Ladies' Kisses

Serves: 20
Preparation: 60 min (plus 2 hours resting time)
Cooking: 40 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
150g butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp almond essence
1 cup ground almonds/almond meal
1.5 cups plain flour
50g chocolate

Cream butter and sugar, then beat in egg yolk, almond essence, ground almonds and flour. Chill for about 2 hours or until firm.

Preheat oven to 160C and line baking trays with grease proof paper.

Break off small pieces of dough and roll into balls with your hands making 40 altogether.

Place the balls on the baking sheets spacing them out evenly as they will spread in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from the sheets and cool.

Melt chocolate over a double boiler and use to sandwich pairs of cookies. Leave to cool and set before serving.

Choc Caramel Tartlets

Serves: 21
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 0 mins
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
1-3 pack Arnotts Butternut biscuits (21 per packet)
1 tin Nestle caramel or Nestle condensed milk
1 pack Cadbury cooking choc

Put the biscuits onto tartlet tray and put into oven at 160C for about 5 minutes. When warm gently push into the tray with the back of a spoon. If they don't go in easily return to oven and try again.

Put a teaspoon of caramel into the bottom of the buscuits and smooth down. Then put a teaspoon of melted chocolate and work until it covers the caramel. Set in the fridge.

One tin of condensed milk and one pack of cooking choc will do roughtly 3 packs of butternut biscuits.

Related: How to make Caramel from Condensed Milk

Update: These were a change to my mums recipe which tops the caramel with cream and I've since found a very similar recipe from the Arnotts website which is just chocolate ganache.

Fruit Balls

Serves: heaps of truffle balls.
Preparation: 30-40 mins
Cooking: None
Calories: __cal (__cal per serve as per recipe)

Ingredients
8 crushed Weetbix
2 Tablespoons Cocoa
3/4 Cup Dessicated Coconut
2 Tablespoons Sherry
1/2 Cup chopped nuts (I use almonds)
1 Cup Sultanas

Extra Dessicated Coconut for rolling.

Mix all the ingredients together and roll into balls. Toss in coconut and refrigerate.

Note: Make them "kid friendly" by substituting the sherry for orange juice.

We always called these "fruit balls" and I have no idea if they have another name.

Easiest Chocolate Cake

Serves: 16-20 (2 cakes), 24 muffins, 100 mini muffins
Preparation: 20 minutes + 10 mins icing
Cooking: 35 minutes
Calories*: 3200cal (cakes) + 250cal (icing) (215cal per serve)

Ingredients
2 1/4 Cup SR Flour
1 3/4 Cup Castor Sugar (can substitute for other sugar)
3/4 tspn Bicarb Soda
2/3 Cup Cocoa
140g Margarine
1 Cup Water
1 tspn Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour into 2 greased 9" pans and cook in moderate oven (200C) for 35-40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.

My Simple Icing
6 Tablespoons of Pure Icing Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Cocoa
Warm water to make a paste
Dessicated Coconut to garnish

Note: To make muffins or mini muffins cook at 180C for 12-15 minutes