Gingerbread Pandas (Wheat Free with a Dairy Free Option)

For my little sister (well, not so little now: she is eighteen after all), I indulged in her somewhat avid fascination with pandas and made her some gingerbread versions!

This was my first foray into dipping in thinned royal icing. I had considered dipping them completely in white chocolate, but I thought I'd give royal icing dipping a go instead; I felt that dipped fully in white chocolate, then dipped in certain places in dark chocolate, would be super chocolate overkill. Besides, the crunchy sugary coating in these ones makes me think of ice, which is appropriate.

To make the bears, I used this dough recipe, using golden syrup and adding a pinch or two of ground nutmeg. I then chilled it for about an hour before rolling out to about a quarter inch (3 millimetres) thickness and cutting out with a bear cutter. I baked them for about 10 minutes, until they were a little browned around the edges

I used some royal icing that I had made to ice the Christmas cake (these days, blasphemously, I use packs of instant royal icing because it's so much more convenient), and thinned it out with some cold water, a teaspoon at a time, until it resembled melted chocolate; a nice, running consistency. I dipped the front of the bears in the glaze, let the excess drip off while gently tapping the hand holding the biscuit off the side of the bowl, then put in on a wire rack. I cleaned up any uneven edges with a cocktail stick.

It took about an hour for the glaze to dry, and I then used melted dark chocolate to add details: dark legs, torso, ears, eye patches, and facial features. I used some royal icing at piping consistency to add eyes.

I was very pleased with how these little guys turned out! I hope my sister thinks they're as cute as I do...

Peanut Brittle (Dairy- and Gluten Free)

For more festive sugar craft: peanut brittle! A good and simple treat, made with only two ingredients (or three if you want a little buttery richness).

My oldest brother seems to subsist almost entirely on dry roasted peanuts, crackers, and the odd bowl of curry and rice. I have no idea how he is as alive and fit as he is, but he manages somehow. So, for this Christmas, I decided to make him some lovely sweet and crunchy brittle,

This is a very simple sugar craft project that even people who have never worked with sugar can make: only two ingredients, a frying pan, and no sugar thermometer.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya
☑ Yeast
☑ Dairy
☑ Gluten

CONTAINS
☒ Nuts
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) roasted salted peanuts
• 7 ounces (200 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) water
• Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) butter

HOW-TO:

• Cut out a large sheet of non-stick paper, about a foot (30 centimetres) long. Brush lightly with flavourless oil.
• Place all the ingredients in a large frying pan over low heat. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved into the water and become a syrup; if using the butter, heat gently until the butter and sugar melt together.
• Increase the heat to medium-high, and cook while continuously stirring. The mixture will go through a few stages: first, the sugar will melt, then it will seize up into a crumbly mess, and then it will melt again, turning a golden brown colour. Please be patient, and don't think it's gone horribly wrong when it goes crumbly.
• Once the brittle starts turning brown, be very careful not to burn it. Cook it to a nice, deep, nutty brown colour, but no further: the sugar will burn, turn black, taste disgusting, and possibly catch fire. 
• Pour the mixture out onto the oiled paper and spread out thinly, making sure the peanuts are all touching off each other and compact. Neaten the edges into a rectangle. Do this quickly, because it doesn't take long to set.
• Score the brittle into squares or rectangles with a long blade sharp knife. Allow to cool completely and set; about an hour.
• Snap into pieces and wrap well in either clingfilm or cellophane, then keep in an airtight container; this brittle gets sticky quickly on exposure to air.

Homemade Chocolate Box Strikes Back: 8 Flavours!

For another Christmas gift, that requires good care and attention: homemade chocolate selection box!

As many of you may have guessed, I'm fascinated by chocolate boxes. When I was a small child, I remember watching the film Matilda, an American adaptation of a Roald Dahl classic. The villain, Miss Trunchbull, has a box of chocolates that only she can eat. I remember seeing that scene in the film and thinking "those look so nice!", and thinking that a box of chocolates was such a grown up thing to get.

Over the last few years, I've made a few different kinds of chocolate boxes: some that are dipped, some that are moulded, some that are vegan, some that are milk and dark, and all took a lot of time and effort. But one thing is universal for all the different kinds: chocolate is Hell to work with.

