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By Susan, on December 5th, 2010  The Raffaello: Ferrero Rocher’s younger, less attractive sister. I shouldn’t be quite so harsh these white chocolate coconut balls actually have quite a following. I won a box of Raffaello’s the other day and after the tenth one they did start to grow on me however my heart still lies with the original golden Rocher.
My ‘clone’ attempt worked out fabulously well. They looked extremely authentic with the desiccated coconut on the outside and all the right flavours where there: coconut, almonds, white chocolate and the crunch of wafers. My centres could be tweaked a little to achieve a texture closer to the original. The Ferrero Raffaello has a luscious runny centre where my balls were more ‘truffle’ like, more runniness could be had by adding some extra sweetened condensed milk to the filling mixture – this would make them slightly harder to make but some extra freezing time should solve the problem.
I used Coconut Essence supplied by the good people at Queen for my coconut hit and it worked a treat. These essences are a great way to add a punch of flavour to any dish with very little effort.
Conclusion: I would make them again and think they are fabulous just the way they are! I feel they are best served at room temperature and were successfully stored at room tempreature too. As mentioned earlier they could have a runnier center, I would try adding an extra 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk and going from there.
For more details on Queen Coconut Essence visit the Queen website.
New Feature: I am incorporating an ‘Easy Save / Easy Print’ .pdf system for all my recipes with this recipe being the very first to have the feature. I will slowly be adding downloadable files to all my existing recipe just to make it easier for you to try.
View the Homemade Ferrero Rocher Recipe here.
Ferrero Raffaello Clone
Print or download recipe here
Makes 35 balls
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 250g (8oz) white compound chocolate
- 1tsp Queen Coconut Essence
- 60g (2 oz) ice-cream wafers finely chopped
- 400g (1lb) white compound chocolate
- 1 cup desiccated coconut for rolling
Method
- Melt 250g white compound chocolate with the sweetened condensed milk in a double boiler, chocolate melting appliance or microwave. Add chopped almonds and coconut essence and stir until well combined. Freeze until the mixture has stiffened slightly to be rolled into balls.
- Mold 1 slightly heaped teaspoon of chocolate almond mixture into a ball then roll in the chopped ice-cream wafers. Freeze again until the balls are firm.
- Melt 400g white compound chocolate in a double boiler, chocolate melting appliance or microwave and coat each ball draining off excess chocolate then roll in desiccated coconut. Let sit until set and devour with friends and family!
 Good use of leftover ingredients:
I had a little bit of everything left over when I made these and the Rochers so I filled up some candy molds!
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By Susan, on November 28th, 2010 Aren’t these one of the best store bought chocolates? The idea of the ‘Homemade Ferrero Rocher’ has been on my mind for a while, so when my husband bought me an assorted box of Ferrero Chocolates I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to compare my homemade version with the real thing.
They turned out fabulously and are more then worthy of the title ‘Ferrero Rocher Clone’! I made this batch with the idea of including them as part of my ‘Christmas Goodies’ but unfortunately they barely survived a day – 35 little balls of Rocher Clone goodness all gone within 24 hours :S I’ll have to double the recipe next time!!
I’ll warn you now though, these little balls of heaven are fiddly to make. If you don’t have any disposable kitchen gloves, I recommend you invest in a box (trust me, you’ll thank me later). They require various stages of freezing, waiting and rolling with the most challenging being wrapping the choc-hazelnut mixture around a roasted hazelnut. However, these balls are worthy of the trouble and I know I won’t be buying the ridiculously over priced Rochers anymore now that I can make them just as well at home.
If however, you do happen to find yourself with little time on your hands and a special event on the horizon, fabulous Ferrero Rocher gift hampers can be found at the Ferrero Rocher Boutique.
I also had a go at cloning the Ferrero Raffaello balls, which turned out pretty successfully. Check back for the recipe, I’ll be uploading it soon!
