Online worldwide cook shop selling of Silicone Bakeware Moulds, for making cakes & bakes, jellies, soap, and many other uses.
This Blog aims to show all our latest ideas, recipes, photos, competitions and news of upcoming products
With out simple recipe, they are SO easy to make as well as being cheaper, bigger and tastier than shop bought.....
No cooking and just 3 (or 4) ingredients
INGREDIENTS (makes 8)
8 Walnut halves 400g of your choice of chocolate - I used Belgian milk chocolate
1 jar of marshmallow fluff
3 tablespoons (approx) of nutella - optional
To make these, you will need an 8 cell silicone DARIOLE mould - available from www.siliconemoulds.com in a choice of red or black. The 8 cell silicone dariole mould is a really handy silicone bakeware mould to have in your kitchen. We also used it to make these english madeleines and bicardi jelly shots - both of which are very easy recipes to make
The pretty gift box was made using the Crafters Companion - The Boxer ... which is a scoring board for making gift boxes. I used two sheets of Kanban A4 stock card and scored them at 5cm right round. I cut an aperture window for the box lid and put some acetate behind it. So simple.
First of all, chop up your chocolate and put it into a PLASTIC microwavable bowl.
I only ever use plastic bowls when working with chocolate, as chocolate is very heat sensitive. Glass retains heat and keeps warming the chocolate long after you want to.
Microwave at 50% power for 30 second bursts, stirring each time and scraping the bowl with a silicone spatula - even if it looks like nothing is happening to start with. When the chocolate is about 50% melted, take out and just keep stirring until all the chocolate melts. If you microwave or over heat chocolate and take it out of temper you will either get fat bloom or sugar bloom.... so don't over-do it.
Using a brush or back of a spoon, coat the inside of all the cells of your dariole mould with chocolate. As it sets, you can add a second layer if required. Remember to keep back some chocolate to cap the walnut whips after adding the filling.
You will need a plastic sandwich bag or disposable piping bag. I turned mine inside out and rubbed a little oil into the surface. This was to help make it easier to open up and reload with more mashmallow fluff.
Open up the piping bag and place into a glass or mug, folding the top of the bag over the rim. This makes it easy to hold the jar with one hand and spoon in the mallow with the other.
Pipe the mallow in to about 12mm below the rim and then add some nutella on top - leaving about a 6mm gap to cap it with chocolate. I did some with and some without the nutella as you can see below.
Finally, cap the cells with more melted chocolate.
NOTE - the ones with nutella on top of the mallow were much easier to cap. The chocolate happily sat on top of the nutella layer. If using marshmallow fluff , add a very THIN layer of chocolate and when set, cap off with more. If you add more than a smidge of chocolate directly on top of the fluff before hardening, it sinks and the mallow comes up - so it ends up insides on the outsides !
Pop into the fridge for 20 mins to harden before releasing. They pop out so easily.
A little more chocolate on the top and pop on the walnut. Handle these with gloves, or you'll leave fingerprints on the chocolate.
Chocolate medallions are so simple and easy to make, yet make a stunning and delicious gift or nibbles to go with coffee after a dinner party.
Using our silicone macaron mat (now available in black, red, lilac and brown colours), you can pipe a small amount of tempered chocolate in to each cell and then pop a few pieces of dried fruit and nuts on top. The beauty of this is that every medallion will end up IDENTICAL in size.
Our macaroon / macaron mats are double sided. These medallions are 50mm / 2" diameter and made on the large side. However, if you flip the mat over, you can make smaller ones by using the other side.
Simply package up in a pretty little box, cello bag, or even a little wire frame basket like this. Chocolate medallions really have a wow factor despite being the easiest chocolate gift you will ever make !
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.
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.
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
Aren't these chocolate mice ADORABLE ? I had such good fun making them. These are dark chocolate and filled with hazelnut ganache.
