by Jamie Oliver
Once completely smooth, pour your melted chocolate mixture into a nice little pan or bowl and pop it into the fridge for 2 hours to set. Toast the nuts in a pan on a medium heat until lightly golden and smelling delicious, then crush up in a pestle and mortar and either pour into a dish or wrap up ready to go.
I like to give this as a gift by packaging up the pan of truffle mixture and the crushed nuts with a nice spoon, so in effect you’ve created a DIY truffle set! These will keep for 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Just remind your friends that they should take the truffle mixture out of the fridge about 30 minutes before they need it, so it’s at room temperature, then they can start scooping and dunking. You can give them a little pouch of cocoa powder as well as the nuts, to roll the truffles in, should they wish. If you’re serving it yourself with a cup of tea or at a dinner party, remember to do the same. Enjoy!
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LEFTOVERS
Any leftovers can be divided up between espresso cups and sprinkled with the crushed nuts, to serve as little chocolate pots for pudding.
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BISCOTTI
WITH DARK CHOCOLATE, ALMONDS, & HAZELNUTS
I like biscotti chewy, but I also like biscotti crunchy, so cooking them fresh puts you in control to go either way, or even better, do some of each. They’re so much fun to make, and they can take on different flavors, so feel free to experiment.
MAKES 40 PIECES
1 HOUR 15 MINUTES
PLUS CHILLING
1 cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1½ cups soft light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 clementine
3 large eggs
4½ cups Tipo 00 flour
5 oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
2½ oz blanched almonds
2½ oz blanched hazelnuts
In a very large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, vanilla bean paste, and finely grated clementine zest together. Whip the eggs, then beat into the creamed mixture with a pinch of sea salt. Slowly stir in the flour, until combined. Roughly chop the chocolate and nuts, then use your hands to push and squash them into the mixture, distributing them as evenly as you can. Shape the dough into an 8½- × 11-inch rectangle, wrap it in plastic wrap, and pop in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and cut it in half lengthways, reshaping each piece into a long rectangle. Place one in the center of each pan so they have room to spread. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until just starting to brown.
Let the biscotti logs cool for 5 minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut each one into slices just under ¾ inch thick. Lay the slices on their sides on the pans and return to the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until they look gorgeous and lightly golden. You can either eat them straight away or, if you want them to last, leave them in the oven when you turn it off until the oven is cold, so that they dry out and get really crunchy. Store in an airtight container, where they’ll keep happily for a good couple of weeks, packaging up at the last minute for gifting.
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BE PREPARED
To prepare for unexpected teatime guests, wrap and freeze the pans of sliced biscotti before the second bake so you’ve got them ready and raring to go. Bake for 10 minutes from frozen.
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FLORENTINES
CRANBERRIES, ALMONDS, CANDIED PEEL, SEEDS, & CHOCOLATE
Florentines are a joy to make and a joy to eat, and are really open to all kinds of festive flavors, so mix up the dried fruit, nuts, and seeds to embrace your favorites. They’re the perfect gift, but are also good gifted to yourself with a cup of tea.
MAKES 30
50 MINUTES
PLUS COOLING
¼ cup unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
2½ oz unsweetened dried cranberries
2½ oz mixed peel
2⁄3 cup superfine sugar
1 heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour
2⁄3 cup heavy cream
3½ oz flaked almonds
1½ oz raw sunflower seeds
1½ oz raw sesame seeds
7 oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two large baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. Chop the cranberries and slice the peel. Melt the butter and sugar in a small saucepan over a low heat, then whisk in the flour and cream until you get a light caramelly sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the cranberries, peel, almonds, and all the seeds until well mixed.
Working in batches, place teaspoons of mixture on the lined pans, flattening them slightly with the back of the spoon. Make sure you leave at least 4 inches between the spoonfuls, as they spread a lot while they cook. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden around the edges—keep an eye on them! Remove and leave to harden slightly on the pan, then lift up the paper and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely, while you crack on with another batch. You can either leave the florentines as they are, with a bit of scruffy charm or, while they’re still warm, you can trim them with a round cutter, like I’ve done to a few of mine in the picture. The benefit of the latter choice is you get to enjoy the offcuts as a chef’s treat, and they’re great crumbled over ice cream.
When done, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Once the florentines have cooled, dunk them in the chocolate, put back on the sheets of paper to set, then portion up and get gifting. These will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container—if you can resist them for that long!
Get gifting
Not only are edible gifts super-fun to make and receive, they’re fun to wrap up, too. Enjoy choosing your receptacles, remembering that often you’ll need to sterilize a jar (see here), or use an airtight container, then decorate with ribbons, string, and lovely personalized tags, adding any instructions you might need. Your kids will love helping you with name tags. Just remember to store your gifts as suggested until right before it’s time to give them out, and pass the same instructions on to the lucky recipient.
