INCREDIBLE KITCHEN

CHRISTMAS TRUFFLES

10 servings 30 minutes By Sunil Malhotra

Ingredients

150gm dark chocolate, chopped 150gm milk chocolate, chopped 150ml double cream 50 gm unsalted butter For Coating: chopped nuts, lustre powder, icing sugar, cocoa powder and sprinkles. A flavourless oil like a sunflower for shaping.

Method

Take a bowl and put dark and milk chocolate in it, then put the cream and butter in a pan and bring to a simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir till it melts. Let it cool down and then chill in the fridge for 7hrs. Put the coatings in separate bowls. Shape the truffles by lightly rubbing sunflower oil on your hands and roll teaspoons of the truffle mix between your palms. Roll the truffles gently in the bowl of the coating until they are evenly coated, then put them in a box and chill. You may store them in an airtight container for 3days in the fridge or you can even freeze them for a month, Just defrost them in the fridge overnight.

CHRISTMAS CAKE

10 servings 10 minutes By Sunil Malhotra

Ingredients

150 gm dried cranberries 200 gm chopped prunes 150 gm raisins 1 lemon 2 tablespoons orange zest 150 gm orange juice 150 gm butter 200 gm all-purpose flour 3 eggs ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder 1 teaspoon vanilla essence ¼ teaspoon clove powder 175 gm brown sugar 10 cashews

Method

Add raisins, prunes and cranberries in a large bowl. Add orange juice, lemon juice and orange zest in it. Soak the dry fruits overnight in the juices.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade. Take a 9” diameter pan and grease and line the base and periphery of the pan. Transfer the dry fruits mixture to the pan, place the pan on a flame and bring the mixture to a boil. Let the mixture simmer for about 4 minutes. Take the pan off the flame and let the mixture cool down. In another pan mix the baking powder and all-purpose flour and keep it aside. Take another pan and beat together the butter and sugar. Now add the eggs and mix well. To this mixture add vanilla essence, cashews, clove and cinnamon powder and mix well. Add the dry fruit mixture and the juice and flour mixture. Fold everything well. Now transfer all the mixture to the baking dish, lined earlier, and smoother the mixture with a spatula. Bake the cake for 50 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean. Let the cake rest in the oven for a few minutes. Take the cake out and let it cool down completely. Wrap the cake well with a cling film after carefully taking it out of the pan. Cut and serve or Store. You can always add dry fruits like almonds, walnuts etc if you want to make the cake a richer one also if you prefer the chocolate taste you may add cocoa powder to the batter.