Chocolate Truffles:
Carolann Wedlund
Ingredients
- Ganache, recipe follows, refrigerated until firm
- Coatings: cocoa powder, caramelized hazelnuts, crunchy pearls, rainbow sprinkles, crushed toasted almonds, Toasted Shredded Coconut
Directions
Remove the chilled ganache from the refrigerator. Scoop out little amounts onto a parchment or waxed paper-lined baking sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Immediately roll out each scoop into golf ball-sized pieces.
Roll in the various coatings and arrange on a serving tray or store in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to serve.
- 8 ounces good dark chocolate, chopped (not below 60 percent cocoa, recommended: Valrhona)
- 8 ounces heavy cream, scalded
Completely melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Add the cream to a medium bowl and pour in the chocolate. Whisk the mixture very slowly creating a shiny, elastic emulsion.
Jenna Ralph and Becky Aililing
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can frosting (16 oz.) [OR use 3/4 of container because we used it all and found it to be a little too doughy and sticky]
Wax paper
Black candy melts
Lollipop sticks
Edible ink pens
Large jumbo heart sprinkles on the legs.
Black coated sunflower seeds for noses.
Black sugar pearls for eyes
A black edible ink pen for smiles.
Chocolate chips for the ears and nose structure
- After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
- Mix thoroughly with 1 can frosting. (I use the back of a large spoon, but it may be easier to use fingers to mix together. But, be warned, it will get messy. Also, you may not need the entire can of frosting, so start out by using almost the entire can and add more if you need to.)
- Roll mixture into quarter size balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)
- Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)
- Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.) Also insert the chocolate chips into the melted candy coating and then into the cake balls for the ears and nose structure.
- Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.
- Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating in about halfway by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until the top part is covered. Return pops to the freezer to firm up again for just a couple of minutes. After chilling, dip the entire body into the bowl of melted candy coating. Make sure the bowl is deep enough to dip and remove in one motion. The coating should also be thin enough to completely coat the pop without having to stir it in the bowl.Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too. Attach nose, conversation heart and legs while the coating is still wet.
- Place in a styrofoam block to dry.
- Once dry, you can dip your toothpick into some of the leftover melted coating and dot some in position for the eyes. Then just attach the sugar pearls. Dot some on the legs and attach the jumbo heart sprinkles. Apply a little bit of coating to one side of the M&M’s candies and attach them to the body so they appear to be holding the hearts. Then just draw on some sweet smiles. Then you are done!
Elizabeth Champion
Almond Joy Fudge
1 cup agave nectar
1 cup coconut oil
Put both in a blender and set container in a sink of hot tap water to warm the oil.
1/2 cup raw powdered chocolate (or unsweetened cocoa)
Add this to the agave and oil and blend well then pour into a bowl.
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped almonds
Stir into chocolate mixture.
Pour unto 8x8 pan, chill 2 hours, and cut into squares
Note: I made this recipe for the first time for our Decadent Dessert V and it was waaaayyyy to sweet for me. I recommend cutting the agave by 1/2.
Macaroons
2 cups unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup almond flour (I just ground up almonds in my Vitamix)
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 T. vanilla
Pinch of salt
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir well to blend. Using a small scoop, scoop out rounds of the mixture onto a tray covered with parchment and freeze them.
Note: I made this recipe for the first time for our Decadent Dessert and it was waaaayyyy to sweet for me. I recommend cutting the agave and maple syrup by 1/2.
Almond Joy Cups
Place a scoop of the macaroon mixture into a small muffin tin and flatten.
Place a spoonful of the Almond Joy Fudge on top of the macaroon mixture.
Chill in fridge for two hours. Using a knife, scoop out each muffin tin and place Almond Joy cup on tray to serve or will also fit nicely in the little muffin papers if you want to be fancy.
Note: I came up with this Almond Joy Cup recipe as I was making the other two. I was really trying to find a way to recreate the Almond Joy you buy at the store. When I make these again I will do the following:
1. Place a scoop of the macaroon mixture into a small muffin tin and flatten.
2. Place two or three whole almonds on top of the macaroon mixture.
3. Make just the chocolate part of the Almond Joy Fudge (no almonds or coconut) and pour a little on top of the almonds/macaroon.
Chill in fridge for two hours. Using a knife, scoop out each muffin tin and place Almond Joy cup on tray to serve or will also fit nicely in the little muffin papers if you want to be fancy.
Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting
Brittany Poulton| 18.25 ounce packaged plain yellow cake mix | ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar |
| 1 tsp ground cinnamon | 2 medium ripe bananas, peeled and mashed about 1 cup |
| 1 cup water | ½ cup vegetable oil |
| 3 large eggs | 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional) |
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| Preheat oven to 350 | |
| Spray three 8 “ cake pans | |
| Blend in I mixer oil eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, and water. Once blended add the cake mix and beat for two minutes | |
| Pour cakes into well-sprayed pans. Or butter and flour the pans. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the cake pulls apart from the sides of the pan. Check with a toothpick to see if the center is set (no runny batter. | |
| 1 stick butter | ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar |
| 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, (sifted) | ½ firmly packed dark brown sugar |
| 1 tsp vanilla extract | ¼ cup whole milk |
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| In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, light and dark brown sugars and cook stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat with a portable mixer. I like to beat it over the heat until ready to pour it on the cake. Use it while warm or it will harden. If it does return the pan to low heat and stir until the frosting softens. This cake tastes better the second day. I cover it with a glass cake cover and the flavors blend together.
Strawberry Short-Cake
Chocolate Covered Brownies Nancy Stewart Ghirardelli Brownie mix Chocolate Chips | |
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