Mini Christmas Puddings

The festive season is upon us. And with the festive season comes a trip to visit Chris' family in New Zealand and a few days to woo the extended family with my charm and personality. I try to increase my chances of wooing with food.

At the end of the day it always seems to be the simplest things that get the rave reviews. The easy peasy recipes that have people ooh-ing and ah-ing. You smile and wave them off hoping they don't ask you too many details about your three-ingredient treat. You smile hoping you can distract them with a 'oh, nothing fancy' or a 'family secret recipe' comment. But, when you're dealing with someone who has a gluten intolerance and they're asking you because they want to know if your darling puddings will make them sick, you sadly must give it all up and admit to the store-bought pudding that is the centre of the treat you brought to the family Christmas.

Ingredients

1x store-bought Christmas pudding (600-750g)

200g melting chocolate (dark or milk, depending on your taste)

2 tbsp brandy (plus an extra dash or two because it's Christmas)

100g white melting chocolate

6 green and 6 red gummy lollies

Method

In a large bowl, use a fork to crumble the store-bought pudding. In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate then stir through the brandy until combined. Add the chocolate mixture to the pudding and mix well. Cover and put mixture into fridge for 30 minutes to firm slightly. Chop gummy lollies into small pieces. Remove pudding mixture from fridge and roll into bite-size balls.

Melt white chocolate and pour into to a zip-lock bag. Cut the corner from the bag and pipe the chocolate onto the balls to imitate custard. While still soft, place one red and two green pieces of lolly on top of each ball to imitate holly. Place in fridge to set.

Makes 20 mini puddings.

I haven't found a replacement for the gummy lollies so to make these vegetarian I simply pick the lollies off before I eat them. Alternatively, trying small pieces of strawberry and kiwi fruit in the place of the lollies could work but I'm yet to try it. That's the great thing about Christmas...there's always next year.