Whether you want an animal chocolate bar or lollipops, we have what you need. The Giant Chocolate Sheep is a particular stand-out, with its adorable fluffy coat made of white chocolate and its face and feet made of milk chocolate for a little variety when you bite into it. For something a little more magical (and Welsh!), Del the Dragon Milk Chocolate Dragons are like biting into a fantasy! The cute box design is adorable enough, and inside, you’ll find milk chocolate plaques, which are perfect for your favourite Welsh relative or friend. Yes – these are perfect for children, but they also make great gifts for the ones in your life that are children at heart. A coincidence, I suggest. "Coincidence?" says Sister Genevieve with a wry smile. "I would call it fate or my destiny or God’s will." Once your cupcakes have cooled, grab your piping bag filled with buttercream and pipe it onto your cupcake.

As both grew I had to choose one and so we got Valentina, and so now I’m in the soapery most of the time." Valentina, a former law student, first came to help the nuns in 2017 for two months before returning to stay in 2018. "Milk chocolate with nuts," she says of her chocolate weak spot, her passion as tangible as her mentor’s. You can substitute whole milk yogurt for the sour cream if desired, I do it all the time and can’t really tell the difference.When I first wrote this post in 2016 we were all vegetarian and two of us were about to go vegan. Four of us have now switched to veganism so to ensure our crispy cakes are still on the menu I adapt this recipe just a teeny bit. Then the chocolate sheep are produced, as well as chocolate love hearts, butterflies and frogs. "Making soap was my first love but there was a time I was shuttling between the two, soap and chocolate" says Sister Genevieve. Woolliam’s creamy white fleece isn’t as soft as it looks. First sketched, painted and then hand-carved by our talented chocolate sculptress, the original Woolliam is a sweet little sheep who is exclusive to us. Moulded in luscious creamy white chocolate, with milk chocolate detailing, he’s almost too adorable to eat!

It’s okay if you don’t have a perfect oval shape or the correct size. You can modify it with a small knife, like I did! With the left over fondant, use an even smaller oval shape to cut out the ears. If you need to, gather the access fondant into a ball and roll it out again to get another thin layer. You must enable JavaScript to play content 9. Unofficial KitKats were made from dark chocolate and Ryvita in WWII There are many great occasions to gift Welsh chocolate. Chocolate is something to be shared, making it the perfect gift many times throughout the year. Send the Welsh Sayings chocolate bar to a friend, and they are sure to love the Welsh touch alongside the delicious chocolatey taste.

5. Chocolate used to be associated with rebellion

The RTÉ Guide's Donal O'Donoghue visits Kylemore Abbey where the 'Chocolate Nun’, Sister Genevieve, and her team are busy making fine chocolate and luxury soap. Sister Genevieve is originally from the town of Richmond in Queensland, Australia where her father ran a sheep station. Following five years in Tangier, where she worked in the British consulate, she entered religious life in 1980. "My monastery closed in Australia but I had previously studied liturgy in Carlow and so I eventually came to Kylemore in 2002," she says. "Later, I found out that it was the grandfather of a good friend of mine from Tangier, Muriel Mitchell Henry, who built Kylemore Abbey." Solid chocolate was finally invented in 1847. Once the big brands began to industrialise, chocolates with fondant centres became hugely popular. They were sold in handmade boxes decorated with silk, tassels and lace, with names like Cadbury’s The Fancy Box. By the 1930s, these ornate confections were still popular – and not at all cheap. One box from Rowntree's was priced at 100 shillings, when the rent for a slum dwelling at the time was 10 shillings a week. 7. Some of our most popular chocolate bars are almost 100 years old