The Food Site » chocolate

Fruit and Nut Choc Chip Cookie Recipe

Foong — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:24:50 +0000

I have several chocolate recipe books and one of it is The Australian Women’s Weekly Sweet and Simple Chocolate recipe book. It has quite a few great recipes that are really sweet and simple. One of it is the Fruit and Nut Choc Chip Cookie Recipe. I tried it out and it was absolutely great! The best thing about it is that it doesn’t need that much sugar too.

It contains dates, almonds, rolled oats and chocolate chips, that’s why it doesn’t need that much sugar.

The actual recipe used chopped pecans and since I don’t have that, I substituted with almonds. All you really need to do is to beat the butter, sugar and egg together and then stir in the rolled oats, seeded dates, almonds and choc chips.

Then scoop spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking tray and bake. You will get these…

Here is the recipe:

Fruit and Nut Choc Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

125g butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 cup self-raising flour (or use plain flour and add 1 tsp baking powder)

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped seeded dates

1/2 cup chopped, toasted almonds (or pecans)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Beat butter, sugar and egg until smooth.

2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

3. Roll batter into small balls and place on greased baking sheet. Flatten it slightly with a floured fork.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 15 minutes.

5. Stand for 5 mins before placing on wire rack to cool.

The cookies contain very little sugar compared to other cookie recipes BUT it is still quite sweet because of the dates and the chocolate chips. The rolled oats definitely added some texture to it and the toasted nuts gave it the extra crunch.

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Baked Chocolate Mooncake Skin

Foong — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:28:04 +0000

I know, I know…another chocolate dessert recipe but it is the mooncake festival anyway. And I don’t know why but I wanted to try my hands at baking my own mooncakes again. Last year’s chocolate mooncakes were a disaster when I brushed on too much egg glaze and the mooncakes looked horrible although it tasted absolutely heavenly.

So, this year, I baked the regular plain mooncakes and a batch of chocolate mooncakes too. You can find the recipes in my recipes page. Again, this year, I bought the ready-made fillings of lotus paste, chocolate paste and red bean paste. No point wasting hours cooking the fillings when there are really good ones that we can buy. Besides, they even have sugar free lotus-paste fillings which I could give to my diabetic grandma.

Anyway, this year, I went easy on the egg glaze and got really chocolatey and nice looking mooncakes.

See? A real improvement compared to last year’s horrid looking ones.

Baked mooncakes are a real time-consuming process as you have to allow for ‘resting’ time of about 10 hours for the raw ingredients before we can wrap the fillings and bake it.The first process is to mix together baking soda, golden syrup, alkaline water and oil in a mixing bowl and then let it rest for about 5 hours.

Then, I sift the flour and cocoa powder together and leave aside until the first ingredients are ready. After five hours, I add some chocolate essence and then fold in the flour into the brown liquid mixture to form a smooth, sticky dough.

Again, I have to let the dough rest for another 6 hours or so. Only after that that I divide the dough into small portions, flatten it and wrap it around the fillings into a ball. Then I push the ball into the plastic moulds I bought last year.

Then I pop those mooncakes into the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove and let it cool for 5 minutes and then brush on the egg glaze and then bake another 3 minutes.Then I get these:

Some of the sizes vary a bit because by the time I waiting 11 hours for the dough to be ready, it was already midnight and let me tell you, moulding mooncakes in the middle of the night is not exactly very accurate when it comes to the size.

Here’s the recipe:

Baked Chocolate Mooncakes Recipe

Ingredients A

400g golden syrup

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tbsp alkaline water

100g corn oil

Ingredients B

450g plain flour, sifted

100g cocoa powder, sifted

Other ingredients

1 tsp chocolate essence

1.5 kg of ready-made lotus paste/ chocolate paste/ red bean paste

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients A in a mixing bowl and let it rest about 5 hours.

2. Sift ingredients B together.

3. After 5 hours, add the chocolate essence to the ingredients A and stir will combined. Then fold in ingredients B. Mix it together until you get a smooth sticky dough. Set aside for another 6 hours.

