Foodie gifts

Chocolate Brownie with White Chocolate Icing

Chocolate brownie with white chocolate icing

This chocolate brownie with white chocolate icing is the BEST brownie recipe, ever.  I love making this, it’s really straight forward, it’s got serious wow factor and people usually groan with pleasure when they eat it.  But, that’s no surprise really, cast your eye over the ingredients…. All the good stuff, or the bad stuff, depending on which way you look at it (I’m not going to try and pull the wool over your eyes!)  But, I eat this so rarely, and it’s so scrummy,  I just refuse to feel bad eating it:  Life is TOO short to feel guilty about eating a piece of brownie! That said, I do chuckle to myself when people ask what’s in this brownie. I usually just smile and say “one packet of dark chocolate melts in the base. Oh and a packet of white chocolate melts in the icing, along with a tin of condensed milk and butter”.   Eyes usually widen and then, with a mouth full of brownie, I hear murmurs of appreciation, and then, inevitably, they ask for another slice. (more…)

Dukkah Recipe

Dukkah recipe
I love giving homemade foodie gifts at Christmas and I absolutely love receiving them.  Gift giving doesn’t have to be expensive,  yet, more than ever, society puts an emphasis on giving big extravagant gifts… Just think of all the marketing campaigns you see leading up to Christmas! This makes me sad as I just don’t think this what Christmas should be about.  Giving and receiving something thoughtful, made with love, time and effort – now that’s what makes people feel special… And when you make a foodie gift for a fellow foodie and they come back and ask for the recipe, as happened to me last year with this dukkah recipe, then you know you hit the gift giving jackpot!  Package this dukkah up in a nice jar, tie some ribbon around the lid, maybe make a homemade label – done.

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