Chocolate is very fickle: if you don't melt it properly, or mix it too much or not enough, it sets as a soft, streaky mess. I've had good and bad luck with chocolate, and this time it was particularly difficult. Humidity, air pressure, and temperature all play a big part in making or breaking good chocolate tempering. The first batch of milk chocolates I made this time around bloomed horribly: all grey streaky and spotty, I was heartbroken.

First batch of milk from the mould bloomed a lot, which made it unusable.

Bloomed chocolate; disaster.

Tempering chocolate without a thermometer is a matter of patience: you must use a bowl over warm water, and 'seed' the melted chocolate with un-melted chocolate. There are many videos available on YouTube about this process, which I recommend that you watch.

To make the chocolate shells, I melted the chocolate correctly to keep it in temper. I half-filled each hole in the mould, then using the tip of the teaspoon, I spread the chocolate up the sides. Placing a sheet of non-stick baking paper underneath a wire rack, I then put the mould upside-down on the wire rack, allowing the chocolate to dribble out of the mould, coating the sides, the excess spilling onto the paper. Once the dripping stopped, I turned the mould right side up and scraped the excess chocolate off the surface of the mould with a palette knife. I allowed the shells to cool at room temperature before filling, because putting in the fridge would run the risk of blooming the chocolate. I filled the individual shells leaving about 2 millimetres of a gap to cap with chocolate.

This chocolate box includes 5 moulded and filled flavours (in both milk and dark chocolate), and 2 dipped milk chocolate flavours:

Soft Caramel
To fill these chocolates, I used the same caramel recipe that I used for my banoffee pie: 7 ounces (200 grammes) light brown sugar, 7 ounces (200 grammes) evaporated milk, 2½ ounces (60 grammes) of butter, and 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence. I mixed all the ingredients, except for the vanilla essence, in a medium saucepan, and cooked it gently over a low heat until the butter and sugar melted together fully, then brought it to the boil. I boiled it gently for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickened into a creamy saucy consistency, and darkened slightly. I allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Pecan Nut Praline
To make the praline for the truffle filling, I put 2 ounces (55 grammes) of pecan nuts, 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar, and 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) of water into a frying pan. Over a low heat, I heat the mixture until the sugar dissolved, then increased the heat to medium-high. I cooked the mixture until the sugar became thick and dark brown. I poured this mixture onto some oiled non-stick baking paper, and let it set completely. I pulsed the praline pieces in a blender to a powder, then mixed it into some chocolate truffle mixture (see below) before using it to fill the shells.

Strawberry Fondant
I mixed some strained strawberry jam in equal weight quantities with icing sugar to thicken it slightly, and used this to fill the shells.

Lemon Truffle
To make the lemon filling, I used 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of milk, 1 ounce (30 grammes) of butter, 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces, 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence, and the zest of half a lemon. I heated the sugar, lemon zest, and milk together in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolved. I brought it to the boil and cook for about a minute or two until a little syrupy. I removed it from the heat and stirred in the butter, chocolate, and vanilla essence, then returned it to a low heat, mixing until smooth. I allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Coffee Crème
To make the lemon filling, I used 1 ounce (30 grammes) of caster sugar, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of strong coffee, 1 ounce (30 grammes) of butter, 3½ ounces (100 grammes) white chocolate, chopped into pieces, and 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence. I used the same technique to make it as the lemon filling, and allowed it to cool before using it to fill the shells.

Almond Marzipan
I made some marzipan using this recipe, and used it to make 1 inch (2½ centimetre) balls, pressing them into ovals, and dipping them in properly melted chocolate.

Turkish Delight
I made some Turkish delight using this recipe, and cut it into 1 inch (2½ centimetre) pieces, dusted very lightly with icing sugar (brushing off any excess) and dipping it twice in properly melted chocolate, allowing to set fully after the first dipping, and sprinkling on some coloured sprinkles.

White and Dark Truffle
These ones were a bit of an experiment, but they turned out nicely. I mixed equal quantities of melted dark chocolate and buttercream icing together until it became a thick mixture, then chilled it overnight. I allowed the mix to return to a cool room temperature before rolling into balls. I chilled them thoroughly before dipping in melted white chocolate. These ones were very tasty,

Turkish Delight (Naturally Free From Everything)

Here's another recipe in the Christmas gifts series: Turkish delight!

