Amaretto Chocolate Cake Truffles

Hi dearies!

So you'll never believe what I did this weekend (unless you follow me on twitter, in which case you'll have heard..) I baked a cake! And I made 140 for my friends' wedding on Saturday!! I can hardly believe I pulled it off, it was touch and go for a while whether I would manage, but Claudz from Purple Lips and Perfect Smiles gave me this method, and I knew I was saved. The only catch was, I had to bake a cake, and we all know how I feel about baking...

But, Ree to the rescue! This cake doesn't involve creaming butter and sugar together (thank heaven!) It involves a bowl, a spoon, a measuring cup, and a pot. Oh, and something to bake the darn thing in, and even that can vary. So on Friday night, while everyone was out partying (including the hubby), I stayed in and baked cakes.. and rolled truffles... and dipped them in chocolate.. But doesn't that sound good?

And. They. Were. A. Hit.

These were without doubt the most delicious truffles I've ever had, and people seemed to like them more than the wedding cake, more than the food... more even than their wine. And if that's not a recommendation, I don't know what is.

These are so flexible - you can use any combination of different kinds of cake, different liqueurs, different chocolate to roll them in. I have in mind a chocolate orange version, with some orange zest and Triple sec, or a cranberry and white chocolate one, with white cake, cranberry pieces, rolled in white chocolate. I think this'll make an incredible (and cheap!) gift for all the colleagues and random friends this Christmas, so give them a try! Once you start, it's difficult to know where to stop...

Amaretto Chocolate Cake Truffles


Makes 160 truffles
 
Ingredients:
1.5 chocolate cakes, crumbled
4 tbsps Amaretto (2 for the first cake, 1 for the second half. Or all together if your bowl's big enough)
3 tsps almond essence (2 for first, 1 for second half)
5 slabs milk chocolate (to be melted for dipping, but use good quality chocolate, not baking chocolate)

Method:

1. Bake a cake or pick up one from the shop. This is a great recipe for old cake, but if you want to bake from scratch, I used this recipe from Ree over at Pioneer Woman Cooks. It was easy, and it was amazing - and I followed the recipe to the letter (I know! Can we have a moment of silence for that amazing feat?)
2. Let the cake cool, but not completely. You want it slightly moist still, so it sticks together more easily. 
3. Once the cake is all crumbled, drizzle the Amaretto and almond essence over the cake, and mix it in with a knife, to distribute it evenly, making the cake crumbles a bit sticky - this helps you to form balls.
4. You can probably do this with a cookie scoop or something, but I didn't have one, so I just scooped up some cake into my hands, squeezed it a little to compact it, and formed it into a rough ball. I found the crusty top part of the cake didn't make very pretty balls, whereas the middle part was great.
5. Place the balls on a cookie sheet (or any other flat surface, I made 160 truffles, so I had several trays and cookie sheets) lined with wax paper. (This will be especially important once you dip them in chocolate, because it'll be much easier to remove them once the chocolate hardens.)
6. Once you've rolled all the cake into balls, leave to harden covered for a couple of hours or overnight. (I found that once I was finished rolling the last ones, the first ones were cooled and hardened, but I did a lot so they took a lot longer.)
7. Once the cake balls are cooled, melt some milk chocolate in a wide, flattish bowl. I did this in the microwave - break the chocolate into blocks, and microwave in 30 second burst, stirring between bursts. When the chocolate is almost all melted, stir it so that the residual heat melts the rest, and if its just a little too hard, give it another 10 seconds and stir again. You want the chocolate to be smooth and glossy, not grainy and boiling, so don't overheat it.
8. Take each ball (one by one), and drop it into the chocolate. Using 2 forks, roll it in the chocolate until covered, and place on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Wash, rinse and repeat for all truffles, breaking and melting more chocolate, as needed.
9. Leave out to harden for an hour or so (in hot weather, you can put them in the fridge, but it was cool enough this past weekend to just leave them out).

Package into cute little boxes, or pop the lot into a bag, and give them away! You won't know how it happened, but these little balls of delight will slip away from you!

PS. Apologies again, for the horrible phone photography, these were such a rush job, I barely had any time to breathe, let alone take photos, so I was lucky to get even these. And I totally forgot to get a picture of the finished product, I had to pack and hightail it to Langebaan with these babies!!

Peanut Butter Cups

Good morning, dearies!

{Image source}

So, it's Monday morning, but it's a special Monday morning. Today is my friend Rachael's birthday, and I managed to do what I've always wanted to do, which is make a friend a birthday present! I'm terrible at remembering birthdays (I swear, if facebook didn't remind me, I'd forget most of em) so as my friend, you're lucky if you get a greeting, let alone a handmade present! But since Rachael and my birthdays are only 6 days apart, and since we're all stations go for her wedding in just 3 weeks, I wanted to make her feel a bit special on her birthday.

