Deepest Darkest Chocolate Fudge biscuits

Ok, I am about to share with you one of my most precious recipes. These amazingly rich, tasty and chewy biscuits (cookies for my US friends, so don't go thinking this is a scone recipe!) are seriously unbelievably good.  The recipe was given to me by my friend Jocelyn, for which I will thank her forever.

It is a rare recipe that uses this much chocolate without being too sweet. Cocoa, melted chocolate, chocolate chips, this recipe has it all, and the final result is truly special. 

One of the fun things too about this recipe is sharing the list of ingredients with friends... making a double batch particularly so, because then you can tell them that it contains 1.3 KILOS of chocolate chips. 

I think that one of the keys to this recipe is beating the butter and sugar by hand... I don't know why it is, but I do it by hand, and my version seems to come out better than those made by friends using a mixer. Proof that there are times in life, where it is best to do things the slow way.  If you are going to use a mixer, I advise beating on a slow speed.

Deepest Darkest Chocolate Fudge Biscuits (cookies)

214g plain flour
56g cocoa
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
227g milk chocolate broken into pieces
113g unsweetened chocolate broken up (a nice dark bittersweet will do)
340g soft light brown sugar
170g unsalted butter (take out of the fridge to soften)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

OPTIONAL - 680g plain chocolate chips. 

Method

Sift flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt. Set aside.

Put plain and unsweetened chocolate pieces into a double boiler and heat for 12 - 15 minutes. Stir till smooth and keep at room temperature until needed. (You can microwave the chocolate instead, but be very careful not to over cook it)

Beat butter and sugar. Once creamed, add eggs, one at a time, beating into to the mixture. Add vanilla essence and beat. Add chocolate and beat. Add flour mixture and chocolate chips stirring until thoroughly combined.

For lovely big giant cookies, drop a tablespoon of mix per biscuit onto baking sheets (about 6-8 biscuits per sheet).   For more normal sized biscuits, a heaped teaspoon is about right. 
Bake on the top and middle rack of the oven at 170ºC for 15 minutes, rotating half way through baking time. Do keep an eye on the time, as the high sugar content means that they can burn very easily. 
 

Cool on sheets for 5-6 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack. 

Sit back and enjoy one of the most sensational sweet experiences of your life.

Chocolate Caramel Slice

This is a bit of an Aussie classic, and is totally rich and sweet and addictive. I took a tray of these to a potluck the other night. My friend Kate tried one and decided that she was skipping all the other food at the party (quiches, salads, crumbles and pies) and was going to eat nothing but these for her dinner!

Base
2 cups self raising flour
250g butter
1 1/2 cups dessicated coconut
1 cup fine sugar

Caramel Layer
2 tins of sweetened condensed milk (around 400g each)
60 grams of butter
60mls (4 tablespoons)golden syrup

Topping
300g dark chocolate
40g copha/vegetable shortening


Method

Turn the oven on to warm up, to 180 degrees. Start by making the base. Put all the dry base ingredients in a bowl. Melt the butter, allow to cool a little and then mix into the dry ingredients. Line the base of a baking dish with baking paper (allowing the paper to go up two sides to help you get the slice our later). Tip the base into the tin and spread and press down with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until lightly golden. Cool.

While the base is baking, start the caramel - put all the ingredients in a pot and heat them, stirring continuously for 8-10 minutes - it will thicken and go golden. Pour over the biscuit base and spread out to ensure the base is covered. Cool until set (this will take 3 or 4 hours in the fridge).

Then, in a double boiler, heat the chocolate and copha and stir together till melted and pourable. Pour over the caramel and biscuit, and then cool again. Cut into squares to serve.

White Christmas

The white christmas of my childhood had copha and milk powder in it, if I recall correctly. A lack of ability to find copha in the shops here prompted the development of this very rich and tasty version. I hope you enjoy it as much as my friends have!

• 600g white chocolate
• 2 cups rice bubbles
• 100g red glace cherries
• 100g green glace cherries
• 100g silvered almonds
• 100g dried cranberries
• 80g sultanas
• 1 cup desiccated coconut

Method

1. Line a 30cm x 20cm (base) baking pan with baking paper. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (don’t let bowl touch water). Fold in the remaining ingredients. Pour mixture into the prepared pan, pressing down with a large metal spoon. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
2. Turn slice onto a chopping board. Using a knife that has been dipped in hot water, cut into squares. Serve.

Dark chocolate tartlets

Photo by Ed.

I served these tiny tarts at the wedding I catered for my friends Patrizia and Ed. (Full menu here). They were a real hit - rich and creamy and just the right size for a not-quite-guilt-free mouthful. 

