Honeycomb (or Cinder Toffee)

 

I’m incredibly busy at the moment with various birthdays, events, baking requirements, not to mention work, so this is a brilliant and superfast way of making something that looks fairly epic. It’s also tons of fun – well for the few seconds where it foams up with the addition of bicarb. 

Ideally you’d make this with a sugar thermometer but I don’t have one so this method assumes that you don’t. It’s not that hard and there is a degree of error that the final product allows so that’s ok.  

Ingredients

165g caster sugar

165g Demerara sugar

60g golden syrup

15g butter (plus extra for greasing)

60ml (4 tbsp) water

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp bicarb of soda (have close by with a spoon in it ready to go) 

1.   Put everything, apart from the bicarb, in a saucepan and gently heat until everything is melted together.

2.   Then turn the heat up to keep it on a boil. It shouldn’t be escaping the pan but all you should see are bubbles. Put a timer on for 10 minutes.

3.   While that is going on grease the living hell out of a tray (20 x 20 square is a good size but it can be bigger – just not too big as the honeycomb will get too thin) with a decent side on it. When I say grease the hell I mean it. You want to see some actual butter left on the tray and not a thin film of grease. (Or use a silicon tray and ignore having to grease it).

4.   Once the 10 minutes are up put a teaspoon in the mixture, let excess drip off and put it in a cup of cold water. Leave for about 20-30 seconds. If, when you take the spoon out, the sugar mixture is hard to touch then it’s done. If it has some give then it needs a bit more time. It shouldn’t need more than 15 minutes so check every minute or so. (Who needs a sugar thermometer?)

5.   When the sugar is hard on the spoon put the bicarb in and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. At this stage the mixture with bubble up and looks fairly brilliant. Don’t mix too long and then pour it all into the tray.

6.   It will bubble away for a few minutes and after about 20-30 minutes will be cool enough to turn out and smash up.

N.B. Store somewhere dry. Damp kills it. Also don’t worry about it sticking together in a massive mass when you put it in a tin. It will be ok.

 

So much fun to smash up!

 

Chocolate Malt Biscuits

A couple of weekends ago some good friends of mine got married. The night before one of the Bride's friends, who I met on the hen, stayed over at mine as we were decorating a boat together on the wedding day (I know - random). Anyway she brought many lovely gifts with her, one of which being a jar of caramel biscuit spread (the others alcohol based) which we had discussed in length on the hen do. It’s basically the caramel biscuits you sometimes get with tea or coffee in the little wrapper mushed up to make a spread. I know!!! 

She proceeded to reveal a packet of malted milk biscuits from her bag as these are the structure she had found best to spread this on. It was immense.  

So that got me thinking about malt and biscuits. I’m a fan of malt. I’ll have a malt shake over a pure milkshake but I’ve never been a fan of malt loaf or malt drinks. However the malted milk biscuits were good and so I investigated. I found a recipe and they worked out very well. I made 2 ½ times this amount as my work eat biscuits like the world is ending and I needed lots! 

Ingredients

150g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

100g butter (soft)

75g granular sugar

60g Ovaltine

2 large egg yolks (you can whisk up the whites, add 120g caster sugar to make 2 large meringues. Bake on the lowest heat you have for about 1 hour, turn off the oven and leave to cool in the oven).

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Leave to one side for the moment.

3.    Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s got pale. Everyone goes for this fluffy thing but unless you have a free standing whisk thing then about3 or 4 minutes will do.

4.    Then add the Ovaltine, egg yolks and vanilla. Mix well.

5.    Add the flour mixture and you’re done. You may need to use your hands to bring the mixture together as it will just look like wet sand.

6.    Then divide into 16 balls.

7.    Space them out on a baking tray – no more than 8 on a large cookie sheet – and press them down until they are about 1cm thick. Bake for 11 minutes. No more, no less!

8.    Cool and eat with a glass of milk.

 

Look - spread on biscuits!!! Oh and wine.

 

Alfajores

What is with all these celebrities writing open letters to each other? I get the idea behind them but it’s getting a bit boring. They have all this money and they resort to releasing the equivalent of a press release about someone else and their thoughts on them. It also seems to be the older celebrities that write them, I guess because younger celebrities just let rip at one another in 140 characters or less. 