I'm going to be honest: I really don't like Turkish delight. I think it's vile: flower flavoured jelly. However, I do know that my brother really likes it, and it's associated with the festive season. Even thought I don't like it, it's a good simple and quick homemade sweet to give to someone as a gift.

Traditionally, Turkish delight is made my boiling a sugar syrup to soft ball stage, while simultaneously cooking cornflour, lemon juice, and water in another pot until it becomes gluey. The syrup is added bit by bit to the flour, mixing all the time, and then when fully incorporated it is cooked on a low heat for about an hour until pale yellow. The long slow cooking allows the acid in the lemon juice to work on the cornflour, chemically changing the starch. It takes forever, and uses a lot of equipment. I had given up on making Turkish delight when I found out that it was so complicated. But then I found another way of making it in a manner which I didn't expect.

I follow a lot of Indian cookery blogs and YouTubers: what can I say, I love curry and Indian sweets. Usually, when I watch a video that's suggested to me on the YouTube homepage, I also end up watching a load of other related videos that are shown in the sidebar, even if I don't know what they are. I came across a video for Bombay Halwa, also known as Mumbai or Karachi Halwa, which is remarkably similar to Turkish delight, but a lot simpler.

Bombay Halwa has more cornflour than Turkish delight and also uses a lot of ghee, but a quicker technique that doesn't require a thermometer, sugar testing, or multiple saucepans. So, I used the cornflour to sugar ratio from the Turkish delight recipe, and the water quantities and cooking technique from the Halwa recipe. The results were very good!

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Dairy (use substitute in italics for dairy free)
☑ Gluten
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

•  7 ounces (200 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes; 4 tablespoons) cornflour
• 5½ fluid ounces (160 millilitres) water, or the syrup
• 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) water, for the cornflour
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) rosewater, or 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) lemon zest if you don't like the rose flavour
• Red or yellow food colouring
• Icing sugar for coating
• Cornflour for coating

HOW-TO:

• Line a loaf tin with non-stick baking paper, and brush the paper with flavourless oil. Alternatively, you can use a sillicone loaf tin and brush it with oil.
• In a bowl, mix together the cornflour and the according water together until all the cornflour has dissolved and there are no lumps.
• In a large saucepan, heat the sugar, lemon juice, and the according water until the sugar dissolves . Once dissolved, bring to a boil and cook until it had slightly thickened.
• Remove the pan from the heat, and add in the cornflour slurry (making sure to give it a little stir first to lift any cornflour that's settled on the bottom of the bowl). Stir until combined.
• Turn the heat down to medium, and return the pan to the heat. Cook, gently but definitely bubbling, until the mixture has become transparent, thick, and gluey; about 20 minutes. You must stir often, otherwise it will burn.
• Once it has become thick and jellyish, take it from the heat and stir in the rosewater and enough red food colouring to tint it pink.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and allow to set at room temperature overnight, or at least 8 hours.
• Once set, mix some icing sugar in equal parts with cornflour (about 3 tablespoons (45 millilitres) each) and sprinkle some of this mixture onto the work surface. Turn the jelly out onto the dusted surface, peeling off any paper.
• Cut the jelly out with a long oiled knife. Coat each piece in the icing sugar and cornflour mixture. Keep in an airtight container with any leftover coating mixture.
• You can also coat the jellies in chocolate. Dust off any excess icing sugar, and then dip in tempered chocolate.

Dairy-Free Baileys

A repeat of last year's present to me good friend and camera assistant, Niamh, this year I have made another improved batch of dairy-free Baileys; a cream liqueur made with whiskey.

I have a lot of friends, family members, and acquaintances who have varying degrees of food intolerances and sensitivities, which is how I got into this kind of alternative cooking in the first place. Of all the sensitivities, however, I've found dairy the hardest to emulate.

