Tag Archives: food

Easy Farmhouse Frittata Recipe

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It’s cold here at the farm this morning, as Australia slides towards winter.  There’s work to be done, and it’s raining and utterly miserable outside.  A warm breakfast for the workers is in order, before they go to out to rebuild the cattle yards and fence the back paddock.

With a full basket of fresh organic eggs, and a handful of vegetables and herbs a hearty breakfast will be made in a jiffy.  This is also good as a satisfying dinner when teamed with a salad, but this morning we’re eating our frittata with buttered toast and a big pot of tea!

Ingredients to serve 4 hungry workers and me:

(Modify quantities to suit yourself, or keep some of this as leftovers) 8 eggs, a knob of butter, around 2 cups of fresh vegetables, sliced or diced, some fresh herbs of your choice, or a teaspoon or so of dried herbs. Milk or water, around 1/2 a cup. Some grated or thinly sliced cheese (I used some chunks of fetta, and some grated cheddar).  Ham or bacon if you choose.  (I have also used salmon before, and that is terrific too!) My vegetables of choice this morning are mushrooms, broccoli, capsicum (bell pepper), onion, cherry tomatoes, some fresh corn kernels, spring onion, fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

Method:

Chop your vegetables and have them ready.  Then crack the eggs into a large bowl, add a good slurp of water or milk and whisk well.  Season with a little salt and cracked pepper.

I apologise that there are no ‘action’ shots of the cooking steps – I was too busy cooking, eating toast, gossiping with my husband and friends, and drinking tea…

Heat a large heavy based frypan over a medium heat, and then dump in the knob of butter and push it around the pan, making sure that you grease the bottom and sides well.

Throw in a bit more butter.  If you are using bacon, add it now and cook off until soft.  Add in your sliced mushrooms, and any vegetables that will take a little longer to cook.  Swoosh them round in the butter until they soften a little then spread them out so they cover the base of your pan. Lower the heat on your pan.

Rewhisk your eggs and pour into the frypan, and then artfully drop the rest of your vegetables into the egg mixture.  Add in your cheese and any deli meats or your salmon if you are using them. (Today I’m using organic woodsmoked Bangalow Ham) Sprinkle your herbs over the top, add another grind or two of cracked pepper and then give the contents a little stir with a fork.

Leave to cook until the top is set. This takes about ten minutes, depending on the size and depth of your pan. (The cooking time can be hastened by putting a large lid or a piece of aluminium foil over the top of the pan – but don’t raise the heat or you’ll overcook the eggs!).  You can also place the pan under your grill to brown off the top at the end of cooking.

Serve cut into wedges with some toast.  Delicious hearty food!  This slices well when cold, and I often cook enough for leftovers so I can have some with salad for lunch.

 

Lunch or Dinner Variation:  If you want something even more filling, add in some thinly sliced potato, sweet potato or pumpkin (or all of these) into a well greased deep baking dish.  Substitute the milk or water for a 1/2 cup of cream.  Layer your vegetables and cheese (and meat if you are using), pour the egg mixture over, sprinkle on your cheese and bake in a 180 degree c/350 degree f oven for 30 minutes.  Serve with salad and a good bread.

Breakfast’s over and the sun is coming out! Sending you lots of love and warm wishes from down here at my farm ♥

 

 

Walnut and Basil Pesto & Pasta Recipe

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My summer garden plantings are coming to an end, and I have more fresh basil than I know what to do with. The rabbits, possums and wallabies don’t like it much, and have left plenty for me – while they nibble my kale, parsley and coriander into oblivion!

These wallabies don’t like basil! Luckily I do…

This pesto recipe is such an easy dish to prepare.  You can have it on the table from scratch in twenty minutes!

Ingredients for the Pesto:

A few big handfuls (I mean BIG!) of fresh basil leaves, two or three large cloves of garlic, a small wedge of parmesan cheese, olive oil, and a cup or so of mixed nuts and seeds – I used walnuts, pine nuts, pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sunflower seeds. (Adjust your quantities to suit the size of your blender/whizzer and the number of mouths you need to feed.) Note: You can really use whatever nuts and seeds you have to hand.  I just like walnuts!

