Fudge. And sweets.

Chocolate bark. And a link to other treats.

http://theviewfromgreatisland.com/how-to-make-swirled-chocolate-bark/

Anzac biscuits

Annabel Langbein's recipe...

I tried the 'flattening' so they would be chewy on the inside, and baked for the required 20 minutes, but think that 15 minutes next time would probably be better.

• 1 cup wholegrain rolled oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup thread coconut
• 1 cup soft brown sugar
• ¼ cup golden syrup
• 125g butter
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• ½ tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 160°C fanbake and line 2 oven trays with baking paper for easy clean-up.

Combine rolled oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a large bowl. Heat together golden syrup, butter and boiling water until butter melts. Stir in soda, then mix into dry ingredients until well combined.

Roll mixture into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball and place on trays, allowing a little room for spreading. For biscuits that are crunchy on the outside but a little chewy inside, lightly flatten with a fork or damp fingers and bake until lightly golden (about 20 minutes). For chunky, super-hard biscuits, bake for about 30 minutes. For very crunchy thin biscuits, press dough very flat and bake for about 15 minutes. 

Tip: If you don't have golden syrup you can use honey or maple syrup instead. 

Christmas

Christmas recipes:

Cassata ice cream

Cranberry Buckle Cake - uses cranberries, crystallized ginger, candied peel, lemon zest. Otherwise an ordinary sponge cake plus a little extra flour and baking powder.

Lovely Annabel Langbein's Orange Lightning Cake

Berry trifle. And cakes.

Tres leches ( three milks ) cake. Pour milk mixture onto warm cake.
.
Wassail.
Ingredients:

1/2 gallon apple juice
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup fresh cranberries
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole cloves
Freshly sliced orange and apple, optional
Whipped cream and caramel sauce, optional
Directions:
Combine the apple juice, orange juice, cinnamon stick,cloves and cranberries into a large slow cooker. Add a few orange and apple slices if desired. Cook on low for 2-3 hours. Turn to the warm setting.

Ladle into cups and top with whipped cream and caramel sauce if desired.

Chocolate crinkle cookies

Different Christmas dinner recipes.

Sugar-free lemon curd

2 tsp. unflavored  gelatin

1 1/4 cup lemon juice

5 eggs beaten

2/3 cup honey

1 stick butter plus 2 TBS butter  or ghee

 DIRECTIONS 

Put lemon juice in a pan and slowly warm on low heat.

In a mixing bowl add the eggs and honey and beat on slow speed.  Pour the egg mixture into the lemon juice and slowly bring to a boil increasing slowly to medium heat.  Make sure to stir the mixture at all times so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.   Boil for one minute and remove the pan from the heat.

Add the gelatin to the lemon curd, mix and return to the heat and bring to a boil for 1 more minute.

Remove the pan from heat and add the butter.  Mix until all ingredients are well combined.

From the peaceful haven

No Bake Coconut Pecan Praline Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups chopped pecans
• 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Instructions

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine coconut and pecans; set aside.
2. In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat, stir sugar, evaporated milk, corn syrup and butter. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a full rolling boil -- let boil and stir for 3 minutes.
3. Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla and coconut and pecan mixture. Stir off the heat for about 4 minutes, until mixture starts to cool and thicken.
4. Drop by large spoonfuls on wax paper. Let harden completely -- about an hour to an hour and a half -- before serving.

Gluten free lemon bars

Recipe from Noshtastic.  I subscribed.

SHORTBREAD:
175g (Approx. 1.5 sticks) Dairy Free Margarine (or butter if you don't need to avoid dairy)
75g (1/3 cup + 1 tbspn) sugar
250g (Approx 1.5 cups (see notes!) ) gluten free all purpose flour
1tsp xanthan gum (omit if your flour has any gums added)
½ tsp gluten free baking powder
TOPPING:
300g 1½ cups sugar
120mls ½ cup fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs, beaten
30g ¼ cup all purpose gluten free flour, or cornstarch
gluten free powdered sugar to dust

Instructions

*Please read the notes first!*
You will need a 9x13 baking pan, line the base and sides with parchment paper
Preheat your oven to 350f
Cream butter (or margarine) and sugar in mixer.
In separate bowl add flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and mix well. Omit the Xanthan gum if you are using a ready made flour mixture which has gum added.
Add flour mix to butter/sugar and mix well until combined.
Your 'dough' may be soft, especially if you used dairy free spread. If you find it is super soft then put it in the fridge for half an hour to firm up a little
Press your dough into the lined baking pan and spread out evenly with an offset spatula, I sometimes find that the back of a spoon works well too.
It's hard to tell when looking at the baking pan, but try and get the dough spread with an even thickness.
Bake at 350 for 20 mins or until lightly brown.
While base is cooking make the filling, mix all the topping ingredients except the powdered sugar. When base is cooked pour over topping and return to the oven to bake for a further 30 minutes or until the center is set and no longer moves when you shake the pan.
Cool for two hours in the fridge, dust with icing sugar when fully cooled and cut into squares.