I love dairy: milk, cream, butter, ice-cream, chocolate, toffees and fudges and all sorts are my favourites, and having a mug of hot chocolate before bedtime is part of my typical night time routine. My brother has a Pakistani friend, who tells him that many good stories of revelry in Pakistan begin with "We bought a load of ice-cream", the same way that Irish stories begin with "We bought a load of beer", and these are the kinda stories that I need more of in my life. As such, I find that dairy-free things just lack something: they lack that richness and sweetness that is associated with cow dairy products.

However, a close second to cow milk is coconut milk: it's rich, sweet, and creamy. Even though it's not the same, it's nice in its own way. This is what I use generally when I replace cow milk; although, I have heard that oat milk is an even better mimic of cow milk.

So, to make a dairy-free Baileys, I reached for some coconut milk. It turned out very well; a good second best to real Baileys.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Dairy (use substitute in italics for dairy free)
☑ Gluten
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• One 14 fluid ounce can (400 millilitres) of full fat coconut milk
• One 14 fluid ounce can (400 millilitres) of light coconut milk
• 2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 millilitres) light brown sugar, to taste
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) instant coffee powder
• Two pinches of ground cinnamon
• A pinch of ground nutmeg
• 3 to 5 shots (105 to 175 millilitres) Irish Whiskey, to taste

HOW-TO:

• In a large saucepan, heat the two coconut milks together, stirring, until smooth. Heat until gently steaming.
• In a glass, mix the cocoa powder and about 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) of the heated milk together to a paste. Add this to the rest of the milk. This makes sure the cocoa powder dissolves properly.
• Stir in the coffee powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then start adding the sugar a tablespoon at a time. Once the mixture is sweet enough, remove from the heat.
• Add in the whiskey, one shot at a time, until it's the right strength for you. I know my friend likes strong liqueurs, so I added in a good bit of Whiskey.
• Allow to cool before bottling in a 35 fluid ounce (1 litre) glass bottle

Good quality Irish whiskey is expensive, so this is a very special present. If you only want to use a little whiskey, you can spike only half the mixture and keep the other half for making nice coconut hot chocolate.

Fairy Cakes with Buttercream (Gluten-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

I have a lot of friends (and a mother) with a lot of allergies, and every friend has their own unique combination of allergies. So, I decided to kill all the birds with one stone by making an allergen free batch of fairy cakes, drawing on a few recipes I found online. It took a few attempts, but they turned out nicely!

These cakes are gluten-, egg-, and dairy free, meaning basically anyone can have them; the buttercream is made using vegetable margarine, too.

I did a lot of research before I made these. I remember last year sometime being introduced to the idea of American wacky cake, which was a recipe invented during the Depression era when butter and eggs were in short supply, making it suitable for dairy and egg allergy sufferers. I then decided to see if making wacky cake with gluten free flour would work, and it did. I followed the first recipe (which I found here) to the letter, but when made with gluten free flour it was a little greasy; I retried using a little more flour, and it was a success.

Now, I use self-raising gluten free flour, which has added raising agent and a touch of xanthan gum. If you can only find plain gluten free flour, per 6 ounces (170 grammes) of plain flour add in 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon (2 millilitres) xanthan gum, and sieve together.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Eggs
☑ Gluten

☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) self-raising gluten free flour (I use Doves Farm brand)
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons (45 millitres) cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 5 tablespoons (2½ fluid ounces; 75 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) water

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180°c (350°F, Gas Mk. 4) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
• Sieve the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt together into a large mixing bowl; make a well in the centre, and add the vanilla, oil, and water.
• Mix gently with a wooden spoon until the flour it just moistened. Don't over mix, or the cakes will by dense and dry.
• Divide the mix between the cases, filling each case to three-quarters full. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until spongy to touch and a cocktail stick comes out clean when poked through the middle of a cake.
• Allow to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before moving the cakes to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before icing.

I made some with the cocoa, and some without. The plain vanilla cakes I iced with raspberry buttercream, and the chocolate cakes I iced with chocolate buttercream. To make the buttercream, use the instructions inthis blog entry, and the ingredients listed below.

