A Real Christmas Gift!

For 4 years now I have made homemade truffles and given them out at Christmas gifts to family and friends. I think the first year I made one batch...this past Christmas I made approximately 175 truffles. Many people have asked me for the recipe because they simply can not get enough of them...so here it is! This is my basic recipe..make sure good quality chocolate such as Ghiradelli. After I roll the truffles, I dip them in chocolate and drizzle them with colored chocolate. I use Wilton's Candy Melts to dip them, which you can get at Michaels. Don't worry this isn't a replacement for your Christmas gifts from us...I still plan on making them each Christmas and I might experiment with an assortment of truffle flavors! ENJOY!





Chocolate Espresso Truffles


2 pound semisweet chocolate
1/2 pound good-quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup heavy cream or whipping cream
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened cocoa


Coarsely chop both chocolates and set aside. Heat the cream and instant coffee in a large saucepan, stirring to blend. When bubbles start to form along the edge of the pan, remove from heat. Scatter the chocolate over the cream, stirring gently until melted. Set aside for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the liqueur and vanilla. Stir gently, just until evenly blended. Scrape the chocolate into a shallow bowl. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours or up to 1 week. Using a teaspoon or a melon baller, scoop up enough chocolate to make balls 1 inch in diameter. Place the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Roll the balls in the cocoa, shaking off the excess, then transfer to wax paper until ready to serve. Best when served at room temperature.


Yield: Makes about 4 dozen truffles


NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 70(71% from fat); FAT 6g (sat 3g); PROTEIN 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 7mg; CALCIUM 7mg; SODIUM 3mg; FIBER 1g; CARBOHYDRATE 7g; IRON 1mg

Poundcake...the best of both worlds

This pound cake recipe came from a new cookbook I got for Christmas...Cooking Light's All Time Favorites. It's really simple to make...the chocolate batter has added chocolate syrup and baking soda to give the marbled effect. Dust it with powdered sugar and drizzle with chocolate syrup for a light, but decadent dessert.

Black & White Pound Cake (Cooking Light)

Cooking spray

3 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk

3/4 cup chocolate syrup

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 350°.

Coat a 10-inch tube pan with cooking spray; dust with breadcrumbs.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, and stir well with a whisk. Beat the butter in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the granulated sugar and vanilla, beating until well-blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with milk, beating at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Spoon two-thirds of batter (about 4 cups) into prepared pan. Add syrup and baking soda to remaining batter in bowl, stirring just until blended; spoon on top of batter.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Sift cocoa over top of cake.

My 2nd Annual Cookie Swap!

This year we had our second annual Cookie Swap and we received some quite impressive cookies. My only complaint was we didn't make enough! The recipes below are some appetizers and drinks I made for the cookie swap. Each year I want to make a festive, non-ordinary cookie and I kept seeing this recipe in my magazine. I thought they came out pretty well. Be careful not to overcook them...they are very chocolately and make a perfect pair with a glass of milk.

Peppermint Bonbon Cookies

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup finely crushed hard peppermint candies
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
Additional coarsely crushed hard peppermint candies, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar (optional)
2 1/2 teaspoons milk (optional)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels, melted (optional)

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan; cook over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and stir in 1/2 cup crushed peppermint and 6 Tbsp. sugar. Let cool 30 minutes.

Add eggs to melted chocolate, 1 at a time, stirring well. Stir in extracts.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in chocolate morsels. Cover and chill dough 2 hours or until firm enough to shape.

Shape dough into 1 1/2" balls; place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 12 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and cracked on top. Sprinkle coarsely crushed peppermints onto cookies; press candy lightly into cookies. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on baking sheets. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Whisk together powdered sugar and milk; drizzle over cooled cookies, if desired. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired. Sprinkle cookies again with chopped peppermint, if desired. Let cookies stand until glaze and chocolate are firm.

Another Perfect Dessert for the Holidays!

Ben also made a dessert for Thanksgiving...Chocolate Drizzled Bourbon Pecan Tart! This was delish...I guess he was trying to compete with my cheesecake! I think he won when we left with half the cheesecake and only 2 slices were left of his dessert. We finally used a wedding gift...our Pampered Chef Tart pan...it's had an awesome tool to make the crinkles of the crust. While, I'm a little late after Thanksgiving, it'll make an awesome Christmas dinner dessert.