4. Divide the dough into small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball or smaller depending on the size of your moulds, and then flatten it on a floured surface using a rolling pin. Scoop a generous dollop of fillings onto it and wrap the skin around it.

5. Push the wrapped dough into the floured mould and then gently push it out using the lever (if you are using a wooden mould, then gently knock it out).

6. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the moulded mooncakes on a floured baking pan and bake between 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Remove from oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes. Then, lightly brush it with some egg glaze to give it some glossy shine. Bake for another 3 – 5 minutes.

8. Once done, remove from oven and let it cool before removing from the baking pan.

Egg Glaze Recipe

Ingredients

1 egg yolk

1/2 tbsp water

a pinch of salt

Instructions

Mix it all together in a bowl and use a pastry brush to lightly brush it on the mooncakes.

Other Mooncake Baking Tips You Should Know:

1. Never over-bake your mooncakes or else it will go out of shape (as I also experienced that last year). So, if your oven is of a higher wattage, bake it for less than 10 minutes, maybe at 8 minutes and after putting the egg glaze, you bake it for another 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Never keep the mooncakes in an airtight container immediately after it has cooled down. It is always best to leave it out in the open, preferably overnight for the skin to soften. You don’t want dry, hard mooncake skin!

3. The golden syrup is important because it is what keeps the mooncake from becoming mouldy (as in fungi growth) too fast.

4. Even with the golden syrup, these are homemade mooncakes so they don’t last as long as commercial mooncakes which may contain added preservatives sp it is best to keep them in a dry cool place and don’t keep for too long.

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Non-bake Rich Chocolate Batik Cake

Foong — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:23:42 +0000

Honestly, I’ve never even heard of Batik Cake until a friend raved about how great and rich and nice and all that to me. It sure did piqued my interest. The best of it is that it is a non-bake cake. It’s one of those cook over the stove, stir, pat into pan and refrigerate type of cake.

Considering I have been limiting my baking activities because I was not in the mood much nowadays, I thought heck, why not? A non-bake cake with loads of cocoa in it sounds simple and good enough.

The reason it’s called Batik Cake is pretty obvious looking at it. It looks like Batik pattern. I think it originated from East Malaysia, well, that’s what I found out when sifting through the numerous recipes available and custom-making it to suit my own taste.

As easy as it sounds, it actually turned out to be quite a lot of work too. But the end result told me it is worth all the work. The ingredient calls for rich tea biscuits (or Marie biscuits), sugar, butter, eggs, cocoa and fresh milk.

First, you smash up the rich tea biscuits into small pieces. This is a good time to let go of any frustrations or stress you have. Just imagine smashing the head of the person who had irritated you. What? The biscuits won’t feel a thing. It is a great stress reliever. Really…okay, if you are all serene and at peace with the world, you can always use the food processor to do the ‘dirty’ work. Then set it aside for later.

Next, you pour the sugar (I use brown sugar but you can always use regular white sugar), eggs, milk and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl and use a whisk to combine it all together.

Place a pan on the stove, dump the butter in and melt it over low heat. You don’t want to burn it or anything. Then, when it is all melted, you pour in the milk, eggs, flour, sugar and cocoa mixture. Let the mixture cook over low to medium fire until it has thickened. That should take between 10 to 15 minutes. Oh and remember to stir it all the while or else you may burn it.

It should thicken to this consistency. I know it looks lumpy but it is supposed to be like this. This is because the eggs are cooked, thus the lumpiness. But don’t worry, you won’t taste any lumpiness when you eat it later.

Then, you stir in the smashed tea biscuits. By that, I meant, really stir in. Mix it all up really, really well.

Make sure each tiny piece of biscuit is really covered in the thick cocoa mixture.

Then, you can spoon the thick mixture into a pan lined with greaseproof paper and pat it in. Don’t worry about hurting it. Really push it all in and flatten in. You want it to be compact.

