So Christmas is officially on top of us again - the house is in an uproar, the tree repeatedly destroyed by the kitten, presents are wrapped left, right and centre, and most importantly, an avalanche of 'Christmas food' awaits us in our cupboards. Cheese, chocolate, turkey, cake, gammon, coleslaw, alcohol - everything that makes this season feel so good (and do so much bad to my waistline - still, to hell with it, it's Christmas after all!).
With this in mind, I've found two quick and easy recipes to spice up Christmastime and really get me into the Christmas spirit. So here it comes - homemade chocolate truffles. Seems a bit pointless when you first think about it - I know how easy (and cheap) chocolate is to buy in the supermarkets - but I promise, these are worth it. Dark, creamy, with a hint of Irish cream - these little gems are perfect for the bloated post-Christmas-dinner moment when you can't quite bring yourself to eat a whole pudding, but when one chocolate - or two or three or four, in my case - seems so utterly tempting. People will be impressed at the seemingly huge effort involved, when actually, it's fairly simple (just a bit mucky - prepare for the stickiest, chocolatiest hands you've ever had - yum). So really - if you can squeeze in some truffle-making in the countdown to Christmas*, try them. It will be so worth it.
*These chocolates, once made, can last up to one week in the fridge. Will they last that long? Doubt it.
My next recipe sounds even more eccentric. Homemade cranberry sauce. And this is from a girl who has quite literally never eaten - or particularly liked - jarred cranberry sauce. Why, you ask, when you can buy it in little jars ready to slap on the table? Simply because - it's delicious, and I honestly think it's one of the best, easiest recipes I've yet discovered*. So easy to tweak to personal tastes. Plus, the berries' literal transformation in front of your eyes just amazes me - you have pretty but somewhat unappealing cranberries one minute, and the next, you've created an amazing, gorgeous-smelling, jammy sauce, with a hint of chutney-like savouriness with the addition of a little chopped red onion. All by yourself, all in twenty minutes. I have to admit it made me feel more than a little proud. I hope it will make you feel the same.
*This recipe is from a family friend who knows how much I love to try new recipes! Thank you.
*This recipe is from a family friend who knows how much I love to try new recipes! Thank you.
*Chocolate Truffles with a kick*
Makes twenty to twenty-five chocolates
Combination: dark chocolate and chilli-flavoured chocolate (of course you could add your own chopped chilli to chocolate, to taste - that would be even more original!). I used 70g chilli choc and 110g dark choc.
90ml double cream
80ml Irish cream (i.e. Baileys - I'm trying Sainsburys' own this year, though)
About 50g sweet cocoa powder (i.e. Cadburys' drinking chocolate) or dark cocoa powder (Cadburys' Bournville powder is my dark cocoa of choice) - I have to say, for this recipe, I prefer normal, sweet, cocoa to the bitterness of dark cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Small pinch salt
1. Break your chocolate into small pieces in a bowl, add salt, and leave on the side. Pour your cream, Irish cream (or, for alcohol-free choccies, just replace with extra double cream) and vanilla into a saucepan and very gently heat - you don't want it to boil. After about ten mins on a low heat, start checking the temp with a - clean - finger. Once the liquid is hot to touch, remove from the heat.
2. Now simply pour into a bowl with the broken chocolate and salt, stirring gently so that they mix and form a 'ganache' (basically what's used to ice nice chocolate cakes).
3. At this point - taste the chocolate cream mix (chef's perks), and refrigerate/freeze for at least one hour. Here comes the messy part now...
4. Remove your ganache from the fridge before it is entirely set and hardened. You want it slightly pliable for your hands but not soft - otherwise disaster may ensue (meltage). Organise yourself - set out a cereal bowl with a few large tbsp of cocoa within, ready to lightly roll your chocolates in, with a cocktail stick waiting to roll the truffles around easily in the cocoa. Try and make sure your hands are as cold as poss (an awkward request, I know). Basically, take a large teaspoon of the mix, roll quickly and lightly in your palms into a circular shape, drop into the cocoa, use the cocktail stick (or teaspoons) to roll, then place in a mini cake case, or greaseproof paper, on a serving tray or plate. Repeat. Every so often, if necessary, rinse the chocolate from your hands with cold water. Done. Leave in the refrigerator to chill. Bring them out on Christmas day - any day - and enjoy.
And here's a sneak peek of myself covered in gooey melted chocolate, with some of the finished truffles on the counter...
*
*Cranberry Sauce*
Makes enough to fill one 415g (large) jar
200g fresh cranberries
50g very finely chopped red onion
1 small glass port - 75ml?
50g caster sugar (perhaps another 30-50g if you have a very sweet tooth)
Juice of one large orange (zest too, if you have the time)
Pinch of salt
1. Chop your onion as finely as possible (your choice, but I wanted flavour rather than texture) and place in a large saucepan. Wash the cranberries well, ensuring there are no straggling stems left behind, and add to the onion. Now measure out your sugar and add this to the pan, pouring in the port and squeezing in the orange juice too. Finally, add the salt, stir, and turn the heat on low.
2. Stir gently every so often. Within about ten minutes, the mixture will have reached boiling point, the liquid reducing away and flavouring your fruit. You'll soon begin to hear the most delightful 'popping' sound as the berries burst in the heat. This lovely mixture fills your kitchen with such gorgeous, citrussy Christmas smells - and all you have to do is throw the ingredients in a saucepan and leave it to simmer away for twenty minutes total. Perfect. You'll see that, with no lid on the pan, the juices reduce quickly, and the berries and sugar take on a gorgeous, jammy consistency. Give in to your inner child and squish the berries a little with your spoon, leaving only a few whole (more for appearance than anything). I have to say that the warm mixture tastes so very good - both sweet, tart, and with just a hint of the onion's savouriness - but don't burn your tongue on it. Save some for Christmas.When the twenty minutes of cooking time is up, just spoon into a clean, sterilised* jar and leave, lid off, to cool - this can take an hour or so. Seal the jar and store in the fridge once cooled. Lasts up to one week.
*Sterilised - i.e. put through a dishwasher. In my case, I just washed the jar up, leaving boiling water to rest in it for some minutes, before rinsing thoroughly and emptying. Not sure if this is officially 'sterilised' though.
I don't know about you, but my family is big on cranberry sauce with turkey, hot or cold - and until now, I never quite understood it. As there are six of us eating Christmas dinner - and there are, quite literally, piles of food - there ought to be leftovers: meat, 'teatime' food, and my scrummy cranberry sauce. What I'm thinking is that our lazy, boxing day menu of cold leftover meat, coleslaw, cheese and biscuits sounds considerably lovelier with the promise of leftover cranberry and red onion-flavoured dip.
Anyway, I've been talking for far too long about food, so I'll leave you to it; enjoy your own Christmas dinners. It's time for all of the last-minute shopping, wrapping, prepping, delivering, visiting. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas - with or without homemade chocolate truffles and cranberry sauce - and a happy new year!
