It’s turning into a chocolate Christmas!
Despite the hot weather, I’ve been tempering bowls of chocolate daily, and little boxes and bags of wrapped goodies are starting to litter the living room (the coolest room in the house).
Above is our first attempt at a chocolate house. Moulding the pieces was easy enough, but having enough tempered chocolate at the right temperature to glue it all together was tricky. As was handling the pieces without them melting in our 30°C kitchen! In the end it took both of us to assemble the finished cottage – a little rustic perhaps, and I’m not sure the roof was watertight, but it was eaten before it passed building inspection! This was a trial run – we’re going to try to make one for Christmas day as well. For any Aussies interested in giving this a go, the mould was only a few dollars (you need to buy two) from Roberts Confectionary online.
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Some other chocolate happenings in our kitchen include…
Ginger chocolate – crystallised Buderim ginger coated in a dark (about 65%) Belgian chocolate blend…
A dark chocolate wreath…
…and some musical notes – Big Boy plays the french horn and Small Man the trumpet, so finding a chocolate mould with both instruments on it was very exciting!
A dozen golden tickets are wrapped and waiting to be given away!
I’ve filled Turkish bowls with treats – don’t they look festive?
Our newest chocolate for the season are these little fruitcake truffles, made by blitzing fruit cake and glacé fruit in the food processor and then mixing the crumbs with melted dark chocolate and dark rum. These were shaped into balls, then dipped in dark chocolate…
And my find of the season – treasure no less – are these French glacé orange rind strips, a new item from Harkola. At $15 a kilo, it’s quite expensive compared to mixed peel, but massively better. It’s also perfect for dipping into dark chocolate!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
The house is really cute – how big is it? It’s hard to tell from your photo. Everything else looks wonderful too – I’ll have some orange peel and ginger, please! ;) LOL!
Suelle, thank you – the house is only little – about 12cm tall! :)
beautiful! I remember last year you posted some of australia’s landmarks in chocolate which i forwarded to everyone! these look fantastic. my brother is returning from his honeymoon in australia on friday. he loved it!
Aleida, I remember! I hope he had a wonderful time and didn’t run into too much rain!
Gorgeous stuff. Nicely tempered, too. And a box of those fruitcake truffles, too, please. (But you Aussies and your 30C. Really? Come to Texas, my dear. We don’t break a sweat until 40C.)
Markus, I wasn’t complaining about the 30C. I was complaining about the 30C in my kitchen while I was trying to temper chocolate… ;-)
My mouth is watering.
Forget that, I am positively drooling over your chocolate and cookie delight!
I love your fruitcake truffles.
In fact, I’m going to try to make some myself.
And I thought I was done with making goodies!
Heidi, the fruitcake truffles would work well just dusted in cocoa if you didn’t want to go to the trouble of tempering chocolate!
I’m hearing the words, “Chocolate, Chocolate” sung over and over in my head to the tune of Beethoven’s Ninth. Such glory!
The bowls are beautiful!
Maz
Thanks Maz, I’m very smitten with them as well!! :)
Spectacular work! I’ll trade you some of my home candied peel for some ginger chocolates any time…. oh wait…. I forget you live half way across the world. OK I’ll just admire them from afar. Fabulous! Wondrous! And in those temperatures too. How do you do it, you clever, clever chocolatiere harnessing that chocolate mania so beautifully xx
And I’d love some of those fruitcake truffles too…… I think they sound wonderful…oh how the sight of beauteous chocolate doth lift the spirits and make the heart sing….
Jo, thank you, I would happily send you a shipment if I held any hope at all that they’d arrive intact! Those truffles are seriously alcoholic, I slipped and slurped in a large splash of overproofed black rum! :)
The house, the chocolate ginger, the choc truffle ball things and the orangettes!! Magnificent!!
The fruitcake truffles look amazing! My college sons are coming home this week and this might be our first together in the kitchen project. First, I need to bake some fruitcake!
Celia, all the chocolates look gorgeous! I can’t imagine working with chocolate in that kind of heat. I am sure your family and friends will love them. Happy holidays to you!