Plus – some fresh vegetables, enough to feed your crowd, and some pasta of your choice (gluten-free if needed – or you can swap out pasta all together for a big plate of steamed or roasted vegetables instead) – once again choose enough to feed you, and I’d strongly advise cooking extra to ensure some left-overs as this makes a great cold salad the next day!

Parmesan cheese and garlic

Method:

Peel the garlic, and add to the food processor bowl with some parmesan cheese cut into small chunks.  Whizz until combined. (If you’re vegan, omit the cheese – if you’re a cheese nut, add a little extra…)

Then heat a heavy bottomed frying pan and dry-fry your nuts and seeds until toasty.  Transfer to a bowl so that they don’t keep cooking in the hot pan.

Toast nuts in frypan

Wash your basil and drain well.  Then get your pot of water on to boil for your pasta.

Wash basil and drain well

Add a handful of leaves to the food processor bowl and whizz.  Then add a handful of nuts and seeds and pulse again.  Now pour in a small slug of olive oil.  Pulse.

Keep doing this until you have used up all your leaves and seeds.  Taste and adjust flavourings, quantities and texture until you’re happy with it. The resulting pesto mixture should be glossy, bright green, and quite moist. Don’t be afraid to add a little more oil if it looks too dry. Season with salt and pepper or add a little chilli if you like it with a bit of heat (Mmmm!)  I quite often add a little fresh lemon zest too.

Feel free to dip in a spoon or a bit of bread and have a cook’s taste while you finish up dinner.

Whizzing it all together

Chop up your remaining vegetables, as these will go in your pasta! I like to use my frypan and a little oil and give them a quick stir-fry so they caramelise slightly to give the dish a richer flavour, but you could also dump them into your saucepan and let them get cosy with your pasta as it cooks.

Vegetables from the garden

Drain pasta. Put back into pot, add vegetables and pesto and stir to combine. Serve with some good bread, and a little extra cheese (if you like that sort of thing…) Enjoy ♥ xx

Dinner!

Cheesy Mexican Bake with Home-made Coleslaw

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All my clients and friends keep telling me they want to eat better but have no time to cook! In response to this I’ve decided to post some quick-to-prepare recipes that will allow you to eat well, and get food on the table fast, with a mimimum of fuss.

This recipe is embarrassingly easy and I have endless variations of it, but here goes:

Note: For vegans, use a butter and cheese substitute. This is a vegetarian meal, but carnivores could easily add in a few handfuls of bacon, ham, chicken or sausage. Like I said, endless variations…

Ingredients: potatoes – washed but skin on ( you could also use pumpkin or sweet potato if you choose), an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, a few cups of mixed vegetables, some ripe tomatoes (or a can if you’re really pressed), and a tin of baked beans, some cheese, coriander (cilantro – or fresh herbs of your choice), cumin, black pepper, paprika (smoked is good!) and a little chilli.

Fresh tomatoes from my garden!

Method:

Heat oven to moderate, 180c, or 350f.

Find a big baking dish or pan to serve your meal in and grease well with butter. (I use an old enamel dish I found at an op shop many years ago. It’s still one of my faves and it cost $2!) Cook up enough potato cut in rough big chunks, unpeeled, to cover the bottom of pan with a hearty layer. (I often use pumpkin or sweet potato or a combo too.) While the spuds are cooking grease your serving pan and chop the rest of your vegetables, and then get started on your slaw. Ten minutes should be more than ample time!

When the potato is cooked dump into bottom of pan. Feel free to smash down a bit to get that coverage. Cover with a layer of baked beans. 1 tin ought to do it. Then add various chopped vegies – for ‘Mexican’ (this is hilarious considering I am an Australian…) I use chopped capsicum (bell peppers), raw onion, green onions (shallots) a few cloves of crushed garlic, fresh corn (you could used tinned), fresh coriander and then season with lots of cracked black pepper, cumin, paprika (smokey is good!) and a little chilli – or just use a mexican spice mix. Cover with a layer of sliced fresh tomatoes and then with grated cheese and place in hot oven for about 20 mins or until golden brown on top. Devour, with a garden salad or coleslaw. Easy and yum!

Variation: For something a little fancier slather some guacamole and sour cream on top, and add more fresh coriander (cilantro).