(Enter from stage left, peanut butter cups). Rachael and I share a love for chocolate. And peanut butter (crunchy, not smooth). And when I found these Peanut Butter Bars from Our Best Bites, the deal, as it were, was sealed.

However, we all know that I'm not-so-great at following recipes, not least because I just cannot be trusted to always have the ingredients on hand. Such was last night when, after a weekend away in Witsand, I started making these, and realised I had absolutely no icing sugar. Bugrit.. And I'd already crushed the graham crackers (tennis biscuits for my locals), and had dirtied my blender, a spoon and a dish. So there was no turning back. Nope. So I spooned out the peanut butter (and a little bit more, just to be safe) and the butter, willfully ignoring the lack of sugar. And you know what? They turned out just lovely. Peanutty. Chocolatey. And the birthday girl is happy. What more could a girl ask for?

Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups tennis biscuit crumbs (that's about 375ml - my blender has cup markings on it, which helped)
1 cup and 2 tbsps peanut butter (this turned out to be most of a jar of smooth peanut butter - I know, I prefer crunchy, but the recipe said smooth. I'll try crunchy next time, believe me)
1/2 cup butter, softened (I used margerine, I know I know.. I only had salty butter)
1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Process your tennis biscuits to crumbs, using a blender.
2. In the blender bowl/jug, spoon the peanut butter, and mix together.
3. Add the butter, and mix.
4. Spray 2 silicone mini muffin pans, or a large flat dish with cooking spray. I wanted these to me admin-free, and the original recipe said there were some issues cutting the big one into bars, so I decided to make individual ones, and see how that went. I ended up with more peanut mixture than I have space for, but that's never a bad thing, is it?
5. Take teaspoonfuls of the peanut mixture, and press into the muffin depressions. Aim for a flat top, as the chocolate will go there.
6. Melt the chocolate chips in 30 second bursts in the microwave, stirring between bursts. When the chocolate is nearly melted, stir, allowing the heat in the chocolate to melt the rest. If it's still too thick at that point, give it another 10-20 seconds. Be careful not to burn the chocolate, you want it to be sleek and shiny.
7. Spoon some chocolate over the peanut mixture, and smooth with the back of a spoon. I used two teaspoons, one for spooning it on, and another for smoothing.
8. When all the cups are covered, pop the whole lot into the fridge overnight. 
9. In the morning, pop out of the cups (that's why the silicone works so well for this), and serve. If you'll be serving them later, try to keep them cool if the weather's warm.

Serve with big glass of milk, I promise, you won't regret it!

Enjoy!

PS. Please excuse the phone photography, I wanted to show you what they looked like, and had to take a sneaky pic of them while Rachael was out to lunch. All I had was my phone and not too much time. In other news, you can tell I'm not much of a photographer!!

Braaied Fish Pate

Hi!

So last Friday was National Heritage Day and National Braai Day, here in South Africa. We had the day off, and we were all amped for a big outdoor cooking-eating-drinking fest, with people posting tons of recipes and ideas for the week prior. Now, the boy and I went to his parents for the weekend, and we arrived pretty late. When we got there, we discovered they'd organised a fish braai (barbeque for my non-locals), making snoek (large barracuda) and angelfish. There being only 4 of us, there were tons of leftovers, and something about fish makes it hard to eat the next day. And so it sat.

After the weekend, we were sent home with leftovers, and (surprise!) a huge piece of braaied fish. Now, my hubby, lovely though he is, is a bit particular with leftovers. He'll eat almost anything fresh, but leftovers, particularly fishy leftovers, just don't appeal. And I can understand that. The hard, weird looking scaly beast was yummy when fresh off the fire, but a day or so later, and it starts looking funny. But do I just throw out a perfectly good piece of fish? No sirree! This was destined for the blender!

Now, we've all had tuna mayo, and maybe you've tried smoked snoek pate from the supermarket. But with some leftover fish, a little sour cream and a little effort, you can have your own fish pate, and you're safe in the knowledge that you didn't waste the precious fish!

Again, this is more method than recipe. Depending on how much fish you have, vary your other ingredients to taste.

