"Chocohola" Truffles, Pure Decadence!

For those, like me who are obsessed with anything chocolate related, especially when rich and decadent and covered in more chocolate or nuts....will appreciate this one. 

I actually recently made these for the first time and they were so successful that I have decided to share with you lot! 

The batch I made made up about 50 chocolates in total! I literally couldn't believe how far the mixture went, it just kept going!

I personally made them for the guys I work with as a little Christmas treat and they seemed to go down really well, which was pleasing. I packaged them up (about 8 truffles each) in a box, that I decorated with my own home-made paper with a tag noting their name and what truffles they could choose. I had so much mixture left over I used some for a dinner party I had with a great food and restaurant blogger friend of mine!

Ingredients:

280g good-quality dark chocolate , 70% cocoa solids

284ml pot double cream

50g unsalted butter

The Making Process:

• Chop the chocolate and tip into a large bowl. For mine, I used 2 100g bars of 70% orange chocolate and 80g of 80% chocolate.

• Put the cream and butter into a saucepan and heat gently until the butter melts and the cream has started to simmer. Do NOT stop stirring as the cream can stick and burn really easily.

• As soon as it's really begun simmering, remove from the heatand pour over the chocolate. Stir the chocolate and cream together until you have a smooth mixture of chocolaty velvet!

• Add any flavourings to the truffle mix at this stage - I added a tsp of Vanilla essence. But you could also try bourbon, Grand Marnier, coconut rum or the zest and juice of an orange), or just leave plain. 

• Leave in the bowl to cool and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hrs.

• To shape the truffles, dip a melon baller in hot water and scoop up balls of the mixture- or you could also use spoon measures or just a plain old tsp (so long as the mixture is malleable enough!
• Roll the truffles into a ball - can be VERY messy!!! -  then drop the truffles onto greaseproof paper. Apparently a good tip is to - lightly coat your hands in flavourless oil (such as sunflower) and roll the truffles between your palms. I however just totally went for it and was head to toe of quickly melting  chocolate. 
• Now the fun part: Cover your truffles immediately after shaping. Tip toppings into a bowl and gently roll the truffles until evenly coated, then chill on greaseproof paper. 
• Try: crushed, shelled pistachio nuts; lightly toasted desiccated coconut; chopped up flake, or shave some white chocolate, or roll in cocoa powder, or just stick a plain old whole almond on top of the truffle. 
• To coat in chocolate, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Melt 100g milk, dark or white chocolate for 10 truffles. Allow chocolate to cool slightly. With a fork, pick up one truffle at a time and hold over the bowl of melted chocolate. Spoon the chocolate over the truffle until well-coated. Place on the baking tray, then chill.
• Serving is totally up to you. For me I placed 8-10 truffles in a grease proof lined card box, tied with ribbon and a label, noting especially that "THIS ITEM CONTAINS NUTS"!! You could also put them all in individual foil or paper cases inside small, lined boxes tied with ribbon. Keep in the fridge until you're ready to give them as they melt VERY quickly!

I took this recipe off the BBC Good Food Guide but have heavily adapted it to my own personal experience.

Skinny Prawn Curry for Kings

This is one of my favourite winter dishes. A quick, simple, colourful and extremely tasty dish for all! 

What you need, to make for two.

Ingredients:

One pack of cooked peeled king prawns (you can use any type of prawn though, the larger ones just tend to be more flavoursome and soak up the juices better)

One red onion 

One tin of chopped tomatoes

1 clove garlic

4 tsps paprika (smokey paprika would also be amazing)

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 bag spinach 

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1tsp curry powder

With my dish I normally make Irish potato flat breads but you could also have, brown rice, (or whatever you want) pitta bread, couscous, a baked potatoe... Oh the list is endless with this one! 

To make:

Fry off in a wok your red onion with some olive oil.

When soft and browning throw in your garlic for about 40 seconds or until it starts to colour. 

Now put in your spices, salt and pepper so it covers all the onion and garlic. You may want to add a couple of tbsps of water incase it's sticking! 

You can now add your tin of chopped tomatoes and let it simmer away for 5 minutes to let the flavours disperse- giving a regular stir to check its not sticking. 

Now add the prawns, you don't want to over cook them, I usually let them simmer in the mixture for about 4-5minutes. The flavours will infuse the prawns quickly.

Serving:

In a wide or shallow bowl place a hand full of fresh spinach. 

On top ladle in your curry- as much as you want as this is a healthy one!

On top add a dollop of Creme fraiche with a sprinkling of rock salt (if you want) and a sprig of coriander.

