For St. Patrick’s Day, I had what I thought was this great idea — a Jell-O poke cake with white cake mix and green gelatin. It was perfect! Sort of. And by sort of, I mean if you like the flavor of Carmex or maybe the flavor of what a newly cleaned bathroom would taste [...]
Cookie Madness
Tag Archive: Chocolate
The following recipes from Pinterest have been repinned over 3,000 times combined and have a total of over 300 likes.
Parisian chocolate truffles. Need I say more? These treasures come from Paris’ La Cure Gourmande shop. With shops scattered through Europe, La Cure Gourmande confections can’t be purchased in the States, so you’ll have to pick them up in person or hope that you’re the lucky recipient of a gift.
From the instant you see the old-fashioned truffle box you’ll get excited. As you pull off the decorative golden ribbon and lift the box lid, you’ll be greeted by the sweetest, delicate scent of French chocolate. And you’ll notice a little flavor booklet provided in the box so you can take delight in identifying the marriage of flavors you’re about to consume.
Once you’ve come this far, you’re ready to dive into the sampling. I sampled an assortment box of 16, all different flavors. The box included rich milk and dark chocolates, flavored with subtle traces of almond, hazelnut, cherry, raspberry, coffee and sesame, to name a few. From the pleasant aroma as you remove each truffle to the creaminess of the first bite as your mouth gets coated in chocolate, your taste buds absorb every flavor.
Though the sugary taste isn’t overly powerful, the explosion of flavors is rich. So it’s best to eat just one or a couple at a time. These aren’t the type of candies you will want to mindlessly just pop in your mouth at the movies. Like most truffles, to truly enjoy them, you must appreciate each one and each flavor that makes it up.
It’s been a while since I posted an actual cookie, so here’s one I made this morning for Fuzz, who I might add, is currently addicted to an on-line game called Wolf Quest. If your kids or nieces and nephews like games, tell them to check it out — especially if they like wolves. But [...]
Cookie Madness
I was in the mood for brownies, but Fuzz wanted chocolate muffins. This was our compromise — very chocolaty muffins, sweet enough for dessert, but not so sweet they’d be confused with cupcakes and rich enough not to need icing. In other words, they’re true muffins and not cupcakes. Just for fun, I used coconut [...]
Cookie Madness
Chocolate covered strawberries are all the rage right now in Austin, so in honor of that (and Valentine’s Day), I decided to make a bar cookie with a chocolate covered strawberry theme. Adapted from a cherry variation called “Chewy Cherry Bars”, this version uses good quality strawberry preserves and dark chocolate chips. Like the cherry [...]
Cookie Madness
Looking for Valentine’s Day ideas, how about chocolate in the form of a gigantic cookie? Like the other Levain copy cats, these are big, fat, and have fudgy soft centers. The ones I tried in New York were very dark and had peanut butter chips and I’ve found this recipe to be very similar — [...]
Cookie Madness
White Chocolate Crème Brûlée
2 ounces white chocolate, chopped
3 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon Madagascar Bourbon vanilla
Whisk together egg yolks and 2 tablespoons sugar; set aside. In a saucepan, combine cream, chocolate and 2 tablespoons sugar. Heat over medium-low heat until smooth, stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolk mixture; return all to the pan, stirring constantly.
Pour into two ramekins (small bowls made for creme brulee). Place in a baking pan. Add 1 in. of boiling water to pan. Bake, uncovered, at 325° 60 minutes or until center is set. Cool. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
If using a creme brulee torch, sprinkle with remaining sugar. Heat sugar with the torch until caramelized. Serve immediately.
It’s safe to say coconut oil is my new favorite baking product. It won’t replace the flavor of butter, but I love how coconut oil makes pie crusts flakey, gives cookies crispy edges, and adds a dense, soft, moist quality to quick breads. And wouldn’t it be nice if its purported health benefits were true? [...]
Cookie Madness
My grandmother didn’t enjoy baking, but every year she made the best angel food cake. Covered with her famous seven minute icing, she’d serve it with peppermint ice cream for the ultimate combination of temperatures and textures. The leftovers were even better, because after a day or two the icing would crust over and flake [...]
Cookie Madness