Bounty-like Coconut Sweets

Now here's a discovery! Before the last Christmas I decided to bake something for my family and friends. Of course, there were the gingerbreads, but I decided to make something more interesting! So I came up with this recipe the picture of which made me sure of my sweet presents! ;)

For around 50 coconut sweets, we'll need:
50g butter, unsalted
85g sugar
200g double cream
200g coconut shavings

For the glaze:
200g dark or white chocolate (I used dark, containing ~60% cocoa)
25g butter

1. In a pot, mix the butter, sugar and double cream. Heat it until boiling and boil it for 5 min.
2. Put in the cocoa shavings and mix everything well.
3. Poor the mass onto baking paper and wait until it cools down. Cut the mass into squares (as square, as possible, but if you don't get good squares, don't worry - the more various the sweets will be the better. But the thing is to make all the pieces quite hard so that it is easy for you to use them later).
4. On a low heat, melt the butter and chocolate (melt the chocolate separately - in a bowl above another bowl filled with boiling water... In this way your chocolate won't burn).
5. With your fingers or, if the sweets are hard enough - with a wooden pin, take the white sweets and put them into the mixture of chocolate and butter. Let them roll around! :D Do it one sweet at a time.
6. Put the sweets onto the baking paper and leave them to get cool. When they get cool, put them into the fridge to get even colder - they'll get even tastier!

Bon appetit! :)

Source: a book Gardžios dovanos (Tasty gifts) of the magazine Mano namai (My Home), Lithuania.

Coffee Ricotta Creams

This is the tastiest dessert I've ever made! :) Just imagine the blend of brandy, coffee, smooth milk products and chocolate... This is seriously HEAVENLY! Fat, however, so I only have some of it every day... well, every morning, actually, so that it doesn't go to the belly so fast ;)

For four really small or two normal glasses, we need:

4 tbsp raisins (optional)

3 tbsp brandy or rum (I used brandy)

6 tbsp strong black coffee (not the grains, but coffee:)

50g/2oz caster sugar

250g ricotta

142ml double cream

50g/2oz dark chocolate, grated

icing sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Mix together the raisins, rum/brandy, coffee and caster sugar. Stir well. If you use raisins, leave the mix for at least an hour.

2. Tip the ricotta into a bowl and beat lightly to soften. Gradually beat in the raisins, brandy/rum, coffee and caster sugar mixture. Whip the cream into soft peaks (I used a blender for that) and fold into the ricotta, adding half the grated chocolate.

3. Spoon the mass into a few glasses and sprinkle over the remaining grated chocolate. Chill until you are ready to serve (from an hour to a whole night). If you want, dust lightly with icing sugar before serving.

Remember that happy people and the people who enjoy a dessert wholeheartedly remain slimmer than the sad ones and the ones that eat themselves for every calory! Bon appetit! ;)

Per all (divide into the number of servings you choose) - 1788 kcal, protein 32g, carbohydrate 156g, fat 112g, saturated fat 68g, fibre 4g, added sugar 88g, salt 0.92g.

Source: GoodFood 101: Cheap eats, BBC Books.