For the flat potato bread follow this recipe: 

And voila, a delicious meal in around 25 minutes! What more could you ask for? It tastes pretty great too! 

America. . . I salute you!

Two weeks ago I received an order for 2 Festibelle headbands from a lady in America- my FIRST official festibelle order that wasn't a) through my mother b) through my friends or c) through my work colleagues....Not that I am not grateful for all the sales and kindness people have shown me but having a random sale was a truly ecstatic moment. . . Especially when realising that my Festibelle page on Etsy had been clicked on over 100s of other headbands; thought about and chosen.

The lovely American lady and I discussed at length what colours to go for - ribbon wise -and she sent me a picture of what her two young bridesmaids would be wearing. After making up two different coloured bands and sending photos of them to her she decided on the ivory ribbon with baby pink flowers. Pretty and very feminine for the little girls.

As with my usual pattern for bridesmaids headbands I finished them off with synthetic pearls and heart shaped buttons with a pearly lustre.

I believe packaging is very important and for me it is the icing on the cake. It  finishes the product off, consummately;  all of the hard work that went in to creating them, set in some beautiful homemade wrapping paper and cord. 

On this occasion, I even had a little helper to choose which wrapping paper was best! In the end there was a little bit of "pass the parcel"  and  we agreed to use both pieces.

All bubble wrapped and packaged  ready to be sent! Hope it arrives safely and in time for their mid-October wedding. No doubt the sun will be shining- unlike here (the rain's currently slamming against the window). I really hope they send me some pictures of the bridesmaids. I've seen them on the adults at Hannah's wedding, so it would now be lovely to see them on the younger girls too!

 Will keep you posted with any reactions and any pictures I receive! :)

Emi x

Update 20 December 2012: 

A couple of weeks ago I received this precious photo of the two beautiful little bridesmaids wearing my headbands at the wedding in The Hamptons, USA. It looked like a magical and unforgettable occasion. I am so proud to see the Festibelles looking so perfect. Beaming! 

Berry successful baking...

As Mary Berry stressed at The Cake and Bake show last rainy Sunday afternoon, 'Don't use fat free or  low fat ingredients in your baking!  Just don't! Help the farmers and the taste and have a smaller slice!' (Well....Maybe not quite her exact words but something along those lines!)

I have always been a foodie, growing up with my mothers home- cooked food; jams, chutneys and my favourite spiced apple and cinnamon tart. Not forgetting my fathers "special" curry recipe (given to him from an ageing Bahamian woman countless yrs ago) as a  regular back from weekly boarding school Saturday night treat!.  Food to me is all about enjoyment and experimentation and I like nothing more than cooking up a feast for my friends, family and boyfriend. 

The older I get ( ripe old age of 25 now) the more I like to indulge, not only in the delight of restaurant cuisines that London especially has to offer (we'll save that for another blog) but also for my own personal gastronomic creations. 

Diagnosed with the unfortunate Type one diabetes just a month away from my 18th birthday (when alco pops should have FINALLY become a legal weekly indulgence!!) I had to baton down the sugar and carb hatches and re-evaluate my teenage diet! (A hard task when your used to eating whatever and whenever). Anyway- without boring you on the trials and tribulations of T1 (this "ain't" no sob story!) I have spent yrs working out recipes that can be kinder on the waist line,  easier on the teeth and for diabetics, less insulin! Hurrah. 

Now, I'm no miracle worker; unfortunately I haven't yet mastered the double choc chip hazelnut, marshmallow and  clotted cream muffin for 0 insulin, 0 carbs, 0 sugar, 0 fat. However, I have trialled, tasted and adapted lots of recipes in the hope of allowing my body to enjoy and indulge in all those naughty things all you non diabetics can do! 

Anyway, to wet your appetite and tantalise your taste buds I'm going to start with two recipes I regularly make . The first being a perfect winter warmer (very low carb, low sugar and low fat) and the second, a "fruity chocolatey spongey treat". . .ha!

Butternut squash and chorizo soup with brown rice.

