I have so much going on I can barely stop to talk. I really hate it when people do this – tell you how busy they are and then waste 15 precious minutes talking about their stress when they could be tacking their to do list. So I won’t. Instead I will just offer up something that is simply amazing. I don’t even like egg nog (the drink) but I do like these. Oh yes I do.
(P.S. If you are wondering about the other truffles in the picture then I also made orange truffles using this recipe and then rolled them in crushed Oreos. I used the same recipe to make coconut truffles, subbing the orange extract for Malibu and then rolling in desiccated coconut. I also rolled some egg nog truffles in nutmeg spiked icing sugar. They all keep for 1 week from making, provided your double cream has a use by date that doesn’t come before that. Keep in the fridge and bring to room temperature for 1 hour pre serving. And please, if you want to temper your chocolate then go ahead and do it, I just don’t have the time at the moment, nor to explain it. You may get a bloom on your chocolate coating if you don’t temper. It’s fine, it will still taste the same. Just sprinkle with more nutmeg. Did I mention how busy I am?)
I made a lovely video with the Scoff folks to show off how to make these truffles. You can see the vid on my YouTube channel and also the Scoff one. You can watch it below too.
Melt the chocolate, cream, brandy, nutmeg and cinnamon in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Stir until completely smooth then chill for about 2 hours until hard.
Take a teaspoon and remove heaped spoons of the truffle mixture. Roll between your hands to form spheres. Place on a plate covered in non-stick paper and chill again for another hour.
Melt the chocolate using the same method as before. Dip each truffle into the chocolate using a spoon and fork. Drain as much chocolate from the truffle as possible and transfer to a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Grate a little nutmeg over each truffle. Leave to set either at room temperature or in the fridge, though be aware a bloom is more likely to develop on the chocolate if you use the faster fridge method.
I need to get a few things off my chest about 3rd babies. It won’t take long.
First up, I wish everyone (well, it seems like everyone) would stop saying ‘Oh I do hope you have a girl’. They usually accompany this comment with a cock of their head to the side and a meaningful eyeball to eyeball narrowing of the eyes with a smile of impending commiseration. Comments like this bring out the irrational, hormonal pregnant woman in me. I find myself rebuffing their comments politely, yet angrily, through gritted teeth, staring wildly. If I had the balls I’d just be honest and say I find this obsession with the pink gender offensive. But I have no balls. I barely have a pelvic floor.
My other issue is with other mothers of three. Not all of them. But there’s a certain breed who enjoy telling tales of woe to those of us about to embark on the magic number family score. They tell of life never being the same again, nobody wanting to baby sit for you, the poor middle child becoming some kind of dead cert for teenage therapy, husbands miserable as their wives have so little time to service their needs…. and that’s an abridged version.
Do me a favour! I’ve already got two kids, it’s not like I’m skipping down to Soho every night to down trendy cocktails in jam jars and dancing the night away outside pop up bars. (Of course their predictions could all well be true, but really, is it helpful? I haven’t told my friends about to have their first baby that for the next year they’ll live in a hell hole state of domestic sluttery and wail to anyone who might listen, lamenting why they thought a baby might be life enhancing when all they want to do is sleep and drown in wine. I haven’t. Honestly.)
Right now that’s all off my chest here’s an easy recipe that I reckon even mothers of three, with their lack of time, general misery and poor pelvic floor might be able to knock up. These truffles are that easy.
Pour the condensed milk into a large saucepan, stir in the cocoa powder and the salt. Heat on the hob over a low heat, stirring continuously. Be careful not to boil and burn the milk! After 10 – 15 minutes the mixture will become very thick and shiny and start to come away from the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
Chill in the fridge for an hour. Drop teaspoons of the mixture, one at a time, into a bowl containing the sprinkles. Push about gently to cover then roll between the palms of your hands into a ball. Chill and serve straight from the fridge.
(NB, for those who like this kind of info, these were named after a famous 1940’s Brigadier General named Eduardo Gomes, who loved chocolate. Store in the fridge.)