Ingredients

320g dark chocolate, (at least 60% cocoa but I actually don't recommend more than 80%) 

500ml cream 

4 egg yolks 

2 whole eggs 

1/4 cup sugar 

gold leaf to decorate 

Method

 Combine chopped bittersweet chocolate and cream in a heavy saucepan. Whisk over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat and allow to cool a little.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, egg & sugar. Very gradually whisk chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until smooth and blended.

Pour chocolate filling into crust, sprinkle with gold leaf, and bake at 180 degrees until set (about 15-20 minutes for a single large shell, or 5-10 for small shells).

Miniature chocolate chip cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sifted self-raising flour 

3/4 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted 

3/4 cup dark or milk choc bits 

1 tablespoon cocoa powder, extra, to serve 3/4 cup milk

125g butter, melted, cooled

2 lightly beaten eggs

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Prepare an oven tray with tiny paper lined foil cups.

Combine flour and caster sugar in a bowl. Stir in cocoa powder and choc bits. Make a well in the centre. Add milk, butter and eggs to flour mixture. Using a metal spoon, stir gently to combine.

Spoon mixture into the paper cups, till 3/4 full. 

Bake for 5 to 10 minutes until risen and set. Cool.

Coconut Apricot Slice

Slices seem to be a real Australian phenomenon. I haven't really been able to find them anywhere else, apart from the ubiquitous brownie. But a slice is a beautiful, simple, delicious thing, and I encourage you to take the time to explore and experiment with it. To explain, a slice is a sort of cake made in a shallow rectangular baking tray. Sometimes they are baked, but often the recipes are no-bake, so are wonderful cooking activities to do with children. Being rectangular too, they are also very easily to slice up and share around.

Here is a great no-bake recipe, which is quick to make and always a hit.

Coconut Apricot Slice

250gm unsalted butter
400g white chocolate, broken up
3 cups dried apricots, chopped
100ml cream
500g shortbread biscuits
1 cup dessicated coconut

Line the base of a rectangular baking tray (I used one that is 28cmx44 but you could use 2 18x25cm trays instead) with baking paper.

Put the shortbread biscuits in a strong plastic bag and use a rolling pint to crush the biscuits up to crumbs.

Melt the butter and cream in a saucepan, bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Break in the white chocolate and stir till melted and combined. Cool a little then add the biscuits, apricots and dessicated coconut. Press the mixture into your prepared tray and chill in the fridge for an hour or so.

Ice with lemon butter icing: 50g melted butter, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 4 cups icing sugar. Chill again and slice in the tray to serve.

Christmas Pudding Truffles

It seems a bit late to post up this recipe now, maybe too late for the post-christmas left-overs frenzy. however, Christmas cake and christmas pudding sometimes (however delicious it may have been) hangs around for weeks, and you can be totally stumped as to what to do with it. In fact, as it keeps so well, there is a chance you will have a whole cake from the year before!

Well here is my suggestion as to what to do with it. These truffles are rich and wicked and look ever so pretty. Now the recipe is kinda loose, because I can't predict how much chrissy pud you will have left over, so just have a play and see!

Christmas pudding truffles (original recipe by Kiriel)

Left over Christmas pudding
Grand Marnier (a couple of tablespoons will usually do)
Cocoa powder
Icing sugar

To cover:
Dark chocolate
Green & red royal icing

Method:
Note: If you are using christmas pudding which has not yet been steamed, you should steam or microwave it to soften up the dried fruits before making this.

Place the cake/pudding and liqeuer in a mixer. Mix briefly - just enough to get the liquid and solid to combine. Sprinkle over 2 parts cocoa to 1 part icing sugar (try 2 spoons of cocoa & 1 part icing sugar to start) and mix until blended - its fine to keep the texture of the fruit, but the mix does need to be at the point of sticking together.

Now comes the messy part! Roll tablespoons of this mixture into small balls - dusting your hands with icing sugar may help to keep it from sticking to them, and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Cool to firm up.

Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Using a fork, dip the truffles in melted chocolate - you will figure out the best method for you, but I found that the stickiness of the truffles meant that it was somewhat easier to bring the truffle to the bowl of melted chocolate on a fork, and then use a spoon to pour an initial coat of chocolate on top.

Let the excess drip off then place them on your lined baking tray. Cool in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to set.

To decorate, pipe green royal icing holly leaves on to a sheet of baking paper and allow to set overnight (I advise doing heaps of them, as you will discard some as rejects and accidently break some - the more you do, the better they get too!). The next day, take a tiny batch of royal icing in dark red and use it to glue the holly leaves on to the truffles.

Don't they look darling?

Grown-up chocolate crackles

This is a new twist on a classic recipe, an idea that has been bubbling away in my mind for a while. Being away from my home country inspires me to cook classic Australian dishes, to introduce others to the little things that make up the Aussie psyche. One of those foods for me is chocolate crackles. The idea that has been fermenting in my brain is how to adjust chocolate crackles to make a version for 'grown ups'. Tonight the idea came to fruitition with the invention of Baileys chocolate crackles!

