Sugar Plum Brownie Truffles

'The Children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads'

Christmas, if you hadn't already guessed, is my favourite time of the year and I'm starting to think my love of the festive period is genetic.

My wee madam isn't even 2 yet and she is obsessed with me reading her 'Twas the night before Christmas' as her bedtime story.

Now this could be something to do with the numerous pictures of the moon throughout the book as she currently also has an obsession with the big white moon, but I would rather believe it's the magic of Christmas.

Now I always assumed a Sugar Plum was just that, a plum covered in sugar. Although thinking about that properly now it doesn't sound as exciting.

So a quick Google and I am educated on the origins and ingredients of the mystical Sugar Plum.

It's basically a mix of dried fruit, nuts and spices. All blended together and rolled into little balls. It's not as sweet as the Christmas treats we know now but back then Sugar Plums were a luxury yule tide sweetie.

So of course, in honour of my daughters new found love for all things tinsel and Santa, I decided to put a 21st century spin on the sugar plum (and sweeten it a little for more modern tastes)

And so was born the Sugar Plum Brownie Truffle.

I don't know why, but I was pretty shocked after making these little babies, at how Christmassy they actually tasted.

The first flavour that hits your senses is the brownie and the clementine zest, so initally you think this is a chocolate orange brownie truffle.

But wait, hey, whats that I now taste. You get a subtle spicy hit which tastes reminiscent of that cakey type of gingerbread you can buy covered in chocolate.

And then following you get the fruitiness from the prunes and apricots and then nuttiness from the walnuts.

This really is Christmas in a truffle.

Weirdly they kind of look like fruitcake, but trust me they definitely don't taste like it.

Now you can decorate these however you please. Dust with purple edible glitter to give them a magical feel or go traditional with shredded coconut or sugar (as the original sugar plums were rolled in coconut or sugar) but I decided to dust them with cocoa powder. Mainly because it looked pretty on top of the white chocolate.

So whaddya think??? Cute, Huh!

Well then, roll on the recipe.

Ingredients:

85g / 3/4 Stick Butter
115g / 2/3 Cup Bittersweet Chocolate (chopped, or you can use choc chips)
130g / 2/3 Cup Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
50g / 1/2 Cup Walnuts (finely chopped)
50g / 1/3 Cup Dried Apricots (finely chopped)
35g / 1/4 Cup Dried Prunes (finely chopped)
70g / 1/2 Cup Plain Flour
1 Tbsp Cocoa powder + extra for dusting
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
1/4 Tsp Allspice
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

to coat the truffles:

300g / 2 Cups White Chocolate  (chopped, or you can use chips)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180c / 350f and line a brownie tin with aluminium foil.

In a bowl over a pan of simmering water melt together your bittersweet chocolate and butter. Then set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the eggs and the sugar.

Stir in the apricots, prunes, walnuts and clementine zest.

Then fold in the melted chocolate mix (make sure this is not too hot otherwise your eggs may scramble)

Then add the flour, cocoa powder and spices until just incorporated.

Finally add in your vanilla extract.

Pour your brownie batter into your tin and bake for 30 minutes in the oven.

Once the 30 minutes is up pop a skewer into the centre of your brownie. If it comes out with a a little brownie batter on it then it's ready.

*You really don't want to over bake this brownie as you'll need it to be quite fudgy, so that it rolls into balls.

Lift the brownie out of the tin and allow it to cool fully.

Once your brownie is cool slice of all 4 edges (these will be too cooked for truffles,these pieces will not be used in the recipe so do with them what you will, I won't judge)

Cut your brownie into about 20 pieces and squish each piece into a ball.

Now in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt half of your white chocolate.

Place one of the truffles on a fork and dip into the bowl, using a spoon to coat the whole truffle.

Tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove any excess white chocolate from the truffle.

*You will still be able to see some of the colour of the truffle through the chocolate but do not fear we are going to coat them again.

Pop all your covered truffles into a fridge to harden the coating.

While they set you can melt the remaining chocolate.

Repeat the process of coating the truffles.

Once they have set dust with  a little cocoa powder and serve them.