‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

-CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE-

One of my favourite Christmas poems – I think we can all remember it being read to us or hearing it as a child. It would invoke the most enchanting images and transport me to a world that I so desperately wanted to belong to where magic is real.

I always try to conjure up a little Christmas magic in my home when the most wonderful time of the year rolls round.

These adorable mice add their own ambrosial charm! I hesitate to refer to this as a ‘recipe’. It’s so easy and it might be a tiny bit dishonest to describe these as ‘homemade’. You could probably get away with calling them ‘home-cough-made’ truffles.

RECIPE: Marzipan Mice Truffles

GOES GREAT WITH: Serve these as you would truffles: maybe after a meal with some tea or coffee.

NOTES: You want something egg-shaped to wrap the marzipan around, and it will also determine the size of your mouse. Mini-chocolate eggs work well. You could also consider using a chocolate covered Brazil nut. Or raid your Christmas chocolate tin and see what will work. If you can’t find anything oval, use a round chocolate instead: all you’ll have to do is use more marzipan to create the body shape… More marzipan is never a bad thing in my book!

The white mice in the picture were made using marzipan, but for the brown mice – I used chocolate fondant. If you’re a fondant fan, then that’s the way to go.

You’ll need a couple of tools: a rolling pin and a toothpick.

MAKES: 1

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 MINI CHOCOLATE EGG or alternative (see notes above)
• 20g MARZIPAN
• 5g PINK FONDANT
• A little WATER

METHOD:

1. Slice a few grams off your MARZIPAN and leave aside. This will be used to make ears later. Roll out the rest until it is large enough to wrap around your CHOCOLATE EGG.
2. Wrap the marzipan around the chocolate egg, using your fingers to join the seams. The back (the mouse’s bottom) needs to be smooth and round. The front will need to be tapered into a cone shape.
3. Take the remaining marzipan and roll into two balls. Take the PINK FONDANT and roll two more balls that are half the size of the marzipan ones. Press the marzipan balls down gently with your thumb; put the pink fondant ball in the centre of the imprint and then press down again. Using your fingers, curve into a tear-shape and wrap the bottom around the toothpick. Use a little WATER to stick the ears on, and smooth out the joins.
4. With the remaining pink fondant, roll out into a long sausage-shape for the tail – make one end pointed. Snip of a tiny piece and roll into a ball for the nose. In the same way that you attached the ears, use some water to stick on the nose and tail. Finally, use the toothpick to prick to holes for eyes and enjoy!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!