Homemade Ferrero Rochers
Print or download recipe here
Makes 35 balls
Ingredients
- 100g (3.5 oz) whole raw hazelnuts PLUS 35 extra hazelnuts for the centre of the Rochers
- 1 cup of Chocolate Hazelnut spread such as Nutella
- 1/4 cup hazelnut meal
- 60g (2 oz) ice-cream wafers finely chopped
- 400g (1lb) milk compound chocolate
Method
- Heat oven to 180c (360f) . On a baking tray, spread out all of the hazelnuts and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and wrap in a clean tea towel. Rub the nuts with the tea towel to remove the hazelnut skins. Set aside 35 whole hazelnuts then finely chop the rest.
- In a small bowl, mix the chocolate hazelnut spread, hazel meal and chopped hazelnuts until well combined. Freeze until the mixture is stiff enough to be moulded and rolled into balls.
- Working quickly while the mixture is stiff, mould 1 slightly heaped teaspoon of choc hazelnut mixture around 1 whole hazelnut, then roll in the chopped ice-cream wafers. Freeze again until the balls are firm.
- Melt compound chocolate in a double boiler, chocolate melting appliance or microwave and coat each ball draining off excess chocolate. Let sit until set then store in the fridge. Devour with friends and family!
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By Susan, on November 26th, 2010 An oldie but a goodie! I love slices, bars and cookies made form candy bars and with Christmas around the corner these are the perfect addition to your edible Christmas gifts. I’m looking forward to having a crack at some Malteaser cupcakes in the future and I have an absolutely awesome recipes for Snickers Cookies that I must, must share with you all. You’ll hate me they are soooooo good! You can’t stop until they are all gone but unfortunately, like most cookies they are rather bad for the waist line :S
Mars Bar Slice
Ingredients
- 6 x 60g (2 oz) Mars Bars, chopped
- 100g (3.5 oz) unsalted butter, chopped
- 3 cups of popped rice cereal (such as rice bubbles)
- 200g (7 oz) milk or dark chocolate, chopped
- 2tsp vegetable oil
Method
- Line a 28x18cm (11×7 inch) slice pan with baking paper.
- In a medium saucepan, stir Mars bars and butter together over a low heat for 4 – 5 minutes until melted. (Mixture may look separated when melting the Mars bars and butter but will come back together after stiring for about 5 minutes.)
- Place rice bubbles in a large bowl. Stir in melted Mars bar mixture until combined then press firmly into prepared pan. Chill until firm.
- Melt chocolate with oil in the microwave for 30 seconds bursts, mixing afterwards or in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Spread evenly over Mars Bar base. Chill until set then cut into small squares. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
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By Susan, on November 23rd, 2010 If there was one dish that summed up summer it would be ‘Salad’. Light, refreshing, cool tastes and unlimited possibilities: with meat, without meat, potaotes, pasta, leafy greens, fruit and of course we can’t forget bean.
I used ‘McKenzie’s Four Bean Mix’ for this recipe, kindly supplied by the good people at McKenzie. It’s a mix of Red Kidney Beans, Green Baby Lima Beans, Cannellini Beans and my favorite the Chickpea. The beans are a great combination and the contrast of colours make this salad instantly appealing.
I made the ‘Four Bean Summer Salad’ to share with my Great Aunt, Great Uncle and Grandmother and was shocked to hear they had never tried a bean salad before. It’s safe to say that by they end of lunch they were officially converted to bean salad lovers and were more than happy to have the left overs for tea.
It surprises me sometimes that people can go through their lives without experiencing some of the best food the world has to offer. Food is an exploration for me, just like travelling or expanding ones minds through reading /cinema / music, my taste buds are on the never ending journey to conquer anything and everything edible.
I think this generation is extremely lucky and is perhaps the generation best versed in worldly cuisine to date with all kinds of food readily available at local supermarkets or at the wide range of restaurants just waiting for our business.
For more details on McKenzie’s Four Bean Mix visit the McKenzie’s website.
