Gift worthy truffles #3: boozy dark chocolate with rum

..because a truffle is for life, not just for Christmas.

Makes about 25

300g dark chocolate
280ml double cream
7 tbsp dark rum
25g butter
200g milk chocolate

1) Place all the ingredients except the milk chocolate in a bowl over a bain marie until melted, mix well then leave to cool. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.

2) Now scoop out balls with a ½ teaspoon measure, rolling between your hands to smooth, then place on a greaseproof paper covered tray. You may find it helps to keep a cup of boiling water to hand which you periodically dip the scoop into, drying it first on a tissue.

3) Refrigerate the balls for a further hour then melt the milk chocolate and, holding the truffle balls on a toothpick, quickly dip each one in, shake off the excess, then leave to dry on greaseproof paper. To decorate, either sprinkle the tops with caster sugar while they are still wet, or wait until dry and drizzle with more melted chocolate.

Gift worthy truffles #1: white chocolate and cointreau

A three-parter of delicious, booze laden truffles. You really can't make too many of these as a surprising amount go missing at the 'testing' stage.  Best of all, it's a totally fool-proof recipe that I make year after year with good results.

These will be packed into chic little jars and tied with ribbon and hand-made labels before they make their way towards my friends and family.  I may save one for myself as I rather love the moment of breaking into a special package of chocs...

White chocolate truffles with Cointreau
Makes 35-40

300g white chocolate
100ml double cream
3½ tbsp Cointreau
25g butter
200g dark chocolate

1) Place all the ingredients except the dark chocolate in a bowl over a bain marie until melted, mix well then leave to cool. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.

2) Now scoop out balls with a ½ teaspoon measure, rolling between your hands to smooth, then place on a greaseproof paper covered tray. You may find it helps to keep a cup of boiling water to hand which you periodically dip the scoop into, drying it first on a tissue.

3) Refrigerate the balls for a further hour, then melt the dark chocolate and, holding the truffle balls on a toothpick, quickly dip each one into the melted chocolate, shake off the excess, then leave to dry on greaseproof paper. To decorate, either sprinkle the tops with caster sugar while they are still wet, or wait until dry and drizzle with more melted chocolate.

Dukkah and Weck

My two new obsessions. Dukkah is a delicious North African spice and nut mix often used with olive oil as a dipping condiment. It has a natural affinity with chick peas so is a good partner to hummus or scattered over a warm chickpea and wilted spinach salad.

Is it possible to covet a jar? Weck make the most charming range of jars but they're infuriatingly difficult to get hold of in the UK. Each neatly proportioned vessel comes with a rubber seal, neatly-fitted glass lid and clips to seal. I can't pretend to understand why I find them so alluring; perhaps it's something to do with the element of do-it-yourself in the closure clips.  I love a bit of technical detailing.

After much searching I am now the owner of five small - but perfectly formed - jars which I am selflessly gifting away this Chistmas, filled to the brim with home-made dukkah or truffles.  Merry Christmas!

DUKKAH

½ cup hazelnuts
¼ cup whole almonds
¼ cup coriander seed
¼ cup black or white sesame
2½ tbsp whole cumin
1½ tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1½ tsp sea salt flakes

1) Toast the nuts together in a dry frying pan then decant into a bowl. Next toast all the other ingredients except the mint and salt in the same pan until they smell nutty and cooked, then leave to cool with nuts, mint and salt. Now grind the ingredients to a rough powder - it shouldn't be smooth though. You can also use a spice grinder to do this but be careful not to overprocess the mixture.

Salivatingly good subscriptions

I can't imagine that one of these would not be met with joy under the tree on Christmas day, and they're all new/obscure enough to make it unlikely that even the most hardened foodie will have a subscription already.  I've heard great things about Fire & Knives, a quarterly magazine with the air of a food fanzine.  It's intelligently written, has ace design and graphics, and best of all it's edited by London food bloggers Rejina at Gastrogeek and Oliver Thring.

Gastronomica combines my own interests in food, culture and delicious (and sometimes disturbing) visuals so well that I can't quite believe I didn't hear about it until now.  The photography is just stunning.  It's nice to see there's room in the world for some quality art/food crossover.

I was a bit shocked to pick up a copy of Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookies and find that it's actually rather good.  I'm not quite ready to adopt the full Martha lifestyle yet but her biscuits look delicious and pleasingly straightforward.

Soft vanilla fudge

Be warned, I made a batch of this and - after eating all the spare pieces - broke into an already bagged and be-ribboned parcel that I had intended to give away as a hostess gift this week.

Vanilla fudge
Makes about 30 pieces

300ml whole milk
150 ml double cream
475g caster sugar
150g butter
3 tsp vanilla extract
a large pinch of salt

1) Place all the ingredients except the vanilla into a large heavy bottomed pan, and add a sugar thermometer. Bring everything to the boil, stirring constantly, then allow to bubble for about 15-20 minutes, until the mixture reaches 115c.

2) Remove from the heat and carefully whisk use an electric hand whisk to beat the mixture until it thickens to a heavy cake batter consistency and has lost its glossiness.  Whisk in the vanilla extract.

3) Pour into an oiled loose bottomed cake tin and allow to cool at room temperature for several hours until set. Cut or break into small pieces and try not to eat it all yourself before anyone else can get to it.

Sweet dreams are made of this

I plan to give a lot of homemade presents this year, so now is the time to dust off the recipe book and test run some sweet treats (that's my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it).

This is a medium soft fudge, not as sloppy as some, but still with a nice 'give' as you sink your teeth into it.  The chocolate comes through strongly too, so it's a good one for chocoholics.

Dark chocolate fudge

550ml double cream
550g golden caster sugar
75g golden syrup
150g melted dark chocolate
a pinch of salt
(..and a sugar thermometer)

1) Pour the cream into a large pan with the sugar and golden syrup and add the sugar thermometer to the pan. Bring the mixture to the boil, then keep it bubbling over at a fairly rapid pace until it reaches 118c, then remove from the heat and stir in the melted chocolate.

2) Now you need to cool the fudge whilst keeping it moving to give it a really melting texture - the easiest way to do this is to use an electric hand whisk to beat it, but you can also do it by hand but it will take ten minutes or so... Beat the mixture until it reaches the consistency of glossy cake mixture, then pour into a lightly greased metal container (a loose bottomed cake tin is good) about 25cmx25cm, and allow to cool for several hours before turning out and cutting into small pieces.