To me, no chocolate cake, bake or non-bake, is complete without a nice chocolate ganache topping which I later add to the top. You can leave this out if you want to. After adding the topping, just put the pan into the fridge and let it set for several hours. It is best serve cold with a nice glass of milk. Yummm…

What does it taste like? Well, the tea biscuits gave it a slightly salty, biscuit-y flavour and the chocolate, oh, the chocolate is darn good. It’s like having rich chocolate covered tea biscuits, except better. Much, much better.

Now, here’s the recipe:

Batik Cake Recipe

Ingredients

200g rich tea biscuits (Marie biscuits)

3 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

250g butter

1 cup cocoa powder (optional: you can also use 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1/2 cup Milo)

1/2 cup fresh UHT milk

Instructions

1. Smash up the rich tea biscuits and set aside.

2. Combine the sugar, eggs, cocoa and milk in a mixing bowl and mix well.

3. Melt the butter in a pan over low fire and then add in the cocoa mixture.

4. Cook the mixture until it thickened. Remove from heat.

5. Stir in the biscuits and mix it well to ensure the biscuits are all covered in the thick cocoa mixture.

6. Spoon the mixture into a pan, pre-lined with greaseproof paper (if you prefer), and press it all in firmly.

7. Spoon the chocolate ganache topping on top and spread it out evenly with a spatula or the back of the spoon.

8. Refrigerate the mixture for several hours, preferably more than 4 hours, and serve it cold.

Chocolate Ganache Topping Recipe

Ingredients

225g good quality dark chocolate, chopped

115ml heavy cream

60g butter

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Add the cream and bring to a boil, careful not to burn it.

2. Pour the butter-cream mixture over the chocolate and stir until melted.

3. The chocolate ganache is ready!

Since I don’t have heavy cream on hand, I didn’t add that but added some icing sugar with more butter and a tablespoon of condensed milk and it turns out pretty okay too. I mostly used non-sweet dark chocolate so the addition of icing sugar did not make it too sweet. However, if you want perfect chocolate topping, do use the heavy cream, it does makes a difference, especially teamed with the batik cake!

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Extra Rich Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

Foong — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 07:35:32 +0000

Now that I got your attention…

Another of my favourite dessert definitely has to be brownies. If you search this site, you will probably find that I have two other brownie recipes, a non-bake brownie and the best-ever brownie recipes. Now, what can compete with the best-ever chocolate brownie recipe I had?

Well, if you love peanut butter, you will think this recipe is way better than just chocolate and almonds in the brownies. I mean what is a better combination than peanut butter and chocolate eh? Don’t believe me? Then try it out for yourself.

The beige patch is the peanut butter and of course, one can never enjoy brownies fully without the required ice cream!

Since I put some chocolate ganache topping on it, it is just as good without the ice cream too.

This is a very simple and easy peanut butter chocolate brownie recipe so it can be made in a very short time, about 30 minutes preparation time and then you bake it for about 25 mins and it’s done! Oh, by the way, this is a rather cakey sort of brownie, not the chewy type.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

You will only need eggs, sugar, flour, chocolate, butter and peanut butter and you’re all set!

I used three types of sugar: brown sugar, molasses and icing sugar. The icing sugar is to give the brownies a more fudgy texture while the brown sugar and molasses are simply because I like their flavours. You will need to beat the sugar and the eggs together first but not too fluffy. About 1 minute using the handheld mixer.

The brownie batter should be gooey and thick, not too watery. Oh and yes, remember to grease the pan and place a piece of foil if you want it to be easier to remove the brownie from the pan.

And once the brownie is done…pour some nice, delicious chocolate ganache topping. Yummm…

So, here’s the recipe and simple instructions to make these ultra delicious brownies…

Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies Recipe

Ingredients

120g unsweetened chocolate (or any baking chocolate you want to use), broken into pieces

170g butter

3 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup icing sugar

(or you could simply use 2 cups white sugar instead of so many types of sugar)

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped almonds

2 tbsp peanut butter

Chocolate Ganache

50g cooking chocolate

1 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp butter

Instructions

1. Grease the pan and line it with foil. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate by putting it in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Leave to cool.

