ALMOND JOY

It feels goood to cross off things on lists. Even if this is the time to be focused on just one, very important, thing - like finishing off my thesis - concentrating on it means sometimes I have to occupy my hands with something else. So I make lists of things to cook, things to knit, things I will do when this is over - life happens in November, we say.



I never got around to making homemade yoghurt like I said I would. It's not that I didn't try - only the yoghurt maker I had was very old and the bottom melted away into the heating pad. Then the kitchen smelled like burnt plastic, and the yoghurts smelled like they would taste of burnt plastic. So we'll try again another time, maybe without a yoghurt maker, but a lot more patience.

What I did make, though, was Almond Joy. And there was a lot of joy in eating them too. One after lunch, one after dinner, one because I felt like it and a last one because I deserved it. There was joy in giving them away to my friends. And there was joy in knowing I will make them again soon. Oh, and having the toasted almonds that weren't used up around in the cupboard too.

Almond Joy
(adapted from Joy the Baker)

400g unsweetened coconut
1 tin (200g) condensed milk
whole, unpeeled, almonds
300g dark chocolate (I used 70% chocolate)*

Mix the coconut with the condensed milk. The mixture will seem dry, but if you mix it all in well, it will soak up enough condensed milk to make the little rolls. Keep it in the fridge for 30 minutes, so it will be easier to work with.

Toast the almonds in the oven, making sure you don't let them burn. Between 5 and 10 minutes at 180ºC should be enough. Make sure to keep an eye on them! Let the almonds cool off before using them.

Put the chocolate in a pan, over another pan of boiling water (bain marie) until it melts. Meanwhile, roll the coconut mixture into little logs and press the roasted almonds on top of them. Using a fork, hold them over the chocolate pan, and spoon some chocolate onto the almonds so they won't fall off when you dip the coconut in the chocolate. Make sure they are well coated, and scrape off any excess chocolate.

Lay them out on a nonstick baking sheet and put the chocolate-coated almond joys in the fridge until the chocolate is hard. Keep them in the fridge if the weather is hot, hot, hot!