However that is also disappointing. These people are meant to be creative and they’re just doing what everyone else does. Where is the sky writing above someone’s film premiere? Where is the interpretive dance on Oprah’s sofa to show how they feel about twerking while drinking SodaStream? Why don’t they write their thoughts across their naked body and commission a Vogue shoot? It could be so much more interesting and entertaining for all.  

Hey ho. I’ve been feeling slightly angry all week as the extent of my wheat allergy (which I’m in total denial about) starts to make itself known. I’ve done something gluten free this week and gone all out and made it dairy free as well. These do taste ok, and the texture of the biscuit does work, although if you’re ok with dairy then use better instead of the margarine. Sadly when cooking they don’t fill your home with the smell of fresh baking but more like slightly burnt rice. However the caramel filling smells great so that’s a bonus. The original recipe has Xanthan Gum in but as it's powdered mould I left it out. It doesn't lack for want of it.

Ingredients

 

Biscuits

200g dairy-free margarine (or butter)

100g icing sugar

200g ground almonds

200g brown rice flour

1tsp cinnamon

Pinch of salt 

Caramel

150g dairy-free margarine (or butter)

150g light brown soft sugar

A good dollop of golden syrup

OR A tin of Carnation Caramel

 

1.    Cream the margarine and sugar, then add the rest of the biscuit ingredients, mixing well.

2.    Make the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.

3.    Preheat the oven, while you wait, to 180°C/GM4.

4.    Next make the caramel as it will need to cool before you use it. Put the sugar and golden syrup on a very low heat and melt together. You’ll need to mix it every now and again as you don’t want it to burn. It will create a paste, rather than liquid, so don’t panic.

5.    Add the margarine (it will spit a bit) and mix until the margarine is incorporated. Then leave on a slow simmer (it will look very bubbly) for 15 minutes. Do not stir. After that time drop some of it into a cup of cold water and check if it’s chewy. If it is it’s done. Leave to cool. Stir a bit as the fat will want to separate out but don’t panic about it.

6.    Once the dough has had its time in the fridge roll out on a surface floured with rice flour. You want it about 4mm thick. Then cut out discs of 4 – 6cm in diameter.

7.    Put on a baking tray, they don’t spread so you don’t have to worry about that, and bake for about 22 minutes (if you have a gas oven then turn half way through for an even colour).

8.    Cool and spread one biscuit with the caramel – there is enough to be generous – and sandwich with another. This makes about 20 in total if you use a 6cm cutter.

Peanut and Hazelnut Brittle (or Any Excuse to Use a Hammer in the Kitchen)

Remember, remember the fifth of November

Gumpower, treason and plot

I see no reason, why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot 

I have two very good reasons to not forget the 5^th November. It’s my sisters' birthday and also my sister-in-laws. All a bit random and strange but it helps keep the date front of mind. My sister didn’t really like fireworks when she was little, as many children don’t, which made it a little awkward but she seems to have grown out of it. I adore fireworks (along with balloons and stars) so am very upset that my local park doesn’t do a fireworks display anymore as it got too good and too many people came. I have to be content with pressing my face to my spare bedroom window and watching the sky light up across London. 

When thinking about what to do this week I did entertain the idea of making toffee apples but I couldn’t find any sticks that would stand up to the task. I’ve tried it before with wooden skewers and they are just too weak. However the idea of something that uses harden melted sugar appealed as it felt that it would evoke being by a bonfire. Therefore the idea of making nut brittle formed in my head (I was also passing a Holland and Barrett which made the purchase of nuts fairly easy). 

So below is my version. You can add vanilla extract but I think that distracts from the nuts and a little butter goes a long way to flavour and enhance the sugar mixture. Always be careful around molten sugar as it not only burns but sticks to you while it does it. Don’t lick a spoon, don’t put your finger in during a moment of distraction – it will hurt! I did two brittles with different nuts. I think you can use any but these smaller ones give a good consistency and reduce big bulges of brittle.  I’ve given measurements in cup and weight as I’m nice to you like that. 

Ingredients

1 cup/245g sugar

½ cup/145g golden syrup (tip - whatever touches the golden syrup should have a light coating of oil. So the spoon, container, cup as it comes off easier)

½ cup/125ml water

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp butter

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 ½ cups/250g peanuts (I used salted) or 1 ½ cups/200g hazelnuts 

1.    Line a baking tray with foil and give it a light coating of oil.

2.    Put the sugar, syrup, water and salt in a saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. A medium heat will do as this means you panic less about burning it. Let it boil gently for about 15 minutes when it will start to turn a darker brown.