ROCKY ROAD
POPCORN, NUTS, CLEMENTINE, GINGER, SOUR FRUIT, & CHOCOLATE
Making your own rocky road, which is so utterly simple and fun to do, means you can use top-quality ingredients fit for the festive season, creating a brilliant megamix of your favorite Christmassy flavors that everyone is sure to enjoy.
MAKES 20 PIECES
35 MINUTES
PLUS COOLING
vegetable oil
1 small sprig of fresh rosemary
1 oz popcorn kernels
1¾ oz mixed unsalted nuts
¼ cup unsweetened desiccated coconut flakes
1 clementine
2 tablespoons stem ginger syrup
1¾ oz dried fruit, such as cranberries, sour/tart cherries, golden sultanas
2½ oz treats, such as Turkish delight, marshmallows, gingernut biscuits
14 oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
1¾ oz quality milk chocolate
1¾ oz quality white chocolate
Put a pan on a high heat with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and the rosemary sprig. Stir in the popcorn kernels until well coated. Put the lid on and, as the corn starts to pop, hold the lid firmly in place with a kitchen towel and give the pan a shake every few seconds to make sure all the kernels get popped. Turn the heat off, then remove any unpopped kernels with a spoon, along with the rosemary sprig.
Roughly chop the nuts and stir into the popcorn with the coconut, then finely grate in the clementine zest and return the pan to a low heat, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes, or until smelling incredible. Drizzle in the ginger syrup, add the dried fruit, and chop or crumble in the mixed treats, then turn the heat off. Remove a large spoonful of the mixture and put aside to decorate the rocky road later.
Snap the dark chocolate into a large heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and leave
to melt, stirring occasionally. Once glossy and smooth, add the popcorn mixture and stir well. Grease and line a baking sheet (12 × 10 inches) with parchment paper, then pour over the mixture, spreading it out fairly evenly. Melt the milk and white chocolate in separate bowls and drizzle over the rocky road in whatever fashion you like, then scatter over the reserved handful of mixture, poking it into the chocolate. Leave to cool for a few hours so it hardens and sets. Break into random chunks, or slice up more delicately. Delicious bagged up and given as a gift, or with a cup of tea or coffee, or a glass of port or Vin Santo.
HONEYCOMB
DIPPED IN GLOSSY MELTED CHOCOLATE
Making honeycomb is a bit like magic: one minute you’ve got a hot caramel, then within a few seconds of adding the baking soda you’ve got a sprawling frothy concoction rising up the sides of the pan. It’s great fun and super-delicious.
MAKES 20–25 PIECES
25 MINUTES
½ tablespoon baking soda
21⁄3 cups superfine sugar
4 heaping tablespoons liquid honey
7 oz quality milk and/or dark chocolate (70%)
optional: shelled pistachios, dried cranberries, freeze-dried raspberries, popping candy
Line a deep baking pan (12 × 10 inches) with parchment paper. Measure out your baking soda and put it in a little dish next to the stove—you’ll need to work quickly once the sugar reaches the right temperature. Put the sugar, honey, and 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of water into a medium-sized, deep, heavy-bottomed pan. Stir, then heat to 300°F on a candy thermometer. Do NOT be tempted to touch or taste the caramel—it will burn you. It’s best to keep kids and pets out of the room while you make this.
As soon as the caramel reaches the right temperature, turn the heat off and add the baking soda, whisking quickly and carefully to combine it. It will froth right up, but that’s normal. Carefully pour the mixture straight onto your lined pan, but don’t touch it or tilt the pan—you want to keep it still so you don’t knock the bubbles out, and remember it’s still super-hot! Leave to one side to cool completely.
Once cool, crack the honeycomb into bite-sized pieces (saving any smaller bits for sprinkling over puds, or use them in my Chocolate log—see here). You can leave the honeycomb plain, but I think it’s at its best dunked in melted chocolate. Simply snap up and melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. I find the easiest thing to do is to dunk, then place the pieces on a wire cooling rack to set. Whether you half dip or fully submerge is up to you. You can also follow the dunk with a dip into finely chopped pistachios or dried cranberries, freeze-dried raspberries, or even popping candy. Have fun with it!
This will keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, or slightly longer if you opt for the full glossy chocolate dunk.
HOT CHOCOLATE
MY EPIC MIX
This is off the scale. It’s so simple to make and is much better than the store-bought stuff, which probably hasn’t got much chocolate in it anyway. I don’t want you to feel cheated, I want you to have the real thing … life’s too short not to.
MAKES 1 BIG JAR (24 SERVINGS)
10 MINUTES
7 oz quality dark chocolate (70%)
10 tablespoons quality unsweetened cocoa powder
5 tablespoons Horlicks powder
5 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 pinches of ground cinnamon
This is my go-to hot chocolate recipe. The quantities I’ve given you here make one really lovely jar that’ll benefit whoever’s lucky enough to receive it for months. The quantities are really easy to scale up (or down!), so it’s easy to make a big batch of this and divvy it up between friends and family, or make a bonkers big jar to last someone an entire year! Whatever you do, follow the easy method for making the mixture, and be sure to share the instructions I’ve given you below on how to make a tasty cup of deliciously thick hot-chocolaty heaven.