I made a load of traditional sugar mice too, with traditional cotton tails..... just because... ! The chocolate ones in the hand made box above are in the post to my mum. Hopefully they will have arrived today.
The sugar mice went to nursery (after Oliver scoffed a couple). He kept telling me "They're just so cute Mummy !". I must admit - I had fun photographing those.... with their cheeky little noses poking out the bag !
Incase you haven't already guessed, this is another brand new silicone mould in our chocolate collection series. You can find it here. Oven safe up to +260deg C - so you could also make some little mice Madeleines. If you do - I'd love to see those !
If you look closely at the mould, you will see that the three mice on the left have tails, whilst the three on the right do not. This is no accident ! Traditional sugar mice have cotton tails inserted into them, whilst I thought chocolate mice would look better with their tails curled up their backs. Having some with and some without felt like the right thing to do - so you have both options in just one mould
Chocolate Mice with Hazlenut Ganache
melt some good quality chocolate
(I like to use Callebaut - which comes in milk, dark and white)
Put about a heaped teaspoon or so (until well covered) in each mould. Use the back of the teaspoon to coat the inside of each cell. Pay particular attention to the ears and tails to make sure there are no air bubbles in there !
Once this is done, pop the mould in the fridge for 5 mins or so until the chocolate hardens.
Meantime, make some ganache as a filling.
350g of good quality chocolate (dark, milk or plain)
1 cup of double cream
2 tablespoons of butter
* small amount of your favourite alchohol - can be ommitted
I additionally added approx 2 tablespoons of chopped, roasted hazelnuts.
Put the cream in a pan and bring to the boil. Immediately, remove from the heat and our straight on to the chocolate. Keep stirring the chocolate and cream until all melted and combined. Stir in the butter until combined. If adding alcohol - you can add up to about 50ml now and stir to combine.
Whilst the ganache is pouring consistency (but cool) you can pour into the chocolate mice shells. There will be enouh ganache to make about 40 mice ! Remaining ganache can be chilled in the fridge. You can spoon this into more mice later - or hand roll to make truffles
Top each mouse cell with some more melted chocolate to seal. Chill again in the fridge to harden before releasing from the moulds.
Warning - these "beg" to be eaten..... and make delightful gifts. I've already promised Oliver we'll make a load for his friends when it's his birthday !
SUGAR MICE RECIPE
(makes approx 7)
200g sugarpaste / rolling type fondant icing
tiny little bit of water
flavouring extract
food colouring
cotton string - for tails !
Sugar mice are made from little except sugar and glucose.
The easiest way to make them is by traditional methods and I made a few batches of these to get them just right and write a recipe.
The sugarpaste / rolling icing is the stuff you can buy in premade blocks in the supermarkets, suitable for rolling out to cover cakes.... same as they have used to make every factory produced sugar mouse
Cut the string to make tails - about 3" long. Put a tail into each cell. This needs done now, as the mixture starts to set the second you pour it and the tails would not stick hen I tried to place them on top immediately after pouring.
Chop up 200g and place in a small saucepan. Add a tablespoon of water (be aware you may need to add a little more), a tiny bit of food colouring and a capful of flavouring extract. We used mint, orange and strawberry (made 3 batches). Turn on the heat and bring up to just below boiling point, until the icing is melted and thick, but pourable. You may need to add a little more water. The icing will crust in the pan and start setting even on the heat. Give it a good stir and pour into each cell.
On pouring each one, Pull the cotton tail (covered in sugar mix) back out and pop it on the top (to become the base)
Leave the mice to harden for approx 30mins until cool and then they'll practically fall out the mould. The mould needs no preparation for sugar or chocolate mice - but will require greasing and flouring if you want to make little mice cakes.
Leave to harden for a couple of days before using food colouring pens (or a brush) to put on the eyes and noses. I did mine straight away, and the colour bled a little as the mice hadn't matured. Saying that - they didn't last long enough to mature !
And a GIVEAWAY......It's been a while since we did one of these !
