Yummy Eggnog Nibble Squares (Advocaat Nibbles for the adventurous)

Eggnog, or rather its alcoholic version Advocaat, is one of my favourite drinks. Advocaat is just heaven in a glass as far as I am concerned !

And it has to be Warninks Advocaat - no other comes close.

MMmmmMMmmmm

Shame I can't drink alcohol now ! Well not often...

Being English, I was naturally raised with eggnog and advocaat. Eggnog is a very old English medieval traditional drink which has now spread around much of the world. It was an upper class drink which often also had brandy or rum added (hence the later development of advocaat). The lower classes could not have even afforded the milk, let alone the rest of the ingredients.

It crossed the Atlantic in the 18th century and is now part of American traditions also.

Many years ago a friend (knowing how much I have a fetish for cookery books) sent me a very special book called Cookies For Christmas. It is a huge book devoted entirely to festive biscuits, tiny cakes and cookies ! A very fun book.

I got the idea for this recipe in that book and have used it since. I changed a couple of the ingredients and with just a couple of tweeks and changes I had something delicious to suit my tastes...

Eggnog or Advocaat Nibble Squares

2 cups Castor Sugar
2 Eggs
2 cups Plain Flour
1/2 cup ground Almonds
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2/3 cup Unsalted Butter
1 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground Nutmeg

1. Put the butter and sugar into a saucepan and melt them together, on a medium heat only. Stir whilst it is melting.

2. Once it is melted and combined - stir for 2 more minutes.

3. Cool the saucepan and its contents for 10 minutes off of the stove top.

4. After the 10 minutes, use a wooden spoon to stir in the eggs, one at a time.

5. Then stir in the vanilla extract.

6. Next stir in the flour, the baking powder and then nutmeg, until it is all well mixed in.

7. Now stir in the ground almonds.

8. Spoon the mixture into a greased 13" x 9" pan, which is 2" deep (" is inches).

9. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C (350F or gas 4) for 25 or 30 minutes (until the edges of the cake/slices start to pull away from the edge of the pan).

10. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

This should make roughly 36 bars or squares.

Belgian Chocolates - Homemade

Tonight I am going to a house-warming party at the house of a dear friend. She has moved into my area from away and it's lovely to have her so close again (we lived in the same town a good few years ago).

I'm going to make a bowl - plate of something for all to share which is how we do these things, but I also want to take them a small gift to say welcome to the area !

I have decided to make my homemade Belgian chocolates, as they seem to always disappear fast and they look real cute when decorated and packaged...

Here what I am using today, although this varies hugely depending what's in my cupboard at the time -

Homemade Belgian Chocolates

Callebaut Belgian milk chocolate drops (brought from Belgium courtesy of Ryan Air by more dear friends of mine as they know I'm a devil for making chocolates!)

Glacé Cherries

Hazelnuts (gathered locally last winter)

Walnut halves

Dried Apricots (cut in half lengthwise)

Marzipan (rolled into balls and squashed flat to make circles)

Almond slithers (sliced almonds)

Pine Nuts

1. First melt as much chocolate as required in a glass bowl sat over a small saucepan of boiling water. Be very careful not to get a single drop of water in the chocolate as this will turn it hard and lumpy.

2. Remove the glass bowl from the saucepan.

3. Using 2 forks coat the various nuts, cherries, apricots and marzipan with the chocolate. This is most efficient on chocolate if you pass the coated nut from 1 fork to the other, letting the real excess chocolate drip off.

4. Place each chocolate straight onto a tray with a sheet of greaseproof paper on it.

5. I put an almond slither on the marzipan chocolates and a pine nut on the apricot halves.

6. Place the tray of wet chocolates in a cool dry place, and let them dry and set naturally. This usually takes 2 or 3 hours. You will know when they are dry and the shine disappears.

7. When they are set you can package them as you wise. Sometimes if I make a large tray full for a party etc, I simply use a very elegant tray and place several doilies on it. Put the chocs on top and sprinkle lightly first with cocoa powder and then with icing sugar. Et voila !

Alternately you can put them carefully in pretty boxes and tie with ribbons etc for gifts.

Vanilla, Chocolate & Walnut Fudge

This is a great fudge to make for Christmas presents, and everyone always loves homemade pressies.

If you can find pretty boxes or baskets to put it in, even better. Ribbons and tissue paper add to the luxury feeling if you can find those too.

I have loads of fudge, chocolates and other sweet recipes, and I will post a few in the run up to Christmas in case anyone wants to save money and make gorgeous presents for family and friends.

Vanilla, Chocolate and Walnut Fudge

1.5 lbs granulated white Sugar
2 ozs Butter
1 tin Condensed Milk (a 397g tin)
150 ml Water
2 tablespoons grated Milk Chocolate
2 tablespoons very finely chopped Walnuts
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1. Prepare a tin for the fudge by greasing it with butter (not the 2ozs for the fudge). A 6" or 6.5" square tin is perfect.

2. Put the water, the condensed milk, the butter and the sugar into a saucepan.

3. Heat this on a low heat, gently, and remember to keep stirring it. Keep at this until the sugar is all dissolved and the butter has melted in.

4. Turn the heat up to about medium. Bring the mixture to the boil, still stirring all the time.

5. Boil it until it reaches the 'soft ball' stage (detailed below).

6. Remove the fudge from the heat when it reaches this stage.

7. Add the grated chocolate, the walnuts bits and the vanilla extract to the fudge mix.

8. Beat this in hard until the mixture becomes a bit grainy (thick and creamy).

9. At this point pour the fudge into the tin. Leave it to cool somewhere safe.

10. When it is almost cold, cut the fudge into squares. Then leave it to finish getting cold.

11. Once it is totally cold you can remove it from the tin.

Either enjoy and eat it ! Or give it away as pressies !

It will last about 3 weeks easily.

Chocolate & Peanut Chocolates

Every Christmas time and also when I want to make a special gift for someone, or simply want something a bit different to take to a dinner party for the host, I make chocolates.

Deadly chocolates....

With walnuts, glacé cherries, marzipan, almonds, apricots, hazelnuts, marshmallow, crystallised ginger and loads of other things.

This recipe below is from a book I bought a few years ago, in the Australian Women's Weekly series - and the results are one of those things that you simply can't stop eating !!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The milk chocolate to drizzle is optional. You could also make them competely with milk chocolate, instead of the dark, if that's your preference.


Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chocolates

1 cup crunchy Peanut Butter (the real American kind, unsalted)
3 tablespoons Cocoa
4 tablespoons Icing Sugar
7 ozs dark Chocolate (melted)
2 ozs milk Chocolate (melted)

1. Mix the peanut butter with the icing sugar (sifted) and the cocoa in a bowl. Mix it really well.

2. Cover and refrigerate until it is firm to the touch.

3. Remove the mix from the bowl, divide in half and form/roll each half into a 10 inch roll.

4. Cut each 10 inch roll into 24 round slices and put them on a foil covered tray.

5. Freeze them for 2 hours.

6. Remove the tray/s from the freezer. Dip each piece into the melted dark chocolate. This is best done with 2 forks, gently, as the excess chocolate can run off between the prongs as you turn the pieces over in the air. Put them back on the tray to set at room temperature.

7. Drizzle or thinly pipe the milk chocolate over the set chocolates in swirly lines.

IF you can prevent yourself from eating them all inside a day, these heavenly bites will last about 2 weeks.