3. Beat the eggs together with the sugar in a mixing bowl but don’t overdo it.

4. Add the eggs mixture to the melted chocolate (make sure the chocolate mixture is not hot or it may cook the eggs!) and then add in the flour, vanilla, almonds and peanut butter.

5. Stir and combine well. Pour into the prepared pan.

6. Bake for about 25 minutes.

For the Chocolate Ganache

It’s best to prepare this after the brownies are done.

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together.

2. Add the cocoa powder.

3. Pour it onto the baked brownies before it hardens.

You can then refrigerate the brownies in an air-tight container and serve it cold with ice cream later. Or you can also heat it up and serve with ice cream for a nice cold and hot combination of chocolate brownies and vanilla ice cream. If you are a real chocoholic like me, dribble some chocolate sauce on top and ahhh….it’s what I’d call heavenly!

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Mini Fudgy Chocolate Muffins…and they are low fat too!

Foong — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 03:23:10 +0000

Yes, you are not seeing things. I did put fudgy chocolate muffins and low fat in the same line. And no, you are not dreaming nor am I delusional nor lying nor just plain bonkers. Okay, so I am a bit bonkers but that’s not what I want to blog about today.These are the mini low fat fudgy chocolate muffins I’m talking about…

Actually, I found this Weight Watchers’ recipe from Cajun Chef Ryan’s blog, so do check out his post of this recipe here. That’s how I knew it was low fat. And the best part, you don’t even need flour for this recipe. It is a flourless muffin recipe! How cool is that, eh? And err…I did add some extra ingredients so the calorie count may be higher than stated in Ryan’s blog.

Mini Low Fat Fudgy Chocolate Muffins Recipe

Ingredients A

1 1/4 cups sifted icing sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

a dash of salt

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Ingredients B

4 cherries, chopped into tiny bits

1/4 cup walnuts, broken into tiny pieces

1/4 cup powdered peanut

2 tbsp dried cranberries

1/2 cup decorative hearts (optional, purely for decoration purposes)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 300F / 150C.

2. Combine all the ingredients A and beat till well combined. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer or your strong arm power to beat it for another two minutes to add loads of air to it.

3. Get your ingredients B ready…

4. Add it into the mixed up ingredients A and stir till well combined.

5. You then scoop small spoonfuls and pour it into the greased mini muffin pan. The batter makes about 20 mini muffins so I had two batches. I left the first batch undecorated and liberally added the colorful hearts for the second batch.

6. Bake the muffins at 300F / 150C for about 15 minutes. Then let it cool in the pan before removing it.

I think I like the decorated ones better, makes the muffins look so much more cheerful and colorful. Just look at those without the hearts…

It is incredibly fudgy though, because of the icing sugar.

And the best part is that it is also chewy because of the walnuts, cherries and cranberries. Nice. Those with the hearts sure do look way better, don’t you think so?

Ahhh..now we are talking. Just look at these babies….

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Sticky, gooey, sweet, chewy chocolate marshmallow truffles

Foong — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:27:37 +0000

What do you do when you have half a packet of marshmallows and it has all but stuck together in a bunch of sticky gooey mess (no thanks to the hot humid weather here)?

Do you:

1. throw it away

2. eat it anyway, sticky mess and all

3. do like what Foong does, turn it into something even more sinful and delicious!

As you can guess, I did option number three. Though the end result aren’t all that pretty looking but damn, these sure are sinful…

Here’s the simple way to make:

Sticky gooey chewy Chocolate Marshmallow Truffles

Ingredients

1 cup small marshmallows

200g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

3 – 5 tbsp cornflakes

Instructions

1. Melt the chocolate by placing it in a bowl and microwave it high for about 2 minutes (do note that after you microwave it, it will still retain its shape so you need to stir it and it will all melt).

