Ganache 101, Lessons from Martha Stewart

The holidays are a crazy time for everyone, trying to get the presents, wrap, cook, clean, bake, decorate and a myriad of other things. I myself am always looking for shortcuts or simple ideas to save time. In the December issue of Martha Stewart she has a fabulous article title Ganache 101.

Martha explains that with a little chocolate and some heavy whipping cream you have the makings for some delicious and easy but fancy desserts. From these two simple ingredients you can make a frosting, a filling, a glaze, and a truffle.

The Basic Recipe:

Take 8 ounces of quality chocolate and chop into uniform pieces with a serrated knife, place into a bowl. Then take one cup of heavy cream and heat to just a boil. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate pieces. Let stand for 10 minutes. DO NOT STIR!!!!

Whisk the mixture until smooth and shiny to break any lumps and to emulsify the chocolate and the cream.

Scrape the side and bottom of the bowl to be sure to get all of the mixture incorporated.

To use the ganache:

While its warm you can pour it over a cake as a glaze, you can fill tart shells and make a filling.

At room temperature you can beat the ganache until fluffy and use as a whipped filling or frosting.

And finally once chilled you can use it to make truffles!

All of these are easy and tasty additions to your holiday baking. Do you have any ideas for using ganache? Do you make your own truffles? I would love to hear some of your ideas, please if you would like to share leave your ideas in the comment section.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your family and friends during this special time of the year. Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chocolate pumpkin pie, yummy! Photo Pine Cones and Acorns

Thanksgiving Day

 
Over the river and through the wood
To Grandmother's house we go.
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh
Through white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood
To have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring,
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Hurrah forThanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the wood,
Trot fast, my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound,
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go
Extremely slow~
It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood~
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

By Linda Maria Child

Chocolate Velvet cake with fudge filling and Coconut Pecan Frosting

Last weekend was my birthday and my sister made this cake for me! It is fabulous and very easy to make.

The cake is a chocolate velvet and the recipe is from Southern Living magazine. The recipe can be found here. If you do not have the time to make a cake from scratch than use a cake mix, there are some excellent ones out there.

The filling is one that I make all of the time, it is my go to recipe. I use it for the filling or to frost cupcakes and cakes too. The recipe is from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Can. I have posted on this frosting here.

Hershey's Famous Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients and Directions for filling/Frosting:

1 stick of butter melted
2/3 cup of Hershey's cocoa
3 cups  powdered sugar
1/3 cup of milk
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter and add cocoa, stir together until smooth. Alternately add milk and powdered sugar, mix on low with an electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla and stir.

I like to add a little more milk so that is is more spreadable. Do what suits you.


Pecan Coconut Frosting.

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

3 beaten egg yolks mixed with 1 tablespoon of water

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cup  coconut

1 cup chopped pecans toasted

Mix the following ingredients on medium heat for 12 minutes:

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

3 beaten egg yolks and tsp water

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Once this is thickened add the coconut and the pecans.

To make cake, slice the cakes in half, set aside. Place one layer of cake onto a cake plate or serving platter, spread with a layer of the chocolate frosting. Add second layer, frost with chocolate frosting and a layer of coconut pecan frosting. Add another layer of cake. Frost entire cake with chocolate frosting and then top the cake with coconut frosting.

Linking to:

Foodie Friday
Mom Trends Food Friday
Savy Southern Style

Scotcheroo Cereal Treats

I love these treat! After all who doesn't like a good cereal treat? I made these last week and posted the recipe on my other blog Pine Cones and Acorns. Here is the recipe for the Scotcheroo cereal-treats.

Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies

I recently saw this recipe on Pinterest and thought it would be a great treat to make and take to a casual get together, school outing, church or family get together. The recipe is so simple, and from the reviews of family and friends they are delicious!

Peanut Butter Cup Crunch Brownies
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.

Ingredients:

1 9x13 batch of brownies from scratch or box

10 peanut butter cups chopped

1/2 cup salted peanuts

11/2 cups of milk chocolate chips
11/2 cups of creamy peanut butter
1/2 tablespoon of unsalted butter
11/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions:

1. Prepare your brownies according to the directions and bake for 5 minutes less than the time stated. About 20-25 minutes.

2. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the peanut butter cups and the peanuts. Bake an additional 5 minutes.

3. In the meantime, on low heat, mix butter, peanut butter and chips until melted and smooth. When done add the Rice Krispies Cereal.

4. Pour mixture over the brownies and spread evenly. Let cool a few minutes and then place into fridge for 2 hours. Cut and serve. Store in air tight container in the refridgerator.

I changed the recipe, I took a short cut and used a box, dark chocolate brownie mix. I did not use the peanuts as I don't really like them.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! I see a few more baking projects in my weekend plans! Enjoy! Come back and tell me if you make these and how you like them!

Linking to:

Mom Trends

DIY by Design

Love Feast Table

Savy Southern Style

Common Ground

French Country Living

Stuff and Nonsense

Laurie Annas

My Romantic Home

Jennifer Rizzo

A Stroll Thru Life

House in Roses

Between Naps on the Porch

My uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Unskinny Boppy

 French Cupboard , The Shabby Creek Cottage 

 No Minimalist Here , The Charm of the Home
I Should Be Mopping the Floors

The Ongoing Quest for the perfect hot chocolate

It is no secret that I love hot chocolate, and I am ALWAYS searching for the perfect one. It is my favorite beverage, it is how I start my day and often times how I end it, it is what cheers me up if I am having a bad day, and what make a great day better.

Although I am perfectly capable of shaving the chocolate, making sure to have the correct amount of bitter and dark I prefer only to make it the old fashioned way on the weekend. During the week I usually take a short cut by using a beverage already blended by someone more skilled than me, someone such as Sarabeth, Angelina, Fran, Jacques and many others.

This past week I went into my pantry and to my delight or perhaps shock I had not 5, not 10, or even 15 different kinds of drinking chocolate from around the world. I had 20!!!! Sadly I found that I only drink 5 on a regular basis, the others were experiments.

I had to take two photos to get them all in without using a wide angle lens. I think I may have a problem...

That said, I will tell you that all of the hot chocolates, cocoas, and drinking chocolates shown above are excellent. If you would like any information on any of them let me know, I am sure that most are available online, but many of them I brought back from Paris on my trips. I am embarrassed to write this but I said I had a problem and this might be confirmation of that, last year I brought back 23 cans of hot chocolate. Yes, I did say 23, in my defense a few of them were gifts! I cannot wait to go to replenish my supply! This time I know which ones to get more of and which to skip.

The All Chocolate Kitchen

I know that if you are like me you love chocolate! And like me you have seen chocolate  drinks, chocolate dessert or perhaps a chocolate bunny but have you ever seen a chocolate kitchen? A real life size chocolate kitchen?

This kitchen was built by Chef Alain Roby, former senior pastry chef for the Hyatt Hotels and a frequent contributor to Food Network. Using 1500 pounds of  chocolate donated by Callebaut, Chef Roby designed and constructed this replica of his own kitchen  to raise money and awareness for Saving Tiny Hearts, a charity for congenital heart defects.

Chef Roby and his family became involved with Saving Tiny Hearts after his own son, Jonathan, collapsed on a field in 2007 and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. After surgery to repair his heart he has recovered and has gone on to college.

The kitchen can be seen at 33 South Third Street in Geneva, IL. The All Chocolate Kitchen offers classes, ladies night out, birthday parties, and tastings. Why not go over and taste a delicious hot chocolate, a yummy confection or a pastry. I know I will be going on my next visit to Illinois.