I know in folk tales and picture books Christmas memories are wooden toys, wreaths, carols around the piano and ‘fun’ snowball fights. My memories are less picture perfect. More about plastic Keepers, balding tinsel, Noddy Holder screeching ‘It’s Christmas!’ and never hearing that pesky boy at school creep up on me with his icy snowball save for the purple ear muffs I was wearing.
My childhood family Christmas memories are studded with brands. Yes, and so I reckon are yours. Are you a Roses or a Quality Street family? After Eights or Matchmakers… or both? Does Mum shop at Iceland? Or Waitrose (for a treat, only at Christmas mind) or Sainsburys? There was the Blue Nun on the table, the Babysham cocktails with maraschino cherries on cocktail sticks. And Eat Me dates of course! A temptation of a name. And last but never, ever least there were the Ferrero Rocher. Loved by all, practically inhaled. This was before I’d heard of nut allergies; it was quite normal to give these to younger cousins, barely weaned, and watch their little faces pop with enjoyment as they savoured that first bite.
Here are some chocolate hazelnut truffles, possibly reminiscent of the aforementioned golden treats.
100g Caprice biscuits or similar wafer style biscuits
80g Nutella
120g milk chocolate, melted and cooled a little
Whizz the hazelnuts up in your food processor until about 3mm across in size then add the biscuits, pulse again until crushed to about the same size. Add the Nutella and mix until well combined (you can do this by hand or with a food processor) then transfer to a bowl and use your hands to squash together truffle sized balls. Dip in the cooled melted chocolate and place on greaseproof paper to set. You can add a few chopped roasted hazelnuts to the outside when they have almost set if you wish. Package up and give these to the person you love most.
I’m a bit of a late adopter with some things. I was almost a teenager when I learnt to ride a bike. I only recently got my first iPhone and even then it was a donated one. And I had never eaten, let alone made a cake pop until recently. Unlike the bike riding, I think the cake pop addiction is a habit here to stay. I am ever faithful to all things novelty.
Here are a few good tips I’ve found through trial and error to make perfect (well almost perfect) pops. This makes about 13 pops.
Take your leftover cake. If you are going to eat the cake pops within a couple of days then you can use your own homemade cake. If you want a little longer shelf life then buy one of the value blocks of Madeira cake from a supermarket. Usually has a good few weeks on it. I know, I know, homemade is best, but if I don’t say it someone will ask. As for flavours and types of cakes, I tend to use leftover vanilla cupcakes using a basic sponge recipe, however you can use any flavour you like. I haven’t tried fruit cake yet but I assume it would work okay. Just be careful of the weight of the pop. More on that later.
Use your fingers to break the cake up into breadcrumbs. You need a light touch rather than a squeezing touch. You can also use a food processor or the flatbeater in your stand mixer. I tend to use my hands as I don’t make cake pops in huge quantities. Leave your cake crumbs in a large bowl and then add your buttercream. (If you do make too much cake pop mixture then freeze at the ball stage and you’ll have more pops for a rainy day. A great tip from Jo.)
I use the old fashioned half butter (salted if you’re interested) to icing sugar buttercream recipe with a good tablespoon of vanilla extract, beaten in my stand mixer for 7 minutes until light and fluffy. However, for cake pops you really don’t need light and fluffy buttercream. So if you’re making buttercream especially for cake pop purposes then I would probably use a wooden spoon. You can use any flavour buttercream by the way… much like with the sponge.
Add the buttercream to the cake crumbs one tablespoon at a time and give the mixture a good stir. All cakes bind with buttercream differently. What you’re looking for is the cake to come together with the buttercream into a thick spread like consistency that will hold a shape. Too dry and the cake pop will crack whilst it’s chilling. Too wet and the buttercream will melt when you dip in the Candy Melts. Test it by taking a tablespoon of mixture and scrunching it up with your fingers. It should hold easily and then be happy to be rolled between your palms. Cover the mix with clingfilm and then refrigerate for about 30 minutes. If you haven’t make cake pops before add one teaspoon of buttercream at a time. You can add, but you cannot taketh away.