2. Dump the marshmallows in and stir

3. Make sure the marshmallows are all covered in chocolate

4. Add in the cornflakes and stir to combine it to the mixture

5. Scoop out the mixture by spoonfuls and drop it onto the paper (I don’t even know what to call those paper thingies people normally use for muffins and tarts…). Put it into the fridge to set and best serve cold.

Here's what it looks like after taking a bite out of it

Once the chocolate has set, it will be hard but not so hard that you can’t bite into it. The best part is when you bite into it, you will be assailed with the tastes of the rich chocolate, then the soft, gooey center of the marshmallows and the salty crunch of the cornflakes.

Yummy!

Best of all, this chocolate marshmallows truffles are so easy to prepare it takes only about 10 minutes! Wait till I learn to make marshmallows one day and I will probably be making more of these…hmmm..on second thought, I better don’t learn to make marshmallows.

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Valentine flowers, chocolate roses and heart-shaped chocolate mousse cake

Foong — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:02:51 +0000

Flowers have always been the main ‘thing’ for Valentine’s Day but The Food Critic is not really big on giving me flowers (the last time I got a bouquet of flowers was so many years ago, I don’t even remember when it was).

Still, this year, I got a pleasant surprise when he came back with a plainly wrapped bouquet of white calla lilies and gruffly gave it to me (yes, The Food Critic gets very gruff when it comes to sweet, romantic stuff). Now, calla lilies may not seem romantic to some people but it is quite meaningful to us because I had a bunch of ribbon-tied white calla lilies as my wedding bouquet many years ago.

In return, I gave him roses and a heart. Edible ones, of course.

If you look closely, the edges of the ‘cake’ are sorta cracked and that’s because it’s the first time I was working with pliable chocolate (recipe below) to form the heart-shape and also the roses. Let me tell you, the recipe seemed simple enough but I probably added too much liquid glucose. Or maybe I left it out to cool for too long. Whatever it is, I didn’t have time to re-do since I already made a first attempt and failed (the chocolate hardened to a rock-like consistency). Besides, it will still end up being eaten SO I didn’t really go crazy into wanting to perfect it. Maybe I’ll try making it again next time and really perfect it.

I got the recipe from a set of Chocolate wipeable recipe cards I bought a while back:

Here are the recipes for the pliable chocolate and the chocolate mousse filling for the chocolate heart.

Chocolate Roses

Ingredients

115g plain chocolate

2 tbsp liquid glucose

icing sugar

cocoa powder

Instructions

1. Either cut or break the chocolate into smaller pieces

2. Melt the chocolate by placing it on a bowl over a pan of simmering water

3. Remove the melted chocolate from heat and add the liquid glucose

4. Stir the mixture until it became a smooth paste and it comes away from the sides of the bowl. Then place it on a plastic bag and cool till firm but pliable. Then, lightly knead the paste till smooth.

6. Roll the paste out with a rolling pin (but remember to dust the work surface with icing sugar first)

7. Use a round cookie cutter and cut out circles from the paste

8. Then you fold the first small circle into a tight roll to form the centre of the rose. After that, you add the petals around it.

As you can see, my rose petals are too thick because I didn’t roll out the paste thinly enough. Since I already formed the roses, it was a bit too late for me to redo (and I was in a rush to do it before The Food Critic gets back from work so that I could surprise him with it).

So, a bit of advice on working with these:

1. Do not add too much glucose.

2. Do not leave it in the fridge to cool for too long or else it will harden

3. Roll it out as thinly as possible.

After forming the roses, I dust it lightly with some cocoa powder. The balance of the paste, I use to form the heart shape.

Now, on to the chocolate mousse filling:

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

90ml double cream

4 eggs, separated

70g organic brown molasses (you can use plain fine sugar too)

4 tbsp rum

Instructions

1. Place the chocolate and cream in a bowl over a pan of simmering water to melt.

2. Place the egg yolks and molasses in a bowl and beat till creamy

3. Add the melted chocolate to the creamy egg mixture

4. Transfer the mixture into a pan and cook over low heat but do not bring to a boil. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Then add the rum and stir till combined.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form.