3.    I have no idea about sugar thermometers so the following method tells you easily when the mixture is hot enough. Have a jug or cup of cold water ready with some teaspoons. Once the mixture is golden brown dip a spoon in it and then transfer to the water. Leave for about 10 seconds. If the mixture has hardened on the spoon then it's ready, if it hadn't then it's not. It won't get rock solid, as it's not pure sugar, but it will get close.

4.    Once your mixture is hot enough, turn off the heat and then add the butter, bicarb and nuts. The mixture will foam up so make sure you use a decent sized saucepan – don’t worry it doesn’t go mad. Stir until it calms down.

5.    Pour on to the foil quickly and smooth into a thin layer using a spatula or metal spoon lightly coated in oil. Then leave to set in the fridge.

6.    Now the fun part. Once set, remove the brittle from the tin foil. Hold over a wooden board at an angle and whack it with a hammer (you could use the back of a heavy knife or a rolling pin but why would you when a hammer can be used?) Keep whacking bits until you get the size pieces you want.

7.    Store in a tin with greased foil between layers or in a jar so people can see how amazing you are at making brittle. 

N.B. You can serve it as a big slab with a hammer next to it for people to make their own piece or it works as a gift wrapped in see through plastic. You could add a toffee hammer as well if you can find such a thing.

 

Millionaire’s Shortbread

There was very little drama this week in the picking of a recipe. I just did what I’d planned to do last week as I remembered to buy the ingredients I needed. This does not help me with a blog post at all. Therefore I’m not going to waffle on and get straight to the recipe. However I’ll use this space to recommend a couple of plays to read that I've read lately. I get that they won’t be everybody’s cup of tea but then what is?

• August: Osage County by Tracy Letts – excellent play about a family coming together after a death. Lots of different relationships at play, interlinking and exploring what family is. It’s being made into a film so quite excited to see it. 
• A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (free on Kindle) – I randomly came across this on a link to a reading list F. Scott Fitzgerald had given to someone. It explores a woman’s role in marriage and her identity within it. I didn’t realise until I had read it that it was highly controversial at the time of publishing in 1879. The writer had the belief that "a woman cannot be herself in modern society," since it is "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint." The thought is still sadly relevant over 100 years after first being published so worth a free download and read.  

Ingredients

55g butter, melted

250g shortbread, smashed (either whizz in a food processor or put in a sturdy sandwich bag and whack it with a rolling pin)

150g soft dark brown sugar

150g butter

1 x tin condensed milk (397g)

200g dark chocolate (you can use milk if you prefer)

1 x packet white chocolate buttons (if you want pretty patterns on the top)

1.    I highly recommend using a silicon baking tray thing if you have one. Mine is 20cm square and you'll need to rest it on a chopping board, as you need a solid base when using silicon baking things. If not line a 20cm square tin (or of similar size), making sure you have plenty of grease proof paper over the edges so you can lift the finished product out.

2.    Mix the biscuit crumb into the melted butter. Once mixed press into the bottom of the tray, even out and let set for an hour.

3.    The caramel takes about 10 minutes to get ready. Put the butter and sugar in a saucepan. Melt and mix together on a low heat. Then add the condensed milk, turn up the heat and stir sluggishly while it comes to a rapid boil. This will take about 3-4 minutes. Once boiling keep stirring vigorously for about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir until it stops bubbling when you stop stirring. I know that doesn't quite make sense but stir a bit, see if it bubbles, stir etc etc. You want to cool it a bit.

4.    Pour the caramel over the set base and then let set for another hour or so. I know this seems like a long time to make something that is a pimped up Twix but most of it is leaving it to set and you can make it over a whole day if you have places to be.

5.    Once the caramel is set melt the chocolate in separate bowls. Pour the dark chocolate on first and spread evenly. If using the white chocolate put dollops of it on top and swirl it using the tip of a sharp knife to make pretty patterns. Let set in the fridge.

6.    Now to cut. If using silicon turn it out on a board and if not lift it out using the paper. Then take a long sharp knife and a kettle of boiled water. Pour hot water over the blade of your knife. Wipe off excess water and then rest the blade where you want to cut. The chocolate will melt allowing you to cut through so it doesn't splinter. Repeat after each slice, cleaning the blade. A bit long winded but it works! Makes about 20-25 depending on how many slices you can be bothered to cut up.