RASPBERRY BUTTERCREAM

• 1 ounce (30 grammes) vegetable margarine
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) raspberry jam
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar
• 1 or 2 teaspoons warm water

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

• 2 ounce (55 grammes) vegetable margarine
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cocoa powder
• 1 or 2 teaspoons warm water

Fit a piping bag with a half-inch (1 centimetre) closed star tip, and fill with one of the buttercreams. Pipe roses onto the appropriate cakes, by starting in the centre of each cake, piping outwards in a tight spiral until you have covered the whole top of the cake. The result should look like a rose.

And there you are! Some delicious gluten free vegan fairy cakes. I am yet to experiment a bit more with this recipe and make some more adventurous concoctions, but these are a good start. I bought these really pretty boxes in the local Dealz (PoundLand) and they went down a real treat.

Chocolate Truffles (Gluten and Dairy Free)

This weekend was the 25th birthday of one of my longest standing and closest friends, and her boyfriend organised a surprise birthday party for her inviting me and all her other friends to Dublin where they live and work.

About this time last year she was diagnosed with a large amount of food allergies and I had to keep this in mind when coming up with a present for her, which actually turned out to be rather easy. I've had enough practise at developing recipes for people with obscure food allergies at this stage I can pretty much make these things up as I go along.

In truth when you buy chocolate truffles by the bagful from any sweet shop they're not made using the traditional chocolate and fresh cream ganache approach. I was suspicious of this in the first place when I saw speciality truffles advertised as being "made with fresh cream", which made me think what are they usually made of? After reading the backs of a few bags of cheap sweet shop truffles I learnt the answer to this: they are usually made of chocolate, vegetable or coconut oil, and gluscose syrup.

I know this approach is to cut costs for the chocolate manufacturers, but in my case it would be necessary to create chocolate truffles that my friend could eat without exploding.

In the box I also included some chocolate dipped coconut ice which I made using this recipe, however I replaced the milk with half coconut milk, half water.



FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Gluten
☑ Nuts
☑ Eggs
☑ Dairy
☑ Refined sugar products

CONTAINS
☒ Cocoa


 INGREDIMENTS

For the truffles:

• 7 ounces (200 grammes) dark chocolate, at least 70%
• 2 fluid ounces (55 millilitres; 4 tablespoons) sunflower oil
• 2½ fluid ounces (75 millilitres; 5 tablespoons) honey
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

For coating:

• 5½ ounces (150 grammes) dark chocolate, at least 70%
• 2½ tablespoons (37 millitres) sunflower oil
• Or desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, coloured sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, flood consistency royal icing

HOW-TO 

• Melt all the truffle ingredients except the essence, if using, in either a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave set to "Defrost" in one minute bursts. Melt until smooth then remove from the heat.
• Stir in the vanilla essence and then allow to cool to room temperature. Chill in the fridge until fully set, about 6 hours or overnight.
• When it's time to roll the truffles, remove the ganache from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature for about an hour. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the ganache and roll into balls with your hands.
• If you are going to chocolate dip them, set them on a plate and allow to chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes. If you are not, simply drop the truffles into a coating of your choice and roll around to coat. Put the truffles into little cases if you have some.

To chocolate dip:

• To make the chocolate coating, melt the chocolate and oil together as above. Using a fork, lower each chilled truffle into the chocolate and roll around to coat. Raise the coated truffle from the chocolate and gently tap off the excess, allowing it to fall through the fork back into the bowl.
• Put the dipped truffles onto a tray lined with baking paper and allow to set completely at room temperature for at least 2 hours. If you like, you can add sprinkles or other decorations while the chocolate is still wet.
• Once set, put the truffles into little paper cases if you have some.

In my opinion, these are actually a lot nicer than regular cream-ganache truffles because they seem a little lighter and cleaner on the palate. You could also add other flavourings instead of the vanilla such as peppermint essence, grated orange zest, or fine espresso powder.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Variations on a Theme: Neapolitan Coconut Ice

Anniversary Gift: Chocolate Dipped Gingerbread Teddies (Wheat Free)

So, I finally settled on an idea for my parent's anniversary gift by combining my two ideas into one: making gingerbread and dipping it in chocolate. And here's the result!

I was going to make some elephants, but I realised that I had no elephant cutters, and my freezer drawers aren't big enough to roll the dough out into sheets and then freeze them, which is what needs to be done to free-hand cut biscuits when using a really soft dough. So, I just combined a flower cutter with a heart cutter to make two grown up teddies and then the same technique in he next size down to make the babies. I used this dough recipe, using treacle instead of golden syrup.