To enter, you need to be a blog follower and leave a comment below.....
Oliver will draw one winner out a hat next Friday :-)
The prize is going to be a set of 4 silicone chocolate moulds (buttons, mice, handbags & shoes, plus another new one I've not taken photos of yet), plus a digital thermometer (suitable for chocolate, making sweets, jam etc). I've also got a little chocolate melting pot (240v) if the winner is in the UK. If the winner is overseas, I'll substitute it with a cupcake book - Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World (the chocolate cupcakes in second last post was a recipe adapted from that book)
Good Luck !
Sarah-Jane Nash, August 11 - www.siliconemoulds.com
Already it's August. Just where did the time go ? Thankfully there is still a bit of summer left.
The best bit too - with all the super late summer fruits like plums, cherries, new season apples and blackberries.
However, before you know it, we'll be plunging into winter and we'll all be tapping each other for ideas for Christmas hampers and making gutsy, rich winter stews.
Home made bath bombs are so easy that even the kids can help. You would really never guess that they could be so simple and the ingredients are things most of us food bloggers tend to keep in the cupboard. (.....some stocking up may be required). I actually made these about 3 weeks ago and sent them to nursery with Oliver for their raffle at Sports Day
Bath bombs make a lovely gift at any time of year and will keep for rather a long time. As long as you keep them dry that is ! They look lovely simply wrapped in some tissue paper with ribbon
Recipe (makes approx 6 largish bombs)
1 cup of citric acid
2 cups of bicarbonate of soda
1 tbsp of olive oil
2.5ml tea rose fragrance oil (or another fragrance of your choice)
1ml colouring
water to spritz (spray bottle required)
No special equipment is required to make bath bombs apart from a simple plastic spray bottle. These are easily and cheaply obtained from pound / dollar stores or similar. It really does not need to be anything fancy.
You will also need something to mould your bath bombs. You could use a metal or silicone muffin tray. If metal, I suggest you line it with papers to make it easy to get the finished bath bombs out. Bath bombs will release very easily from even very intricate silicone moulds after they have been left to harden for a while. Silicone bakeware moulds mean you can make some really pretty designs.
Large volumes of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda are easy to buy online via ebay. Make sure the fragrance oils are cosmetic grade and not just suitable for candles / oil burners only. Some fragrance oil brands are much stronger than others, so you may need to vary how much you use.
Sift the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl.
Add the fragrance oil, olive oil and colour. Mix well to combine.
Using the spray bottle, spray on a little water a little at a time. You really don't need much at all. Work quickly. Add only JUST enough so that when you squeeze the mixture hard in your hands it forms clumps. It will be very sandy in appearance and texture.
If you add too much water, the bicarbonate of soda will start to fizz ..... and we really don't want that to happen yet !
Press the mix into the cells of your silicone mould and leave to harden for a couple of hours or so. That's all there is to it.
Oliver loves to drop these in the bath and watch them fizzzzzz.
Here are some photos from last month's Nursery Sports Day...
READY...... STEADY..... GO !
Ooops. No motion shots - but here is Oliver getting his race completion sticker from Ladybird class teacher Miss Willimott.
Some of the yellow team being led off "train style" ready for the next race.
Blogger has been down for a couple of days and I've lost some draft posts I was working on. I had intended to show you a few other things before letting you see my edible bouquet - but am not really in the mood for retyping stuff I've already done.
Still - I'm sitting on the sofa doing my blog post, looking out at an almost full moon with a big mug of tea and a candy fudge pop..... The house is in silence. Oliver is asleep and Steve is away camping. I've got the luxury of bed waiting for me upstairs when I finally decide to call it a day.
It's been a rather hectic week and I've not been in the office much as Oliver has been poorly.. I'm glad to report that he seems to be feeling a little better this afternoon. I've got everything crossed that he sleeps through the night. Almost every night this week, he's had fevers and been poorly which means no work or rest for me.