Chocolate Drizzled Bourbon Pecan Pie (Cooking Light)

1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons bourbon
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
2/3 cup pecan halves
1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
Cooking spray
1/2 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 10 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in pecans. Roll dough into a 13-inch circle; fit into a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan coated with cooking spray. Trim excess crust using a sharp knife. Spoon sugar mixture into prepared crust. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Drizzle chocolate over tart.

This is salad....???

Who knew salad could be so fabulous. This super sweet, seasonal salad is a delicous and simple dessert that tastes exactly like caramel apples. I've made this 3 times and everyone has asked for the recipe.

Caramel Apple Salad

6 Snickers bars
6 granny smith apples
1 pkg dry butterscotch pudding mix
12 oz Cool Whip

Chop apples and Snickers and combine. Mix dry pudding with cool whip then stir into apples and snickers. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Dessert Pizza!

Ben's pizza night at the beach wasn't complete without a dessert pizza. This pizza is made with regular unseasoned pizza dough, a chocolate hazelnut spread base, and a combination of chocolate chips and nuts. Ben used M&Ms and substituted walnuts for hazelnuts...what a sweet ending!

Chocolate Hazelnut Pizza

1 pound homemade pizza dough or purchased pizza dough
2 teaspoons butter, melted
1/4 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread such as Nutella
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoons white chocolate chips
2 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Position the oven rack on the bottom of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out the dough to a 9-inch-diameter round. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. Using your fingers, make indentations all over the dough. Brush the dough with butter, then bake until the crust is crisp and pale golden brown, about 20 minutes. Immediately spread the chocolate-hazelnut spread over the pizza then sprinkle all the chocolate chips over. Bake just until the chocolate begins to melt, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the pizza. Cut into wedges and serve.

A Meal Fit for A King...and Queen!

This past weekend we bought a new grill... and what better way to break it in than with the ultimate steak...filet mignon. Ben did a supberb job with the steaks. He wrapped them in peppercorn crusted bacon, seasoned them with salt and pepper...then grilled them over charcoal. I made ultimate baked potatoes, complete with more bacon and loads of pepperjack and sharp cheddar cheese. For the greens, I made one of favorite asparagus dishes...Lemon Asparagus. It's one of my Rachel Ray favorites and dresses up any dish.

To finish off our meal, I made a special request from Ben out of my new Perfect Scoop Ice Cream recipe book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is an ice cream fanatic. It has flavors of ice cream you can make with your home ice cream maker that you can't find any where else...such as Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream.

Lemon Asparagus

1 lb asparagus, trimmed

1 lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Steam asparagus in 1 inch of water in a saute pan for 5-6 minutes. Drain water, add olive oil, juice of the lemon, salt and pepper.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

7 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

4 large egg yolks

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup Guinness Stout

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.

Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. In a seperate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted over low heat. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refridgerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions.

Christmas in May...

Since I've just started this blog I don't have too many pictures of food. I've made things a thousand times without ever taking a picture...why didn't I think of that before? Anyways...even though we're a good six months to next Christmas, I do have a picture of the Chocolate Candy Cane cake I made. It was so pretty in my new cake stand at the time. While you may have a hard time finding candy canes now, the round peppermints will work just as well. This recipe is originally from the Kraft Food and Family magazine (which is free and comes quarterly). I've adapted it a little, so here's my recipe. Enjoy!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cake

1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jello Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
4 eggs
1 container (8 oz.) Sour Cream
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
4 squares Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, chopped
18 small candy canes, coarsely crushed (about 1 cup), divided
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 cans white frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil and water in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, stopping frequently to scrape side of bowl. Beat on medium speed 2 min. or until well blended. Stir in chopped chocolate and peppermint extract. Spoon evenly into prepared pans.

Bake 40 to 45 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool 10 min. Loosen cakes from sides of pans with metal spatula or knife. Invert cakes onto wire racks; carefully remove pans. Cool completely.

Place one of the cake layers on serving plate; spread evenly with 1 cup of the frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and side of cake with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes just before serving.