Likemamusedtobakesweatsandtreats

Sweets and Treats Being confident in your kitchen, or at least being brave enough to give things a try, is a little like holding the keys to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Stirring large bowls of melted chocolate, showering the worktop with sprinkles or pouring ooey gooey mixtures into trays is all so satisfying, and also a little exciting – patiently waiting for a biscuit to cool, or a sweet to set, anticipating the first taste and carefully wrapping in colourful tissue paper tied up with ribbon to gift to others. The whole process is calming and soothing, and also gratifying, whether you enjoy the spoils of your labour yourself or make them for a loved one to savour.

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I like to package this up in pretty sweet bags or boxes and give it to people as gifts. It makes a wonderful gift for the host of a party, and is a welcome change from the standard bottle of wine/ bunch of flowers.

RoRo’s

ROCKY ROAD Rocky Road has always appealed to me. I love the idea of it, but I am always disappointed when I buy it. It tends to be a little on the sickly sweet side for my liking thanks to the golden syrup. I set to experimenting in my little kitchen and the first executive decision I made was to get rid of the butter and golden syrup; it’s solid chocolate all the way for this baby! Next up for the chop: the biscuits. In their place I use Maltesers for crunch and a sprinkling of bashed up honeycomb. Finally, I added some Rolo sweets for a caramel hit to complement the crunch and pillowy marshmallows to perfection. What’s with the name you might ask? Well, when my niece was younger she couldn’t say my name, so she called me RoRo and the name has kind of stuck with my immediate family. If Jay buys Rocky Road he always says, ‘Nah, it’s not a patch on RoRo’s Rocky Road’, and so it will be called that for evermore.

Method

Ingredients

• Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water on a low heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water to avoid spoiling the chocolate.

600g milk chocolate, broken into pieces 2 packets of Maltesers 2 tubes of Rolos 100g mini marshmallows, or regular

marshmallows cut into 1cm squares • While the chocolate is melting line a 27cm/10½in x 16½cm/6½in brownie pan 2 Crunchie bars, or similar chocolatewith parchment paper. Spread the sweets covered honeycomb, bashed in the pan in a regular pattern, starting into crumbs with the Rolos, followed by the Maltesers and marshmallows. While this might seem a little boring and unnecessary, it means that each square of the rocky road will have an even distribution of the different textures and flavours. I know just dumping it all in seems much more appealing, but trust me on this one. Finally sprinkle over the bashed up honeycomb.

• Once the chocolate has melted allow it to cool for just a few minutes. Pour it over the sweets in the tray in an even layer. Rap the tray on the counter a couple of times to release any trapped air bubbles. Place in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the chocolate to set.

• When the chocolate has set remove the rocky road from the brownie pan and cut into squares – I find 4 x 4cm is a good size. Store in the fridge or in a cool dry place, although it won’t be around for long.

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Fudge Fudge makes a nice home-made gift or party favour. Pop into bags and tie up with a pretty ribbon. Or you could just eat it all yourself.

Method • Grease a 15cm/6in square cake tin and line it with parchment paper.

Ingredients

• Slowly heat the milk, sugar and butter in a heavybased saucepan set over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

300ml milk

• Bring the mixture to the boil and boil for 15–20 minutes while continuing to stir.

• Once the mixture has reached the soft ball stage, 115°C on a sugar thermometer, remove it from the heat and stir the vanilla extract through. Leave to cool for 5 minutes. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer you can check for the soft ball stage by dropping a teaspoon of the mixture into cold water to cool down. If it forms a soft ball it’s ready.

• When it has cooled a little, beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it has thickened and lost its gloss.

• Transfer to the prepared tin and allow to set at room temperature.

• Once set, remove from the tin and cut into squares.

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350g caster sugar 100g unsalted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate FRECKLES

I remember the wall of pick ‘n’ mix from the Roches Stores grocery hall with great fondness. If Mam popped in to pick up some groceries we were treated to a bag of sweets. There were certain sweets that never made it into my bag on account of them being ‘ascustin’, and others that were never left out. Chocolate freckles fall into the latter category and are a cinch to make at home.

Method • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

• Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl on top of a pot of simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt. Make sure that the base of the bowl does not come into contact with the water to avoid spoiling the chocolate.

• Once the chocolate has melted, stir it to make sure that it is smooth. Spoon circles of the chocolate, approximately 3cm in diameter, onto the parchment paper. You can also pipe the circles using a small plain nozzle and piping in a spiral motion to form the circles. The melted chocolate should yield approximately 40 chocolate discs.

• While the chocolate is still melted add a nice even layer of sprinkles on each disc, gently pat them down to secure them. Allow the chocolate discs to set on the baking sheet before removing.

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Ingredients 200g milk chocolate 35g sprinkles