Happy Valentines day

 Good morning, I hope you are having a nice Valentines Day.  Mr H and I agreed years ago that we didn't do Valentines.  We would usually have a nice dinner in the house but that would be it, so you can imagine my surprise this morning  when....

He knows me too well!  I love fizzy sweeties and always fancy one of the Ness tweed handbags (they're a bit above me price wise!) a brooch is just the thing!

So no pressure on me to find something romantic for him.  I could always try some more chocolates, I  made some salt caramel chocs last week for my friends birthday with a little bit of success and lots of squashed chocolates!

 Step one, melt your chocolate and paint your moulds, I used ice cube trays.

Step 2, make your caramel and once it cools add the salt, pour into the moulds when it is cooler.  The first batch had set too firmly as R woke up with ear ache and took a while to settle back to sleep.  The second batch was gooier and poured beautifully.

step 3, tip out gently onto a plate, ta da! or if you are me, wiggle the mould furiously, say a few choice words as the chocolate cracks into pieces!

Luckily there were enough whole ones to make a box of choc's for my friend and I ended up eating all the squashed ones.  A hard job but someone has to do it! ;-)  I think I may have made the chocolate in the moulds too thin as they were very delicate.  

I'm not sure I would make these ones again, the caramel had a burnt sugar taste which went well with the dark chocolate but I didn't like the salt at all.  The grains seemed to have sunk to the bottom of the bowl so only a few made it into the chocs, which I think was probably a good thing.  We'll see if my friend is still talking to me later today!

Last pic was a wee surprise too,

Not from Mr H this time, but a wee thank you for looking after another friends children while she went through the stress of moving house - rather her than me is all I can say, 1 year on and most of our things are still in boxes.

Have a great day, I hope your significant other is good to you!

Chocolates

I just realised, the chocolates never made it to the last post. oops!  I always like to make a few Christmas presents but this year had decided that the house needed the time put in more.  However that was before I started playing about and making choccies.

Cream and chocolate, ready to nelt for the Rum and Raisin truffles

I decided to make 5 different kinds (3 using the same basic recipe) so it wouldn't be too complicated.  It also meant I could make batches that would be covered in the same coating of chocolate which made it quicker and made (slightly) less mess.

Mint creme centres, you make them up and leave them to dry out slightly, then cover in chocolate.  Did you notice the wee pie maker in the background?  My hubbie got it as a secret santa gift at work - best pressie ever.  We made chicken and mushroom pies for dinner, lovely crispy pastry and just the right size.  Anyway, back to the chocolate.

Here they are with their coats on.

Coffee creams, don't look too appetising now but...

With their coffee bean hats - an extra wee caffeine kick.

Now for something new and unmade before but using the same recipe. Lemon creams.  They are supposed to be ball shaped too, but I think I used too much liquid.  The joy of these is that once they have dried out a bit, you can shape them into balls.

I decided to coat them in white chocolate (which I personally am not a fan of, far too sweet) and it worked well, the sharpness of the lemon took away some of the supersweetness of the chocolate.

Here we have the chocolate from the first photo with the rum soaked raisins (and a few other bits and bobs added.  The smell was lovely, very Christmassy and they tasted pretty darn good too!

Rum and Raisin truffles with chocolate sprinkles.  I'm afraid a lot of these were left in the tin when the pressie bags were made up ;-p 
 

Ta da!  Here we have rum and raisin, mint, lemon, coffee and chocolate fudge

The last 2 bags, all the rest have been given out as pressies, I'll see if the recipients are still speaking to me after the holidays!

These were great gifts to make as they didn't take too much time and looked quite posh!  I have a few more recipes from the book that I'm eager to try, although I may have to wade my way through all the chocs and biscuits we were given over Christmas first.  I think I'd better start planning for Valentines day now.....

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year, here's to 2012, let's see what it brings x

Dressember

December already, where has the time gone?  It does mean that we can start all the Christmas preparations - yay!

 

It's not snow, I made some peppermint creams

Fabric Shopping! ;-)

 While R was at nursery today, KP and I set off to town.  I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it but I had a great time.  It's ages since I bought anything for myself so went to town today with a jacket, jumpers and tops.  I also paid a trip to the Cotton Print Factory Shop - I could have spent a fortune there!  I'm in the process of making curtains for the whole house (we have none at the moment) so was just in for a browse, but you can never just browse can you? 

Chocolate and a walk by the loch

Hmmm, I think I may have a chocolate problem!  I bought a great wee book that shows you how to make your own chocolates.  So far we have made fudge, nut clusters and some truffles not bad for someone who usually buys a new book and then takes months to make anything!  Just had the last of the fudge, I had been eating it from the fridge, but just ate some at room temperature - much nicer.  Must make more....