Fudge For Christmas

A lovely friend of mine started the Christmas tradition of giving amazing platters of home made fudge laced with liqueurs presented with the liqueur and appropriate glasses. Her fudge is amazing.

Over the last few years I have tried a few different 'sweet treats' as Christmas gifts but really had to come back to the tried and true - Fudge.

The basic recipe is great as it is or can be embellished according on the occasion or who will be eating it.
For this years Christmas fudge is made one lot with white chocolate, macadamias and dried cranberries and the other with dark chocolate with pistachios. White chocolate with cranberries and pistachio looks really Christmasy too.
To add a liqueur or spirit flavour (baileys, brandy, whiskey are all good) just add a few drops to the mixture. Do only add a few drops or it won't be firm enough to set.

The recipe below is Nigella Lawson's Fudge recipe. Nigella's is kept in the freezer or fridge to keep it firm.
My friend's recipe is slightly different but I'm not going to publish that without her permission.

Chocolate pistachio fudge

Ingredients

• 350g dark chocolate, at least 70 per cent cocoa solids, chopped -I use more - about 500g to make it set more firmly 
• 1 x 397g can condensed milk - I think a NZ tin is 400g
• 30g butter
• pinch salt
• 150g unsalted pistachios, shells removed - I use all sorts of different nuts or dried fruits

Preparation method

1. Place the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt into a heavy-based pan over a low heat and stir until melted and well combined.
2. Place the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin, until broken up into some large and some small pieces.
3. Add the nuts to the melted chocolate mixture and stir well.
4. Pour the mixture into a 23cm square tray, smoothing the top with a wet palette knife. I always line with baking paper to make it easy to get out
5. Let the fudge cool, then refrigerate until set.
6. Cut into small pieces approximately 3cm x 2cm. Cutting 7 x 7 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces best achieves this.
7. Once cut, the fudge can be kept in the freezer - there's no need to thaw, just eat straight away.

Macadamia and Pear Upside Down Cake - Recipe

On what is officially the third day of spring we uncovered the outdoor table and moved it out on to the deck. We are lucky to have a big outdoor wooden deck area that is up in the canopy of the large established tress in our back yard. We had a much loved family member to share our lunch with us. It was great even at the end of winter to be able to eat (some parts of the meal) homemade and from our garden...avocados, rocket and a healthy wholemeal loaf that had been rising in the oven while we were out for the morning.

I also gave a new recipe a try from this week's Ooooby box and judging by the way is disappeared it was a hit!

Isabella and I had spent quite some time this morning trying to crack open the macadamia nuts (for this recipe) with a meat tenderiser. It gave the ideal opportunity to introduce the word 'frustrating' into her three year old vocabulary.

This recipe was pretty easy. It was incredibly light - a bit lie a steamed pudding and the outside was kind of caramelised and gooey. It was great with plain unsweetened yoghurt. This will be a make again recipe - the visual impact was great (with not too much effort) and it was really yummy!

Macadamia and Pear Upside Down Cake – serves 12

50 g butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 pears, peeled, cored and sliced into eighths

150 g butter

¾ cup(150g) brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

3 free range eggs

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup finely chopped macadamia nuts

Line a 22 cm spring form cake pan with baking paper.

Melt the first measure of butter and sugar together and pour over the baking paper.

Lay the pears in a circular pattern.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold in sifted flour and baking power then stir in the nuts.

Spoon the cakemixture over the pears.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for 35- 40 minutes or until cake tester comesout clean.

Leave to rest for 5 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate.

Serve with whipped cream or yoghurt.