After 30 minutes you can start to roll your cake truffle mixture into balls about 2.5cm across between the palms of your hands. Any larger and you run the risk of the weight of them dragging them off the stick when dipping. Oh and don’t add oil to your hands or anything else to stop it sticking, just go with it. Once rolled, pop on a plate lined with greaseproof paper or back into the bowl you chilled the cake pop mixture in and either put in the freezer for 20 minutes or if you don’t have room in your freezer (my hand is firmly up) then cover and pop back in the fridge for an hour. You don’t have to shape your cake pops into balls of course, you can instead shape into cones to make Christmas trees or Santa hats. Whatever you fancy really. Here’s a little film to show how:
A few minutes before you’re ready to start to dip and decorate your pops, melt your Candy Melts. I use the microwave in 20 second blasts – the packets have all the instructions. If you do overheat them they seem to lose their shine when dry. Instead you could melt the Candy Melts over a pan of simmering water instead to control the temperature better. Make sure whatever you end up transferring your melts to that the receptacle is small enough in width to allow the Melts to have a little depth. You need to have something to dip into. (I know some of you will prefer to use chocolate to dip your pops into… I have found it less easy as it takes a little longer to dry. You just need a bit more practice I guess.)
Find something to rest your still wet pops in to allow them to dry. I use an upturned meatball griller (!) but you could also use a block of polystyrene with holes poked into it, an egg box with yet more holes poked into it or an upturned colander if the holes are big enough. Dip a lollipop stick about half a centimetre into the melted Candy Melts and then push the stick into the rolled cake pop until it’s just over half way in. Set aside and allow about a minute to dry. This stage is important as it stops the cake balls from falling off the sticks later.
I tend to get all the sticks into the cake balls first. It makes best use of the dry time required. It also makes sure your Candy Melts aren’t so hot that they make the cake expand and crack through the dried Candy Melts shell once you dip the whole cake ball. Using boiling hot Melts to dip cake into ends in cracked pops and possibly tears. (If it does happen just allow the pop to set and then dip again as if starting with a nude cake ball. Just a thicker coating but better than trying to patch the cracked pop up.) Here’s a little film of the whole process from stick dipping to sprinkling: (If you prefer to read instructions then they’re all below the film along with some pop-pics.)
Then take the stick with the nude cake ball now attached to it and dip into the melted Candy Melts. Don’t start to swish it about as it’s likely to fall off. If your receptacle isn’t deep enough to cover all of the cake ball then use a teaspoon to bathe the cake ball in Candy Melts, gently pushing it over the cake ball. Then use the stick to pick the cake pop up and hold the stick against the side of the dish and tap very gently encouraging the excess Candy Melts to fall back into the dish. You can turn the pop as you do this to ensure you don’t end up with a peak drying where the Melts drip into the dish.
Using Candy Melts is very easy but it’s different from chocolate as it dries more quickly. Either allow to dry by carefully placing the stick into your drying rack of choice or take this opportunity to hold the pop over an empty dish and sprinkle anything you fancy over the still wet pop. You can use a toothpick or fork to make a spikey cake pop if you like by pulling at the Candy Melts covering as it dries. You could also allow the pop to dry with one coating and then use an icing bag to dribble another colour over the pop… the possibilities are endless. Oh and you can even melt your Candy Melts into a disposable icing bag in the microwave, just balance in a jug.
P.S. For those who might ask the Reindeer and Santa faces are from Sainsbury’s, as are the red, white and green sprinkles. The holly leaves and berries are by Wilton (though you can get similar from Sainsbos) as are the little white snowmen on top of the Christmas tree pops. The holly leaves were attached using a white icing pen, the type you buy that comes with nozzles to just attach to a toothpaste type tube. Lastly if you have Candy Melts leftover you can allow them to dry, seal in a bag and then re-melt again the next time you need them. They don’t get upset by repeated remelting like chocolate does. (Same goes for if you’re a slow-dipper and they get too solid half way through the process, just re-heat.)
For all those people who scoff at Valentine’s Day, look away now. These truffles are unashamedly pink and cute and all the things that frankly I am not. I’ve never been a pink girl. I even had a conversation once about where one might buy black clothing for baby girls. It is perhaps a blessing that I am the mother of boys. There is one less goth baby in the world as a result.