Coleslaw – finely slice or shred a quarter wedge of red cabbage and a white one, add some finely chopped celery, capsicum (bell pepper), onion and apple, grated carrot, and a little fresh corn if you have it. Add coleslaw dressing and mix well. (Confession – I will usually use store-bought dressing when I’m in a hurry) I often add walnuts or diced pineapple to my coleslaw too, depending on the day, and what I’m serving it with.

PS – You can cheat with the coleslaw if you need to by buying a bag of pre-chopped coleslaw vegetables from the supermarket, then adding a few of your own touches (like the onion and apple). That’s still going to be way better than the pre-bought tubs of mush that imitate the real thing.

Coles pre-made coleslaw vegetables – Image from coles.com.au

I often use whatever vegetables are in my cupboard/fridge or growing in the garden for my cheesy bakes. If I am feeling energetic I will cook beans from scratch, or use leftover chilli from a previous meal. It is a great dinner to reheat for lunch or supper the next day too :)

Tips: Cook double your usual quantity of potato at one night’s dinner, and make this recipe up to serve the following night.  Refrigerate and then bake when needed, but give yourself a good 30 minutes cooking time to make sure it is heated right through. Faster than take-away and a fraction of the price! Or make two trays and freeze one to serve on those nights when you are too tired to care.

And while you’re waiting for this to brown in the oven, and with the coleslaw all made, you’ll have time for a minute’s meditation….

Life’s too short to eat bad food! I hope you enjoy this easy meal xx

Easy Baked Custard Recipe AND a Free Kitten!

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Today an old family recipe worth cherishing, and the latest instalment on life at my farm.

This baked custard recipe was my grandmother’s, although my grandfather liked to boast that he perfected it! It always reminds me of the love and care he had for my grandmother – he was never a man to be in the kitchen but as my grandmother’s eyesight failed and her health deteriorated he would cook this custard for her every week. And I have to admit he did a fine job of it too.

So what’s with the free kitten? I have some in my possession. I’ve been nursing them since yesterday when my husband found them, abandoned by their young feral mother in an overturned cattle trough down by the shed.

So on this frosty farm morning I find myself nursing four tiny feral, hissy-spittie kitties.

Later today I will take them to a cat shelter, not far from here, and kind foster mothers will nurse the kittens until they are old enough to live in the shelter, and be adopted out as rescue pets.

We have a box in the shed with emergency mothering supplies.  There is calf formula for baby cows (works on puppies and kittens in a pinch too if watered down), bird mix for baby birds, bird mix for injured adult birds, a mix for wallabies and kangaroos, wombat mix (only ever used that once but the tin is good for two more years!) and an assortment of bottles, droppers, gloves and sacks (for wrapping babies in). Who said I am no soft touch?

This baked custard is equally good for mothering – other people or yourself.  It is warm, rich in protein, and easy to eat and digest.  True comfort food with its silky texture and gentle flavours. I would have eaten some for breakfast, but somehow in the middle of the night the remainder has disappeared.  Those kittens must be able to raid the fridge!

Easy Baked Custard Recipe

Ingredients: 4 eggs, 2 and 1/2 cups milk, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, butter for greasing dish, nutmeg

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 130c (250f or slow oven)  if fanforced or 150c (300f – and still slowish oven)  if not.
  2. Grease a four cup capacity dish, and find a baking tray large enough for it to sit within.
  3. Beat eggs and sugar together with a whisk or fork.  Add milk and vanilla and beat until sugar is dissolved.
  4. Pour mixture into the greased dish.
  5. Grate or sprinkle nutmeg over the top of the custard. (I am a firm lover of fresh nutmeg – once you’ve tried it you’ll never go back to the packaged stuff!)
  6. Fill baking tray with cold water so that it comes halfway up the side of the custard dish.
  7. Place carefully into oven and bake for 40 minutes or until set.  Custard will be firm under your tough, although it may still be a bit wobbly in the middle.  It will firm more as it cools.

Serve warm or cold.  Goes very well with stewed fruits, baked apples and pastries. I am reliably informed that it is also tasty with jelly. Warning – may be stolen by kittens!

Custard going into the oven in its water bath

Bert – totally perplexed by the hissing box just out of his reach (for his safety – not the kittens!)

Charlie took advantage of the early morning kitten action by putting himself back to bed – in my bed!

