Homemade chocolate truffles

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas? Since my husband passed away, Christmas has not been the same. On special days like this the girls and I miss him even more. He should have been celebrating with us.

We did our best to enjoy the festivities. Baking and cooking always helps, so does inviting people around. We had Christmas dinner with the family, which was lovely!
I made another Bundt cake and some chocolate truffles to serve with the tea and coffee afterwards. It was a great success and a joy to work in my new kitchen :-)

I added the recipe for the chocolate truffles below. They are not difficult to make.

You need:
* 60 gr of butter
* 250 gr dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
* 125 ml double cream
* 3 tubes of sprinkles
* amaretto, espresso, orange zest and juice (if you like)

Melt the butter au bain marie on a low flame. Then chop the chocolate and add to the mixture. Little bits at a time. When melted, take it from the fire and add the double cream. Stir until you have a smooth mixture. You can add flavourings if you like, for example amaretto, espresso or zest and a juice of an orange.

Leave to cool and chill for about three/four hours. You can use a mellon baller to shape the truffles or you can do it by hand. When finished you can coat them with sprinkles. You can store them in the fridge for about three days.

Wishing you all a lovely New Year's eve! Thank you for your kind comments and friendship over the year!

Love,

Madelief x

Merry Christmas

  

Oh the weather outside it frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go. Let it Snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

What joy it is to be sitting indoors with the lights of the Christmas tree on and happy songs on the radio, while it's raining cats and dogs outside. I am so glad to feel a bit merrier :-). Last week I felt about eighty and looked it too! While a carpenter was building my new kitchen and my eldest daughter celebrated her 25th birthday, my middle daughter and I were down with the flue. Why do things like this always happen when it's not convenient at all?!

When my eldest daughter came over today to see how we were, I baked her a birthday Bundt cake with a 'Christmassy touch'. I was lucky to still have some butter, eggs and flour in the larder. While emptying my old kitchen cupboards, I rediscovered some beautiful cake decorations, which came in  handy. And voila.....here it is! The first cake out of my new oven.

I will show you more of my kitchen in the coming year, but at the moment it still looks like an operating theater, sterile and all.... It needs a bit more TLC, before I can show you. At least I can cook my Christmas dinner. Hurray! :-)

Hope you are all well and enjoying the pre Christmas fun?! Wishing you a Magical time with friends and family.

Merry Christmas,

Love,

Madelief x

My Christmas tree is up!

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your kind comments on last weeks post. I enjoyed reading about your Christmas preparations. Unfortunately I haven't been able to pop around your blogs often and next week will be the same, but I hope you won't mind too much. I will be back. Promise :-). There is still so much that I have to do.....

I have been painting the kitchen walls today. I chose white for one wall and light blue for another. It looks really good. My painting skills are definitely improving! Tomorrow the builders will make a start on my new kitchen. Hurray!  It has been a good week, but nevertheless I look forward to cooking and baking again myself. With a bit of luck I can use my oven this Thursday. First thing to bake will be my traditional Christmas Bundt cake. 

At the end of January my kitchen top will be installed and the walls will be tiled. It took me ages to decide which tiles to choose. In the end I opted for small handmade Spanish tiles in different shades of white and blue. 

There is so much to think about when it comes to major home renovations like this. I hope I made the right decisions. I have always been a decisive person, but I miss my sparing partner very much.

Unfortunately I can't show you many photo's of my home (oh, the mess) :-), but I hope the few that I posted will do for now.

Wishing you a lovely new week! Have fun decorating!

Love,

Madelief x

Let's get ready for Christmas

The day that Sinterklaas left, my youngest daughter and I fetched the boxes with Christmas ornaments from the loft. Over the years my collection has grown steadily. Name a colour, we have it :-). I thought about bringing part of it to the thrift store, but somehow I can't make myself do it. What if I want a purple three next year, or a fuchsia pink one? 

This year we chose for a white, mint green, baby pink and silver tree. Most ornaments are vintage ones, but there are one or two new ones in between. I wanted to show you how our tree looks like, but you will have to wait until next week. The light was so poor today, that taking photo's proved difficult. Sorry!

Meanwhile the girls and I are camping in our living room. Around us boxes with kitchenware are piled up high. It's luxurious camping thought. I fetched the refrigerator from the allotment complex and we have a microwave. 

Our old kitchen is gone and the walls have to dry before a new kitchen can be placed. It's not as bad as we thought it would be. Have to tell you though that so far we ate with family and friends. We were served the most delicious dishes. I think I may call the kitchen centre to ask if they can postpone our new kitchen for a while....  :-) We are getting quite used to it!

If you haven't decorated you tree yet, have fun!

A Happy week!

Love,

Madelief x