Just 10 days to go!! Don’t forget to sign up at the Doodle Poll if you’re intending to come this year: http://doodle.com/poll/dipzzbnh6g838w45
There will be the usual Sherlock Holmes Picnic Food Competition, which we’ve had some awesome entries for in past years (see above). I hope you’re all coming up with ways to beat them!
And an announcement: This year’s SHPicnic is going to be the last one. We’ve had a lot of fun doing them every year, but all good things must come to an end, and it feels as if the right time for that is now. Huge thanks to everyone who’s come along over the years. We’ve really appreciated it.
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This year's Sherlock Holmes Picnic will feature the usual lunch with huge amounts of cake, an Abominable Bride-themed wide game and finish with dinner and drinks at the Wetherspoons by Baker Street tube station. To help us plan everything, please show which you're intending to join in with.
Time to sign up for this year’s SHPicnic! If you're not sure if you're coming or not yet, bear in mind that you'll almost certainly get a fake moustache if you do.
Here are the gorgeous chocolates that I made for yesterday’s Sherlock Holmes picnic in Regent’s park. I had a great time with all the fabulous people there, and only got slightly sunburned.
The chocolates, which got second place in the cooking competition (the winner was brain shaped cupcakes which I didn’t get to see, blast it, anybody get a photo?) were fun to make and not even terrible complicated. From the top, going clockwise, they were;
Sherlock Holmes’ Raspberry and Sea-Salt Parfait (peculiar, salty, but oddly charming)
Mycroft Holmes’ Whiskey and Ginger Truffle (smooth, rich, and sophisticated, also ginger)
Mrs Hudson’s Rum and Raisin Truffle (a little bit of what you fancy does you good)
Molly Hooper’s Lime and Vanilla Cream (almost too sweet, but for that little dash of acid)
Lestrade’s Double Shot Coffee Cream (because it might be about to be one of those days)
and finally
John Watson’s Tea-Scented Custard Cup (the refreshment of choice for tiny, cardigan-wearing bad-asses everywhere).
A fair few people asked me for the recipes, so here we go;
I made chocolates for the Sherlock Holmes picnic yesterday, and they were very well recieved. I was asked for the recipes by a few people, and I’ve already written the recipes for the truffles. Here are the recipes for the rest of the chocolates.
Firstly, I’d advise investing in at least one silicon chocolate mould, or even an ice tray. These are great for making chocolates, they come in a big range of shapes, they are easy to pop the finished chocolates out of, and they last better and are easier to clean than plastic ones. They aren’t terribly expensive, so if you plan on making a big batch of chocolates, buy more than one. I have several, all of which have spaces for 16 individual chocolates, so the volumes I’m going to give you will suit a tray of about that size.
It’s worth buying decent quality baking chocolate, as it melts more smoothly, and doesn’t go greasy when it resolidifies like regular chocolate can. It also sets a little more firmly, and so the final chocolates will last longer out of the fridge. I used Sainsbury’s own brand baking chocolate, as it isn’t too expensive and is very nice quality.
For a 16 hole mould, you will need about 100 grams of chocolate to line it. You can melt the chocolate in the microwave, and most cooking brands will have instructions for doing so. Give it about 30 seconds on a medium setting, then stir, put it in for another ten seconds, stir, ten seconds, stir, and so on, until there are only small lumps of solid chocolate left. Then stir the mixture until these final lumps melt, which will give the final product a bit more bite (it’s called tempering, I won’t explain here, it’s all very interesting and to do with molecular structures. Science!).
Line the mould by spreading a layer of chocolate on the inside of each of the holes (sounds rude). I bought a packet of cheap, plastic fibre, art paintbrushes for this, as you can literally just paint the chocolate into the moulds and it makes for a nice even surface. Line the mould, then put it in the fridge for about ten minutes, then take it out and put another layer of lining in. Put it back in the fridge for another ten minutes and make sure it’s solidified before adding any filling.
When you add the filling, be sure to leave space for another layer of chocolate, so you can put a base on it. Just spoon more melted chocolate on top of the filling, so the mould is full, and let it set in the fridge.
I sometimes use a ganache filling for chocolates (see the truffle recipe, only use the same amount of cream and half as much chocolate, which will give you a runnier consistency that you can just spoon into the chocolates, and allow to set in the fridge) but for yesterdays I used a cream filling as well. To make that you need 20g or 3/4oz unsalted butter, softened; 100g or 3 1/2 oz icing sugar, one and a half tablespoons of golden syrup, and a tablespoon of milk.
