I’d far rather make homemade truffles or spiced biscuits than shop for something made in a factory. There’s nothing nicer than a homemade gift of sweets, to offer as Christmas presents.
Easy to make (if the children help I must insist on strict supervision – there’s a lot of boiling sugar involved) and all can be prettily packaged wrapped in cellophane tied with a bow, or perhaps folded into coloured tissue paper. The kids will have great fun being Willy Wonka for the day and it really doesn’t matter if the end result is a little less than perfect because each nibble of naughtiness will be made with love.
Chocolate Candied Orange Peel
Note: Peel of one orange will make one gift bag.
Ingredients
1 x large orange
225g granulated sugar
110g dark chocolate
Method
Peel an orange by slicing into quarters and removing the flesh. Cut the peel into fine strips. Boil a pan of water and blanch the orange strips for 2 minutes. Remove, and rinse the peel. Repeat this step once more.
Prepare a simple sugar syrup, 8 fl oz of water to 225g sugar and add the orange strips. Bring to a low simmer and cook for approx. 1 hour. Keep an eye on this so it doesn’t boil dry, if it begins to crystalise add a little more boiling water. Once cooked, place peel strips on a rack to cool.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and dip half of each piece into the melted chocolate. Place on baking parchment to cool. Keep in a chilled environment until ready to wrap into a little bag, and tie with a pretty Christmas ribbon.
Dolce salami
2 large egg yolks
8 oz 65-80% chocolate (I used Green & Black)
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valhrona)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp fine sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp orange liqueur
3 Milano cookies
3 tbsp pistachios
Icing sugar for rolling
8 oz 65-80% chocolate (I used Green & Black)
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valhrona)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp fine sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp orange liqueur
3 Milano cookies
3 tbsp pistachios
Icing sugar for rolling
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks gently and set aside. Cut the cookies into small pieces and set aside. I had Milanos on hand but you can use any other kind of white cookie, like petit beurre or sugar cookies, which would mimic all that nice white fat in a real salami.
Melt the butter and chocolate together over a double boiler, stirring every once in a while. While the mixture is melting, add the cocoa powder, chili, sugar, and salt, stirring to incorporate all these ingredients. Take this off the heat and add in the orange liqueur and egg yolks followed by the pistachios and cut cookies. Let the mixture cool down until you can handle this with your hands and be able to roll into a salami like shape. You can firm up the mixture in the fridge or freezer to speed this up, but don’t let it sit in there too long or it’ll be harder to shape.
Using a large sheet of cling film, wax or parchment paper, form your chocolate salami roll and cover it tightly. Cover it with aluminum foil as well and store it in the freezer to continue to firm up.
Before serving, roll the salami in the confectioner’s sugar to give it the further appearance of a genuine hard salami. Let it come to room temperature for at least 5 minutes as this will make cutting the chocolate a smoother process.
Watch Grandpa’s heart melt when surprised with this delicious handmade gift on Christmas Day.
Safety tip: If your children wish to help, do not let them work with knives, boiling water and hot syrups, and supervise them constantly. They can help with the safe tasks such as dipping the peel into warm chocolate and making the gift bags look pretty.
Sweet dreams are made of this, and Merry Christmas one and all.