Braaied Fish Pate (Snoek and Angelfish)

Makes about 250 g pate

Ingredients:

Leftover braaied fish

Sour cream

Mayonnaise

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. De bone the fish, and crumble the fish into smaller pieces. Make sure you get ALL the bones out, as you don't want to choke people. This is the most time consuming stage, but it's worth it, I promise!
2. Put all the deboned fish into a dish, and add a heaped spoon of sour cream, and 2 spoons of mayo.
3. Whizz all of it together with a stick blender (or put the whole lot in a food processor and whizz there).
4. Scrape down the sides, and add more sour cream or mayo, blending until you get the desired consistency. I like mine a bit thicker, and use it as a spread for bread, but you might want it a little thinner to use as a dip with chips!

And there you have it! Easy, quick, and a wonderful use for leftover fish!

Enjoy!

PS. Please forgive the absolute lack of pictures on this.. I couldn't find anything on the web that worked, and although I had the best intentions of photographing it, it was all finished before I had the chance. There'll be a next time, so I'll take photos then (yes, even with my bad photography) and I'll repost it then. Sorry!

Sweet Sticky Chicken and Blue Cheese Sauce

Hi there!

{Image source: Oakmonster, flickr}

So I had EVERY intention of making my risotto last night for the twitter #RisottoOff, but then I got tired. And lazy. And I couldn't get visions of sticky chicken out of my head. And we had leftover potato bake to eat. So sue me, I didn't make what I'd planned. SUCH a rebel.

And while I was thinking about the sticky chicken, I remembered that last months Fresh Living Magazine insert (Fresh Ideas) there was a sticky chicken recipe. So as usual, I looked at the recipe looong and haaard, and then I did my own thing. It's a curse, I tell ya. Their version looked fantastic, and my version was pretty amazing too. The hubby and I were licking our fingers and making those mmmmmm sounds of delight, so I'm pretty sure you'll like this one. And the blue cheese sauce I made to go with it? Well, I'll add that in as a bonus, because the sticky chicken just wouldn't be the same without it!

This is more of a method than a recipe. I mostly tossed things together, and tasted it, and added other things. So go wild! You want some spice? Add a pinch of chilli flakes, cumin or cayenne pepper. Want it fruitier? Mix in some pineapple juice. This is a flexible dish, so be creative with what you want... And with that, I give you:

{Image source: wwny, flickr}

Sweet Sticky Chicken
Served 2, with leftovers

Ingredients:
Chicken pieces (I used 5 chicken drumsticks)
Barbeque sauce
Chutney
Juice of 1 orange
2 tsp brown sugar
1 heaped tsp finely minced garlic
Salt and fresh black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut 2 deep slashes into each piece of chicken, more if its a big piece, like a thigh or a breast. This helps the marinade/sauce mixture penetrate more deeply.
3. Mix all the ingredients together in an oven proof dish, large enough to hold the chicken pieces.
4. Put each piece of chicken into the dish with the mixture, rolling the pieces around in the mixture to ensure even coating.
5. When all are in, pop the whole lot into the oven, but don't run away! You'll need to keep turning the chicken, to avoid it drying out in the oven. I turned my pieces every 10 minutes or so for about 30-40 minutes.
6. Then turn the grill on, and grill for a few minutes, or until the chicken is sticky and slightly caramelised.

Blue Cheese Sauce

{Image source: Oakmonster, flickr}

Ingredients:
130 ml sour cream
2/3 wedge of blue veined cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
A little milk to thin if necessary

Method:

1. Put the blue cheese and sour cream into a dish. I have a smoothie cup thing that came with my stick blender that's quite good for this.
2. Using the stick blender, whizz the two together until combined. This will both integrate the blue cheese into the sour cream, and thin the sour cream slightly.
3. Dribble in a little milk if the mixture seems too thick, and add salt and pepper to taste. I only added some pepper, since my blue cheese was quite salty

Serve the chicken with a mixed salad and the blue cheese sauce for dipping. This is rich, yes, but delicious, and quite fast! While the chicken is cooking, you can make the blue cheese sauce and salad, and by the time all that has come together, you're good to go.

Enjoy!

Guest Post: Ashleigh with Sticky Chicken Wings

Hi! As I have mentioned, while I'm away on holiday, some of my lovely blog and twitter friends have offered to guest post for me! Blown away by this amazing offer, I've given them pretty much free reign to write what they like, and just LOOK at what they've come up with! 

Here's Ashleigh (my real life and twitter friend) with something amazing, just for you. Take it away!

When I offered to write an article for this blog I hadn’t quite thought it through. You see, I’m an on-the-go kinda girl. As much as I love cooking, I just don’t have the time. Being a young professional is hard work, especially when your social life is so packed that you have 5 minutes to change, touch up makeup and prepare drinks and snacks!
 