Cherry Ripe Slice Recipe

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We’ve got a party to go to on the weekend – a neighbour’s son is turning eighteen! Like most parties in the country, people will be coming from near and far, and there will be quite a crowd to feed. I’m taking along a huge tray of of these delicious Cherry Ripe Slices and another big tray of my favourite Chocolate Brownies ( click here for the Brownie recipe  – it’s easy and fabulously yum, and I updated it yesterday for American measurements as well!)  .

The base of the Cherry Ripe Slice is a tasty chocolate biscuit, topped with a rich sweet coconut and cherry layer, finished with a drizzle of dark chocolate. It keeps very well, and also makes a lovely gift. It can also be made gluten-free very easily and still tastes heavenly.

Ingredients (American equivalents in brackets):

Base: 1 and 1/4 cups self raising flour ( or 1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour with 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder) * Substitute your favourite gluten-free flour here if you have an intolerance – it works fine in this recipe, 2 tablespoons of cocoa, 3/4 cup dessicated coconut, 1/2 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar), 125g butter (1 stick or 4 ounces of butter), 1 egg

Cherry Layer: 2 and 1/2 cups of coconut, 200g glace cherries, quartered (7 ounces of glace cherries or 1 cup glace cherries, quartered), 1 x 395gram tin of sweetened condensed milk

Dark or Milk Chocolate: Your choice, dark or milk.  You’ll need between 150g to 200g (3/4 to one cup, or 7 ounces) melted.

I also make this in paper cups for easy individual serves.  I’ll show you both ways today!

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C (moderate or 355F), and line a 20cm x 30cm (8 inch by 12 inch) slice tin with non-stick paper, or grease it well. You may also use a muffin tin or similar and line with paper cups. (*If you are being fancy-schmancy, make this in a spring-form flan dish, and serve in small wedges as your next dinner party dessert!)

Melt butter and cool slightly.  Beat egg well.  Sift dry ingredients into a bowl, then stir through the butter and egg until well combined.  Press into the slice tin, or push a spoonful of the mix into each individual cup and press down with fingers to form a base.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes – check to see that it is firm and cooked through.  If not give it another five minutes.

Remove from oven but leave the oven on.  Cool slice for five minutes.

While the slice is baking, mix the topping ingredients together in a bowl.  Press over the chocolate biscuit layer and return to over for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

Melt chocolate and drizzle over top. Don’t worry too much about how it looks, let it be homespun and groovy. (If you are a total chocolate fiend, melt enough to spread a thick layer over the entire slice, adding a spoonful of vegetable oil or butter to stop it cracking when you cut it. This is divine but be warned, it is also very rich!) When chocolate has set, cut into small squares and store in an airtight tin.

This goes very well with coffee, tea or a glass of milk. It also makes a special dessert when served with some whipped cream, pouring cream, or a good vanilla ice-cream. ♥

Vegan Recipe Bonanza!

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Click on the Picture to Travel To Vegan Potluck Heaven...

Hi everyone! I’m inviting you to participate in a Virtual Vegan Potluck, hosted by the wonderful blogger an unrefined vegan on May 12, 2012.  Mark your diaries now! I’ll be contributing one of my favourite recipes, and I’m looking forward to adding a whole pile of new ones to my repertoire.

No matter what your eating style, we could all use more fruits and vegetables in our diets, and at this virtual potluck you’ll get to sample animal-product free, cruelty-free recipes for every occasion:

Course Categories
Beverages
Appetizers/Starters
Breads (Savory, such as rolls, baguette, cornbread, biscuits)
Breads (Sweet, such as banana bread, fruit muffins, cinnamon rolls)
Soups/Stews
Salads
Sides
Main Course
Desserts

If you’d like to share the love and submit a recipe of your own, go here for more details. Make sure you sign up by April 30.

It’s going to be lots of yummy, healthy fun, and should guarantee some new recipe ideas for your kitchen.  How wonderful to be connected with bloggers from all over the world, sharing our cuisine at a virtual feast of goodness and well-being. See you there!

ANZAC Biscuits – Nana’s Traditional Recipe

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Tomorrow is ANZAC DAY in Australia, so I’ve been baking up a storm.  Of course, I think we may be the only country in the world where one of our most important national holidays celebrates a great war time defeat. But that’s another story, best told tomorrow.

