Care package.

A care package from Australia has arrived. Thank you to my lovely sister Miss Patrice for her beneficent gift.

Included are some of my favourite chocolate bars from Australia, what a scrumptious treat. Peppermint crisp, Yum. Not to mention Cherry Ripe. I particularly like the health food aspect of that last one, I mean cherries are fruit right? ;)

The best part was the gold wrapped, white and gold box from Haigh's Chocolate store. The finest and most delicious chocolates this Countess has ever tried. The box is filled with violet creams, a childhood favourite, and lemon myrtle, an Aussie taste sensation.

The chocolate bars arrived melted, but a few minutes in the fridge fixed all that up. The Haighs confections however were unmelted, lucky. One Lemon myrtle leaked, that was the extent of the damage wrought by the Florida heat on my little precious treats. Amazing.


A packet of Teddy Bear biscuits was also included, long the object of my cravings. I plan to dunk those in cups of coffee, feet first to prolong the agony. Or perhaps not, give the little bears a quick end by dunking them in head first.

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Thank you Miss Patrice for your lovely, lovely gift.

Perusing the Internet, I managed to find this recipe for violet and rose creams.

Rose and Violet Creams.

3tbsp double cream
Pink (rose) or purple (violet) food colouring
3tbsp rose syrup or 2tbsp violet syrup
275g (10oz) icing sugar
200g (7oz) milk (rose) or dark (violet) chocolate, broken into small bits
1tsp groundnut oil
20 crystallised rose or violet petals, to decorate
20 sweet cases (optional)

Place the double cream, 1 drop of pink food colouring and the rose syrup into a bowl - or 1 drop of the purple food colouring and the violet syrup - and mix well. Sift the icing sugar (225g/8oz for the violet creams) over the cream mixture and stir to combine. Tip the mixture out onto a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar and knead the fondant with your hands until it all comes together in a firm ball. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Using your hands, roll 20 teaspoon-sized lumps of mixture into balls, then flatten them slightly and place on a plate. Heat 5cm (2in) of water in a pan. Pop a heatproof bowl on top, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Place the milk (rose) or dark (violet) chocolate and the groundnut oil in the bowl and warm until melted. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

Line a flat 39 x 35cm (15 1/4 x 13 3/4in) baking sheet with baking parchment. Carefully take a fondant ball, one at a time, and, using two forks, dip it in the melted chocolate until coated all over. Be quick about it, as you don't want to melt the fondant. Place the coated fondant ball onto the baking parchment. Top each chocolate with a crystallised rose or violet petal and leave to cool and set in a cool place. Place in sweet cases to serve, if you like.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1217142/Sweet-shop-recipes-Rose-violet-creams.html#ixzz0U1u0tEGc