Mummy Bear and Daddy Bear

Little Anna and Nixie Bears

Little Andrew and Paddy Bears

Once they were cooked, the didn't look quite right: the lines where I had used multiple cutters were visible, and some of the biscuits had puffed up oddly. I'm still getting used to my new oven and weird stuff like that is common at the moment. So, if there's one thing I've learnt in my nearly two decades of baking things, it's when things look odd either a) ice them, or b) cover them in chocolate. I went with option B, of course.

The brown dipping chocolate was 3.5 ounces (100 grammes) milk chocolate, 2 ounces (55 grammes) white chocolate, and 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) sunflower oil melted together gently in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. For the love of all that's good and gracious, don't overheat it otherwise it'll go blotchy when it cools. It made them really pretty and smooth, and then I just decorated with a few touches of melted white chocolate, coloured with blue and pink.

I applied the white, blue and pink details not using a piping bag, but a medicine syringe. I went into my local pharmacy and asked for any auld plain medicine syringe for icing a cake, and they gave me a 2.5 millilitre syringe free of charge because they're nice like that. However, the syringe was very tricky to use because it only really had two responses to pressure: do nothing, or squeeze everything out at once... I made it work though.

To make the bows and noses, I squeezed a blob of chocolate and then using a cocktail stick dragged out the corners of the bows and drew the lips. I think they look a little bit more like mice than bears, but my parents copped that they were bears so I was more successful than I thought!

The box again this year was a challenge because the collection of teddies took up a lot of space. I bought two 42 pieces of coloured card, but it wasn't the heaviest card and had to be supplemented with an extra layer of card inside to make it more stable. Also, between me buying it and walking home it had become slightly crumpled.

All the fold marks are me doing an origami on it. I like to fold the boxes rather than glue them because I think it makes the corners sturdier.

So there we have it! Another successful anniversary gift to my parents. Happy anniversary, Mum and Dad!

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: Traditional Coconut Ice

Homemade Box of Chocolates = WIN

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, it's my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow and I decided to embark on a quest to make a selection box of chocolates from scratch. And here she is!!

The selection includes milk chocolate coated:

• Coconut ice (topped with little shreds of coconut)
• Chewy caramel (topped with a sprinkle of coarse salt)
• Creamy fudge (decorated with ridges made with a fork)
• Milk chocolate truffle (ball shaped with a dusting of dark cocoa)
• Praline truffle (ball shaped with pale cocoa dusting)
• Gooey orange fondant (drizzled with orange flavoured white chocolate drizzle)

For my first attempt at something like this, this turned out excellently! I'm so pleased with it, and am very proud of my efforts. Some didn't work, but those didn't go to waste as they were guzzled down by my siblings without any hesitation. It's all learning for next time... and there will be a next time.

I will upload all the recipes and make some photo tutorials for the dipping, and especially the moulded chocolates, which are the ones with orange drizzle. I used a silicone mould for those, in which I cast the melted chocolate. Weirdly enough, the casting technique is one I learnt from my time studying ceramic product design in college; the same principle, it turns out, can be used in chocolaterie.

The only change I would make is that I would spend a little bit more money on good quality chocolate for coating. The stuff I bought was cheap and wasn't tempered properly to start with, so tempering myself was almost impossible. I had to add some solid vegetable fat to make it flow and set nicer; don't worry, it can't be tasted.

I also made the box using a very simple technique.

• Take a piece of A4 card, coloured if you like.
• Using another piece of card cut to a 1½ inch (4 centimeter) width, draw a 1½ inch (3.8 centimeter) margin around all four edges of the card.
• Following the template below as a guide, cut along the red lines and fold along the dotted lines.
• Now, you have an A4 page with four little tabs. Fold up all four sides, folding the little tabs behind the short sides towards the middle. Glue together and allow to dry.

• To make the lid, follow the above instructions but make the margin around the page 1⅓ inches (3.5 centimeters) instead.

And now you have a lovely box to keep you chocolate in! Sit the chocolates in little cupcake cases and arrange inside.