With Christmas just around the corner … I thought a recipe for Chocolate Truffles would be in order.  But these are no ordinary truffles … no sir … these truffles you absolutely HAVE to make.  They are divine.  Truly!

My dear bloggy friend Mrs Bluestockings shared this recipe on her blog in 2008.  Because she did it so beautifully (with photos and everything!) I thought it might be best to just link to her post.

But first … a little teaser …

Now click HERE to visit Mrs BB’s blog for her scrumptious truffle recipe – and Merry Christmas to you all.

Fee

Makes 12 (Serves 4)

1.5 cups SR flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup quick cook oats
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1.25 cups milk
60g melted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 small bananas mashed

1. Sift flour and baking powder into large bowl. Stir in oats and sugar and make a well in the centre.
2. Whisk eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla essence in a jug and pour into dry ingredients.  Add mashed banana.  Mix well.
3. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat (not too hot because the inside won’t cook). Grease the pan slightly.  Pour 1/4 cupfuls of mixture into the pan, not too close together as they expand.  Cook for about 3 mins until golden brown and a few bubbles appear on the surface (like cooking thick pikelets).  Flip over and cook a further 2 mins.

Serve warm with yoghurt and honey or maple syrup.  Yummo!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cooked brown rice
Shallots
Red capsicum, chopped
1/3 cup currants
60g roasted cashews
Parsley chopped
2 Tbsp roasted sunflower seeds

Dressing
3/4 cup oil
4 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper

METHOD:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl together and mix well.  Place dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.
Pour over salad.

She also gives this Warning:  This is a real eye waterer!  I use my goggles during the cooking process and open all windows!!!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup peanut oil  (you could drop that to ¾ or even ½, I’ve only used the whole cup)
1 whole bulb of garlic peeled and chopped (again, you can lower this to 3-4 cloves if you like)
2 onions roughly chopped
2 cups of fresh chillies de-seeded and tops removed (or you can use all red capsicum.  I used about 12 fairly large chillies and two capsicums and this is a scrumptious mix of both flavours)
3Tbsp tamarind paste (I can buy tamarind from Woolies, and it had all the seeds in it.  This was quite fiddly to remove, so see if you can get it without seeds)
2-3 Tbsp of fish sauce
3Tbsp of palm sugar (or I use brown)

METHOD
1.    Heat oil.  Add garlic and onion and cook until clear.  Add chilli (and/or capsicum) and cook until soft.
2.    Add sugar, tamarind paste and fish sauce.  Simmer for ten minutes then turn off heat.
3.    Very carefully (it’s very hot) scrape mixture into a blender and blend until the lumps disappear and consistency is jam like (smooth).
4.    If you want to store it for a longer period of time, pour into sterilised jam jars and store in fridge.  It normally doesn’t last that long because it’s so yummy, so pour into a nice bowl and serve with lot’s of fresh bread (Turkish is nice, or French sticks sliced).

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of white plain flour
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon salt
cooking oil

METHOD

1. Turn oven to 240 degrees.
2. Put all ingredients except the oil, in a bowl together and whisk well. Leave to stand.
3. Pour enough oil in over proof lasagne/pie dish, to cover the bottom generously.
4. When oven has become hot, place dish in oven to heat up oil to a high temperature.
5. Remove dish (oil must be extremely hot!) from oven and pour mixture into dish. Immediately place back into oven.
6. Cook for twenty five minutes or until Yorkshire Pudding has risen and browned. (removing too early from oven will result in a soggy middle.)
**Serve with roast meat, various roasted and steamed vegetables and a generous amount of gravy! 

INGREDIENTS

Melted butter, to grease
125 g butter, chopped
160 ml sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 (250 g) packet plain sweet biscuits, crushed (such as Marie)
45 g desiccated coconut
375 g licorice, coarsely chopped (packet licorise allsorts)
200 g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
30 g Copha

METHOD

Brush a 19 x 29cm (base measurement) lamington pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base and sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang slightly.

Combine the butter, condensed milk and golden syrup in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until butter melts and mixture is smooth. Transfer to a large heatproof bowl. Add the biscuits, coconut and licorice allsorts and stir until just combined. Press the mixture into the base of the prepared pan and set aside for 30 minutes to set.

Place the chocolate and copha in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the slice in the pan. Place in the fridge for 1 hour to set. Cut into squares to serve.

Marshmellow- Smartie Suprise … (or as some children like to call them, Smartie Eye-ball Treats!)

An absolute favourite at childrens birthday parties!! Very colourful and very tasty!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag marshmellow
2 boxes of smarties
1/2 bar Cadburys dark or milk cooking chocolate
Mini colourful cupcake cases

METHOD

1. Melt the chocolate.
2. Place mini cupcake cases on a large platter.
3. Dip the bottom of each marshmellow in the melted chocolate and place in mini cupcake cases.
4. Spoon a little dob of melted chocolate on the top of the marshmellows.
5. Place a smartie on top of each marshmellow.
6. Refrigerate.

Simple and fun

This is a great recipe for anyone wanting to use up those black bananas!  We seem to always have a couple in the fruit bowl.

INGREDIENTS

1.5 cups SR flour
1 tsp bicarb of soda
0.75 cup sugar
3 mashed bananas
0.5 cup oil
2 eggs

Sauce
0.75 cup dark brown sugar
0.25 cup golden syrup (we used honey)
1 cup boiling water

METHOD

Mash bananas, oil and eggs together in a 2-3 litre casserole dish.  Add sifted flour, bicarb and sugar and mix well.
Combine sugar, syrup and boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Pour syrup mix over the back of a spoon over the cake batter (it will look terrible but don’t worry the cake rises to the top and the syrup thickens on the bottom).
Bake at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes.

Make sure you have a dollop of ice cream at the ready!

She posted this Strawberry Shortcake Recipe on her Blog the other day, so I asked if I could borrow it to post here.  She very kindly agreed – thanks Jen (I borrowed your photo too – hope you don’t mind?!).

Doesn’t it look delicious?  I’m definitely going to be giving this one a try.

INGREDIENTS

125g butter
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup (110g) plain flour
3/4 cup (110g) self raising flour
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
1 medium green apple (grated)
grated rind of 1 orange
250g (1 punnet) strawberries, sliced thinly
2 teaspoons sugar extra

METHOD

Grease a 20cm springform tin. Preheat oven to 180C (375F).

Beat butter, sugar and egg until light and fluffy.
Stir in sifted flours in 2 batches. Mix well.
Cover dough in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Press 1/2 the dough into the base of the greased springform tin. Spread the dough with jam.
Sprinkle the grated apple and the orange rind over the jam. Top with the sliced strawberries.
Use the remaining dough to cover the strawberries. Press down, and sprinkle with the extra sugar.
Bake for 50 minutes or until lightly browned.
Serve with cream or ice-cream for dessert, and eat the rest next day cold from the fridge – if it lasts that long!!

Anyway, I made the Pumpkin & Ginger Soup and was asked for the Recipe the next day by one of the people who ate it, so I figured I was on to a winner.

Why not give it a try?  I think it’s really delicious and very easy to make.

Fresh ginger is a great addition to many vegetable soups. In this recipe, it gives the pumpkin flavour a real lift.  [Serves 4]

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2.5cm (1 inch) piece root ginger, peeled and grated

650g (4 cups) peeled and chopped pumpkin flesh

850ml (3 cups) vegetable stock

METHOD

Sweat the onions gently in the olive oil for 5 mins, add the onion, garlic, ginger and pumpkin and cook for 5 mins more. Add the water or stock and simmer for 15-20 mins, until the pumpkin is tender. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor and thin with a little extra stock, water or milk if necessary.