To make the hot chocolate mix, finely grate the chocolate into a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and a good pinch of sea salt, mix well, then decant into jars.
For each portion of hot chocolate, you’ll need 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture and 2⁄3 cup of whole milk. Simply pour however much milk you need into a pan and bring to a steady simmer over a medium heat. Whisk in your hot chocolate mix and leave it to bubble away for a few minutes, or until you achieve a gorgeous, thick, almost claggy texture, which will be totally knockout. Pour into your mugs, and enjoy. This is absolutely irresistible teamed with Churros (see here).
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ONE FOR THE GROWN-UPS
Add a splash of brandy or Cointreau for a festive finish.
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LEMON CURD
SMOOTH, SILKY, & SPIKED WITH LIMONCELLO
Lemon curd is a lovely gift and a great condiment to have in the fridge. It’s super-simple and fun to make, and of course tastes way better than your average jarred stuff, especially with an added hit of limoncello—it is Christmas, after all!
MAKES 2 LBS
50 MINUTES
PLUS CHILLING
6 lemons
14 oz granulated sugar
6 large eggs
11⁄3 cups unsalted butter
3 tablespoons limoncello
Finely grate the zest of 3 lemons into a large heatproof bowl, then squeeze in the juice from all 6 lemons—you want about ¾ cup in total. Stir in the sugar and sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water for about 15 minutes, or until all the sugar granules have dissolved, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes, leaving the pan of water on the heat.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, then gradually whisk them into the lemon mixture until combined. Sit the bowl back over the pan for another 15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, whisking regularly. Whisk in the butter, until melted, followed by the limoncello. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then cover and pop into the fridge overnight to thicken.
Divide between cute little sterilized jars (see here), label up, and get gifting! It will keep for up to 2 weeks in a cool place. Enjoy it on scones, or simple toast, spooned over Pannacotta (see here), or in my Amalfi cake (see here).
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MIX IT UP
This recipe is a wonderful base for you to experiment with all kinds of seasonal citrus fruit. Try removing a little lemon juice and replacing it with lime, clementine, blood orange, or even pink grapefruit juice. You’ll get spectacular results.
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CHILI SAUCE
HEAVENLY, HOMEMADE, & BRILLIANT WITH JUST ABOUT ANYTHING
Simple as this recipe is, it took me months of testing to get it just right. It has provided me, and the recipients of this lovely gift, with bags of pleasure. It’s a beautiful thing—take it, make it, gift it, enjoy it—I know you’ll love it.
MAKES APPROX. 8 CUPS
1 HOUR
PLUS COOLING
4 onions
4 cloves of garlic
20 fresh mild red chiles
olive oil
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 lbs ripe tomatoes
1¼ cups cider vinegar
heaping 1⁄3 cup superfine sugar
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
Peel the onions and garlic, pull the stalks off the chiles, then chop it all, either patiently by hand or in a food processor. Place a large casserole pan on a low heat with 2 tablespoons of oil, tip in the chopped veg, and cook for around 10 minutes, or until soft but not colored, stirring occasionally.
Stir the chili powder into the pan, then chop and add the tomatoes, followed by the vinegar, sugar, apple juice, ¾ cup + 5 teaspoons of water, and a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Carefully pour the mixture into a blender, pop the lid on, and cover with a kitchen towel, then, holding it in place, blitz until silky
smooth. If you like your chili sauce with a bit of texture, you can absolutely leave it as it is. I prefer it lovely and smooth, so I pass it through a fine sieve to get a nice pouring consistency—add a splash of boiling kettle water to loosen, if needed. Either way, have a taste and season to absolute perfection. This is a make or break moment: give the sauce attitude—it’s a condiment to be dribbled over things, so it needs to pack a punch.
Divide between sterilized jars or bottles (see here), label up, and get gifting. It will keep for up to 6 weeks in a cool, dark place. Once opened, keep in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks. Trust me, once you taste it, it won’t last long!
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MIX IT UP
Feel free to blend different types of chiles in this recipe—I particularly like to swap in jalapeño or Scotch bonnets. But obviously use your common sense—if you go for super-hot chiles like Scotch bonnets, you can reduce the amount by up to a half or the sauce will blow your head off!
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PICCALILLI
PINEAPPLE, CAULIFLOWER, APPLE, MANGO, & CHILES
My ultimate piccalilli celebrates my favorite part of the recipe, the incredible harmony between pineapple and cauliflower, as well as that amazing array of spices. This, my friends, will become a year-round staple in your fridge.
MAKES APPROX. 4½ LBS
1 HOUR 25 MINUTES
2 lbs cauliflower
2 cloves of garlic
2-inch piece of fresh gingerroot
4 fresh red chiles
