Party-time


Happy New Year folks! I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and that much fun was had while copious amounts of food and wine were consumed – this is how I like to celebrate! Speaking of celebrations, December was a month of fun at my house. It’s the month of my birthday and my wedding anniversary – and those great gift-giving days of Christmas fun – so many reasons to eat, drink and be merry.

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For my birthday I made a few tried and tested party foods. Dips are never a miss at parties – finger foods are not only easy to make but serve a great purpose; you can hold your drink in one hand and eat with the other, all the while making conversation – this is efficiency people :). For this special night I made a simple 4 ingredient hummus dip and a charred eggplant dip (somewhat like a baba ganoush).

For the end of the night nothing works better than the famous ‘trashy truffle’. This particular dessert, inspired by a Paula Dean recipe for cookie dough truffles, was aptly named by my sister. I tweaked the recipe a little and came up with sweet little pieces of chocolately drizzled trashy joy, with a slight biscuity crunch. Yum, I love parties.



Recipes
4 ingredient hummus
400g chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp tahini paste
juice from 1 small lemon
extra-virgin olive oil 2-3 tbsp (plus more for finishing)

Place chickpeas, tahini and lemon juice in food processor and blend. While blending drizzle in olive oil until mixture resembles smooth, creamy paste. If too thick, add a little water to thin out. Season with sea salt and give a final mix. Place into bowl and finish with a little more olive oil and a touch salt.

charred eggplant dip
1 large eggplant
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup greek/full fat yoghurt
sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
extra-virgin olive oil, to finish

First char the eggplant on the bbq (as I have done) or grill. Let cool and remove most of the blackened bits (keeping a little is fine and imparts a smoky flavour). Next, chop up the softened eggplant (it falls apart easily), mix in onions, add salt and fold through the yoghurt (here I didn't over-mix as I like the look and taste of uneven layers of yoghurt and eggplant). Finish with fresh pepper and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

trashy truffles
(slightly adapted from Paula Deen)
makes about 5 dozen truffles
1/2 cup organic butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups organic plain flour
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup finely chopped biscuits (I used something like a graham cracker but use anything you fancy)
150g milk chocolate, melted

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla. Gradually mix in flour and add condensed milk. Mix in biscuit crumbs and shape dough into 1 inch balls (dip fingers in flour to make it easier to roll). Place on waxed/baking paper and chill in fridge for an hour.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler on low-heat. Take out tray of truffles and drizzle with melted chocolate – I dipped some whole in the chocolate and kept some simply drizzled – it’s up to you!



16 comments:

  1. I've just found your blog and I must admit I love your recipes and photos! Thank you for sharing. Greetings from Poland! :)

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  2. Happy Birthday! These are all delightful and love the name "trashy truffle", so fun :)
    And Happy New Year as well!

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  3. Happy birthday, Happy Anniversary, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. What a busy time you have had. Your dip looks delicious. Very well presented.

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  4. Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary and Happy New YeaR. Good to see you back in action.

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  5. I'm new here too and love your recipes here!Happy New Year too and I look forward to following your delicious posts this year :) Cheers!

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  6. Happy birthday and happy new year as well! Love these recipes, as always, your blog is a delight!

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  7. I hope your birthday, anniversary, Christmas and New Year were all a blast! It does look like you had a great eats. The combination of baba ganoush and hummus sounds delicious and I can't say enough about those gorgeous truffles. WOW! Great post!

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  8. I just love dipping and noshing and your dips look great!

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  9. Happy Birthday, Happy New Year and welcome back! Love these dip recipes but what caught my eye are those trashy truffles! It is going to be hard to stick to my new years diet...

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  10. Happy Belated Birthday :) And very belated X'mas/NY's greetings too hehe. I haven't visited your space for a while now obviously due to busy season, but everytime I visit I'm always falling in love with your photography (and food of course!)

    Here's to another year of great food :)

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  11. Thanks sweet friends - always great to read your kind words!

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  12. I love the idea of the trashy truffles! :P And Happy birthday for this month and happy anniversary! :)

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  13. happy belated bday and thank you for the delicious recipes!
    i once made hommus and lost count of how much olive oil i had used (i used alot) so i was afraid to even have any of it lol but water is a good idea i will try that next time :)

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  14. Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary!!!! wishing all the best.
    Love your dips and truffles.

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  15. Charred Eggplant dip sounds delicious and smokey! Will definitely give it a whirl. Thanks for sharing.

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  16. I'm in love with the trashy truffles!!! have got to try this super soon :)

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