Last Saturday night I gained brownie points with my nine year old niece as she packed her bag and headed across to my place for a sleepover.

This is no everyday nine year old niece though.

This one wanted to cook the entire evening so after writing up our shopping lists, and buying all of our ingredients, we hit the kitchen and made:

Home made fettuccine with a carbonara sauce

Chocolate truffles

Ms M went through a load of cookbooks looking up "Chocolate" in the index, then flicking through until she found exactly what she wanted. Chocolate Truffles won the day.

Chocolate Truffles

Cookbook:

Faking It

Author:

Valli Little

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Makes 30

300ml thickened cream

1 tbsp instant coffee granules

450g dark chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream or Brandy (we omitted this for obvious reasons)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine cream and coffee in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring, until coffee dissolves. Decrease heat to low and add the chocolate, stirring for 5-6 minutes until the chocolate melts. Set aside for 5 mins to col, then stir in the Baileys or brandy and vanilla. Pour into a shallow bowl, allow to cool, then chill for 4 hours until set to a fudge-like consistency.

Scoop out teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll into balls wearing gloves. Place on baking paper-lined tray in the fridge as you go - you should have enough mixture for 30 truffles.

Soft the cocoa onto a large sheet of baking paper. Roll the truffles in the cocoa to coat, then store the truffles in an airtight container or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Bring to room temperature before serving, then dust with a little extra cocoa if needed.

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And look how they turned out. I was very impressed as she made these almost all on her own.