Chocolate

Eloise’s Whisky Truffles

Simple and thoroughly decadent, these wonderful French-style truffles are a chocoholic’s dream come true.

The ultimate bittersweet nibble, these truffles work well as a final flourish to a dinner party with a glass of cognac, port or even as a sneaky chocolate treat to be had when nobody’s looking.

I first had these truffles many years ago when I moved to Cape Town. My dear friend Eloise made them for me once as a thank you gift for inviting her family to dinner one evening. As it was the first time I had met her she was blissfully unaware that I’m lactose intolerant so I just passed the thoughtful gift on to my partner (who is a chocolate-fiend of note) and didn’t think about them until the next day.

As it turned out, the truffles weren’t to my partner’s taste at all as they weren’t as sweet as he would have liked. More surprisingly, however, they turned out to be right up my street! I’m not normally a ‘sweet’ person, but every now and again there are exceptions to the rule and these are most certainly that – exceptional!

Bitter, sweet and with a hint of whisky; these little chocolate gems are most definitely worth the consequences of lactose intolerance and that’s not something I say lightly.

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Chocolate Parfait with Pecan Crumbs

Chocolate Parfait I have had more than my fair share of doomed desserts. In fact given the choice, I would happily forgo them completely, or buy-in something instead. I am, however, not a dessert person: never have been, never will be. I would rather have a starter for a “pudding” than a crème brûlée, but I’m in the minority; understandably most dinner guests expect a sweet treat to end their meal, not another bowl of French onion soup! Like any good host I like to give my guests what they want, so I’ve taught myself a few special desserts to cater to their not-unreasonable dining expectations.

Which brings me to this particular recipe – chocolate parfait. In my relatively limited arsenal of dessert recipes, this is possibly my favourite. Part ice-cream, part semifreddo; chocolate parfait is entirely appealing but without the hassle of either. Unlike ice-cream, parfait requires no churning or special equipment. Elegant enough to impress, virtually impossible to stuff-up and always deliciously moreish; chocolate parfait is a dessert coup!

Paired with pecan crumbs, whipped cream and a coulis, this dessert is so delicious even I am tempted to scoff a slice!

For more Sweet Treats from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe

Chocolate Brownies

Chocolate Brownies

These brownies have served me well over the years; gooey and ridiculously rich, they’re irresistibly moreish! Frankly, I don’t understand why people don’t make brownies more often; they are so easy to throw together and always go down a treat, especially with kids.

Utterly delicious but devastating on the hips, this recipes makes quite a few brownies and invariably I end up giving most of them away to friends and random neighbours. I do this not out of generosity, but out of fear of my expanding waistline! Normally I can exercise admirable control when resisting sweet temptations, but with these, I turn into a brownie munchin’ fiend!

There is nothing pretentious about this recipe; this is easy-baking, that makes for great eating.

For more Sweet Treats from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies

If cookies were currency my family would be millionaires.

Okay, so this amazing cookie recipe didn’t make us our fortune but it certainly “bought” us some childhood friends! I wish my family could take credit for these cookies but the recipe was in fact given to us by a friend’s mother. However, we churned out so many of these delectable morsels we became synonymous with being “those kids with the cookies”. My mother would send us off on school outings with a massive round white Tupperware filled with these delicious nibbles and invariably we would come home with just a few crumbs and a couple of new friends.

These cookies are not your typical chewy, gooey kind that are so popular today – they have a much shorter texture with a sugary finish that almost dissolves on your tongue. In fact, they are very reminiscent of “Famous Amos Cookies” from the 80s/90s – in both taste and aroma! Of course, these cookies are absolutely prefect for dunking in just about anything! Personally though, I can only manage to scoff a couple at a time as they pack quite a sugar-punch.

The following recipe makes quite a few cookies but I wouldn’t recommend halving the quantities as you don’t want to mess with the Cookie Chemistry. At any rate, if you can’t trust yourself to have so many cookies in the house then give them away to your neighbours – you never know, the cookies may just “buy” you some new friends!

For more Sweet Treats from The Muddled Pantry, please click here

Click here for the recipe