Banoffee Pie

Getting to the Central line is currently like descending into the underworld. You know as you make your way down the escalator that awaiting you is a platform where warm air being pushed out of the tunnel by the oncoming train is a welcome treat, before you cram on to a carriage of humidity and sweat. Someone has either pushed the window at the end up as the strong breeze it creates is bugging only them, or the window is fully open but the world’s tallest and broadest man is standing in front of it so nothing is getting through. Both of these have the same result in creating a desperately unpleasant atmosphere and drastically increasing the chances of someone fainting, disrupting the service and ensuring that everyone stays in the sweat box longer. 

Salvation is at hand though. As you get off the tube and start the gradual ascent to the outside world, oxygen starts to become more readily available creating a euphoric feeling. Notwithstanding the idiots who don’t know how to use the ticket machines properly, you are only seconds away from the actual outside world and, regardless of the heat there, it is nothing compared to the lair of Beelzebub you have recently exited. Sadly repeating this twice daily does somewhat put a dampener on the great weather but at least leads to the temperature outside feeling cool when compared to the horrors of the tube network. 

Hot weather and baking don’t really mix with me. My kitchen is small and manages to heat my flat up, counteracting the strategic window opening and blind positioning. Therefore this week I have made something that requires assembling rather than baking. Banoffee Pie is extremely wonderful and I have made it with a buttery biscuit base but you could make, or buy, a sweet pastry case to construct it in. It’s fairly quick to make and always looks impressive thanks to a sprinkling of chocolate on the top. Transporting in London can be an issue in hot weather and sadly a bag of frozen peas was sacrificed on the Central line to the almighty Hades to ensure the cream didn’t melt. 

Ingredients  

450g digestive biscuits (this is if you want sides, if not then 300g will do)

150g butter (or 100g if using 300g of biscuits)

2 x tins of Carnation Caramel (you could use one but I like a lot of caramel)

3 or 4 ripe bananas

600ml double cream (you could use less and use whipping but just embrace the double cream)

1 x Flake 

1.    Grease a spring form tin. I used a 23 inch one but it just means your pie is deeper if you use a smaller tin.

2.    Smash the digestive biscuits into crumbs by your preferred method. If you have a small child on hand then they can be tasked with this if you’re happy with mess. If not a food processor whizz or bunging into a plastic food bag and smashing to hell and back with a rolling pin will work.

3.    Melt the butter and add to the biscuit crumb. Mix well until it looks like damp sand and put into the tin. Smooth it on the bottom and up the sides with the back of a metal spoon to create your base. Put in the fridge for about 30 minutes. You want to make sure that when you put the caramel on that it doesn’t rip up the base so the butter needs to set.

4.    Take the base out and empty the caramel on it. Spread out until even.

5.    Now do these bits just before you want to eat it as the bananas can go weird. Slice the bananas and scatter the slices over the top of the caramel.

6.    Whip the cream until stiff and smooth over the top of the banana, finishing off with smashed Flake. Once again a small child (or enthusiastic work colleague) can help with this.

7.    If you’ve put sides on the base then use a knife the prise it away from the side of the tin, take the sides of the tin off and serve.

You can of course make this in a tart dish or create individual portions with tea cups or glasses.

Leon's Cinnamon Scones

A holiday in the UK can be fraught with dangers. You run the very real risk of reenacting most of ‘Withnail and I’. The experience can find you pathetically complain that you have gone on holiday by mistake to anyone who will listen and then drinking so much of the local scrumpy that you insult the elderly population of wherever you are staying. Luckily my holiday in Wales wasn’t like that, and while we had one wash out afternoon, The Thew actually managed to gain the respect of the local population by drinking the local scrumpy three days in a row and not passing out. A strange bubble exists on holiday where 7.2% cider seems the norm. The only strange moment I had was when checking into one place I was greeted by a moving CCTV camera and disembodied voice in reception but after a while an actual person showed up so that was ok.  

