Are you making/cooking Christmas presents?

My next door neighbors are snackers so every year I make a batch of Union Square Cafe nuts for them right before Christmas. Last year I was shovelling the snow and their little daughter was outside making a snowman and when she saw me she hollered out, "Mr. Risch! My Mommy really loves your nuts!"

I thanked her but asked that she voiced her praise a bit more quietly.

LOL! That will get the neighbours gossiping, Dave...

I found that you could really taste the quality of the chocolate and the whiskey, so you want to get the good stuff.

I was going to buy Jamesons. I am considering what chocolate to use. I have some (kinda old) semi-sweet and dark Valrhona....

Jeff, I'm a real dark chocolate girl, but the recipe really seems to work better with milk - not sure why. Maybe because that's what they use in Baileys and therefore the taste I'm used to. FWIW, I used Callebaut callets.

Cheers, Celia

Almost done with the cooking (Pete has two more batches of jam he wants to make), and then it's onto packaging. Here are some pics :

Bottles of vanilla syrup (made using vanilla pods and the homemade extract I've been banging on about all year ) and my "hotter than the breath of Satan" Peri Peri sauce:

christmas 001.jpg

Pete's jams - old fashioned apricot, rhubarb, raspberry and strawberry, and mango and apricot:

christmas 003.jpg

Dark chocolate almond rochers (slivered almonds tossed in powdered sugar and Kirsch and then dipped in dark Belgian chocolate):

christmas 004.jpg

Vanilla chocolate truffles (actually, you can't really taste the vanilla much):

christmas 006.jpg

Bring on Christmas!

Woohooo....I'm on holidays for three weeks! After a ridiculously busy two months, I'm almost bursting with excitement at the thought of getting to play in the kitchen again. For the last 16 years now (since just before our eldest was born), we've made most of our Christmas presents, and they're usually food-based. I feel quite strongly that we all have so much stuff in our lives now, and it's nice to be able to give something consumable that won't add to storage angst for years to come. Also, because they're often only little token gifts (a bag of cookies, some chocolate truffles etc), we can give them to lots of friends and neighbours without them feeling like they need to reciprocate (the last thing I want is to make people feel like they have to give us something back).

In the past we've made:

- hot chocolate mix
- homemade Baileys (really wicked when you use Chivas Regal and Belgian chocolate)
- Pete's chilli jam
- fruit cake
- cookies, brownies and shortbread
- icecream (only makes it to the neighbours)
- chocolate truffles

This year we've branched into preserves and jams, and Pete (who is the jam-maker in the family) and I are thinking of making :

- almond bread
- apricot jam (apricots were $1/kilo at the markets today!)
- nectarine conserve
- chocolate truffles
- lemon curd
- vanilla syrup (using all the homemade vanilla essence that's been brewing for months)

We were also talking today about making nougat, although I have no idea where to start. Does anyone make their own nougat? I have the ricepaper sheets and eggwhites, but that's as far as I've gone!

So...are you making anything Christmas presents? I'd love some new ideas!

Cheers, Celia

You're making Scottish Cream, not Irish Cream. (And I like Scotch).

Irish Cream


Ingredient Quantity

Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 Can

Half and Half 1 Cup

Eggs, Large 4

Chocolate Syrup 1 ½ Tbsp.

Vanilla Extract 3 Drops

Coconut Extract 6 Drops

Jameson’s Irish Whisky 1 ½ Cups


Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until thoroughly combined.

2. Place in quart whisky bottle.

3. Refrigerate immediately. Allow to rest 24 hours before drinking.

Thanks Joey. Although I'm a bit nervy about drinks with raw egg in them...

Off to make some lemon curd. Just finished some hazelnut chocolates (easiest thing in the world - tempered chocolate + nutella) and stage one of the almond bread is done, and it's in the freezer now, waiting to be sliced and rebaked tomorrow.

Hope you're all enjoying the festive season!

Off to make some lemon curd. Just finished some hazelnut chocolates (easiest thing in the world - tempered chocolate + nutella)

Do you use a candy mold? I've made filled chocolates and have several clear plastic candy molds.

Linda, only when I'm making plain chocolates. If I'm making filled, I generally make a ganache truffle centre, and then dip them in melted chocolate. They always look a bit messy and rustic then, and no-one guesses it's due to a lack of finesse.

i'm going to make several truffels and pralines tommorow and after-tomorrow.

any interest of fotos?

i'm going to make several truffels and pralines tommorow and after-tomorrow.

any interest of fotos?

Oooh, would love to see them, Tsunami! Or do you prefer to be called Albino?

both is fine, tsunami because it is my moniker for many years and tonns of wine-food-reladed-posts

albino because it's my real name

I'm in the process of making some spiced pecans right now, due to having about 10-12 pounds of the nuts that Gail's mom picked out of the shells for us from last year's crop. The recipe calls for nut halves, but I'm not going to sift through the bags of nut pieces just to segregate the halves, so it's pieces and halves mixed I'm using.

Sugar-and-Spice Pecans

1-1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 egg whites, beaten to a froth
2 pounds pecans

Mix the sugar and spices in a gallon-sized zipper bag. Beat the egg whites in a large bowl; fold in the nuts.
Transfer the nuts to the bag of sugar and shake to coat.

Spread nuts in two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans <I used what I had handy>.
Bake at 250 F. for 90 minutes, stirring every 30 minutes. Cool completely, store in airtight containers (or bag for gifts). Yields about 2-3/4 quarts.

For the next batch, I'm debating adding some ground chiles, or alternatively, tossing the cooked nuts with some cocoa powder. Thoughts on that?

ok celia,

here they are (but i do not have finished all, maybe tomorrow

making:

canache:



dressing rum-nipples:


the "lineup"



the giftbox :



from bottom to top:

1. rum-nipples
2. vanilla-dream-truffles
3. egg-kirsch-liqueur-truffles
4. tonkabeen-heart-cubes
5. anis-pastis-truffles
6. chili-garam-masala-truffles

enjoy

Robert, those spiced pecans sound wonderful, you're going to run into Dave R's problem soon, with people calling out to you in the street that they like your nuts..

Albino, your truffles look amazing! I love the decoration on the heart ones, how on earth did you do that? Surely it's not piped?

Albino, your truffles look amazing! I love the decoration on the heart ones, how on earth did you do that? Surely it's not piped?

the more abstract motives, a do pipe my self, but these is from pcb
http://www.confis-express.de/html/2/art ... ticle.html

because they are pretty-expensive i have "only" thes two patterns (the one with the hearts) and:
http://www.confis-express.de/html/2/art ... ticle.html