6. Fold the egg white into the chocolate mixture

7. Pour the mixture into the heart shaped chocolate. Dust with cocoa powder and decorate as you like it. Ready to serve!

It may not be as pretty as it was supposed to be but fortunately The Food Critic loved it! He normally doesn’t like chocolate so I used extra dark chocolate (the only kind of chocolate he likes) for all the recipes and so, he finished the mousse and didn’t have the heart to eat the roses….heheheh…so Mr Picky ate part of the roses and The Food Critic shared some of it with me.

So, how was your Valentine?

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I baked my own birthday cake which is not a cake but the best ever chocolate brownie

Foong — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:49:51 +0000

I’ve loved chocolate brownies for the longest time ever so it is not a surprise, really, when I baked one for my birthday and almost finished the whole lot myself. Hey, I did say almost…so I am not all that greedy. There were some left for The Food Critic and Mr Picky.

Anyway, I found the Best Ever Chocolate Brownie recipe over at Recipes2Share and since it is pretty simple, I thought I might as well bake it as a treat for myself. Heck, I did turn older and eating chocolate brownies is very, very comforting. So, I pigged out on this…

*Best Ever Chocolate Brownie*

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I didn’t name it the best ever chocolate brownie, it is thus-named by the owner of the recipe, Fiona. But…I definitely do agree with her. This chewy, sticky, gooey, rich, dense, moist, sinful, one-bite-and-you-can’t-stop-eating chocolate brownies is simply the best ever!

Here’s the recipe with some Foong’s minor additional touches:

Best Ever Chewy Chocolate Brownie

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

180g unsalted butter

1 cup organic molasses

1/2 cup extra fine sugar

3 eggs

110g plain flour

1/2 cup almond nibs

Instructions

1. Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl

2. Then you either a.) microwave it on high for up to 2 minutes to melt or b.) place it over a boiling pan of water to melt.

3. Place the sugar, molasses and eggs in a mixing bowl

4. Use a handmixer to beat the eggs and sugar till creamy

5. Add in the melted chocolate and mix well

6. Add the flour and fold it in using a spatula or a wooden spoon

7. You should get this thick gooey batter.

8. Remember to grease and line a 30cm x 33 cm baking pan and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

9. Stir in the almond nibs and then pour the batter into the prepared pan.

10. Pour the batter into the pan, sprinkle some almond nibs on top for decoration and bake for around 40 minutes.

And here it is when it is done…

The Best Ever Chewy, Chocolate Brownie

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Fat burning food – Part Two

Foong — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:40:41 +0000

Today, we continue with my fat burning food series where I will introduce to you food that burn fat or could help you to lose weight with recipes (wherever relevant) thrown in too! Now, for this second part, I will list dowm more fat burning food for you to chew on (especially those of you on the lookout for diet food!).

Chocolate

Surprised? I know, chocolate is the first thing to cut out whenever you are on a diet but I say it is a fat burning food because it helps you stave off cravings which will result in binges. Of course, you will need to stick to dark chocolate with 80% cocoa only. And yes, you will need to control your portion too. Wolfing down a large bar of dark chocolate will not do! Just stick to small 20g bars occasionally. Maybe once a week or twice. By having a bar of chocolate (a small one, mind you), it will satisfy whatever sweet-tooth cravings you have and stave off any unwanted binges on ice cream, cakes and other forms of desserts. Besides, dark chocolate is great for the heart and lowers blood pressure because of its flavonols.

Green Tea

For the longest time, green tea is a health drink that helps you stay young and prevents cancer but it is also a great fat burning drink! This is because green tea has a high amount of catechin polyphenols which gives your body a boost in burning up calories. So, have a cup of green tea today.

Water

I know this is not a food but water is probably one of the best fat burning drink ever. Why? Because it is like fuel for your muscles. Our body contains a lot of water and we need water to survive. By drinking the required amount of water, at least 8 full glasses, a day, you are providing enough ‘fuel’ for your body to cleanse itself, get rid of unwanted waste and helps your body function better, thus a more efficient metabolic rate.

