Chocolate Hazelnut Goodies!

 
I'm in a Nutella kind of mood today. Doesn't everyone just love this stuff, creamy, chocolaty and delicious! I try not to feed it to my kids on toast very often. Not that its not amazing and just as good a source of protein as peanut butter, but I don't want them to think of sweet chocolatey yumminess as an everyday kind of food. I want it to be a treat. So I had an amazing idea. TRUFFLES. I love truffles. They are an amazing dessert. Do you want a list why I love truffles? I thought so.

Truffles are:
1. Delicious
2. A lovely small pre portioned amount
3. Rich enough that you don't feel the need to eat twenty
4. Super special, bring anyone truffles and they feel happy and special
5. Really easy to execute. These things do not take baking skills, or decorating skills to do a great job on. (they do take high quality ingredients though)

So here is my super simple, delicious every time and totally creative truffle recipe:

1 cup dark chocolate semisweet chips
1 cup heavy cream

Buy the best quality you can, heat the cream over medium on the stove until it is good and hot, (simmering not boiling) take it off the heat. Stir in Chocolate. Stir some more till its melty and amazing. Add the secret ingredients:

1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp vanilla extract

Put in a bowl and chill in refrigerator. once totally cold and hard, pull it out, use a spoon and your hands to make small balls. If you do this nice and quick and then roll in your choice of toppings.

If you want more perfect balls, freeze them, then take them out and roll around in your hands for a second to make more round before rolling in a topping.

Photo Credit: http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Truffles/

Toppings:

Classic: Cocoa powder (unsweetened) dump in a bowl (feeling courages add a tablespoon of red chile powder for truffles with a kick) roll truffles in powder, shake off excess and place on pretty plate. Roll. Shake. Plate.

Mocha: take your instant coffee granules and blend in the food processor until nice and fine. Roll. Shake. Plate.

Lavender: (these taste amazing) pick up some organic lavender in the salad section of your grocery, process with equal parts lavender and superfine sugar. Roll. Shake. Plate.

Hard Chocolate (These are a little more skilled to make): Freeze your balls, Melt some high quality chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, stir until just melted, remove from heat but leave on top of water, Dip your frozen truffles into the melted chocolate, place on a cooling rack where the excess can drain off or onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. (its easiest to dip truffles into plenty of chocolate so use more than you need)

Nuts: Use any kind of nut you like, Pistachio, walnut, pecan, almond, piñon, etc. Chop finely or food proceess to your liking, they are prettier if they are really fine, but i like the crunch you get with a slightly bigger nut. Roll. Shake. Plate.

Powdered Sugar: Roll. Shake. Plate.

Today I am making Nutella Truffles, and wouldn't you know it, pinterest has done this before. Nutella Sea Salt Truffles. 

Don't you just want to make/eat those? I did. and they were amazing. I am going to take some to my gluten free sister this afternoon. (another amazing thing about truffles, naturally gluten free) and make her feel special for no reason and with unbelievably little effort.

These also make an amazing Christmas present: Some packaging ideas from, you guessed it, Pinterest.

 

        

No Bake Deliciousness

Do you ever have one of those cravings? The I have to have something sweet and there is nothing in the house kind of craving? I get those a lot, yesterday I ran out of milk, which meant I only got one cup of my amazing coffee. I normally drink two or three, yes I know how addicted I am.  I really wanted more but not badly enough to drag my five children to the grocery store. I will not go to the grocery store with the kids unless I have a long list, there is not one thing I ever need badly enough for that hassle.

So instead I channeled my coffee craving into a general sweets craving. I didn't want to spend time baking, and there was definitely not any pre made baked yumminess in the house. So naturally I went to Pinterest and decided to do a search for "no bake". I found a ton of cheesecake recipes that didn't really work with my list of ingredients in the house. I was looking for something with a little more ease and only pantry ingredients.

So i found these Oatgasm: No Bake Pumpkin Oatmeal Bites and these looked really good, but I didn't want to wait for them to chill before eating. So I will be making and raving about these in the future I am sure, But I decided on this peanut butter variation of my mom's Chocolate Haystacks.

This is my mom's chocolate haystack recipe, she always has a batch in the freezer (where my mom keeps all her baked goods) during the holiday season.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• Dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

     melted on the stovetop
stir in

• 3 cups quick oats
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut

   drop teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and chill until firm

Eat the yummy amazingness. My husbands mom has a similar recipe that she calls "moose poop."  Yeah I really don't get that.

Anyway I don't particularly like peanut butter, I eat it maybe once a year, and I tend to abhor the peanut butter ruining delicious chocolate foods. But for some reason unbeknown to me I decided to try this Peanut Butter Oat Ball Recipe I of course changed it to fit my needs. I left out the chia seeds (because I didn't have any) and I doubled the chocolate chips and omitted the honey, figuring it would hold together the same and be a little more chocolatey. I also started eating them before chilling. Anyway I ate one and it was pretty good considering it had peanut butter in it, but then I remembered that I don't really like peanut butter and so i scooped out the rest of them, chilled for fifteen minutes in the freezer and gave them to the kids after dinner.

