Ottolenghi Champangne Truffles

I'm having fun at the moment working my way through a list of recipes for Christmas gifts, to give over the next few weeks.  Champagne truffles are a recipe I've been thinking about for a while - I'm really interested in making chocolates and truffles but prefer not to use fresh cream so that I feel a bit happier about giving them as gifts when I can't rely on them being kept in the fridge.  Most recipes I'd seen for champagne truffles used cream, and my own previous attempts had resulted in a very poor champagne flavour, usually drowned out by the bitter dark chocolate.  This recipe is by far the most successful - as long as I don't think about the amount of butter in them!  The mix of milk and dark chocolate means they're not too bitter, and the brandy heightens the alcohol flavour without it being overpowering.  The butter gives a very silky, melt-in-the-mouth texture; quite unusual but very popular. 

Ottolenghi Champagne Chocolates (makes about 40)

60g milk chocolate
200g dark chocolate
150g unsalted butter
80ml champagne
40ml brandy

Line a cake tin roughly 14cm square.  Break the chocolates into small pieces and melt gently either in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water.  Cut the butter into small pieces and set aside. 

Pour the champagne and brandy into a small saucepan and heat over a low heat until hot, but not boiling.  Pour over the chocolate and stir together gently.  Stir in the butter in a few additions, stirring together until the mixture is completely smooth.  Pour into the lined tray and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours, until set firm. 

When set, turn out and cut into roughly 2cm sqaures.  These can be coated in tempered dark chocolate and then rolled in cocoa powder, but I chose just to roll mine straight in cocoa powder, which worked well. 

(they were slightly impossible for me with my limited camera skills to photograph well, this is the best of a bad lot!)

Huckleberries

Earlier this year, a friend gave us some huckleberry plants for the garden.  Never having seen them before, we did a little research on the internet but essentially planted them and left to their own devices.  Much to our surprise, by October the bushes were covered in fruits; small shiny black berries, perhaps a little smaller than blueberries.  The friend told us that the berries should be left until after the first frost to be picked, and that once harvested, they were very bitter to taste and so best added to other fruit desserts, such as crumbles or pies. 

Last weekend they were clearly in need of picking, so I decided to scour the internet for a recipe in which to try some.  We've already used our own apples us in pies and crumbles for the freezer, so adding them to those was out.  I found lots of American recipes for using them up, but very few British, and I wasn't entirely sure if they are exactly the same thing in America.  However, a bit of digging suggested that they could be substituted for blueberries, so I settled on trying that.  I had no idea if it would work, and was even less sure when I braved tasting one fresh and it was so bitter it left my lips stinging, but ploughed ahead anyway. 

I used a recipe for Clafoutis Cake I'd saved from a Sainsbury's magazine last year, which originally contained blackcurrants but I have previously made with blueberries.  It's a gorgoeus dessert cake, moist yet light and stuffed full of juicy burst fruits.  Sadly, this one was disgusting - nobody in my family could tolerate the taste of the huckleberries and the only place for it was the bin.  I really would recommend you make the cake - and use any berries you like - but steer clear of huckleberries!

Clafoutis Cake (adapted from Sainsburys Magazine)

110g butter

100g caster sugar

150g self-raising flour

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp milk

225g berries (eg. blackcurrants/blueberries/raspberries...)

icing sugar, to dust

Preheat the oven to 180c, and butter a 20cm cake tin.  Cream together butter and sugar, gradually mix in the flour and eggs, followed by the milk.  Gently fold in the berries, pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and springs back when lightly touched.  Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and dredge with icing sugar.  Can be eaten warm or cool, but is best eaten on the day it's made.