Twelve Weeks Of Christmas Cookies: Week Eight

I promise this is my last installment of Christmas Truffles.  To recap, on week six I made a traditional Christmas truffle made from a ganache.  On week seven I made a Christmas truffle from New Zealand's favourite cookbook "Edmonds Cookery Book".  This week is a healthy twist on truffles.  It's made with dates, nuts, oats and spices.  It was inspired by The Vegan Table and Oh She Glows.

Do you have a friend that is a health freak but also enjoys their sweets?  These truffles would make the perfect gift!  That is if there is enough left after you've sampled them *wink*

Christmas Truffles (The Healthy Version)

1 1/2 cups almonds

30 dates, soaked in hot water*

1/2 cup oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp sea salt

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

For decorating

shredded coconut

cocoa powder

sesame seeds

*I used dried dates, but if you use Medjool dates, then only use 20 and do not soak in water.

Place oats and almonds into a food processor and process until fine.  Add in dates (drained from water), cinnamon, nutmeg, salt & cocoa and process until it forms a ball or has formed a consistency to form small balls when rolled.  Using your hands, roll mixture into small balls and then roll into coconut, cocoa powder or sesame seeds.  You can use other decorations if you wish but remember to use something healthy (or else it will ruin the name ha-ha!).  Place in refrigerator to chill and harden.  These should keep for quite a while!

Week 8 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Twelve Weeks Of Christmas "Cookies": Week Seven

The Edmond's Cookbook is a Kiwi icon. It was the only cookbook in my mother's house and I used to stare at the pictures of the party cakes all the time. Something about the pretty cakes, happy children's faces and  the variety of goodies in the picture made me dream a little as a kid.   The edition I have has different pictures now though. It is sold in pretty much all bookstores under the cookery section and it is also sold in most supermarkets, not in the book section but in the bakery section.

It says:

"The essential cook book for very kitchen, the Edmonds Cookery Book enables the user to cook with confidence and pride. With over 3 million copies sold to date the Edmonds Cookery Book is the biggest selling cook book in New Zealand's history"

Now the reason I'm telling you all this is because my recipe this week comes straight out of the Edmonds Cookery Book. I mentioned last week that I found several ways to make truffles and this one was the first recipe for truffles I had known. I remember making this recipe for the first time about 15 years ago on Christmas Eve for the family so we go way back.

Honestly, I like the truffles from this recipe better than the recipe from last week. They are a lot sweeter, but have a more chocolate fudge taste which definitely has more mainstream appeal.

Without further ado....

Chocolate Truffles 

(part deux)

50g butter

100g dark chocolate

1 cup icing/confectioners sugar

1 Tbsp rum

1 tsp cocoa

coconut

chocolate sprinkles

Put butter and chocolate into a saucepan. Heat gently, stirring until butter and chocolate have melted. Add 1/2 cup of the icing sugar. Stir until mixture is thick enough to handle. Stir in rum and coca. Add enough of the remaining icing sugar to make a stiff mixture. Shape mixture into balls. Roll in coconut and chocolate hale. Chill until firm. Makes about 15

Stay tuned next week on Week Eight for yet another version of Christmas Truffles from me.  This one is a healthy version and will definitely be a bit of an experiment for me as I've never made anything like it before!

Check out what everyone else made this week!

Twelve Weeks of Christmas "Cookies": Week Six

I steered away from a Christmas Cookie recipe this week and instead opted for a Christmas treat that can also be given as a gift: Truffles.  There are several ways to make Christmas truffles, the traditional method seems to be just a simple mixture of cream and dark chocolate with perhaps some flavouring in it.  I've always known truffles to have some kind of alcohol flavouring in it, so that's what I went for.  It seems the best concoction comes from almost a 1:1 ratio of cream (in ml) to dark chocolate (in grams).  This recipe is a mixure of different recipes I researched on the web for this week.  I also decorated my truffles whereas the traditional presentation seems to be to roll them in chopped nuts, flaked chocolate or coconut. Any opportunity to make things pretty!

Christmas Truffles 

150ml heavy cream

200g dark chocolate (70%)

20g unsalted butter

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp rum or brandy

 

Place cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add vanilla extract, stir then take off heat and let cool slightly.  Heat chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water until melted.  Beat in unsalted butter and rum until smooth.  Add cream mixture and beat until smooth.  Place bowl in the refrigerator for several hours until chocolate mixture is firm, but not rock solid.  Form into small balls and decorate or roll in nuts, or coconut.  Keeps in the fridge for about a week.

Check out what everyone else made this week!