Booja-Booja Dairy Free Chocolate Truffles

Booja-Booja Espresso Chocolate Truffles - The Artist's Collection

Steve's sister was given these truffles from a PR company and she brought them over at Christmas as she didn't want them. Since I've been on my dairy free diet I haven't been eating many cakes, biscuits and sweets. It hasn't been a problem for me as I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, but it was nice to have an alternative to the Green & Black's chocolate that I've been eating. Plus I loved the box and it will be handy to keep my jewellery in it.

I was intrigued to try these truffles as they are dairy free and I didn't think it was possible to make truffles without dairy, as Steve and I made them during our stay at the Aviator Hotel and it was a simple mix of melted chocolate and double cream.

For some reason the ingredients for these espresso truffles aren't listed on the Booja-Booja website so I've copied them from the label on the box:
Chocolate (cocoa solids 55%, cane sugar, emulsifier: soya lecithin, vanilla), Coconut Oil, Water, Coffee 5%, Agave Syrup, Cocoa Powder.

Truffles aren't my favourite chocolates so I'm not an expert, but these were quite nice. I don't think they were as creamy as traditionally made truffles, but they were very close in texture. The chocolate flavour was deep and rich and the espresso provided just the right amount of coffee.

I personally wouldn't buy these for myself as they are very expensive. These truffles came in a beautiful handmade wooden box, so they retail for around £23. A standard box is around £7 which is still a lot of money for 16 chocolates, even if they are handmade.


I thought it would be a good idea to try making a hot chocolate from the truffles and I actually preferred consuming them this way. 

To make one serving:
I heated 200ml of Rice Dream (rice milk) in the microwave for 1 min 45 seconds and then stirred in 2 of the truffles until they melted and then added half a teaspoon of vanilla sugar. This produced a very chocolately hot chocolate and it's a good way for me to eat more calories as I've lost so much weight since going dairy free!
200ml Rice Dream = 94kcal
2 truffles = 122kcal
1/2 teaspoon sugar = 8kcal
Total calories = 224

Soda Water Pancakes

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I had almost a whole bottle of soda water leftover as I only used a little bit to make a tempura batter. I wanted to see if I could use it in another recipe and I found a pancake recipe by Larry Moore and under his pancake tips he said to use ½ milk and ½ soda water to make fluffier pancakes.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I actually stuck quite faithfully to the recipe, except that I used both oil and butter to grease the pan as I like the way butter gives the pancakes a nice golden colour and the taste is better. I also reduced the salt. I’ve re-written the recipe to show the cup quantities in metric and for it to make more sense to me!

 

 

TASTE TEST:

Well I thought the pancakes were great and Steve said he liked them too, but he thought they were a bit hard to swallow (I reckon he tried to eat too big of a bite of pancake!). I think these are just as good as the Cheat’s American Pancakes that I’ve made before. As I don’t always have soda water in the fridge, I will try Larry Moore's Basic Pancake Recipe with just milk and see how they turn out.

 

• Makes: 9 pancakes

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (140g) plain flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt (I only used a ¼ tsp and it was enough)
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ cup (112ml) milk and ½ cup (112ml) soda water [or 1 cup (225ml) milk]
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

 

Directions:

1. Blend the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Blend the egg, milk, soda water and oil in a jug. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients.
3. Whisk together until just incorporated, the batter will be slightly lumpy but that’s ok.
4. Grease a large non-stick frying pan (I used my wok!) with oil and a tiny knob of butter and pour or ladle in pools of the batter to form 8-9cm circles.
5. Cook the pancakes on one side over a medium heat until bubbles form on the surface, then flip them over and cook on the other side for another couple of minutes until golden brown.
6. Serve immediately or keep warm whilst you cook the rest. We like them served with lots of golden syrup.

My version of Kettle Corn

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

Steve and I first had Kettle Corn (also spelt Kettle Korn) in San Francisco when we visited the Farmers Market near City Hall when we moved into the apartment.

 

 

We fell in love with the sweet and salty taste and because it was freshly made it tasted incredible. They make it in huge barrels and the smell of it cooking is so intoxicating that it quickly draws people to queue up.

 

I have made normal sweet popcorn before in a pan (none of that microwave stuff for me!) but trying to recreate the Kettle Corn taste was easier than I thought it would be.

 

I used Rachael Ray’s recipe which I found online, but I tried a different method on popping corn so that you get less un-popped kernels by heating the kernels in the oil off the heat. I experimented with the method and found a way which gives the popcorn a lovely sugary coating. I do it in two batches, which makes it a little bit more time consuming, but it’s worth it to ensure the popcorn is coated evenly.

 

 

This amount of popcorn fills a 2.5 litre bowl and makes enough for me and Steve to scoff as we settle down to watch a film, but it’s normally all gone before the trailers have even finished!

 

• You will need: a large saucepan with a lid, a couple of large bowls

 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup (60ml) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt (I use Maldon)
• ½ cup (90g) popcorn kernels
• ¼ cup (50g) white sugar

 

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium-high heat and add the salt.
2. Put 1-2 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover.  When the kernels pop, remove them from the pan – these are just to test the oil has come to the right temperature.
3. Then add the rest of the kernels to the pan in an even layer. Cover and remove from the heat and leave the kernels to heat up in the oil for 1 minute.
4. Return the pan to the heat and the kernels should all start popping all at once. You will need to shake the pan and adjust the heat so that the kernels pop at a steady rate and they don’t burn. Try to open the lid slightly every now and again to release the steam.
5. When the popcorn has all popped, transfer to a large bowl.
6. Then add half the sugar to the pan and heat until it has melted into a syrup. Tip half of the popcorn into the pan and stir to coat in the sugar syrup, then transfer back into the empty bowl. Repeat with the remaining sugar and popcorn. Serve immediately!