They were a huge hit, the kids loved getting dessert (which is not a regular after dinner event in our house) and they don't have the peanut butter hang up I have.

" I found it on Pinterest"

So every morning I get up before the crack of dawn (around 5am) with my husband so we can have coffee before he leaves for work at 5:30. This is often the best part of my day, I am not a morning person, I hate getting out of bed, but its quiet and he makes me coffee and we get a few minutes alone together.

So the coffee thing has definitely become a ritual, he puts the Moka Pot on the stove and when its ready adds about an ounce of chocolate syrup and then fills my cup with milk and brings it to me.  This is essentially a homemade Mocha Latte. If you don't have a Moka Pot and love espresso I strongly suggest you get one, it is the easiest, cheapest way to make espresso at home.  We then watch the news and talk about the upcoming day or week for a few minutes. I have noticed that on the days I am too tired to get up (like when I was up all night with the baby) I am significantly grumpier.

Anyway today we ran out of chocolate syrup! He made coffee with sugar in it, and it was fine but all day I was wishing I had the chocolate. We are right in the middle of paydays and I could just run to Costco for a new jar of chocolate but this would inevitably wreak havoc on my budget. And I am trying so hard to stick to a budget.

So I decided to try out one of the bazillion recipes for chocolate syrup that I found on pinterest.
This is the recipe I picked Decadent Chocolate Syrup and I totally picked it because she called it decadent. I think all the recipes are pretty much the same; it's simple syrup with a boatload of cocoa powder in it. I added a good teaspoon of instant coffee just for good measure and threw the pot on the stove.

Doesn't that look delicious? I thought so too, and when i licked the spoon (and burned my tongue) it was totally worth it.  This recipe was totally easy, but I would recommend making it during nap time because when I stepped away for two minutes to change a diaper it totally boiled over. It didn't burn though and it wiped off the stove pretty easily so no harm done. 

I am so looking forward to having my normal coffee tomorrow morning, and I am sure it will be totally delicious. 

Hot Cocoa Mix- Chai Spice

Turns out that on a weeknight, between work and dinner there is really only time for a short project. Sophia and I made the Chai Spice Cocoa mix and it was fantastic. Since you already have directions and a recipe on my previous mix I will just add pics. If you would like to try it but don't want to make it order a 16oz jar from my Etsy store.

These pictures show, the chopped bittersweet chocolate, the sugar cocoa powder and chai powder mix, and pouring the total mix into the jar. We need to make up a more festive label though. That will be tonight project. I think this is going to make a delicious gift for the people on the list, can't wait to try the almond cocoa mix and the spicy mexican cocoa mix. I have a feeling these are going to be yummy.

Jars of Hot Cocoa Mix

Today I am thinking of making jars of hot cocoa mix with my daughter for her to give as gifts to her teacher, and the secretary at my work, and maybe other people who deserve to be remembered with something thoughtful. Our budget is Super tight this year so over the next few weeks I am going to come up with, and execute ideas that make lovely presents for everyone on my list for as little money as possible. Since presents that require less money, tend to take more time to make Sophia and Desi and I are going to be working on small projects after school and before dinner and on bigger projects on Saturday afternoons.



First up is my idea for acquaintances who need more than just a card. I love to bake, and my children love to get messy in the kitchen so I am keeping this part kitchen themed. I can picture beautiful little jars of hot cocoa mix with directions and pretty handmade labels and lots of festive ribbon. Tonight we are going to try out three recipes: Almond Dark Chocolate Cocoa, Chai Tea Milk Chocolate Cocoa, and Spicy Mexican Cocoa. I figure that having some different flavors will take some of the kitschy out of this gift and make it memorable. When searching for hot cocoa recipes on the internet i found a bunch of dried milk and cocoa powder and sugar or powdered sugar recipes. To me that sounds like the same stuff you get in a box at the store. So I am going to make hot cocoa mix with chocolate to be added to hot milk.
Here is my basic recipe:

1/4 pound of Bittersweet baking Chocolate (grated)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (milk or dark your choice)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup white sugar

for the Chai tea recipe I am going to add 1/8 cup of Chai Tea powder (I found this at my local east Indian market) and mix that with the sugar
for the almond I am going to add 1/2 cup of Dried Almond Milk (I found this at the health food store)
for the Spicy Mexican Recipe I am going to add 2 Tablespoons of Cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper

I wanted to layer these so they would look pretty in a jar, but I am thinking a nice mix will do better for preparing the hot cocoa. The directions will simply be to stir 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa mix into a glass of steaming hot milk. To heat milk can be done on the stove top on low heat so it doesn't scald or in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.

My daughter and I are going to make some of these up tonight and tomorrow I will post pics and reactions. If anyone wants to try out some of my recipes or suggest other delicious ideas I would love your comments.