Made n Enjoyed
Hello readers,
The countdown has began, only eight days to go ! From young to old everyone is eagerly waiting for the magical festive Christmas day to arrive. That means the wait is only eight days more and your home will fill with lots of excitement, giggles and fun, only eight days till you can listen to your favourite Christmas carols and only eight days to get in all the must watch Christmas movies again and again. And only eight days to do festive shopping, wrapping gifts and baking some goodies you see on the net. Must hurry, no time to waste !
Christmas brings lots of excitement in children, bringing the families together. Lists for Santa are already written and all of the advent calendar chocolates are already eaten! Children are eagerly helping with decorating the Christmas tree and the house is decked up with lights and tinsel. The town centres add to the festive cheer, great outings include visiting the local ice rink or watching a pantomime or two… we say they are for the kids, but we can’t get enough of them too! Communities come closer through Christmas cards.
A Christmas dread is getting that all important Christmas present, so many adverts on tele, gift guides!! But isn’t it the thought that counts? Spending time on choosing the right gift? It’s becoming more and more in these days to make a present. The time and effort simply screams an amazing gift!
Make Christmas more personal by making gorgeous gourmet gifts, and make friend’s and family’s festive season more sweeter! Forget the expensive perfumes, futuristic gadgets or sensible socks. One such treat are these Superfood caramel truffles !
Superfood caramel truffles are incredibly easy to prepare, are a healthy treat and absolutely delicious. Great alternative to rich chocolates or biscuits. Make them yourself, present them in a beautiful box and they will look as expensive (or even more!) as a box of chocolates!
I’ve been making these truffles and many healthy dry fruit and nut treats for the family most of the time …. thought of adding chocolate powder as it is festive season, at the Christmas time chocolates are very much appreciated.
You will need :-
- 400 g dried figs
- 200 g pitted dates
- 100 g raisins
- 5-6 tbsp. caramel flavoured hot chocolate powder
- 100 g mixed seeds ( I used pumpkin, sunflower and flax seeds )
- 2-3 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 200 g roasted cashew nuts
- 50 g roasted almonds finely chopped
- 50 g roasted pistachio nuts finely chopped
Method :- Soak dried figs in a water for few hours. Drain the water and pat dry figs, leave it aside. Meanwhile roast the seeds for 7-8 minutes on a very low heat. Cool and make coarse powder. Place soaked figs, dates and raising in a food processor and make a paste, half way through grinding add cashew nuts and grind with the fruit paste. Heat unsalted butter and add ground fruit paste, roast the paste for 7-8 minutes or till all the moisture dries up. Be careful not to cook too much, else paste will go solid hard and chewy. Transfer into another bowl, semi cool and add chocolate powder and mix well. Using a rounded tea spoon shape the mixture into equally sized round balls. You could also use a melon baller or small cookie scoop depending how large or small you want the truffles. Coat them in finely chopped almonds and pistachio nuts. Let it cool completely and store them in air tight container. Best to consume in one week if there are even any left by then
Wheat germ mocha cream cookies, so simple to make. There is no special ingredient or technique involved. Coffee and Chocolate a match made in heaven, awesome enough, delectable cookies for you guys if you like something sweet, or your sweet ones like something sweet !
Wheat Germ is an edible section of the wheat kernel, from the nutritional perspective, this food is a powerhouse. It contains 23 nutrients and has more of them per ounce than any other vegetable or grain. It is a better source of potassium and iron than any other food source and also has great quantities of riboflavin, calcium, zinc, magnesium and Vitamins A, E, B1 and B3. The amount of protein, 28 percent, is higher than the levels found in most meat products. ( Information source )
You will need :- Wheat germ Cookies
- 50 g wheat germ ( if you don’t want to use , use whole wheat flour or plain flour )
- 70 g self raising flour
- 60 g icing sugar
- 20 g wheat flour ( I used chapatti atta )
- 125 g unsalted butter ( softened )
- 2 tbsp. corn flour
- 2 tsp. ground coffee
- Few drops of vanilla essence
You will need :- Mocha Cream
- 100 g chocolate ( I used dark )
- 100 ml double cream
- 1 sachet instant mocha ( you can use 2tbsp ground coffee )
Method :- Add mocha powder into cream, mix and leave it aside. Melt chocolate in double boiler or M/W. Mix melted chocolate and mocha infused cream, mix and leave it aside. Place butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence in a mixer , cream until light and fluffy. Add flours, wheat germ and coffee and mix until soft dough forms. Cover with the cling film and leave in the fridge for 40-50 minutes. Pre heat the oven gas mark to 3 or 160C. Divide the dough into small balls, around 10-12 g each. Place them on a baking tray, slightly flatten them with the fork and bake 15-18 minutes or until light brown. Cool them completely. Pipe or spread about one tea spoon one cookie with mocha filling, top with another cookie. Repeat with all remaining cookies and filling. Leave it aside to set for half an hour.