I'm trying to remember which day / night I started making this. It could have been Monday. At least, I think it was. I finished it on Thursday and sent it courier to my mum in Scotland. Thankfully, it arrived yesterday intact.
I came up with this concept a year or so ago. I started off with a mini cupcake bouquet and that gave me the idea for a soap bouquet
Since then, I've seen cake pops sprouting up EVERYWHERE. I think they look absolutely super - but I really really don't like the texture.
Recently, Ann @ AnncooJournal.blogspot.com made some cute looking cake pops and it made me want to try again. I knew I'd have to do something a little different though as the texture of cake pops literally makes them unedible for me.
First of all, I had a play last week with a 16 rabbit silicone bakeware mould and also a 15 rose mould. I made some chocolate hazelnut mini friands on sticks. Mega cute they were too and VERY yummy. Oliver liked them rather too much and they didn't last long enough to cover in candy melts.
I did try dipping the ones made in the 15 rose - but wanted a smoother, sleeker finish. I really liked the soap bouquet I came up with a year ago. Until a couple of weeks ago, I'd avoided Wilton Candy Melts - thinking they would taste like the really vile fake chocolate cake covering stuff you can buy in th supermarkets. Now that's what I call vile. Uggh.
Well, I had the opportunity to taste a Wilton Candy Melt and was truly surprised. It's pretty yummy stuff - tastes just like white chocolate - and comes in a super array of colours. It's easy to work with and sets much faster than chocolate.
Rather than make solid sweets, I decided to make up a batch of vanilla fudge. Truly sweet and tastes delicious.... but just to top it off - I'd cover it in the candy melts for that shiny pink finish..
Use a paint brush and work it into the detail to prevent air bubbles. I'd normally do this but decided not to faff about bother this time. The results after unloulding were not as good and left the finished item showing bubbles. Ooops... never mind.
Next step was to pack each candy shell with homemade fudge. I'd made the fudge the night before and it was ready waiting in the fridge. Recipe is below for convenience.
You will need a large, heavy based saucepan and a WELL buttered 8" square tin - or an 8" square silicone mould (unbuttered). It's also VERY important that you prepare your ingredients in advance for this recipe so everything is to hand. When you need them - there is NO time to spare !
Ingredients
125g butter
3/4 cup of evaporated milk
2 cups of granulated sugar
12 marshmallows
200g white chocolate - chopped
2 tsp vanilla extract
Put the butter, evaporated milk, sugar and marshmallows into your saucepan. Melt together on a medium heat and bring to the boil - stirring constantly.
Set your timer - or check your watch. Keep at a boil for EXACTLY 5 minutes if you want a soft fudge leaves teeth marks as you bite in. This is how I prefer it.... However, if you prefer it crumbly, boil for 7 minutes. Don't worry about darker coloured flecks rising up. These disappear totally later. Just don't forget that you need to constantly stir as soon the ingredients are all melted
Take it off the heat and immediately add and beat in the chocolate and any dry additions. Quickly pour in to your square silicone tray mould or tin, scraping as much as you can fron the sides of the pan.
Leave to cool. I like to refrigerate overnight after cooling before cutting into squares.
I took pieces of fudge and softened in my hand, then packed it into the shells. I then inserted two cocktails sticks into each. This proved to be a pain when putting the final sealing coat of candy melts on, so I actually took them out again and then inserted straight after.
About a teaspoon of candy melts on top of each and wiggle the mould a little from side to side. The candy melts (or chocolate) will self level. Just do one or two at a time. This stuff hardens pretty quick.
They were a dawdle to remove from the moulds as you can see below.
I made two trays of these up and made a few of them into fudge pops by putting lolly sticks in instead of cocktail sticks.
To make the bouquet, you will need a polystyrene ball. The one I used was 4" diameter. I got a pack of them off Ebay a year ago before I made the soap bouquet and they worked out under £1 each back then.
As this was to be mounted on top of a tinplate watering can (£3.00 from ASDA). I used a serated bread knife to make a flat base on the ball.
