Valentine's Day 2021 - sharing is not really an option

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Looking back over previous Generosity Day / Valentine's Day posts, I'm struck by the fact that all the sweet treats are for sharing - with your darling, with your friends and family, with your colleagues! Covid has knocked that on the head somewhat. 

You could make smaller portions and share a virtual sweet moment with your darling, friends and family, colleagues by emailing them the recipe so they can turn that virtual moment into a moment of deliciousness.

I'm reposting Baileys Chocolate Biscuit Cake; Sour Cherry Rocky Road, and 'Just Because...' cookies; 

I'm not sure which of these was my favourite... I think if I had to make a choice, it would be the Rocky Road (which is almost too delicious to share anyway!)

Stay safe

Mwah! x

Love is ... sharing your Baileys Chocolate Biscuit Cake

For me, love is in the every day things.  It’s in the whole-hearted, rib-cracking bear-hugs from my godson; in the slightly soggy, pre-licked crisps offered by my three-year-old niece when you know she really, really, really wants them herself (“Thanks honey, but you have them, I insist! No, really – I insist”.

I asked friends and family what love meant to them. It turns out, it isn't in the grand gestures. Love is... in having the washing up done for you; in getting a cup of tea... just the way you like it... brought to one’s boudoir. Love is in chocolate; in a tiny posy of primroses; in a bunch of daffodils (preferably not ones stolen from the local park); Love is in a ‘Thank you for feeding me’ lick from a four-legged friend (awwww - but don't be giving the dog chocolate now - it will probably wolf it down and then be sick as a ... dog... or worse); it's in a crayoned picture of you looking like a happy witch; in a warm hand that reaches for your cold hand; in sharing a bag of salty, vinegary chips; Love is in cupcakes, hot from the oven; in a hug, just when you need it; it seems that love happens in lots and lots of small ways, - funnily, many of them food-related. ... read on for recipe

Sour Cherry Rocky Road - the Silver Lining! 

Sometimes ...  often  ... ok ... practically all the time, life doesn’t go according to plan. The road ahead usually has a few lumps and bumps lurking, ready to trip us up as soon as we cast our attention elsewhere... (click on the post to chortle at the lumps and bumps that were happening that week). 

The good news is that life’s little wrinkles can often work out for the best. Most lumps and bumps can have a silver lining... like when I drop my heavy cookery notebook on my foot (bump, lump) and a little scrap of cardboard falls out. It’s my sister Veronica’s incredible Rocky Road recipe (silver lining).

In general I HATE marshmallow, I HATE desiccated coconut, and I’m not particularly fond of milk chocolate either. However when these ingredients get together with crunchy salty nuts and chewy sour cherries and go skinny dipping in dark chocolate, magic happens. I will happily eat this version by the kilo – leading to further lumps and bumps if indulged too often.  ... read on for recipe

‘Just because...’ cookies

Love is bigger than just romantic love. It’s in the everyday things:  it’s in the email/card/text/call that says between the lines “Hey, I was thinking of you”. It’s in making the dinner/walking the dog/cleaning the bathroom/rescuing the laundry from a sudden rain shower without having to be asked. It’s in accepting the irritating imperfections right along with the good qualities that are so much easier to love, whether you are family, friend, or lover.

Since 2011, there has been a move to ‘reboot’ Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day; to make it less ‘cosy couples’ and more egalitarian. At first glance, this smacks of an ‘everyone-gets-a-medal’ race, but why not!  Generosity Day is an opportunity to practice random acts of, well, generosity. It is a day for giving rather than taking. ... read on for recipe

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Rebooting Sour Cherry Rocky Road - the Silver Lining!

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It's not Valentine's Day anymore. It has been rebooted as Generosity Day - it's the day you make Sour Cherry Rocky Road, cut it into bite-sized bits, and take it to wherever there are people you love (or simply like).

Sometimes ...  often  ... ok ... practically all the time, life doesn’t go according to plan. The road ahead usually has a few lumps and bumps lurking, ready to trip us up as soon as we cast our attention elsewhere...

... Like last month: I dropped my ice cream maker (my priceless €1 machine – maker of strawberry and rose petal ice cream); totalled my food processor (Note to self: remove the sheath from the blade before attempting to use the machine); and annihilated my electric whisk – don’t ask!  

... Like last week, when my sister Catherine made pizza from scratch... It took a detour on the way to the oven and belly-flopped onto her cat... the bad-tempered one... with the six-inch claws and the kleptomaniac tendencies (cat, not sister!). I foresee a shredded sofa and further apologies to the neighbours as the evil creature wanders home with yet another gold trinket clenched in its teeth...

... Like this morning, when a daydreaming commuter – yay, not me for a change - scurried onto an escalator clearly marked OUT OF ORDER - and stood there with an expression of utter bewilderment as he went nowhere fast and hundreds of cackling commuters sailed past him on the one that was actually working...

The good news is that life’s little wrinkles can often work out for the best. Most lumps and bumps can have a silver lining... like when I drop my heavy cookery notebook on my foot (bump, lump) and a little scrap of cardboard falls out. It’s my sister Veronica’s incredible Rocky Road recipe (silver lining).

In general I HATE marshmallow, I HATE desiccated coconut, and I’m not particularly fond of milk chocolate either. However when these ingredients get together with crunchy salty nuts and chewy sour cherries and go skinny dipping in dark chocolate, magic happens. I will happily eat this version by the kilo – leading to further lumps and bumps if indulged too often.  

Here is Veronica's original recipe...

When simple ingredients go skinny dipping in melted chocolate, magic happens!

This translates as...

300g milk chocolate (decent stuff, not cooking chocolate)

200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

90g mini marshmallows (or large marshmallows, snipped into pieces with a scissors)

80g white chocolate, roughly chopped

80g dried sour cherries (dried cranberries are good too)

75g salted jumbo peanuts

75g salted almonds

50g desiccated coconut, toasted* 

1                    First, line the base of a 30cm x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment.

2                    Then, break the milk chocolate and dark chocolate into pieces and place together in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water (the base of the bowl mustn’t touch the water or the chocolate can turn grainy). Stir occasionally until melted.

3                    Add the rest of the ingredients to the melted chocolate and stir until everything is well coated. Transfer to the baking tin and leave to cool. When the chocolate is set, remove from the tin and cut into pieces - bitesized or boulders – that bit is up to you.

* I toasted the coconut in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. This task only takes a few minutes but requires a close eye because as soon as you look away, the coconut will burn in an instant.

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