Beat the butter until it’s soft and smooth, and sprinkle two tablespoons of icing cuger over it, but don’t mix it in yet. Add the syrup on top of the sugar, and then beat the whole lot together. Add the rest of the sugar, a spoonful or two at a time, until it’s all mixed in. It’s up to you how much milk you add, but I found a tablespoonful loosened it up just right for me to be able to put it in the chocolates easily. You can add flavourings to this cream quite easily, just mix them in.
The chocolates I made yesterday were;
Molly Hooper’s Vanilla and Lime Creams
I used white chocolate for the casing, and added a little blob of lime curd, topped with vanilla flavoured cream filling.
Lestrade’s Double Shot Coffee Creams
Milk chocolate casing, filled with cream filling to which, instead of milk, I had added two tablespoons of warm water with about four teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in it.
Sherlock’s Raspberry and Sea Salt Parfait
No filling, I just alternated freeze dried raspberry pieces and sprinkles of sea salt with layers of plain chocolate.
and John Watson’s Tea-scented Custard and Biscuit Cup
I mixed three crumbled up rich tea biscuits into the milk chocolate after it had melted, and lined the flat bottomed moulds with it. Then I made up half a packet of instant custard powder, using half the liquid that the instructions called for, and replacing hot water with very strongly brewed tea. I didn’t put a base on these chocolates, just left them open topped, hence using the flat bottomed moulds.
See, it’s not as complicated as it looks, and it’s a very nice craft to try. And you get choclates at the end of it.
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So I made chocolates for the Sherlock Holmes picnic yesterday, and they were very well recieved. I was asked a few times for the recipes, especially for the truffles, so here we go.
To make around 15 truffles (depending on how big you make each individual one), you will need:
200g/7oz plain, milk or white chocolate
5 tablespoons (75ml) double cream
something to coat the truffles in - cocoa powder, icing sugar, chopped nuts, chocolaate vermicelli, sprinkles, popping candy, glitter sugar, anything you fancy. You’ll need about a tablespoon of anything powdery, maybe two or three tablespoons of chunkier things like sprinkles or nuts
and flavourings to taste. More on that at the end.
You need a small saucepan and a heatproof bowl of a size that will sit in the top of the saucepan with a space of at least an inch between the bottom of the bowl and the base of the pan. Put some water in the pan, keeping in mind that it must not touch the bottom of the bowl. Put the bowl on top and put it on the hob, with the ring on a low/medium setting.
Break up the chocolate and put it in the bowl, then pour the cream over it. The aim is to melt them so slowly that they meld together smoothly. Stir the mixture frequently. Don’t be tempted to turn up the temperature, it’ll get there.
When it starts coming together and the chocolate is about halfway melted, that’s a good point to add your flavourings.
When the mixture is smooth and consistent, pour it into another, cool bowl, and place it in the fridge. Depending on how warm a day it is, it may take anything from an hour to three hours to fully set. Stir the mixture regularly, maybe every 20-30 minutes, as this will help it to stay nice and malleable.
When the mixture is set enough that it holds its shape when you scoop out a piece, it’s ready to shape. Put your coating in a small bowl (the coating, by the way, makes the truffles a whole lot easier to eat, and also stops them sticking to each other) and scoop a heaped teaspoonful of the mixture out of the bowl. Roll the lump of mixture into a ball in your hands, being careful not to overhandle it as it melts easily. Then roll the ball in the coating. Set the ball aside and work your way through the rest of the mixture. Store the truffles in the fridge and they will keep for about four days.
Flavourings can be all sorts of things. For the picnic, I made white chocolate truffles with rum (about one and a half tablespoons full in the whole mixture, though you could use a few drop of rum flavouring if you prefer) and raisons, which had been chopped up and soaked in rum for about half an hour. I mixed these in when the chocolate was nearly melted.
The other one was dark chocolate, with whiskey (same amount as above) and crystallised ginger. Buy the dry sort of ginger, rather than the sort that comes in a jar of fluid.
Basically, you can use anything you fancy, but try not to add too much liquid as this can stop the mixture from setting properly. If you want to add something in solid chunks, like the ginger, it will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the mixture is still liquid, so bear this in mind when you stir it as it’s setting.
That feeling when you fall over in a 3 legged race wearing handcuffs, and the handcuff gets warped and trapped on your wrist, and you wonder how you’re going to explain this one to A&E if it comes to it.....