My Nana was given this recipe by her mother, who used it to bake Soldiers Biscuits for the First World War – biscuits (cookies for my non-Australian readers) full of nutritional value, and with good keeping qualities, that could be shipped abroad to the fighting men. These biscuits do not contain any egg, which makes them much less perishable, and during the wars when there was rationing, the basic ingredients could still be come by. After the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915, these biscuits became known as ANZAC biscuits.

Every time I make them, I think of my Great Grandmother and my Nana, and of our troops abroad, then and now.  For me these biscuits are an ANZAC Day tradition, but I bake them often because they are delicious with a cup of tea, they fill you up, and they are quick to make.  Store them in an airtight tin and they’ll keep fresh for months. (Sadly, mine never last that long.)

Ingredients:

I cup each of rolled oats, dessicated coconut, sugar and plain flour, 4 ounces (1 stick) or 115g of butter (if you’re vegan use a butter substitute), 2 tablespoons golden syrup, 2 tablespoons boiling water (and a little more if needed), 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda.

Method:

Heat oven to 180C (moderate or 355F), and line two baking sheets with non-stick paper, or grease them.

Measure and mix dry ingredients into a large bowl.

Melt butter and syrup together in a saucepan. Add the bicarbonate of soda to a cup with the boiling water, dissolve soda and then tip into saucepan with the butter mixture.  The mixture will foam up – this is normal!

Tip wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. If the mixture is a little dry add a touch more boiling water.

Form into teaspoon sized balls and place on tray, leaving room for spreading.Press down with a fork to flatten.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown. Watch carefully for the last few minutes so they don’t overcook.

Cool on tray until firmed and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight tin.

Serve with tea, coffee or a nice cold glass of milk.  For best results, share with someone you love. ♥

Drink your vegetables – some great juice recipes!

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Health requires healthy food ~ Roger Williams

I am a firm believer in that old saying, ‘we are what we eat’. That’s why I love freshly made juices so much.  They enable me to get a stack of nutrition into my body fast, and they are easy to make and consume when I’m in a hurry, or don’t want to stop the flow of my writing too long.

I am fortunate enough to have a vegetable garden which provides much of my own juicing ingredients, but a trip to the local farmers markets and you’ll be ready to make your own juices too.  My rule of thumb is always to juice what is fresh, local and seasonal.  The fresher it is, the more nutrients and vital life force are still within, ready to be poured into you!

Beetroot Cleanser 

This is a great recipe for cleansing and supporting the skin and blood, and it packs in some great anti-oxidants and vitamin C.

Push through a juicer and consume straight away. If you have weak digestion, have your ingredients at room temperature, or place in a sink of warm water for a few minutes to take the chill off.

You can adjust the quantities to suit your tastes and the size of your glass, but the basic ingredients are:

  • 1 beetroot, washed but not peeled
  • 1 handful of parsley or kale
  • 1/2 a lemon, skin on
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 1 inch of ginger (optional but excellent)
  • Optional – 1 clove of garlic if you are brave – this is especially good if you are run down

 

Creamy Green Juice

I love green juices, and this one is terrific because it has a creamy rather than a watery texture. It is an excellent tonic for your liver, gall bladder, adrenals, kidneys and bladder. Once again the quantities are adjustable. Throw the ingredients in a juicer and you’ll be in sipping heaven in just a minute or two.

  • 1 small green apple (Granny Smiths are my favourite)
  • 1/2 to 1 lime with skin on (you could substitute lemon)
  • 1/2 a cucumber with skin on
  • 1 zucchini  (courgette)
  • 1 wedge of pineapple, no skin

One of the best things about juicing is that once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that you are inclined to try all sorts of weird and wonderful combinations, that are surprisingly tasty. They are also a great way to get vegetables into non-vegetable eaters!!!

If you are diabetic, or have sugar issues, go easy on the fruit. And try to vary the colours of your juices too.  Drink up, and enjoy!

Marshmallow Recipe – Perfect for Easter

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Homemade marshmallow is the yummiest, fluffiest thing. Easy and inexpensive too. The recipe will make the sort of standard coconut-covered marshmallows most people know, but it can also be used in moulds to make cool shapes. At Easter, marshmallow eggs or bunnies are very appropriate, and make delicious gifts.

This Easter I’m making quite a lot of marhsmallow eggs for my loved ones – they’ll be nestled in a basket with my home-made fudge, and some rich, moist fruit cake. Ingredients:  3 tablespoons gelatine, 200ml cold water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 180ml hot water, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, food dyes, coconut.