Our last day of holiday was spent with our friends in Abergavenny where we were treated to glorious sunshine and amazing food. They have discovered a vineyard near them so Saturday was devoted to watching their three sons playing in a stream while we cooled our feet and drank local Welsh wine. I became quite adept at the ‘Rock Game’ which entailed me finding rocks in the stream and then passing them to their youngest son who proceeded to hurl them down a mini waterfall. I think that the aim to hit another rock without a big splash but to be honest I was just happy that I was seen to be performing my role well.  

Breakfast on Sunday consisted of cinnamon scones which were fabulous. Leon is something of a cook and he just knocked these up for us. Served hot smothered in butter is a great way to start a Sunday and a highly recommend it to one and all. In the tradition of all great recipes this one is written on a scrap of paper with the ink slightly blurred where water has dripped on it and no cooking instructions. Just that in itself should assure you of how great these are. 

Ingredients 

Scones

310g plain flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

250ml milk

30g butter, melted 

Filling/Topping

60-70g melted butter

85g dark brown sugar (keep the packet handy)

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice 

1.    Preheat the oven to 190°C/GM5 and line a baking tray with baking paper (the butter and sugar go everywhere but we want to keep it as they make crunchy bits you can snack once all the scones are gone).

2.    Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together then add the butter and milk to make the dough. It will look very wet but start with a wooden spoon and then use your hands. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead to bring together. Add more flour as you knead if the dough is too wet but the kneading should make it less so.

3.    Roll the dough out into a rectangle. I had it about 1cm thick in the end but is doesn’t matter if it’s uneven. Go for a size just larger than A4 as a guide.

4.    Brush all over generously with the melted butter. Mix the sugar and spices together and scatter most of it over the dough. (I used all of it and forgot to leave some for the topping so just used more brown sugar, hence keeping the packet handy in case you do this too).

5.    Roll the dough up bringing the long side towards you and then slice into pieces. I got 15 out of mine but make sure they are about 3-4cm wide. Place upright, so the swirly middle bit isn’t top and bottom, brush with more butter and top with sugar/spice mix or just sugar.

6.     Bake for 20 minutes (although I think 15 minutes could do it as my sugar started to melt which Leon's didn't) cool very slightly then serve the Leon way.

 

N.B. These are best served hot but if you save some then heat for 15 seconds on high in a microwave.

Caramel Cupcakes

I've needed to get my fringe cut for about two weeks now and have been unable to find the time. I have no idea why not as it’s a relatively simple procedure and doesn't take long but I just haven't found the time. Now I'm rapidly running out if hair styles which allow my fringe to be pulled back. If I leave it down then it goes to the side and just looks stupid. I may have attempted to trim it myself at the weekend but after the first tiny snip I realised that only madness lay in in that approach and put down the scissors. 

Currently I'm attempting to rock a high bun/top knot thing which saves me tons of time. Just whack damp hair into a high ponytail and swish up with a hair band into something looking relatively neat. If only everything in life was that easy. Although I always panic that tying wet hair up will somehow cause it to rot as it can't fully dry as I'm sure I heard that somewhere (I did Google it and apparently people with thick hair who put it in a ponytail wet and leave it for days can get mildew! Who leaves their hair in a ponytail for days on end?) 

Anyway I can't find time to get my fringe trim but I do find time to bake. I had started prep by taking the butter out if the fridge on Sunday and I urge you to do the same. Normally I just soften butter with the electric whisk but this recipe is so much easier if it’s squishy to begin with. This is a Hummingbird Bakery recipe with my own tweaks to their frosting (mainly halving it as they get you to make so much). Their base for cupcakes is so simple and the addition of milk makes then verge on muffin texture while keeping something fundamentally cupcake there. My sister made these for our Mother's Day afternoon tea this year and they were amazing.

Ingredients 

Cupcakes

80g softened butter

280g sugar

240g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

240ml whole milk (don't scrimp with semi-skimmed - look how much sugar you're putting in)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

150g caramel (Carnation have finally cottoned in to the fact that it’s fairly dreary boiling a can of condensed milk for 2 hours just to get caramel and now do the boring work for you)

Frosting

80g softened butter

250g sifted icing sugar

50ml whole milk

80g caramel 

1.    Preheat the oven to 190°C/GM 5. Fill two 12 muffin/cupcake tins with cases. The original recipe says this makes 12-16 cupcakes in a muffin tin but I can get about 24 out if you use large cupcake cases.

2.    Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and using an electric whisk mix together until it looks like breadcrumbs.