Give these luscious sweets a try - you don't have to limit yourself to Baileys Irish Cream - creme de menthe for example would be a spectacular addition to this recipe, producing a sort of after-dinner-mint-crackle.

Grown up Chocolate Crackles (original recipe by Kiriel, with a nod to my childhood)

4 cups of rice bubbles
2/3 cup icing sugar
2/3 cup desiccated coconut
3 tblspns cocoa
125g copha / coconut oil
125g dark chocolate
3 tblspns Baileys Irish Cream

Melt chocolate and copha in a saucepan on a low heat, stirring occasionally to blend. While it is melting, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Once the chocolate and copha have gone liquid, remove from the heat and stir in the Baileys Irish Cream. Once well mixed and slightly cooled, pour over the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Spoon into small patty cases and refrigerate to set.

Chocolate music

On Monday night my choir is singing in a concert, and as usual as well as delighting people with our music we also offer what is known as an 'apero', being a bit of a party, to which each of the choir members bring a dish. What could be better than musical treats.

Chocolate notes

250g butter
300g sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
3 tablepoons cocoa powder

Beat the butter sugar and egg in a bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and cocoa. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth.

Roll out to 3mm. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Bake in a moderate oven for about 12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks and store in an airtight container.

Eggcentric dish explained

For a while now I have had on the left hand side of my blog, a photo of a dish I made for one of our foodie dinners, but I have never posted up exactly what it is or how I made it. Finally I have done it.

The theme of the dinner was 'hidden secrets', and among other dishes, I decided (inspired by a dish a friend made for a dinner a long time ago) to produce these; yep, they look like half a dozen eggs, but what you cannot see until they were broken open is that they were filled with a white chocolate mousse and then had a yolk in the middle made of an orange marmalade & cognac mixture.

The white chocolate mousse was made like this:
Measure 1 tblspn crème de cassis liqueur into heavy small saucepan; sprinkle unflavoured gelatin over & let stand 5 minutes to soften. Add 3/4 cup cream & stir over low heat till gelatin dissolves. Add white chocolate & stir until melted & smooth. Transfer to medium bowl. Refrigerate until cool but not set, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Whip 1/2 cup whipping cream in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Add remaining 2 tblpns crème de cassis & whip until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into white chocolate mixture.

What to do with leftovers?

On Saturday I made a batch of white chocolate mousse. I had bumped into a friend the day before and we had discussed meeting up, he, his daughter, and I. So when I made mousse, I made a reasonably big batch.

In the end I didn't get together with my friend, so had a mound of mousse... and one can only eat so much mousse!

So what to do with it? Well today I was in the shops and they had shortbread biscuits on sale, and strawberries for just 4 francs for a half kilo. And so, a white chocolate strawberry...umm... thing... was born. Strawberry short bread cake mousse...?

Chocoholics dream

I met up with some of my GOL friends at the train station and we headed off. There were some 20 stands, each of them offering free tastings of some of their produce. There were some spectacular looking eggs for easter, sculptures of chocolate and some local specialities "paves". There were some people making chocolates, so we could taste a crisp wafer dipped in chocolate warm from the pot. There were fountains of chocolate, and little cups of fresh fruit with chocolate fondue.

I had given myself a pretty generous budget, and bought this array of goodies....


So... what did I buy and why?

I didn't get to taste this one, but I thought it looked rather interesting and has layers of apricot with dark chocolate. Artisan: Wenger


This chocolate is made by a local chocolate making school "Ecole du Chocolat Prangins". I liked the slightly plummy tone to the chocolate, and its chunky artisanal look.


There were a few places selling "Paves" - I am not sure what exactly Pave translates as, but I think it might be something like "tablet". In general they seem to have the similarity of being quite buttery in texture and coated in cocoa. I chose these in particular, because they seemed to be almost crisp to the bite. Artisan: Jean Claude Hochstrasser.

I couldn't resist these slim chocolates; dark (70%) with red peppercorns. Artisan: Nicolas Noz


The simple elegance of the packaging of these chocolates made them irresistable. But horror of horrors, my bottle of orange juice leaked and ruined the card packaging. But the elegant tablets remain untouched. Artisan: Nicolas Noz


The other thing of interest about these chocolates is their provenance. These are made from wild cocoa from Bolivia. I dont know what the difference will be, but look forward to finding out!




I also just HAD to buy this strip of 70% cocoa chocolate, with crushed cocoa nibs. Not too sweet with a delightful crunch. Artisan: M A Cartier for "O'Saveurs"


Last but not least - something very interesting indeed - cocoa mustard. There were two kinds for sale, one which had orange and one just cocoa. I preferred the plain cocoa one as I thought that the orange overpowered the cocoa. Artisan: Celine Ammann (made using organic mustard honey, oranges and vinegar)