Fluffy puff puffs - gourmet marshmallow review and giveaway !

Recently I received a small box in the post and was intrigued as to its contents, it was a light as air. I was pleasantly surprised as to its contents having agreed to the review I had forgotten that I was expecting a delivery from Fluffy puff puffs, the Gourmet marshmallow company. I was sent four flavours to sample, now I'm not a real fan of commercial marshmallows, the pink and white one's you see in the shops as I don't think they taste of any thing, well that's were Fluffy Puff Puffs differ. 

Our sample pack contained

• Lime Punch
• Love currant & white chocolate
• Raspberry & white chocolate
• Sugar & spice

You could really taste the flavours in the mallows, berry, chocolate, spices, unlike other commercially produced mallows which are full of rubbish , these are totally different, due to their being no preservatives in them, so they only have a relatively short shelf life of 6-8 weeks and the texture is also so very different too. There are loads of other flavours available plus seasonal variations, here are just a few to tempt you

• Key lime and ginger pie
• Salted caramel
• Dark chocolate peanut butter drizzle

Made using the finest ingredients, including Belgium chocolate, these mallows are artisanal, gourmet, decadent and above all very delicious.

Luckily for you Fluffy Puff Puffs are  allowing one of you to taste their delicious mallows too. The prize will feature two flavours, white chocolate peanut butter drizzle and the new Raspberry mallow.

How do I enter the Giveaway?

• Simply follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below. 
• To be in with a chance of winning you must complete ALL the required fields. 
• All entries will be checked and verified before a winner is announced.
• You can increase your chances of winning by Tweeting on a daily basis.
• Rafflecopter will pick a random winner.
• The competition runs from 10/06/13 to 30/6/13 .
• If you win, you MUST send me your delivery details before 12pm on 01/07/13, or the prize will be passed to the next person drawn.
• Please see the Terms and Conditions on the Rafflecopter widget for the rules and more information.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

                            


                                                         

Valentine Treats - Hotel Chocolat

Its that time of year when everyone's thoughts turn to LOVE, if like me you find it difficult to know what to buy as a treat for your loved one or even just a treat for yourself, then Hotel Chocolat can give you a helping hand without breaking the bank. 

Hotel Chocolat have a great selection of gifts which can be delivered direct to the door of your loved one, this modern funky artisan cocoa grower and chocolatier has a gift for all budgets. I found it really easy to search for my selection by using the search function on their website. 

My choice The Sleekster LOVE selection, a large mixed selection of  luscious truffles,silky pralines and hand finished hearts comes packaged in a glossy long  funkily decorated box of 260 grammes. Inside carefully packaged, smooth, seductive and utterly devoted to love chocolates nestle.

The box contained 2 of each chocolate, Cherry Bombe, Bison Grass Vodka, Praline Oyster, Caramel Sweetheart, Chilli Sweetheart, Champagne truffle, Blackcurrant truffle, Vanilla truffle, Raspberry Rupture, Strawberry & black pepper, Bucks Fizz, Soft Chilli Caramel and Sweet Lips.

The chocolate was delicious in all its forms, especially the praline oyster, champagne truffle and Blackcurrant truffle.

So go on take all the stress out of Valentines day and order your gift now from Hotel Chocolat

Shortbread for Christmas

Things are starting to get festive in our household, I have always loved shortbread and I hadn't baked any for a few years so I thought I would bake some in the run up to Christmas. The buttery short sweet crumbly biscuit is lovely as a gift or great served as a afternoon treat with tea. To save time I mix mine in my trusty magimix food processor, Its important to use a quality butter in your mix to give the best results.There is just one problem it disappears very quickly !

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• 50g cornflour
• 175g butter(unsalted) - softened
• 75g caster sugar

Method

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until just coming together, tip out onto floured surface and form a ball of dough, shape and roll to desired shapes, place on baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven @ 160c fan / 180c no fan until lightly golden ( about 15-30 mins depends on thickness), remove from oven and sprinkle with caster sugar and cut whilst warm into desired pieces. Cool then eat, delicious. Store in an airtight tin.

Lancashire Elderflower delight

I love this time of year when the Elder tree is in flower, from earlier blog posts you can see I have somewhat an obsession with the flowers and what you can do with them. So when I purchased River Cottage Handbook no 7 Hedgerows I was pleased to see another way to use them. Elderflower delight. I just had to have a go, especially as on my last visit to The Red Cat, my favorite restaurant, the team had prepared their own Turkish delight which was served with coffee.

Ingredients

• 20 Elderflower heads
• 20g leaf gelatine
• 700g granulated sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 400ml water
• 130g cornflour
• 30g icing sugar

Method

Soak the gelatine in a shallow dish of water, meanwhile strip the elderflower heads of the flowers and place in a piece of muslin which you are going to make into a bag tied with string. Take the granulated sugar, lemon juice and 300ml of the water, put in a saucepan and heat gently until all the sugar is dissolved, leave this to cool.

In a bowl mix 100g of the cornflour with the remaining water until smooth, then mix into the cooled lemon sugar syrup. Put the saucepan back on a low heat, add the gelatine sheets, squeezed of any excess water and whisk until throughly dissolved.

Bring back to the boil slowly and simmer for 10 minutes stirring all the time. suspend the muslin bag in the mixture and simmer for a further 15 minutes, squeezing the bag to release the flavours. The mixture will become very sticky and gloopy, keep stirring, when ready cool for 10 mins.

Mix the remaining cornflour and icing sugar in a bowl to create the tossing powder, line a shallow baking tin with baking parchment and dust with a tablespoon of the tossing mixture. Poor in the warm delight, removing the bag. Leave to cool fully and then put in the fridge to firm up until rubbery. Cut up with a knife or scissors into cubes and toss in the tossing mixture.

Very impressive and very delicious. The ideal gift.