrup can be used as a substitute, but it's a lot sweeter in taste. Worth investing in corn syrup for candy making - the difference (ease) is incredible.

Scrape the seeds out the vanilla pod and put aside. Put the pod itself and the sugar, liquid glucose or corn syrup andd water into a large, heavy based saucepan (preferably non stick - you'll appreciate that later !)

Bring these slowly to a rolling boil and keep on the heat until temperature reaches 248  to 250deg F. This will take about 15 mins.

Just before the syrup mix is ready, whisk the two egg whites to stiff peaks in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Remove syrup from the heat and pour slowly into the egg whites with the mixer going at a medium / high rate. Try and keep the syrup from directly making contact with the whisk otherwise this can affect the texture I believe.

The mix will grow like meringue and look shiny. As soon as the syrup is all in, add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder and let the mixer combine. Quickly chuck in the hazelnuts. You want it to stick to the beaters like a good meringue, but it will be much stickier. Don't let it cool in there too much. You need to work quite quick with this one ! It doesn't take long in the mixer.... get it out within a minute or so of all the syrup going in.

Scrape into a well buttered silicone bakeware mould - I used a 9" square silicone bakeware mould - and allow to cool. Chill in the fridge to get it really nice and hard as it is generally easy to cut that way.

For other variations try : 

100g pistachios, 50g dried cranberries, 50g dried cherries, 100g white chocolate (omit the cocoa powder)

150g walnuts, 60g white chocolate, 40g milk chocolate, 1tsp strong coffee granules (added to syrup)

Cut into strips (I got approx 6 per tray) wrap in cellophane and tie with some ribbon. Quick and simple store cupboard stand by items that can quickly and easily be turned into a beautiful gift !

Merry Christmas to All - and wishing everyone all the best for 2012.

I'll be taking a few days off work (by the end of tomorrow). Looking forward to some well earned rest and overdue time with my family. I hope to perhaps catch up and message many of you during the holiday and will be back with loads of new mould designs very early in the New Year.

.