Turkish Delight Rocky Road

Ingredients:

Melted butter, for brushing
200g milk chocolate
150g good-quality white chocolate, roughly chopped
250g Turkish delight (rose), roughly chopped
100g glace cherries or 100g raspberries (lollies)

Method:

Brush a 25cm x 75cm x 4cm deep bar tin with melted butter and line with baking paper. Melt milk chocolate in a small pan over a larger pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Add white chocolate, the Turkish delight and cherries (or raspberries). Stir quickly, until just combined and spoon into the prepared tin. Do not press the mixture down. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to set. Remove from refrigerator and allow to soften for 10 minutes before cutting the set mixture into slices with a sharp knife.

Chocolate and pistachio biscotti

Ingredients:

125g butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 Tbsp orange zest, finely grated
2 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
125g pistachio kernels
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
6 slices glace orange, chopped
2 Tbsp orange juice

Method:

Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Preheat oven to moderate 180 degrees C. Beat the butter, sugar and rind with electric mixer until light and creamy. Add eggs gradually beating between additions until the mixture is smooth.

Sift the flour, cocoa, soda and baking powder, add to butter mixture with pistachios, chocolate and glace orange and stir until just combined.

Divide mixture in half. Spread each half onto a prepared tray and shape into a log, about 25cm long and 10-12cm wide. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the mixture sounds hollow when tapped, and is cooked through when tested with a skewer. Remove from the oven and cook on a wire rack.

Reduce oven to 160 degrees C. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut each log into 1cm thick slices. Place biscotti, cut side up, on oven trays and bake for about 10 minutes. Turn slices over and cook for a further 5-10 minutes or until dried out. Cool before storing in an airtight container.

Chocolate Cherry Friands

Ingredients:
Butter, for greasing
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa
1 and 1/4 cups icing sugar
1 cup hazelnuts, ground (100g)
3 eggwhites
1 tsp vanilla essence
180b butter, melted
525g pitted black cherries canned in syrup, drained

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Brush 10 friand moulds with melted butter and place on a baking tray. Sift flour, cocoa and icing sugar into a large bowl. Stir in hazelnuts.

Put egg whites into a medium bowl and whisk with a fork until frothy, then fold through dry ingredients.  Stir through vanilla and melted butter until just combined.

Spoon batter into combined moulds into prepared moulds. Press 2 cherries into each friand, covering with batter.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until friands pop up in the middle and spring back when lightly pressed with finger. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Serve with remaining pitted cherries.

Triple Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients: 

1.5 cups SR flour 

1 cup brown sugar, dark, firmly packed 

250g dark chocolate, chopped 

125g butter 

1/4 cup cocoa 

300ml sour cream 

2 eggs 

2 tsp vanilla essence 

12 caramel filled chocolate Easter eggs 

1/4 cup drinking chocolate, sifted

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line 12 x 1/3 cup-hole muffin pan with paper cases. Sift flour into a large bowl, stir in sugar. Melt chocolate and butter in a heavy-based pan. Stir in cocoa and cool for 5 minutes. Whisk sour cream, vanilla and eggs in a jug. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate and sour cream mixtures until just combined. Spoon batter into pan so each hole is 1/2 full. Press a chocolate egg into the centre of each. Spoon the remaining mixture to 2/3 fill each hole. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with drinking chocolate just before serving.

Chocolate Pudding (Fast Ed's)

Author: Fast Ed off Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients
180g butter, really soft
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean, scraped
200ml milk
75g cocoa
75g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
75g dark chocolate, finely grated

Method
In a bowl add butter, caster sugar, eggs and vanilla bean and mix until smooth and combined.
Add milk and mix until resembles scrambled eggs.
The separation allows the chocolate pudding to get its unique texture - a dry layer and a creamy layer.
Sift the dry ingredients [cocoa powder, plain flour and baking powder] into the bowl. Stir until just combined.
Add finely grated dark chocolate and stir through.
Pour into a prepared baking tray and steam over gentle heat for 12-15 minutes.
Serve with fruit salad with a drizzle of honey.

Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes with Berries

Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cup chocolate biscuit crumbs
1/2 cup desiccated coconut, toasted
80g butter, melted
500g cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 and 1/2 tsp gelatine dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
250g milk chocolate melts, melted and cooled slightly
1 and 1/2 cups thickened cream, softly whipped

Method
Combine the biscuit crumbs, coconut and butter , then press into the bases of 6 x 10cm greased springform pans. Chill.
Beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until just smooth. Add the gelatine and chocolate and mix until smooth, then fold through the whipped cream.
Pour the mixture evenly over the prepared bases. Chill for 2 hours or until set. Decorate with fresh berries and chocolate curls prior to serving.