Luckily for me, I live in a giant house with lots of inspiration for quick, delicious meals, especially quick meals for lots of people. And I entertain a LOT of people. One of my housemates, Anya Klaasen, is from the United States and she introduced my friends and I to the most delicious chicken wings ever made in the comfort of one’s home. And the best part? They were CHEAP to make, and I didn’t have to spend time in the kitchen checking on dinner while my friends drank wine in the courtyard!
 
These babies only take 10 minutes to prepare, and you only dirty 3 dishes the whole time: bowl, spoon, baking tray. Sounds like a dream, yes?

Sticky Chicken Wings
 
Ingredients:
 
3 packs chicken wings (around 26 wings)
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons BBQ spice
6 tablespoons Paprika
2 tablespoons origanum
Red wine vinegar to make a paste
 
Method:

1. Put the oven on grill.
2. Mix the spices and sugar in a bowl. Add enough red wine vinegar to make a paste.
3. Rub the paste into each chicken wing and place it upside down on a baking tray.
4. Once you’ve done all of them, put in the oven for 15 min.
5. Take the wings out, turn them over, and baste them with any leftover paste. Put them back for 20 min.

Serve as snacks or as a meal with salad.

Thanks Anya for such an easy recipe! We ended up serving them as a main dish with salad on the side. I love cooking elaborate meals on weekends, but during the week I rock the 10-minute-meal.

Guest Post: Nina Timm with Chicken Liver Pate

As I have mentioned, while I'm away on holiday, some of my lovely blog and twitter friends have offered to guest post for me! Blown away by this amazing offer, I've given them pretty much free reign to write what they like, and just LOOK at what they've come up with!

Here's Nina Timm from My Easy Cooking with something amazing, just for you. Take it away!

Another one of my most popular recipes on the internet is this dead easy Chicken Liver Pate. You can make this in bulk and freeze or make a fresh batch every time you need one. This recipe always works well as a pasta sauce (I kid you not). For the pasta sauce you just do not blend the livers, keep them whole and stir into hot pasta. Add a few dry chilli flakes and you have them, this is just the dish to keep winter at bay!!

Chicken Livers....you either love them or you don't. Some people, like me, would sneak into the kitchen at night and eat the Chicken Liver Pate in spoonfuls from the fridge and others are appalled by the idea of eating offal. I suggest you give this recipe a try and then make up your mind. The pate is smooth, velvety and so delicious! I paired my pate with fried sage and cherries and got quite a reaction from my guests, but you can try it with crackers, rustic bread, whatever you feel like!

Ingredients

500gr chicken livers - fresh or frozen (if using frozen, then thaw it first)
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic - chopped
fresh thyme or oregano
125ml cream
1 Tbs brandy
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and black pepper
olive oil
2 Tbsp clarified butter

Method:

1. Fry the onion and garlic in some olive oil in a pan until the onion is soft and translucent. 
2. Add the chicken livers and herbs and cook until the liver is still pinkish, but not raw anymore.
3. Add the contents of the pan to a blender and blend until it has a smooth and silky consistency.
4. While the machine is running add the cream, brandy and lemon juice. 
5. Taste and add salt and black pepper to taste. 
6. Spoon the liver pate into two small dishes and top with the melted butter. Wait until the pate has cooled down, cover and refrigerate until needed!

Bacon Wrapped Baby Potatoes

These are also known as little bites of heaven.

Now, this is the first recipe I have ever posted that I haven't made myself, but I think you need to know about this before I FINALLY get around to making it, whenever that may be. These delicious little bites of heaven will make you happy, they will make your children, your husband, any friends you choose to bless with them happy. In fact, if you like bacon, you will be happy. So brace yourself.

{Image Source}

Bacon Wrapped Baby Potatoes
(yes, every word needs capitalising, they are that important.)

Ingredients
Bag of baby potatoes
Packet of streaky bacon
Olive oil
Garlic
Green herbs (thyme, oreganum, parsley)
Black pepper
Salt

Method

1. Boil potatoes in water with salt, until just cooked. Remove from the water, drain and put into a dish big enough to hold them, and some liquid. Cover the potatoes in a mixture of olive oil, garlic and herbs, and grind black pepper and a little sea salt over them, bearing in mind that bacon is salty in itself.
2. Leave for 30 minutes.
3. Remove marinaded potatoes from liquid. Wrap a strip of bacon around each potato, securing the end with a toothpick. Place in a large cookie tray, and when they're all done, pop them under the preheated grill until the bacon starts to get crispy, but not burnt.
4. Serve warm to your adoring audience, and revel in the delightfulness! These were served at a party I went to on the weekend, and were the first thing to go! Delicious! I'll be making these for my next party!