Cheat’s American Pancakes

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

Traditional American Pancakes are made with buttermilk (see recipe here) but I rarely have that in the fridge! These Cheat’s pancakes contain all the ingredients that you would normally have to make cakes, so can be whipped up whenever you fancy them!

• Makes: 10 – 12 pancakes
• You will need: large mixing bowl, small mixing bowl, large non-stick frying pan 

Ingredients:

• 200g / 7oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 25g / 1oz caster sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 300ml / ½ pint milk
• 25g / 1oz butter (melt this in the frying pan)
• sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
• golden or maple syrup to serve 

Directions:

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, the salt and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Mix the egg and melted butter with the milk.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gently mix in the wet ingredients until you have a thick batter. - Do not overmix, the batter should have small to medium lumps!
4. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes, this will result in lighter, fluffier pancakes. I normally pour the batter into a measuring jug to make it easier to pour dollops of the batter into the frying pan.
5. The frying pan should have enough grease from when you melted the butter, so you can start cooking your pancakes. Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7.5cm across. Make three or four pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden.
6. Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter.
7. Serve with golden or maple syrup. 

COOK’S NOTES:

• You can keep any leftover batter covered in the fridge and it will be absolutely fine to use the next day.

Caramelised Nuts

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I made these nuts to go into Brie & Pesto tarts which worked out OK, but these nuts are so much better just eaten on their own as a snack!

You will need: medium saucepan

Ingredients:

• 1 cup nuts (I used already toasted and slightly salted cashews*)
• 1/3 cup sugar
  

Directions:

1. To make the caramel: sprinkle the sugar evenly over bottom of your pan.
   
2. Cook over a medium heat, without stirring, for about 5 minutes until the sugar is melted and has turned a nice amber colour and has the consistency of syrup. Once the sugar starts to melt you can swirl it around the pan to evenly melt all the sugar. When the sugar has melted then you can stir the caramel (stirring too soon will cause the sugar to recrystallise and create a grainy caramel)
   
3. Remove from the heat.
4. Quickly add the nuts to the pan and return to the heat. Stir until the nuts are evenly coated with the caramel.
   
5. Transfer to a plate to cool completely.

There are a variety of things you can do with these nuts:

• Coarsely chop them on a chopping board or put them in a zip-lock bag and smash it on the counter a few times and then use them in recipes on sprinkle on top of ice cream.
• Create nut clusters (as shown in the picture) by using 2 teaspoons to make little balls and putting on a plate to cool.
  
• You can store them in an airtight container up to 2 weeks - but they really won't last that long as they're very moreish!
  

* If your nuts aren't already toasted then you will need to cook them in medium frying pan over medium heat for 9 to 12 minutes until light golden brown. Transfer to a small bowl.

Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

My friend Lindsey told me about these Buttermilk Pancakes by Martha Stewart and they are really light and fluffy and very easy to make. I've halved her recipe as it makes 9 huge pancakes!
I suggested she serve them with the Blueberry Syrup by Nigella Lawson and she said it was really good so I decided to try it out myself and they are an excellent combination!

BUTTERMILK PANCAKES:

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to overmix the batter; it should not be beaten smooth.

Makes 4-5 6-inch pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (125g/4.oz) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1.5 cups (350ml/12 fl.oz) buttermilk (look in the cream section in the supermarket or make your own - see below)
2 tablespoons unsalted melted butter, plus 1/2 teaspoon for griddle/frying pan

Directions:

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl.
   
2. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, buttermilk, and the 2 tablespoons of butter.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir gently to combine. Do not overmix, the batter should have small to medium lumps.
   
4. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes, this will result in lighter, fluffier pancakes (use this time to make the Blueberry syrup!)
   
5. Heat your griddle or frying pan to medium-low and test by sprinkling a few drops of water on it. If water bounces and spatters off griddle, it is hot enough. Using a pastry brush/piece of kitchen towel, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter onto griddle. Wipe off excess.
6. Using a 4-ounce ladle (about 1/2 cup) pour in pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2.5 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
7. Repeat with remaining batter and serve warm.

BLUEBERRY SYRUP:

Put 1 cup (about 150g/5oz) washed Blueberries and 125ml (about 8 Tbsp) Maple Syrup in a small saucepan and simmer for about 5 mins until blueberries have softened and you have a nice syrupy consistency.

No Maple Syrup?! Don't worry, you can still make this delicious syrup by simmering 1 cup water and 1/2 cup white sugar in a small pan for a couple of minutes until you have got a slight syrup. Then add your cup of Blueberries and simmer gently as above.

TIPS AND TRICKS:
No Buttermilk?! Then you can make your own with normal milk and lemon juice. Just mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes. The resulting mixture won't be as thick as buttermilk so you will only need 1 cup.

No Lemon?! Then use 1 cup normal milk (preferably whole/full fat), omit the baking soda (as there is no acid for it to react to) and increase the amount of baking powder to 1.5 teaspoons.

Alternatively, make my Cheat's American Pancakes which are equally delicious!