What you need:

1 butternut squash (medium size - chop in to 1 inch cubes)

2 onions 

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp salt

1 chicken (or veg) stock cube

1tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

Twist of pepper

Chorizo

2 tbsp Olive oil or butter

Brown rice

Process:

1) Sweat off onions (finely chopped) and butter nut squash in olive oil or butter until onions are soft

2) Add spices and sweat off for a further 2 mins- if starts to stick add a tbsp at a time of water

3) Add chicken stock in 1pint of water 

4) Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes (until butternut squash is cooked)

5) Allow to cool slightly and blend in food processor or with hand mixer until a smooth and velvety texture

In a separate pan:

1) cook off 50g (per person- this is a small amount and therefore v low carbs for a meal and those taking insulin) brown rice in water

2) bring to boil and simmer until cooked, the water should have disappeared and the rice be pitted and cooked

In a separate pan:

1) Fry off cubes of chorizo in olive oil (1/4 tsp) - PLEASE NOTE: chorizo produces its own oil. This will be very hot and may spit so be aware

2) You should only need to fry for 2/3 minutes until chorizo has developed a crunchy coating

Serving:

1) Add cooked rice to the bottom of a deep soup bowl

2) Ladle soup slowly (not to break or move rice) on top of the rice

3) Add chorizo (4/5 pieces per person) to the top of the soup

For those wanting wanting even less carbs, just don't add any brown rice! 

A quick extra tip: Don't waste the butternut squash skin! It's delicious. Put them on to an oven tray with a quick spritz of olive oil then in to the oven at 200 degrees Celcius
 (fan assisted) for the duration you are cooking and prepping everything else: about 30 / 40 mins in total. 

The skins will crisp up and make a lovely accompaniment - make sure to add some rock salt on top!

Enjoy!  

Blissful Berry, Chocolate and Yoghurt Muffins

What you need:

 1/2 cups Self raising flour

1/3 cup rolled oats (any oats you have really!!)

3 eggs

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup plain yoghurt (I always use Yeo Valley natural yoghurt-NOT low fat version!) 

1/3 cup veg oil

200 g mixed berries (I always use 3/4 raspberries to 1/4 blueberries- but totally up to you, good to experiment!)

100g chopped up 70% chocolate (edible chunks - 1 cm cube) - if you want to be naughtier you can use white chocolate or milk choc- or none - for you healthy bears!

Process:

1) Preheat oven to 200degrees . 180 for fan assisted ovens. 

2) Put out 8 muffin cases - grease if necessary

3) Sift flour into mixing bowl. Stir in oats, eggs, sugar and yoghurt and oil and then mix. After a slight mix- you do not want to over mix- this isn't a cake, add the berries and chocolate and mix in. 

4) Bake muffins about for 23-25 mins. Check after 20 with a clean knife in the middle of one, if it comes out clean then it will be ready. You never want an over cooked muffin! 

5) Stand muffins on a cake stand/ wire wrack

6) Taste and smirk at your amazing delight! 

\

The blueberry colour splits nicely

If you don't have a cake stand just use some old biscuit tins and layer for height and colour

Tilly likes to get involved with any baking I do! 

Delicious!

Enjoy baking / creating and let me know if you have any questions! Would love to hear how you get on / what you might change/ enhance etc.

Until next time! 

xx

A Beautiful Welsh Wedding in the Wye Valley. . .

On Saturday 8th September 2012 our wonderful friends Hannah and Richard married in Trellech Church, Monmouthshire.  With hardly a cloud in the sky the Wye Valley was flooded with sunlight and warmth as the newly weds posed for photos.

This was also a very magical day for me as not only did I get to see my dear friends get married,  I also saw my very own "Festibelles" in action for the first time on four of Hannah's bridesmaids.

In the weeks running up to the wedding we had spent some time discussing the colour scheme  for the dresses that the bridesmaids would be wearing. On deciding to match the bridesmaid's dresses I sourced some beautiful sage green satin ribbon from the John Lewis haberdashery department, along with some synthetic pearls and pearl heart buttons.  

When the doors opened at 2pm on Saturday 8th September and we saw the beautiful bride enter arm in arm with her beaming father, I was so proud and relieved to see the bridesmaids, each wearing a Festibelle headband; better than I could have ever imagined.  The whole outfit worked so well and the colours blended perfectly. Success. 

Arriving in style

The girls wore the headbands throughout the day which was a great relief to me and they  gave me very positive feedback. I try, when making them, to coat the wire in as much cord and ribbon as possible to improve the comfort.

Beautiful Bride and Bridesmaid

Having  seen the success of Hannah's wedding and how beautiful all the girls looked I am very excited to progress my range and hopefully do more weddings. I am in the process of looking into winter flowers and headpieces to see what I can create for the coming season.

For any more information, pictures or my range of jewellery please see the following:

Etsy

Twitter: @emiloudesign

The morning after. . . and the sign of an incredible Welsh countryside wedding! 

Below are a couple of the proto-types I trialled before creating the final Festibelle headbands. 

Emi xx