Chili

Get your taste buds ready for some hot burning powers of chili. Chili is pack full of vitamins and that’s not all, it is known to boost your metabolic rate too. In addition to this, when you are eating spicy food, you tend to eat slower and this allows more time for your stomach to tell you that you are full so you tend to eat smaller portions. The best way to eat chili is the simple way, chop it into tiny pieces, place in soya sauce and then eat it as accompaniment to any food.

Salmon

Other than being a hearth healthy food, salmon helps you pack on the muscles which will help you burn off my fat. How does it do that? Well, salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and these nutrients helps insulin sensitivity. This in turn helps you retain your muscle mass and we all know having more muscles means we burn calories faster! The best thing about salmon is that you can eat it raw (sashimi) or simply grilled. Check out my grilled salmon recipe.

And that concludes part two of my fat burning food list. I will have more for part three!

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Easy chocolate truffles

Foong — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:41:19 +0000

For the longest time, I have always, always loved a type of rich, thick chocolate truffles I know as chocolate rum ball. I used to buy it from a bakery near my home when I was younger and then later, the bakery closed down. Over the years, I would search bakery after bakery for my favourite chocolate rum ball but I’d never get to find any that’s as good as the ones sold by the bakery I used to frequent as a child.

Sigh.

It struck me recently that I could make my own chocolate rum ball. I could put whatever I want in it to make it taste as good as the ones I loved. Or so I thought. I googled for the recipe and could find any. So, finally, after reading millions (okay, maybe it was around ten but it felt like millions) of chocolate truffles recipe I suddenly realised that I could make my favourite chocolate rum balls without needing to bake at all.

Why is it called chocolate rum ball? Err…well…because the cake used has rum in it..err…I guess. And it is shaped like a ball and it is chocolate. So, it’s chocolate rum ball. Although, many bakeries now just call it chocolate ball. For me, it is just a sort of chocolate truffle. A small version tennis ball size round chocolate truffle.

Alright, alright. Enough of my scribbles already. Here’s my simple, no-bake recipe (read: with cheating involved..heheheh).

Chocolate Truffle / Chocolate Rum Ball Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup old rum fruit cake, crumbled (heheh, didn’t I say it’s a ‘cheat’ recipe?Anyway, I hate fruit cake and there is a whole loaf of rum fruit cake that was left languishing in the fridge so I might as well put it to good use)

8oz unsweetened dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces for easier melting

4 tbsp butter, softened

3 tbsp finely ground peanuts

For coating

2 tbsp colourful chocolate rice

2 tbsp finely ground peanuts

Instructions

1. Place the butter and chocolate in a bowl and either you melt it in a heatproof bowl over a boiling pan of water or you place it in the microwave on high for about 3 minutes.

2. Stir the melted chocolate and butter to make sure it is well combined like this

3. Smash your fruit cake with a fork until it is all crumbled like this

4. Add the fruit cake to the chocolate mixture and stir

5. Then, add in the finely ground peanuts and stir

6. Be sure to stir until it is all well combined like this

7. Refrigerate it for about 30 minutes to an hour or until it is firm but not too hard.

8. Take it out of the fridge, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out ball-shape truffles

9. Then, dip it into the chocolate rice or ground peanuts or even cocoa powder to coat it.

Chocolate rum ball ready to serve!

These are great as dessert, snacks or even to impress your guests. They need never know that you..err…sorta cheated. Using rum fruit cake gave the truffles a rich rum flavour and yes, the chocolate goes very very well with all the fruit in the fruit cake. Biting into one of these gives you a taste of rum, the sweetness of raisins and other dried fruits and nicely brought together by the rich dark chocolate.

Of course, alternatively, you can always use leftover sponge cake, chocolate cake or any other cake you have. If you want it to be richer, just add some double cream and you will get a richer smoother truffle. I just could not be bothered with cream. For one thing, it is not something easily available here and for another thing, these chocolate truffles are sinful enough, no need to add to it with cream!

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