Yummy chocolate treats

Last night we had a pamper night for our ABA group. It was a lovely evening of fun and friendship. We were pampered with lovely massages and hand treatments. And what a perfect excuse to eat some yummy chocolate treats! Above is a photo of the things we made: chocolate truffles, Baileys chocolate fudge and chocolate mice. I say 'we' but actually Chris did most of the making. I only decorated the chocolate mice although that took me a while so I do think I made a contribution to the effort ;) For those of you that are interested I will share the recipes - they are all very easy to make really and taste so yum! Thank you to my sister-in-law for the recipe for the chocolate mice!

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:
225gms dark chocolate
3/4 cup cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Creme De Menthe
Cocoa (for coating)

Method:
1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil.
3. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur.
5. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).
6. Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, melon baller or small spoon form the chocolate into round ball Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm.

Baileys Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:
one tin sweetened condensed milk
100gms butter, cubed
1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons glucose syrup
150gms dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup Baileys

Method:
1. Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper
2. Combine the condensed milk, butter, sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring constantly, for 10-15 minutes or until mixture thickens, turns a caramel colour and leaves the side of pan. Remove from heat.
3. Add the chocolate and liqueur, and stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour into prepared tin and smooth the surface. Set aside for 1 hour to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for one hour until firm. Cut up when firm.

Chocolate Mice

Ingredients:
150gm dark chocolate
1/3 cup cream
1 cup (125g) chocolate ripple biscuits
Silver balls, licorice, pink balls and flaked almond to decorate

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate and the cream together in a saucepan
2. Crush the chocolate biscuits until fine
3. Mix the crushed biscuits into the chocolate mix, refrigerate for no more than an hour, to firm up. If left for too long, it is really hard to dig the mixture out.
4. Roll small amounts of the mixture into balls, tapering one end to look like a nose.
5. Add thin licorice straps for a tail (pushed into the back end a fair way so it doesn’t fall out), two flaked almonds for ears, two silver balls for eyes and a single pink ball on the tapered end to make a nose
6. Refrigerate overnight

ENJOY :)