Mini Christmas pudding balls
These cute little puddings look adorable and make a sweet alternative to the usual plum pud. They are also extremely easy to prepare, because you can cheat by buying a generic pudding and with a few deft manoeuvres, create unique and decorative desserts that are perfect bite-size treats!
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700 gram generic Christmas pudding or fruit cake
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250 gram block dark chocolate – chopped/broken into bits
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¼ cup brandy (replace with apple or orange juice for non-alcoholic version)
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250 gram block white chocolate or 1 packet white chocolate melts
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silver cake balls for decorating
Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth. Crumble the pudding into a bowl and mix in the melted chocolate and brandy. Cover and put in fridge for 15 minutes until mixture is firm enough to handle. Roll into golfball size balls and place on a lined tray, flattening the bases slightly so they sit. Melt the white chocolate in the same manner as before. Allow this to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Drizzle over each pudding to form the appearance of a ‘custard’ topping, and decorate with a couple of silver balls. Note: Embellish about 5 at a time with the melted chocolate and silver balls, as the chocolate will quickly start to set and the silver balls will not hold.
Christmas ice cream
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1 litre good quality vanilla ice cream
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½ cup brandy
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1 tablespoon glce cherries – roughly chopped
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200 grams moist dark fruit cake
Crumble the fruit cake into a bowl and sprinkle with brandy. Fold in cherries and lightly softened ice cream to roughly combine (note – don’t allow ice cream to thaw too much, just softened enough to roughly stir through with the cake, and do not over-stir it.) Spoon into a container and cover with plastic wrap, then freeze for at least 2 hours. To serve, scoop into individual dessert bowls or glasses.
Raspberry, coconut and white chocolate ice cream
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2 litres vanilla icecream
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2 cups frozen raspberries
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1/4 cup sugar
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1/4 cup water
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150 grams white chocolate
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1/2 cup shredded coconut, toasted
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1 punnet fresh raspberries for garnish
Place raspberries, sugar and water in a small pot. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Cool. Remove the icecream from the freezer, transfer into a slightly larger container and break up roughly with a spoon. Soften for approximately 10 minutes, so that the icecream is just soft enough to fold through the other ingredients. Sprinkle the coconut over the icecream, then drizzle the berry mix and chocolate over the top, fold together so that the ingredients are just combined, leaving nice big ripples of raspberry through the icecream once reset. Return to freezer immediately. Refreeze over night. To serve scoop icecream into Harris Dessert Bowls (now $5.95) and garnish with fresh raspberries.