Make sure you refridgerate these fudge pop thingys until they are good and hard. If you don't, the candy coating will break off as you try to push the sweets on to the ball. I wasted a few. Take say 3 or 4 out the fridge at a time and leave the rest in there as you work.
Use a clean kitchen towel to hold the sweets whilst you push them into the ball. Contact with your hands will melt the chocolate and they won't look good with finger prints :-P
Insert the sweets into the ball and cover it. Do about 1/3 to 1/2 the ball and put the ball back in the fridge for at least 30mins. When you turn the ball round to put the final sweets on, it's almost impossible not to put pressure on the rest. A few may break - so do have some spares. It's best to make sure the ones on the ball and cold and hard before you do this.
Once covered mine went in the fridge for a couple of days until I had to finish it in a mad rush to send to my mum. You see, I had a really silly accident and sprained my left wrist. Hell - it HURT for a good couple of days and I'll admit it was agony just trying to finish this. I couldn't have done it without the help of pain killers.
I did something really daft. Oliver was not as nursery as he was poorly. He had to come to work with me for a little while. Whilst we were there, he spotted a little scooter that I'd bought for him to take when we go up to Scotland at the end of the month. The steering is a bit weird. You put weight on the board to turn left or right. It's meant for kids a bit older, but he should manage.
Anyway, he wanted mummy to show him how... Here's this great heffalump on a toddlers scooter. The handlebars stopped at my knees. So I was scooting in the yard when the wheel jammed on a tiny stone.... que Heffalump goes fundamental over basic right over the handlbars. SPLAT. Geez it hurt !
I think I muttered many a curse in my head before regaining composure. Oliver (bless him) asked me what needed to be kissed better :-) I'd do it every day for Oliver kisses - they're few and far between !
Anyhow....
I had the remains of a fake white rosebud bouquet in my stash. I snipped them off and inserted them in the spaces between the sweets. The polystyrene ball is much harder than oasis used for flowers, so I had to first of all make holes with a wooden skewer to be able to insert them.
That's actually all there is to it. The "ball" is just sat on top of the watering can. You could sit it on top of a nice vase if you prefer.
Makes a super sweet gift that any recipient will always remember. You could even make them for wedding table decorations that double up as favours !
That's it folks - it's 4am and I need some beauty sleep. Working these hours, no wonder I'm in need of a face lift ! I'll catch the blog up with some things I've missed very soon and next time I ride a kiddies scooter, I'll remember my crash helmet ....
These are really really easy to make and there is not even any cooking involved. Is that cheating ? They were SO easy to make, it FELT like cheating.
I made these at 3am on Saturday morning. No joke - honestly I did... On a Saturday, our shop NATURAL HEATING selling cast iron multi fuel stoves (wood burners) is open from 11am > 1pm. Two hours barely sounds like it's worth it, but at this time of year it's not uncommon for us to be packed out the door with customers and many have a long wait to be seen. People often come a long way to see us and view our stoves, so I like to be able to offer them a hot drink and a cake.
We only open for two hours as I have to take Oliver with me - and it's verging on impossible to work and entertain a toddler.
With the hours I've been working recently, I was getting TOO TIRED to make cake. That's why I decided to have a go at making these rum balls - which could double up as a practice run for starting Christmas Hampers in a couple of weeks.
I found and bookmarked this recipe from Joy of Baking a few weeks ago. It's astonishingly easy and there are all sorts of possible variations.
140g finely chopped almonds
120g of finely crushed vanilla wafers (I used the Askey's fan shaped ones to go with icecream)
70g icing sugar (original recipe says 55 - but it wasn't as sweet as I would have liked)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons of glucose syrup or light corn syrup
60ml of rum (I used 80ml)
Add all the dry ingredients together and give a good stir. Then add liquid glucose and rum. Mine was a little dry, so I added some more - just enough to combine and bind.