Four Bean Summer Salad
Serves 8 as a side
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 375g (13 oz) packet of McKenzie’s Four Bean Mix
- 4 spring onions (scallions) sliced thinly
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers, chopped
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 green capsicum, deseeded and diced
- 1 avocado, deseeded and chopped
For the dressing:
- 2tbs lemon juice
- 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 2tbs olive oil
- 1tsp crushed garlic
- 2tbs hot water
Method
- Prepare the McKenzie’s Four Bean Mix as suggested on the back of the packet.
- Place all the ingredients for the salad in a large bowl.
- To make dressing, whisk all ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over salad and toss gentle to coat. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.
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By Susan, on November 20th, 2010 My husband grew up eating pancakes on a Sunday morning and ‘pancake races’ were a popular game amongst his siblings with the winner entitled to ‘pancake seconds’ as the prize. I blame this game for his bad eating habbits now, his plate is always the first clean round the dinner table and he often goes back for seconds or thirds!
Pancakes are great anytime of day if you ask me. I love how versatile they are, perfect with any kind of fruit or sweet sauce and have even been known to accompany bacon in the USA. I have heard pancakes served with sliced banana, bacon and maple syrup is just divine but I am yet to try it….. I just can’t get my head around the bacon :S
My favorite pancakes? The two recipes below are right up there for me. The humble Blueberry Pancake is always a crowed pleaser and I love the added texture of the walnuts in the Banana Pancakes.
Blueberry Pancakes
Serves 4 – 6 depending on how many pancakes you eat 
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
- 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbs butter, melted
- 1 cup frozen blueberries (can you fresh as well, but I think the frozen ones make better pancakes)
- oil / butter for cooking
Method
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter. Whisk until smooth.
- Heat a frypan over medium heat and coat with oil or butter. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the pan for each pancake and sprinkle with blueberries. Brown on both sides and serve hot, preferably with maple syrup and ice cream!
Banana Walnut Pancakes
Serves 4 – 6 depending on how many pancakes you eat
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
- 3 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbs brown sugar
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbs butter, melted
- 2 small over rips bananas, mashed
- 2 bananas sliced
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped toasted walnuts
- oil / butter for cooking
Method
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and sugar.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the milk, egg, vanilla, melted butter & mashed banana. Whisk until smooth.
- Heat a frypan over medium heat and coat with oil or butter. Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the pan for each pancake, place sliced banana pieces on top and sprinkle with walnuts. Brown on both sides and serve hot, preferable with maple syrup and ice cream!
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By Susan, on November 18th, 2010 Under normal circumstances, I’m not a huge popcorn fan but while walking around a ‘Duane Reade’ drug store in Manhattan I came across a big barrel of ‘Delish Double Chocolate Popcorn’ which tickled my fancy. I admit is was the double chocolate part which caught my eye but who could not love popcorn drizzled with white and dark chocolate! Mmmmm…. I’m drooling at the thought.
Then, while on a quick stop over in the UK I came across a packet of ‘Marks and Spencer’s Belgian Milk Chocolate Coated Butter Toffee Popcorn’ – no it isn’t as good as it sounds, it’s better! The whole packet was devoured in mere seconds and I was left with the feeling of wanting more and more and more.
So, I guess it is fair to say I am a converted popcorn lover…. that is when it is covered in lush caramel or drizzled with rich chocolate (or in other words sugar!).
I like my popcorn lightly coated with caramel, so I have used quite a lot of popcorn. If you would like a really thick caramel coating I would suggest using 1/2 cup – 1 cup of popcorn kernels.
Caramel Chocolate Popcorn
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes heaps
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- 2 cups salted peanuts
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 cups caster (superfine) sugar
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 100g (3.5 oz) dark chocolate melted
Method
- Lightly coat two large, heatproof rubber spatulas, a very large mixing bowl and two large baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray or a thin slick of oil.
- Pop popcorn in a popcorn machine or as directed on the packet according to the manufacturer. Transfer to the prepared bowl, removing any unpopped kernels. Toss with salted peanuts.
- Have the two large baking sheets ready. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, salt and 1/2 cup water. Cook over high heat, without stirring, until the mixture becomes a light golden-yellow caramel, 10 to 14 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the baking-soda (the mixture will bubble up).