Notes
1. I bake by weight as I find that gives the most consistent results, especially when baking gluten free. One cup of your gluten free flour blend may not weigh the same as my blend, all the commercially available blends have different mixes and ratios of flour in them. I’ve weighed cups of different blends of flour and noted that a cup of gluten free flour can vary in weight from 125g up to as much as 170g depending on how you scoop it, and what type of mix you use. You can see how this could drastically alter the outcome of a recipe.

I recognise that most Americans are used to the cup method which is why I also include those measurements,but they may not give you accurate results. If you are a keen gluten free baker I would encourage you to invest in a scale, you can get one for only $10 - $15.

2.I prefer to use my own homemade gluten free flour blend as it's cheaper and I get really great results.

3. If you can, avoid buying flour with gums already added. The reason for this is that you have no way of knowing how much gum is in there and that also can alter the outcome of the recipe. So for example, too much gum can give you a more sticky texture in a cupcake. And though the cupcake recipe will still work, it won’t be as nice as if you measured and added the gum yourself.

4. One potential problem with most lemon bars recipe is that the liquid lemon mixture can sometimes make the shortbread soft on the top, though not all the way through. I've found that if you have the lemon mix ready to go straight on the shortbread as soon as it's cooked and then quickly get it back in the oven, that helps a bit. Secondly, if you let the lemon bars fully cool and then chill in the fridge the shortbread base will crisp up nicely. The only sure fire way to avoid this issue is to make a kind of lemon curd mixture for the topping, but that's more involved and time consuming and requires cooking it on the stove top first so I've just stuck with the traditional way of doing it.

5. If you have to use Dairy free margarine as I do please make sure you find one that is suitable for baking. Some margarine brands have a lot of water and will be sure to disappoint if you try to bake with them, I typically use Earth Balance.

Christmas treats

TOFFEE ALMOND BUTTER CUPs


INGREDIENTS
Chocolate:
1 cup cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup maple syrup
Pinch of salt

Toffee Almond Butter:
3 tbsp  butter
3 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tbsp almond butter/peanut butter
1 tbsp maple syrup/golden syrup ?
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp arrowroot starch   or cornflour?

INSTRUCTIONS
In a microwave safe dish, heat cacao, oil and syrup together in microwave for 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds.
Fill a muffin tin with 6 cupcake liners, spraying each one with a bit of nonstick spray.
Distribute HALF of the chocolate between liners and then place muffin tin in freezer for approximately 10 minutes, or until chocolate has hardened.
While waiting for chocolate to harden, make the toffee. In a microwave safe dish, melt butter in microwave and then stir in almond butter, sugar, syrup, and vanilla.
Last, stir in arrowroot to thicken mixture up a bit.
Once chocolate has hardened, remove from freezer and distribute toffee almond butter evenly, trying to keep it in the center of each cup if possible*.
Last, pour remaining chocolate overtop of toffee almond butter, banging muffin tin on counter top to flatten out the chocolate.
Place tin back in freezer for an additional 5 minutes or so.
Sprinkle each cup with a bit of sea salt and enjoy!

NOTES
*If you are unable to keep the toffee almond butter in the center, don't worry about it. You may be able to see some of it from the outside, but it'll still taste the same.

Cranberry bliss bars

INGREDIENTS
Bars:
1⅓ Cup Cashew Meal*
3 Tablespoons Coconut Flour
¼ Cup Arrowroot
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil, Melted
2 Tablespoons Applesauce
¼ Cup Honey
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
½ Cup White Chocolate Chips
⅓ Cup Dried Cranberries
Topping:
8 oz Light Cream Cheese, Softened
½ Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
⅓ Cup Dried Cranberries
¼ Cup White Chocolate Chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare an 8x8 pan with parchment paper (it will be far easier than non-stick spray - trust me).
3. In a large bowl, combine cashew meal, arrowroot, coconut flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined.
4. In a separate bowl whisk egg then add applesauce, honey vanilla and coconut oil. Combine until all mixed and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until a thick batter forms.
5. Fold in ½ cup of white chocolate chips and ⅓ cup dried cranberries.
6. Transfer mixture to pan, and smooth into a flat even layer.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. While the bars are baking, begin making the frosting. Using an electric mixer, beat powdered sugar and cream cheese until fluffy. Pour in vanilla, and continue mixing until combined.
9. When the bars are done baking, allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Once completely cooled, frost with frosting and top with remaining cranberries.
11. In a small bowl, melt remaining white chocolate chips. Be really careful not to burn them, only heat in 15-20 second intervals until melted.
12. Drizzle white chocolate over bars.
13. To cut, begin by making 9 squares cutting three rows horizontally and vertically. Then cut each square in half diagonally.
14. Store in the fridge for up to three days.

More recipes here.  and here.  And cookie recipes here!