PS. I imagine that these would also be beautiful marinaded in a olive oil and rosemary, and then just before you put them into the oven, pour a teaspoon of brown sugar onto each one. That would probably turn them into sticky delights!

Have fun with these!

Linda's Chocolate Fridge Bars

Hi!

So, if you haven't already entered, I'm hosting a little giveaway with Taste of Cape Town! To win one of two double standard tickets to the show at the end of March, just leave a comment on this post, and the two of the most interesting/funny/quirky posters get a set of double tickets! It really is that easy!

{Image source: Tasumi, flickr}

But in other news. I have a new recipe! Yes. And it's my first sweet on the blog! I tend not to make that many desserts. I just tend to prefer to cook, rather than bake, and although I love puddings, cakes and so on, I just don't have time to make them often. I used to make a killer malva pudding, but that went the way of the dinosaurs, and my last attempt was a flat, soggy mass. Gross.. But this easy, delicious recipe was given to me by Linda, my Martha-Stewart-in-the-making friend (seriously, she bottles cherries, and makes lemon cordial, divine!) So I figured even I couldn't mess this up, and I didn't. YAY me!

{Image source: =-.0=, flickr}

This is chocolate-y heaven! And it's SIMPLE. Even I, in my wonderful, don't-make-dessert way couldn't mess this up. Ok, my sister probably can, but if you can microwave butter, you can make this. And lick the bowl. Yes, do it. It will be good.

Now, without further ado, I give you .... (drumroll, please)


Linda's (Amazing, incredible, intense) Chocolate Fridge Bars!

Ingredients

250g butter (I used stork margerine for baking)

500g icing sugar (powdered/confectioners sugar for my US readers)

40g cocoa (1/3 cup)

2 eggs (I used extra large, I think, but I don't know if the size would make all THAT much difference)

2 packets marie/tennis biscuits (I used half a pack of each, and it looked like enough to me; tennis biscuits are graham crackers) 

Method

1. Melt butter in a microwave proof, deep bowl in the microwave.

2. Sift in icing sugar and cocoa (I didn't sift, I just mixed it in with a balloon whisk to break it up.)

3. Beat the two eggs, then stir them in.

4. Microwave the entire thing for 2 minutes on high.

5. Remove from the microwave, and break up biscuits. Add the broken biscuit pieces, and stir into the mixture. Stop when it looks like if you add more biscuit it won't be covered by the mixture.

6. Pour the mixture into a flat, rectangular dish.

7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and while it's still soft, remove from the fridge, and cut into pieces, still in the dish. Put it back into the fridge to finish setting. (Don't forget to do this, I hear trying to cut it fully set has broken knives.)

Et, voila! You're done! Break apart the pieces, and feed to all your friends! This is great to take to picnics for an easy dessert after a big meal, or even to just keep in the house for when friends come over! Don't keep it for too long, or else the eggs will go off, but I predict that this chocolate-y goodness won't last long!

A Long Time Coming - Fishcakes!

Hi!

I know I've been incredibly lax lately, but all these public holidays are really messing around with my domestic goddess ambitions! I made this about 2 weeks ago, but I've been having a tough time actually writing it down, bloggers block is hard!

So I got the recipe for these fishcakes from.... somewhere! Yup, as usual, in the time between making it and writing it down, I've totally forgotten where I got it from, so if anyone recognises it, please say so! I'd love to credit this genius! OK, so I'll get on with it!

Tuna fishcakes
Ingredients: Makes 10-13 balls (size dependent)
2 x cans solid meat tuna
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1/4 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 yellow pepper, finely chopped
handful chives, chopped
250ml couscous
1 egg
flour for dusting 


Method:

1. After chopping everything above, toss all of it, except the flour, into a bowl and mix. When I made it, it was a bit watery, and didn't bind well at first. I think next time I make it, I'll use some more couscous and possibly some flour in the mix, to help bind it together. 
2. When everything's mixed together, and the tuna's all broken up, form small balls about the size of golf balls. 
3. Roll them in flour, and if they aren't sticking together well, use a bit more flour and press them harder together. 
4. Put them all on a plate, once rolled, and stick them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to let them harden. 
5. Heat some oil in a pan, and roll the balls in a little more flour, then placing them in the heated oil. Don't have the temperature on too high, the balls will stick to the bottom of the pan. Remember also, that the tuna doesn't have to cook, just warm through, since it's fine to eat straight out of the can. 

Fry the balls on a medium heat, until golden brown, turning regularly. It should take about 10-15 minutes. Take them out and place on a piece of kitchen towel to absorb any excess oil, and serve with garlic baby potatoes or mash, and veggies or a salad. This is a lovely light meal, and so quick, cheap and easy to make! Enjoy!