October 19, 2012 – 11:06 am
They would be chocolate…
and Christmas (sorry I KNOW it’s still October!)
You know I make chocolates and sell them online as well as sew don’t you? Well I’ve opened the trufflepiglet Christmas order book this week because last year was horrendous and whilst I got everything done for the orders I had, the Christmas gift baskets and the fair I did in December, it was a nightmare. The chocolates needed to go out as late as possible for freshness and I didn’t want to make too much of certain flavours as they would just end up in the bin, but the orders kept coming in (a great problem to have don’t get me wrong!) but I was down to the last collection and packaging up stuff in my lunch break at work just to get it all done. And this year I have wedding favours to be collected on Christmas Eve too to top it off.
So this year I am limiting my orders to 50 (of any size) for Christmas delivery on a first come first served basis. If you want trufflepiglet chocolates for Christmas, please don’t leave it late. And don’t forget to put in the order comments that it is for Christmas or you will end up getting them a lot earlier than planned!
Within the next fortnight the Amaretto and Christmas pudding chocolates and a bigger box will be out too!
August 14, 2011 – 4:55 pm
I’ve been playing around with some Sculpey recently, and decided to make almost all my chocolates in miniature form and make a necklace for craft fairs. It’s not the most excellent polymer clay work you will have ever seen but I think it fits the bill 🙂
I went to the Fabric Guild and it was pretty awesome. I got loads of fat quarters at 99p each, and though they didn’t have Alexander Henry or Amy Butler fabrics, they had pretty much all of Makower’s ranges and lots of other stuff, including small prints and plains that would be damn useful. I was going to take a picture on my phone but it was quite dark inside the warehouse and I didn’t want to upset anyone as I wasn’t handed my membership card ’til the end.
Before I went this morning though, I baked some brownies. These are so good (if I do say so myself) so I thought I’d share my recipe. It’s no nuts, because we prefer them that way but this is good news for you out there with nut allergies…
INGREDIENTS
- 150g butter (I use 1/3 Kerrygold Honey Butter, but this is optional)
- 200g dark chocolate
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 175g caster sugar
- 55g plain flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC, 350º F, Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a baking tin or do what I do and use a silicone one so you don’t need to faff with this.
- Melt the butter with 55g of the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
- Beat the eggs with the sugar in another bowl, then sift in the flour, and baking powder. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture, and beat together until well blended.
- Chop the remaining 145g chocolate into rough chunks and stir into the brownie mixture. Spoon and spread the mix in the tin.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, the cake should begin to shrink slightly from the sides of the tin.
February 28, 2011 – 1:18 pm
Trufflepiglet is now ready to take orders! Boxed chocoaltes and other goods will come later and gradually within the next two weeks as I am waiting for photographs and packaghing, but loose chocolates can now be ordered! I have a discount code for you until the end of March that allows you 15% off all orders of £5 and above: BLOGFAN
www.trufflepiglet.com
January 20, 2011 – 5:06 pm
I’m supposed to be working but all these ideas for improving my chocolates presentation and entering the chocolate box competition at the Squires Kitchen Exhibition are occupying me. Where I have previously used pre-made decoarations such as sugar diamonds and sprinkles, these are not allowed to be used and so I’m looking at what I can do instead, including making my own transfer sheets. Anyone know a cheap supplier of cocoa butter?!
P.S. I promise to blog some resin tomorrow. Honest.
January 8, 2011 – 5:59 pm
I’ve made some more chocolates today- sorry this is seemingly turning into a food blog!
Non-alcoholic Cherry Brandy Swirls, blimming sugar diamonds have clouded up though, maybe from being in the fridge briefly?
Jelly cakes- these are my new favourites! Milk chocolate cups with white chocolate tops and strawberry jelly inside!
And some more Turkish Delight, this time covered in white chocolate!
January 1, 2011 – 11:26 am
I promise I will blog more this year! Now that Christmas is over, I can concentrate on building up my new chocolate business. I’m not sure how much jewellery I will be doing for a while because I feel like I need a bit of a rest from it. If I tend to blog more chocolate-y things, I will have a new blog set up and give you the link here in case you’re interested.
I thought I’d share a picture… For Christmas presents for family, me and the OH made some gift baskets with jams, chutneys, baked goods, alcohol infusions, nuts, dry cured meat, chocolates…..
December 10, 2010 – 10:58 am
Sorry I have been away so long. This time of year I get very busy, and as a result a lot of my shop has been marked made to order. However I have this morning restocked the site (and also Etsy and Folksy where applicable) and I now have the following available for immediate delivery (there are other immediate delivery items on the site, so feel free to have a click through!):
In other news, I am going on my food safety course on Tuesday, taking me a step closer to opening my chocolate business! The web designer thinks we will be live by 15th January, but I reckon it will be the end of Jan by the time I have had my kitchen assessment, etc. Here’s what I was up to last night…
(Bailey truffle centres- my own recipe 😉 )
(Oozy praline centres)
(Dark chocolate truffle centres- everyone’s favourites!)
November 2, 2010 – 12:19 pm
Some of you will know that I am working on setting up a chocolate business as I plan to0 give up the craft fair side of PennyDog in the New Year and instead tour with my new venture! At the minute I am working on my recipes (official testers for the new recipes wanted for the website BTW if you are interested in free chocs!) and I am waiting for my assessment date for my food safety certificate and having a new website built so it won’t be happening this side of Christmas unfortunately.
Anyway, the fun part! I have this milk chocolate “sewing box” with white chocolate sewing paraphenalia inside up for grabs! If you would like it, all you have to do is leave a comment and/or go on Twitter and tweet the following, “I want to win the choccy giveaway on @pennydog’s blog! https://pennydog.wordpress.com”. UK only entries please to ensure it gets to the winner in the best condition.
The winner will be drawn on 8th November- good luck!
November 1, 2010 – 12:44 pm
I’m struggling to blog at the minute as I have a shedload of wholesale orders I am working on, but I have found a little bit of time to finish some ideas and list them online. I have Polo mint earrings too, but the posts haven’t set yet, so they will be online later in the week… Also planned at some point are “peppermint” flavours to go with the “spearmint” ones.
PennyDog Patchwork (and illustration, recipes, other crafts...) 