3.    In a jug hand whisk the milk, eggs and vanilla. Add about ¾ of this to the cupcake mixture and mix well. Then add the rest with the caramel. Mix until smooth and then divde the mixture in to the tins. Fill the cases about 2/3’s full (I always end up with a bit more in each).

4.    Bake for about 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. I have a gas oven to turn the tin around half way through as otherwise the ones nearest the back get more browned than the ones at the front.

5.    While this is going on make the frosting. Mix the butter and sugar together. It will form lumps of butter and sugar, so don’t panic – you don’t want to cream them. Then add the milk, mix well, and then the caramel. Done.

6.    Once the cupcakes have cooled slather the top in frosting. I use a palette knife and hope for the best as I’m not skilled with anything delicate.

Florentines

Never go to the gym before baking! Seriously. If you do arm exercises before whisking the crap out of something it’s going to hurt. It’s a long boring story but I now go to the same gym as my husband. The Thew is very serious about keeping fit and has a few fairly intense challenges to complete this year so I’m in supportive wife mode; joining him for some training runs and now going to the gym with him. He seems to like the company and is actually very good at being motivating as long as he thinks you’re working hard. Anyway this Monday morning there were some medicine ball lifts and my arms now hurt – a lot.

To be honest I didn’t really think about the work involved in making the Florentines I had decided to try out this week. It's only baking after all. I’d asked around my office what I should make and someone mentioned them. I remembered that someone else who had missed out on my mega baking last week liked them so it made sense to give them a go. Florentines are one of those things that I'm surprised that I like. Candied peel and glace cherries aren’t general the ingredients in these days of cupcakes that do it for people but when you bake them in a caramel type sauce ... well it’s just a thing of beauty.

If you’re going to make these – and I do recommend it, even after the pain – then maybe prepare some of the ingredients beforehand. There is some chopping which is fairly boring. I did mine the night before watching ‘Man vs Food’. Also the sauce needs to be smooth which is where the whisking comes in – quite a bit in my case! I'm not sure an electric one would work, you just need to whisk the heck out of it with a balloon whisk. If I’m honest I think this is one of those recipes you’ve got to make a few times but the bonus is that I think regardless of how it goes you’ll enjoy what you end up with. Sadly The Thew wasn’t in supportive husband mode as he declared they looked like little puddles of cat sick when they came out of the oven. He did amend that later once they were finished but quite frankly the damage was done as far as I was concerned!

Ingredients

100g blanched almonds, chopped into a variety of sizes (I’m going to try this with flaked almonds next time)
100g chopped candied peel (you could find whole stuff and chop it yourself but I have no idea where you would buy it in the normal world)
40g glace cherries, chopped
25g butter
90g caster sugar
15g plain flour
150ml double cream
Melted chocolate – white, milk and/or dark (about 200 - 225g in total)

1.    Preheat the oven to 190°/GM5. Find a non-stick baking tray. I’d tell you to grease a regular one but who has time? Just use a non-stick and it will be fine.

2.    Put the butter and sugar into a saucepan and melt them. It will be a fairly robust melt that foams and stays fairly solid when mixed (or maybe I did it wrong!) Add the flour and mix like a white sauce. It made a sandy sort of mixture but I think it’s meant to go into a ball. I don’t think it matters much but I will be trying these again as you don't want the sugar/butter to burn but you need to leave it on long enough to melt.

3.    Take off the heat and add the cream whisking to make a smooth sauce. This is where the mega whisking comes in. As the cream hits the hot mixture it cools it and it goes lumpy. Just chuck back on a low heat and whisk like crazy. Or be less impatient and put a little cream in at a time so it doesn't make it cold quickly.

4.    Once smooth put the fruit and almonds in and mix together. See not that bad really!

5.    Then put heaped teaspoon fulls on the tray leaving a healthy gap as these suckers spread. Flatten them out a little bit. Bake for 9-11 minutes – it depends on your oven but you want the edges to go golden brown.

6.    Take out and leave to cool for about 5 minutes before taking off the tray and cooling completely.

7.    Now melt whatever chocolate you want. Once melted use a pastry brush to add layers of chocolate to the flat side until it’s nice and thick. I put them in the fridge in between layers as I’m impatient. Some would finish the chocolate with a squiggly pattern but my hands were so covered in chocolate I just gave up.

This makes 25 - 30. When I try these again I'll refine the recipe if I learn anything new.