Christmas Pudding Truffles

Christmas is a time when I celebrate being with family and friends. It's also a time when I do things I don't get to do any other time of the year. Things like spending money on pretty wrapping paper and gift cards, just to see them in the trash on boxing day. Sticking a tree in the middle of my living room and covering it in sparkling paper and glass baubles. Going to 20 parties a week, when I'm normally in bed by 10 o'clock at every other time of the year (my kids have a busier social life than I do). Eating Christmas Pudding Truffles over the kitchen sink still dressed my work-out gear.


Christmas Pudding Truffles
from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Christmas
Makes 20

For the Truffles:
125g dark chocolate, finely chopped
350g cooked and cooled, Christmas pudding
60ml sweet sherry
2 tablespoons golden syrup

For the Decoration:
100g white chocolate, finely chopped
6 red glacé cherries
6 green glacé cherries

Make the Truffles:
Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set it to one side while you make the truffles.

Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave.

Crumble the cold Christmas pudding into a bowl, add the sherry and golden syrup and stir briskly until it's all combined.

Pour in the melted dark chocolate and stir again. Place it in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes, this will make it easier to work with.

Pinch out small lumps of mixture and roll so that you have little rounds about the size of a chocolate truffle. You should get about 20 out of this mixture.

Cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge to firm up again.

Decorate the Truffles:
Melt the white chocolate in the microwave, then let it cool for about 5 minutes, to make it easier to work with, while you chop the red cherries into small pieces to make the "berries", and snip the green cherries into lengths, to make the "leaves".

Using a teaspoon, drip a little of the melted but slightly cooled white chocolate on each bonbon, then arrange the pieces of cherry on top.