On the Twelfth day of Christmas...

We made sugar cookies! My mother got us a nativity cookie cutter set last year, and we finally got to use it! It seems to be missing shepards, I guess I could turn a wise man into one. Also it had cut outs for a stable, but we didn't make that this year. Merry Christmas!

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...

I made Coconut "Mounds" cookies. They are Wonderful, I make them with Milk chocolate for my mom, but Dark chocolate for myself! MMMMM!

On the Tenth day of Christmas...

I made peanut butter cups/squares. I usually use milk chocolate, but prefer dark chocolate, so I gave it a try only to find that I'd accidentally used bitter sweet chocolate (yes I have a lot of chocolate around the house!).

On the Ninth day of Christmas...

I made my Hot Chocolate, with a Candy cane to stir it... MMMMMMM. And yes, this picture is from October, but I forgot to take a picture!

On the Eighth day of Christmas...

I made Mini Cheesecakes. My mom always made these for her annual party, well, back when she used to have annual parties. And I always loved them, but never got more than 2 it seemed. Well now I have 48! I've always wanted to do an annual Christmas party, but moving every year, and bed rest every other year, has put a kink in that plan... NEXT year...

On the Seventh day of Christmas

I made Caramel's. I've always enjoyed getting them on goodie plates, but scared to try them. But with all the new stuff I've challenged myself to learn I thought it was about time to tackle them. And they turned out GREAT! Definitely one to repeat every year.

Oreo "truffle" Balls

Okay, this was a recipe we picked as part of our Monthly Chocolate Therapy Challenges. Now, they we're quite what I expected, simply because I wouldn't call them truffles. They are Oreo balls. Don't get me wrong, they taste good, are super easy and look good. But truffles? No, not in a million years. So I rename them Oreo Balls. Very good, a repeat.

Oreo Balls

Makes 40-50 depending on ball size

1 Pkg crushed Oreo's

8 oz softened cream cheese

Mix well, refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Make balls and dip in Chocolate (white, milk or dark all work) or roll in sugar. Viola!

That's it! Super easy, tasty and much cheaper that real truffles, so a good one for kids and snack-y husbands. (I really don't want to share my REAL and expensive truffles with anyone who doesn't REALLY appreciate them)

On the Sixth day of Christmas...

I made my Homemade Egg Nog! Well I made most of it last night, but it has to sit overnight before you add the final whipping cream. It wasn't my best batch to date, I was doing too much at once and over whipped the egg whites, but still much better than store bought! We both love egg nog, but Bill likes it that much more than me, and I love making it for him!

On the Fifth day of Christmas...

I made Pumpkin Chocolate chip muffins. And I started tomorrow's goodie (It's a 2 part recipe).

On the Fourth day of Christmas

I made Sandies! These were a yearly Christmas staple growing up. I think they might also be known as Mexican wedding cookies, but I'm not sure... They are simple to make, not too sweet, and I love them! I believe they came from my Grandma, who grew up in Mexico.

On the Third day of Christmas...

I made Almond Roca! This has been a family favorite since I was a little girl. I have many MANY memories making this and eating it with my mom. When we lived in AZ it seemed I had perfected it and made it almost every week. But then we moved to UT and it only worked half the time. So I was nervous, what would the TX humidity do to it? But it worked out beautifully!

On the Second Day of Christmas...

We made Christmas Colored Scones for breakfast (and lunch and snack, we ate a double batch in one day, they are THAT good...). They looked like little Christmas trees, the kids loved them.

On the First Day of Chrismas

I made Peppermint Candy Cane Ice Cream! Happy first Day of Christmas!

Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffle

So this was my second recipe for the month. I made it about 2 mins after I finished the first batch. This one was a bit more involved, but still super easy. And who doesn't like Caramel and Chocolate? I bought some Fleur De Sel last week for a Caramel cheesecake I'm hoping to try soon, so I had everything on hand.

Caramel Dark Chocolate

makes about 30

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, divided

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

2/3 cup whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon Fleur De Sel

Melt chocolate in double boiler, stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.
Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix caramel and 1/4 teaspoon Fleur De Sel into melted chocolate. Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.
Using 1 tablespoon truffle filling for each truffle, roll into balls, then roll in cocoa. Chill overnight.
Optional: Line 13x9x2-inch baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 12 ounces chocolate in Double Boiler. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water. Working quickly, submerge 1 truffle in melted chocolate. Using fork, lift out truffle and tap fork against side of bowl to allow excess coating to drip off. Transfer truffle to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining truffles. Sprinkle truffles lightly with additional Fleur De Sel. Let stand until coating sets, at least 1 hour. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.

I was disappointed that there wasn't a stronger Caramel taste, in fact I don't think there was one at ALL. Knowing that Caramel went INTO the truffle I really tried to taste it, but to no avail. And no one else who tried it could taste it either. And these truffles were much softer/squishier than the other batch. So I'm wondering if I should have left it on low for longer, hoping that it the Caramel mixture would thicken up a bit and become more flavorful. I'm willing to try again at the hopes that it will. Also I didn't bother with the last/optional step. I didn't want the two truffles to get confused so I rolled these in Christmas colored extra large sprinkles. I have to say I LOVED the crunch. In hindsight the crunch would have been better with the other truffles and the cocoa would have been better with these. Next time... Also as an aside. I won't bother with melting the chocolate, I'll chop the chocolate up more and use the "rest for 5 mins" trick that the last recipe used.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

So this month Duff's ABC and I chose to learn how to make Truffles. I started my experimenting by reading about truffles. The kind most people feel safe making is with a cream cheese base, but the classic truffle (that you spend lots of money for at a store) is a ganache base. Here was one description I thought said it well. "Chocolate and small amounts of liquids do not mix well - the chocolate clumps up in what is called seizing. However, when a substantial amount of liquid is added to the chocolate, we can make chocolate syrup. A ganache is simply a syrup of chocolate and cream that does not contain enough cream to be liquid at room temperature. Once this mixture cools, it will form a hard ganache that can be molded into shapes." It turns out that the ganache is really quite easy, but now I know why they cost SO much. It takes lots of chocolate, and we know how expensive lots of good chocolate can be. I tried 2 recipes and liked them both, but neither one was FANTASTIC. I'll keep looking.

Dark chocolate truffles
makes 40-50 depending on size of balls

1 pound (455 g) of dark chocolate, a flavor you enjoy

1 cup (235 mL) heavy whipping cream

Cut the chocolate into pieces. Pour all the pieces into a medium heat proof bowl.
Bring the cup of heavy whipping cream just to a boil. (This is called scalding)
Pour the scalded heavy cream onto the chocolate and allow it to sit for five minutes
Stir the now melted chocolate with the cream. Stir until the chocolate melts and the ganache is smooth.
Let the ganache cool down and chill for about an hour in the refrigerator to harden. Using a melon baller or small ice cream scoop (such as a #70), scoop out balls of hard ganache and roll each ganache ball in the cocoa powder to coat.

It really could not have been simpler. I did a half batch and it turned out just fine. Actually the shaping of the balls was much more time consuming than making the ganache! And much messier too. I tried using a melon baller, but the ganache didn't come out very well. In the end I used a spoon, and shaped them with my hands, quickly. they weren't perfect balls, but I guess they looked homemade! They were nice and dense. And tasted just like the Dove Dark Chocolate bars I used in Truffle form! I think I'll use a different dark chocolate that's less creamy next time to see if I like it better. Or maybe add a bit of flavoring... Or roll in crushed Candy Cane (I love this time of year)