chocolate - grace grits and gardening

Spicy Dark Chocolate Pistachio Truffles

December 14, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

All my childhood hours spent perfecting mud-pies and Easy Bake Oven cakes successfully culminated yesterday during a wonderful afternoon spent making spicy dark chocolate truffles.

No kidding.

This recipe is easy and fun, although a bit messy, much like mud-pie-making.

I love the salty-sweet combination of pistachios and dark chocolate. Add a bit of cayenne and wow! These candies will be a big hit at your holiday party. Trust me.

Ingredients – (makes 30-36 pieces)

12 oz. dark chocolate

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 tsp. cayenne

3/4 cup pistachios

Method

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Let cool to near room temperature.

Use a high quality chocolate. I used a Whole Foods organic brand 67% cacao…

Whip up cream cheese to make it extra fluffy.

Add chocolate and cayenne to cream cheese and mix until smooth. The truffle batter will be thick thick thick. Like mud. Only much yummier.

Spread into containers and place in refrigerator for an hour to set. (I doubled the recipe and made one batch with cayenne and one batch without…)

Chop the pistachios. An easy way to do this is using a plastic baggy and rolling pin.

Scoop batter with a spoon, shape into balls and roll in pistachios. So delicious and festive!

spicy dark chocolate pistachio truffles - so easy to make!

For my non-spicy recipe, I rolled the balls in a combination of powdered sugar and cocoa.

dark chocolate truffle recipe - you won't believe how simple!

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Chocolat

Chocolate Covered Cherry Christmas Mice

December 6, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

I’ve been making these chocolate covered cherry Christmas mice several years now. They are fun to make and always a big hit at every holiday gathering.

Ingredients (makes 18-24)

8 oz Melting Chocolate (I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet)
1 medium jar Maraschino Cherries with stems
Mini Chocolate Chips
Hershey’s Kisses
Wax Paper
Red Gel Icing

Method

Melt chocolate in microwave or in double boiler.

Dip cherry in melted chocolate and press against the bottom of a Hershey’s kiss. The melted hot chocolate will stick to the kiss.

Place on wax paper. While still hot, add two mini chocolate chips on the seam between the kiss and cherry, pressing the chips into the melted chocolate. These are the mice ears.

Let dry on wax paper. (Yes, I used parchment paper coated in Pam because I was out of wax paper…)

Add a tiny dab of red gel icing to the tip of the kiss for the mouse nose.

You can trim the “tails”. Or not.

Store in an airtight container or in the refrigerator.

Aren’t they adorable?!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

…”Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” – Twas the Night Before Christmas

Jack’s Favorite Chocolate Malted Chip Cookies!

February 12, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

North Texas is currently under all sorts of winter weather advisories including snow and sleet. In dramatic times like these, when our drafty house is c-o-l-d, I bake. Most people are at the Fiesta stocking up on Doritos and Miller Lite, but I prefer to take my chances with my sparsely stocked cupboard.

I should be at Fiesta. As of this morning we are down to our last 2 rolls of toilet paper and therefore, in official rationing mode. Risky in life-threatening weather, I realize.

Ingredients:

(this recipe makes about 3 dozen – I usually half it)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cups golden brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated Sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1&1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1&1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 (heaping) cup malted milk powder

1 bag (12 ounces) milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.
Cream butter. Then add both sugars and cream until fluffy. Add eggs and beat slightly, then add vanilla and beat until combined. Add malted milk powder and beat until combined.
Mix together flour, baking soda and salt. (Supposedly we should be sifting these ingredients together, but I don’t sift. They turn out just fine. If they were any better, I might accidentally eat my hand along with the cookies.) Add this dry mixture to the butter mixture, beating gently until just combined.
Add chocolate chips and stir in gently.
Drop by teaspoonfuls and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. These cookies tend to spread so leave plenty of room in between them on the cookie sheet.

After they cool you can use two cookies to make an ice cream sandwich with a scoop of your favorite ice cream in between. Add sprinkles to the sides of the ice cream.

Or, just scarf them down with milk. That’s what I prefer.

Neighbor Jack Lowery declared these “the most delicious cookies I’ve ever eaten.” And Jack tells it like it is.