But hey, it’s Valentine’s Day so let’s kitsch it up. And let’s get really sticky. And let’s drink the rest of the bottle of Baileys on ice with the person we love most, be that husband, wife, lover, mother, father, brother, sister or best friend. Maybe not the dog. I think the RSPCA would have something to say about that and quite rightly so. I do think Valentine’s affection should be extended beyond romantic love though. And as this makes about a million truffles then you may need to extend the love pretty far to people you only mildly like. Feel free to scale the recipe down if you only like your husband or best friend, or even just yourself.
Makes: About 25 truffles but it all depends on size. Mine were about a tablespoon’s amount.
Adapted from this recipe which was taken from this marvellous book which I urge you all to buy as a gift for Valentine’s Day.
Ingredients:
150mls Baileys
310g sultanas
300g dark chocolate (please don’t substitute this for milk as it really affects the sweetness and we already have condensed milk in these little beauties)
50g milk chocolate
397g sweetened condensed milk
75g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
155g rich tea biscuits, crushed into pieces about 1cm across
100g mini marshmallows
Sprinkles and glittery stuff to roll the truffles in
Firstly measure out 100mls of the Baileys and pop in a saucepan with the sultanas. Heat on the hob until the booze is absorbed by the dried fruit. Remove from the heat and pop to the side for later. Heat the rest of the Baileys, both lots of chocolate, the condensed milk, butter and syrup in a saucepan on the hob until completely molten and smooth. Add the sultanas, biscuits and marshmallows and stir until all covered. Pop onto a lined tray and leave in the fridge until set – takes a few hours so maybe leave overnight.
When it’s set, and remember that this never sets like a normal fridge cake as it has a whopping 150mls of Baileys in it, you need to get ready for the sticky rolling factory line up. Have one plate with loads of sprinkles on and another larger one covered in greaseproof paper that will fit in your fridge to keep the truffles cool and firm and truffle like. Take about a tablespoons worth of fridge cake, roll into a ball in your palms and then roll in sprinkles. Lastly place on the greaseproof paper covered plate.
That’s it. Now enjoy. I also completely forgot to tell you that my husband bought me the best Valentine’s Day pressie ever the first year we met. A huge bottle of Malibu, full fat coke and loads of unpasteurised cheese from a little place in Wales. Unfortunately I was pregnant already. Still, he won huge brownie points for originality. Not a heart shaped chocolate in sight.
We’re off to a Christmas party this afternoon. It will have curry (not turkey mind) and wine and a tree and tinsel. I have been led to believe there might even be Christmas songs. If there aren’t I am fully prepared to provide that entertainment myself. I love a song and I love singing. If ever you are at a wedding and there’s someone singing very loudly and with great aplomb, turn around and it could well be me.
This recipe is easy, seriously easy and very satisfying. Toddlers especially enjoy helping make these truffles though not many chocolate stars ended up on the truffles Charlie and I made, as you may note from the photograph.
Makes: about 20 though depends on the size of your truffles.
Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate, broken into squares
200mls double cream
80g mincemeat
something to roll your truffles in, sprinkles, stars, glitter…
Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat gently on a low heat, stirring all the time. Stop when all the chocolate has dissolved and all you have is molten chocolatey cream with bits of mincemeat causing a few lumps and bumps. Place the saucepan into the fridge on a doubled up tea towel to protect your shelves. Leave for a few hours or overnight until the truffle mixture is hard.
Once hard, place your sprinkley things in a bowl and then take a teaspoon and scoop out a blob of truffle mixture. Roll between your palms into a ball and then roll in the sprinkles. Place on a plate and repeat until all the truffle mixture has gone. Then refrigerate until ready to give as gifts or simply pop one in your mouth every time you open the fridge as a Christmas gift to yourself.
Inspired by Christmas pudding truffles made by @Maurice_Flynn at BBC Radio Leicester. Clever man that Maurice.
Holly Bell
I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
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Holly Bell 