- Immediately pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn. Working quickly and carefully, use the prepared spatulas to toss the caramel and popcorn together.
- Spread the popcorn caramel mixture onto the baking sheets and quickly separate them into small pieces while still warm. Cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes then drizzle over melted chocolate.
- Once chocolate is set, store in an airtight container.
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By Susan, on November 16th, 2010 Ok, there is much confusion out there about Sago vs Tapioca. What are the difference? Why do some people refer to sago and the others tapioca? I found the people who had heard of sago/tapioca either knew of it as one or the other but rarely both. Sago & Tapioca derive from different plants but are interchangeable in recipes as they are very similar in taste and texture.
I had never really cooked with tapioca / sago before. It seemed quite foreign to me but I was excited to give it a try. I love cooking new food and trying new recipes. I’m not the type to have a selection of favorite dishes and cook them over and over and over again. I want to try new cuisines, explore new ingredients, flavors, textures and techniques.
Once again, the good people at McKenzie’s provided me with a sample of their ‘Seed Tapioca’ to try out. It is a surprisingly easy ingredient to cook with: just soak for 2 hours before cooking then a quick dip in boiling water and your ready to go! It is absolutely perfect if you need to cater for both Dairy & Gluten food intolerances (which is a constant struggle for me having both to consider at family get togethers).
I think I may be in love with Tapioca and I look forward to trying out many, many more recipes!
For more details on McKenzie’s Seed Tapioca visit the McKenzie’s website.
Banana Coconut Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
For the Pudding
- 1 cup McKenzie’s Seed Tapioca
- 400ml (13 1/2 oz) can coconut milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup grated dark palm sugar (from Asian supermarkets)
- 2 pandan leaves, tied into a knot (from Asian supermarkets)
- 3 just ripe bananas, peeled, thickly sliced
For the Sesame Seed Syrup
- 2 tbs grated dark palm sugar, extra
- 1 tbs water
- 1 tbs sesame seeds
Method
- Place the tapioca in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Set aside for 2 hours to soak. Drain liquid, then cook in a large saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes or until opaque. Drain well.
- Meanwhile, combine the coconut milk, water, sugar and pandan leaves in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until sugar dissolves and mixture is heated through. Add the tapioca and gently stir to combine. Remove from heat and place in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.
- In the meantime: Make the sesame syrup. Combine the dark palm sugar and water in a small frying pan over high heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Add the sesame seeds and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until syrup thickens.
- To Serve: Remove and discard the pandan leaves from the tapioca pudding. Spoon the tapioca among serving bowls. Top with sliced banana and drizzle with sesame syrup.
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By Susan, on November 16th, 2010 So, every morning I wake up and rush outside to see the progress of the vege garden. The new growth of cucumbers, beans, peas etc seems to creep up on you – one day just a little flower, the next a pretty baby vegetable. It is the most exciting when you spot the first growth of a new vege. I have had little tomatoes & beans growing for a while and yesterday was the first time I noticed chilies and capsicums. I can’t wait to eat them!
 My Vege Garden - Slowly Getting There  Baby Tomatoes  Baby Cucumbers My chooks continue to roam around the yard and seem more than content to dig around in the decomposing leaves and bath in dirt. There have been a few occasions now where a chook or two has managed to explore the greater world which is our neighbours yards and unfortunately this morning was one of those times.
Under normal circumstances the chooks are inseparable, so when you can only spot one or two on their own it’s a fair indication that something is a miss and so it was this morning as I headed out to my vege garden to take some pics. One chook was by the back door with no other insight and after a quick walk around the yard I was waking my husband up prematurely to help find me the missing two.
We found them about 40 minutes later, they were in the neighbours yard I least suspected – I had not noticed one gap in the fence before today! It is surprising just how may ‘holes in fences’ you have to block off…… I thought I had found them all! We eventually caught our chickens and I was again at work with the chicken wire. Once more, I am now sure our yard is ‘chicken proof’.
 One of the many 'Double Yolkers' Did you like this? Please share it:
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