Method: Put the salt, gelatine and cold water into a bowl.  Stir and allow gelatine to swell. Grease some pans or moulds – you can use a little melted butter or a non-stick cooking spray. (I’m a butter fan myself.)

Add sugar and hot water to large saucepan.  Bring to boil, stirring to ensure sugar is dissolved, and remove from heat. Add the gelatine mix to the saucepan and stir well until the gelatine has dissolved. Then allow mixture to cool slightly.  Beat well with electric beaters until the mixture turns thick and white in colour.  Add the lemon juice and vanilla. Colour the mixture with a few drops of colouring if you wish. Beat well to mix through.

Pour into the tins or moulds and leave for a few hours to set.

If you are making traditional marshmallows, remove from tin, cut into cubes and roll in plain or toasted coconut.

*Toast coconut by placing in dry frypan over high heat and stirring until it colours.  Remove from heat straight away and let cool before using.

If you are making moulded items, remove from shape and place on some non-stick baking paper. Use a small clean brush and some food dye to paint any markings on your shapes.   Shapes can then be joined  if desired by pressing surfaces lightly together.

Roll in coconut or a mixture of 1/2 cup cornflour to 1/2 cup icing (powdered) sugar. Store in a cool, dry place. ♥ Share with the people you love! ♥

Five-Minute Fudge Recipe

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Creamy chocolate fudge - no-one can stop at just one piece...

I have always been an old fashioned, hard-core, boil ‘em up kind of fudge maker. This makes great fudge, but it’s fiddly and I have spent many hours testing my batches to get them from ‘soft ball stage’ to ‘hard ball stage’- where I can drop a spoonful of mixture on a cold saucer and be able to get it to form into a firm ball before madly getting it into the tins before it sets too hard to manoeuvre.

After much perseverance I became the ‘Fudge Queen’ – cleaning up in the local agricultural shows and being awarded many ribbons and prizes. (It sounds more glamorous than it is – one of my ‘prizes’ was a tea towel, another was a nifty peg bag full of plastic bags – Oh Hale Goddess of Domesticity… Meanwhile our neighbour’s prizewinning cow netted him a bottle of rum, and several cartons of beer!)

Prize winning cows trump prize winning fudge any day!

A few years ago a friend gave me a recipe she uses to make commercial quantities of fudge for a fudge house.  I couldn’t believe how simple it was, or how great it turned out. And it only takes five minutes.

I make this often for street stalls, gifts and bribes. It may be a cheater’s kind of fudge but it is every kind of delicious. It will be one of the things in my Easter Basket presents for loved ones this year.

Ingredients:

400g chocolate, 60g butter, 1 x 395g tin of condensed milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Use baking paper to line a tin.  I use a 16cm square tin, which gives a thick slab of fudge, but you could also use a longer, shallower tray.

Paper lined tin beside my trusty recipe book

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Then break in your chocolate.

Try not too eat any of the chocolate pieces!

If you are going to prepare any variations now is the time to do it! I made a few batches, but this first one I made with milk chocolate and a cupful of jersey caramels which I chopped into smaller pieces.

Tip the condensed milk and vanilla into your saucepan and then allow it all to melt.  Stir with a strong wooden spoon. The mixture will come together quickly so watch it carefully. Dump in any additions and stir through.Then quickly spoon into the paper-lined tin and leave in fridge for a few hours to set.

Work quickly as it will begin to set quite fast

Variations:

Soak 3/4 cup of raisins or sultanas in 1 to 2 tablespoons of rum until the alcohol has been absorbed (this works best over a few hours or overnight).  Add to dark chocolate.

Add one cup of chopped walnuts and substitute coffee essence for vanilla. Use chocolate of choice.

One cup of chopped cream biscuits such as Oreos added to milk or dark chocolate.

One cup of chopped glace ginger – this is divine with dark chocolate.

OR use 200 g of plain chocolate, and 200g of a flavoured chocolate, such as Lindt Chilli, Orange or Mint.

This is so simple, even non-cooks can make it. Store in a cool, dry place, or if you live in a warm climate keep it in the fridge. *WARNING Highly addictive! ♥

Chocolate caramel fudge