Mini Christmas Puddings

I made these cute little puddings for my 5yr old's class party. They are so simple to make (mostly anyway). I was planning on covering them in milk chocolate before topping them with white chocolate & sprinkles - but quickly discovered it's not the kind of job to do when you're in a hurry! So I scrapped the milk chocolate and just topped them with white chocolate. I still think they look ok???

To start, bake a packet mix chocolate cake according to directions on the box (see - EASY!) I baked it in a 8x13" lamington tin - as you can see it was only just big enough. Let the cake cool completely...

 ...then crumble it into a large mixing bowl. I probably should have used a bigger bowl to avoid spillage. Next add a whole container of pre-mixed chocolate icing (I used Betty Crocker brand). And mix it through the cake crumbs until really well combined - it will be sticky & messy!

 Next roll the mix into balls (a little smaller than a golf ball) and lay them on a baking paper lined tray. I managed to make about 36 puddings from one cake + icing mixture. Put them in the freezer to set. The next step is where I had problems. About 4 hours later I took them out of the freezer and tried to coat them in melted chocolate, but they fell apart in the chocolate. So I transferred the uncoated balls to mini cupcake papers and decorated them with melted white chocolate and sprinkles. Voila!

They can also be made with fruit cake moistened with some orange juice (or something a bit more special) - I'd love to give them a try. But I thought chocolate would go down better with kids :)

I transported them to school in one of these tins. Aren't they gorgeous? I picked up the whole set of three for about $12 at IKEA a few weeks ago. They'd be great filled with cookies and chocolates for Christmas gifts I think... This set is looking quite gorgeous on display in my kitchen :)

Christmas

I say this every year - I can't believe the year is nearly over. The older I get, the faster the years seem to fly by.
I'm more organised for Christmas than I have been in a long time. As far as gifts go anyway... Decorating on the other hand is yet to be started! I love this time of year and can't wait to start decorating, wrapping presents (I LOVE wrapping presents), baking...

We did start watching some Christmas dvds and reading some books a couple of weeks ago. These are some of our favourites so far...

 This is a really nice cartoon which portrays the real story of Christmas. My children both love watching it. It's available here

We have several of Max Lucado's childrens books and dvds. This one teaches children that Christmas (or Maker Day as it's called in the story) is about giving rather than outdoing everyone else by getting the biggest and best presents. This one is available here 

I picked up this Veggie Tales dvd a couple of weeks ago - great value, 2 movies in 1. Our favourite is "The Toy That Saved Christmas". Available here 

This book is another recent purchase from here The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and the story is really well written and includes Bible references.
I'll hopefully be posting back regularly between now & Christmas with recipes and crafts that I'm making for Christmas.
(I realise a couple of the links are not working - I'll fix them ASAP. Blogger is being painful at the moment!)