Additionally, I added about 60g of sultanas
Chill the mixture and then roll into 36 x 2.5cm balls
Well - I didn't chill mine, and I rolled them into rather large balls. I only got 24.... :-P More like two bites than one !
I greased my hands every few balls with some butter as the mixture is really sticky and then placed them on a silicone baking tray liner. I then popped them in the fridge for 30 mins whilst I prepared some toppings.
For toppings, I used some melted chocolate. I've had best results with chocolate using Callebaut Belgian Couverture chocolate for things like this. I used real, cocoa powder, icing sugar white and milk chocolate. I've always had poor results coating things using ordinary supermarket chocolate. The Belgian couverture chocolate is easier to temper and tastes nicer anyay....
I rolled all the balls in the melted chocolate which additionally had a tiny amount of butter added to help it flow a little better for coating. Tap the ball (balanced on the fork) on the edge of the bowl to get rid of excess.
Rather than just roll some in cocoa or icing, I DID first roll them in chocolate too - which gave them the spikey hedgehog look. I used two forks to roll them and lift them out.
With the ones that were only chocolate coated, I tried to drizzle with white chocolate. It was a bit of a globby mess. It worked well - but I'll actually do this with a piping bag fitted with a tiny plain round nozzle this time.
They hardened nice and quickly and lift easily off the silicone sheet. The excess left at the bottom of some was very easily trimmed away.
The cute snowflake wrappers arre a little on the big side for 2.5cm chocolates - but worked well with my big bruiser sized ones ! The wrappers are available to buy on our website and are ideal for mini muffins / cupcakes.
One of my colleagues asked me on Saturday "Did you buy those from Thorntons?". I told him off for being cheeky - until he correctly pointed out that's it's a rather good compliment if someone thinks they're bought from a chocolate shop.. Sorry Rich !
They do look really cute in little cellophane bags or homemade boxes. I'm almost sure I'll be popping these in my Christmas 2010 hampers.
Customers seemed to enjoy them - the rum balls disappeared quick enough. Given I only got 24 out of the mix however, I did then go on to also make carrot cake afterwards - but forgot to take photos. Oh well....
Homemade fudge can be SO easy and versatile to make - and makes a lovely gift at any time of the year.
It's no secret - I LOVE CHRISTMAS ! I love the smells of the spices and dried fruits, the colours and seasons cheer. It's even more special now that I've got a cheeky little boy to share it with. It's children and excitement and bringing of families together that make Christmas what it is to me.
This Christmas fudge is simply divine. A rich dark chocolate fudge base, full of spice, dried fruits and homemade apple brandy liquer. The top part is a white chocolate fudge laden with ground almonds and topped with flaked almonds. It's like Christmas cake without the cake. Gloriously creamy and smooth. It's not crumbly and it's not chewy (apart from the fruit)
Of late, I've barely had any spare time which is why blog posts have been so scarce. Actually - I've had ZERO spare time. There is not a day this week when I have been in bed before 3.30am. Too much work to be done... Pre Christmas orders are just crazy and the amount of emails to do, packing, paperwork etc is extraodinary. If you have been missing my blog posts, I do apologise. However, at the moment priority is to try and get orders out the door at speed so everyone can get baking and crafting.
Well - I started making this batch of fudge about 1.30am this morning. Mainly as a gift for a neighbour. I think it's a combined sorry and thank you in one !
Blackie ; one of our pet chickens; decided to wander 1/4 of a mile down the road and take up residence with an elderly couple..The elderly man found out that she belonged to us and came to let me know. Blackie is normally the friendliest little thing and you can literally walk over and pick her up. Not in the neighbours' garden....
The man had tried chasing her round the garden with a leaf rake to chase her out. He'd also tried throwing a tarpaulin over her. Poor Blackie was petrified. Every time I went down to try and catch her - she'd leg it at warp speed. The garden was full of dense shrubbery patches and laden trees of rosy apples. It was very secluded being totally surrounded by 40ft high pine trees on three sides. I tried stealth. I tried foor. We tried cornering her and we tried a big fishing net. Couldn't get remotely close.