Anna, thank you!! I bet you’re seeing some wonderful Christmas chocolates in Paris right now.. :)
Vera, thank you – I hope you enjoy them. I used homemade fruit cake, but I’ve seen versions of these truffles made with shop bought cake.
Liza, thank you! It has been tricky.. ;-)
Celia what have you done to me? Fruitcake truffles?…how have I not experienced that before?! Alcohol-ly fruitcake truly is the spirit of christmas, dipped in a little dark chocolate…and oh my!
I’ll send some for you, B. :)
Don’t know how you temper in such warm weather. Are you confining it to morning/evening? Either way, well done you!
Gill, I’ve been tempering first thing in the morning, at 6am. It has been tricky, I’ve had three batches which I’ve had to re-do, but I’m nearly done, just one more chocolate house to go. Thanks for the encouragement, I know you understand, as you were in the same position six months ago! :)
How perfectly gorgeous! that little cottage is too precious. I know what you mean about the heat, but in my case it’s the humidity. My gingerbread houses are not happy. Last year we had some minor issues, but with all the rain this year and more thunderstorms for tomorrow, I’m nearly tearing out my hair!
The humidity is playing havoc with my meringues too – look forward to seeing your gingerbread houses, fingers crossed you get them to work! :)
The house is delightful (I also love Roberts confectionary’s moulds – I make my kids choccy frogs with them)
I make choc-ginger for my dad every year for his birthday (23 Dec); it’s always so much nicer than the bought stuff.
And your fruit cake truffles have reminded me that I intended to make some too. I’m off to the shops to stock up on rum!
Have a great day Cellia.
Thanks Emma, hope you have a wonderful day too. Isn’t this just the best time of year? :)
I love chocolate ginger. The house looks great.
My god! You are wasting your talent – you need a TV show!
Now I must go cover some things in chocolate.
Did you know that America’s best ginger comes from Australia?
Celia, I LOOOVE the chocolate house!!! I haven’t tried tempering chocolate before- you look like a pro! Christmas definitely = chocolate in our household, so your treats look like our dream come true!
All of these are so lovely Celia – what beautiful gifts! I particularly like the ginger chocolates and the dipped rind. I think I’ll have to do something with chocolate as a gift now too!
Debra, thank you! I find people either love or hate chocolate ginger, but those who love it, really love it! :)
Doc, you’re very kind, but I didn’t take photos of all my chocolate disasters in this weather! ;-) I think the best ginger in the world comes from Buderim in Queensland.
Honey, you should definitely try tempering, definitely something you could do. I am going to try your macarons next!!
Sarah, the dipped orange has been the hit of the season, everyone has loved them!
Candied orange with dark chocolate and ginger with dark chocolate
I think I am in love
“Chocolates for Christmas” must be about the most heart-warming title for a post and instantly catches my attention.
I have yet to begin my Xmas gift baking/making, but really must wrap my head around it – with some degree of urgency now!
I’m starting to think I should move in with you Celia – you get up to the best things, even shopping with you would be fun. Can’t decide what I love most on this post…, but thinking its gotta be the French glacé orange rind dipped in chocolate. That’s the sort of temptation I’d want to pinch the whole bowl of then go find a little nook all to myself and well… unceremoniously stuff my face quite frankly ;) Love that you ate the house before the building inspection…. that’s my type of building ;)
Wow, those chocolate creations look really great! At least working in the 30 degree kitchen was well worth it. It’s been all nuts at my place (quite literally) and honey has quite had enough of tasting all the glazed and spiced nuts. I think chocolate will be motivate her alot more 8).
Celia, you are beyond remarkable and remain a daily inspiration!
:-) Mandy
Hi Celia,
What a beautiful house! I can believe it was tricky to put together, but it sure is nice. How did you keep it from melting on you? The other chocolate goodies look absolutely delicious. Even better than the store bought ones. Too bad I don’t live closer!
Just curious, but do you buy a large block (or blocks) of chocolate to make all those treats? I’ve never tempered chocolate before, but I might try it after seeing your goodies. Now to find the time…..
