Taking into account the season and the fact that with all the food that we have to prepare and eat, we also have to give gifts and we rather thought that these chocolates would not only be fun to make but also absolutely delicious – if there are any left by the time you’ve finished, you could pack them beautifully and give them to your loved ones as gifts. If you don’t give gifts, pop them into the Advent basket and serve as special treats each Sunday – it’s important to remember that these chocolates are fresh and you can’t wrap them and put them in boxes long before hand – do it just before you leave to ensure freshness.

Ingredients

• 400g dark chocolate, minimum 70 % cocoa solids
• 40g unsalted butter
• 400ml double cream
• 50g sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Decorate with  hundreds and thousands, chocolate gratings, cocoa, chopped nuts, orange peel – use your imagination here

Method

• Put the chocolate and the butter into a heatproof bowl.
• Place the cream and sugar into a clean saucepan over a medium heat and bring gently to the boil and then pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and butter, add the vanilla extract and stir very gently until the chocolate and butter have melted completely – don’t stop stirring and don’t put the chocolate on high heat – it shrivels up and becomes hard and disgusting.
• Put the chocolate mixture into three separate bowls and then put it into the fridge overnight.
• Now that it has really cold, use a spoon to remove equal portions of the set chocolate mixture and put it onto a clean work surface.
• Roll the chocolate into little balls (it’s really rich so don’t make big ones) and then dip and roll the balls into the various decorations – let your imagination go.
• They are delicious served with coffee or champagne – remember that these are fresh chocolates and if you want to give