Blackie wasn't daft. She was roosting at night in the pine trees and had learnt how to climb ! The minute a human entered the garden, Blackie went up the tree. Up, up, up - so high up that instead of a big black hen, she looked like a little black speck.
It's been a good two months that Blackie has been away. But finally the old man and his wife managed to catch blackie with a big trap and a long fishing line that went across the garden and in the dining room window. Trap baited, I believe they waited several days for hours at a time on poor Blackie being tempted by their lure.
I'll take some fudge round tomorrow morning and hopefully make some more "Peace". They seem ok about it - though they didn't really want a chicken as a long term lodger.
RECIPE FOR BASIC FOOLPROOF FUDGE
125g salted butter
12 normal sized marshmallows
3/4 cup of evaporated milk
2 cups of sugar
180g chocolate (use white for light and dark for chocolate - I never use milk for this !)
up to 1 cup of dried fruit / nuts / chopped biscuits
Basically - that's it. Put the first 4 ingredients in a large pot. It's best in a non stick pan. Ordinary is fine - but the bottom has a tendancy to catch slightly. Cook over a medium heat, stirring. As soon as it comes to the boil - set your timer for exactly 5 minutes. Keep stirring and when the 5 mins are up, remove from the heat. DO BOIL FOR EXACTLY 5 MINS. Less than 4.30mins and it won't set. More than 5 mins and it starts to get grainy.
Add in the chocolate - either broken or chopped and stir in until it melts. Quickly, stir in your add ins and then pour into our silicone 8" x 8" fudge pan. Leave to cool. I like to refridgerate overnight before cutting into nice chunky squares. It will keep a good 2 > 3 weeks in an air tight box in the fridge. The 8" square silicone bakeware mould holds one fudge batch properly (just over 1/2 full)
If using a tin, grease very very very well. You'll still curse, swear and perhaps have to pour boiling water over the base to get this stuff out. I really DO recommend silicone for making fudge. No greasing etc - just pour the hot fudge straight in.
This recipe is VERY versatile and I start with my basic recipe above and then adapt.
CHRISTMAS FUDGE
Base layer - add 2tsp mixed spice to the 4 top ingredients. Instead of 3/4 a cup of evaporated milk, I used about 1/2 the amount in evaporated milk and the other 1/2 in my homemade apple brandy liquer. I mixed in dark belgian chocolate, with sultanas and cherries
We've got these fab new moulds. Actually - I've had these ones for a while but just have not got
round to putting them on the website. I originally intended them for small soap loaves - but they are fantastic for a deep layered fudge or small slicing bar type layer cakes - ideal for a couple to share over a couple of days. I've just recently started using these before promoting them and have already fallen for them big time.
I used four moulds for this double fudge project. I filled the first 3 moulds half full with the dark chocolate fudge base layer.
My top fudge layer was the basic fudge recipe with a teaspoon of Sainsbury's Taste The Difference French Almond extract. I added white chocolate to this and 1/2 a cup of ground almonds. It's smooth, distinctly almondy and much better than marzipan !
I poured some of the top almond fudge layer over each dark chocolate, boozy spiced bottom layer and quickly pressed on lots of slivered almonds to the top. Top layer is only about 1/2 the thickness of my bottom layer. The fourth empty mould was 3/4 filled with the remaining almond fudge.
After cooling, I turned out the fudge bars and sliced it. Each slice was cut again into three fingers. It looks just like Christmas cake and has some powerful kick of the dark chocolate, smooth almond top, apple brandy, spices and fruits.
It looks really pretty boxed up in homemade boxes. I love to make little peep through windows with acetate as a sneak preview of what is inside.
Blackie is happy to be home and once more eating from our hands and following at our heels. I for one am very thankful. Hopefully the neighbours are none the worse for their experience ! Sorry....