Wow, these are amazing!! Incredible Celia…
Those are truly stunning – have you watched the programme on ABC – I actually forget what it’s called (useful, huh) – I think it’s called Willies Chocolate Factory – an English man named Willie with his own Venezuelan cacoa farm is trying to make a dark, fruity, chocolate bar as distinct from chocolate coated confectionery, that will appeal to British chocolate buyers. It’s very interesting, I’d no idea that chocolate was so complex. If I found a cache like yours I would resort to dragging it into a dark corner and growl at anybody else who came near.
Vita, Amanda, Craig and Mandy, thank you very much! Amanda, it’s a frantic time of year, isn’t it?
Anna, the little house was flattened pretty quickly – no building approval required..hehehe
Soy, it wouldn’t be Chrissie without spiced nuts, I must make some this week, thanks for the reminder!
Manuela, it was hard to stop it melting when we were handling it – it took both of us and we had to hold the pieces with paper towels to stop the heat of our fingers melting the detail away. I buy Belgian chocolate callets – little chocolate chips – much easier to handle than chipping away at large blocks like that woman in Chocolat did. ;-) I wrote a post about tempering here, in case it’s of use.
Jan, that’s a fascinating show, isn’t it? Both the lovely Joanna and gorgeous Gill from Ireland sent me some of Willie’s Cacao to play with – great fun! The origin chocolates are very interesting, and all such different flavours and mouthfeels, really is complex and fascinating stuff!
Holy moly! That is impressive! Even more impressive that you managed to do it in this heat! :o Bravo!
Waw!! That’s a lot of chocolate for Christmas. I especially love the chocolate house. We can’t find that over here in the land of chocolates though! And those golden tickets chocolates look amazing!
Lorraine, Sophie, thank you! Sophie, I used only Callebaut Belgian chocolate! :)
Ahhh, that house is just too cute, Celia! TOO cute! (and hat off to you for assembling it in the 30c kitchen!) :)
Thanks Chris! Have to try and make one more for Christmas! :)
Wowee, I’d love to be at your house around Christmas time. It’s chocolate heaven!
Will have to checkout those Roberts Confectionary chocolate moulds. The house looks incredible.
I am absolutely amazed! Tempering chocolate is something I never attempted, and imagine I never will (knowing my limitations way too well… :-)
THe house is incredibly beautiful, and so is everything else – I cannot quite understand how you are able to do everything you do in your life… You are a SuperWoman!
Emma, Roberts Confectionary also had some great Australian moulds in stock, well worth checking out!
Sally, thank you love, you’re very kind, but it’s not really like that at all, the men in my life do a lot of the hard stuff, which leaves me lots of time to play! ;-)
You are looking so organised for Christmas! You are putting me to shame LOL! I have the same chocolate house mould but I don’t think I will be using it until next years Christmas :)
Celia, I expect you are bored of hearing this by now, but really, you are a marvel. These all look wonderful but both CT and I are completely bowled over by your house – amazing. You need to start a shop – Celia’s unwonky chocolate factory. Fantastic. Nice idea too about covering crystallised ginger with chocolate. And I’m pleased to say that my orange peels look nearly as good as yours.
Susan, the chocolate house is great fun, but really needs two pairs of hands to put together! :)
Choc, you are very kind, but the house is a bit rough – all the “plaster work” is oozing out of the side walls.. LOL! The chocolate ginger is always a hit with certain friends, although not everyone is a fan!
I want a golden ticket! My mum makes those little fruit cake balls, but dips the top half in white choc and puts a glace cherry on top. It’s the only way I will eat fruit cake!
Susan, I’ve seen those! They look very convincingly like miniature plum puddings! ;-)
Celia, one of my dear old cousins (who is now 92 and still making her own delicious bread) always makes her own glace fruit. it was SO much better than packet mixed peel, which my mother wouldn’t touch! – that we always hinted heavily for hers at Christmas.
I have never attempted it, but she always said there wasn’t anything to it. . . have you tried?
Anne, no I haven’t, but I have lots of blogger friends who have! We’ve always been able to buy quite good glace fruit from Harkola (and now they have orange rind, I’m never buying mixed peel again, not ever). :)