I love giving unique, thoughtful gifts. A good gift shows you know a person, and you know them well. For instance, when making bath products, use someone's favorite scent (apples, lavender, etc.) to really punctuate the product. When making baked treats, obviously go for someone's favorite weaknesses.
This year for Christmas, I'm getting baked. Goods, that is. And today I'm going to offer up some super easy treats, and the best thing about them is, you can easily tweak them to fit your needs or wants!
Today's good are all about chocolate. Come holidays, people love both. Here are some recipes for any chocolate lover, and lover of good-tasting treats.
NONE OF THESE RECIPES REQUIRE BAKING.
Another note on D.I.Y baked treats. Recipes are all fine and good, but use your gut feelings as well. Taste test, and always try new things. Many recipes go for moderate taste and ingredients, and if you like a punch, you're gonna have to throw it yourself.
Chocolate Truffles (estimated cost: $5.00, one recipe makes 8 or 9, ingredients usually make 2 batches or more)
1 cup finely chopped chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
Cocoa powder or chopped nuts (I will always recommend the powder, and you can get hot cocoa power easily on the cheap)
a drop or two of vanilla
Chop the chocolate first; this can be time-consuming, and you don't want the cream to simmer before you're done. Once you've got a cups worth of finally chopped milk or dark chocolate, put them in a mixing bowl and start the cream.
Simmering the cream can take a minute, but it will usually simmer before the chocolate-chopping is done if you choose to these two bits in tandem. Put a sauce pan on medium or low heat and wait for the cream to bubble just a little, gently scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to keep the cream from sticking. DO NOT BOIL THE CREAM.
Note: if you want flavors in your truffles, put them in with the cream. For actual bits of things, make sure to strain it out of the cream before mixing. I like to put cayenne in the cream to spice it up. You can also throw some sea salt in, or basically anything.
Once the cream is done, pour it over the chocolate, let it really penetrate the pile, add in the vanilla, and then stir. And stir and stir until it thickens (1-4 minutes) and you've got a ganache. Put it in the fridge, covered, for about two or three hours, until hard enough to mold. Just dig a spoon in--the more resistance, the better.
When you ganache is all cold and ready, get it out, and get the cocao powder or nuts. Using a gymnast's trick, I like to put the powder on my hands before rolling the truffles out. The chocolate will stick less and roll more easily. Get a big spoonful of ganache and roll it into a ball between your hands, then on the powder so it's covered. GANACHE MELTS VERY QUICKLY, so this isn't really a time to enjoy the feeling of balls cupped in the palm of your hand. Get 'em in and out.
Once your truffles are all rolled out, put them in the fridge for another one or two hours. And they're ready to serve. Keep refrigerated, because, like I said, it'll melt, and get softer and softer and a lot messier to eat. But still delicious, so who cares, really?
Peppermint Bark (estimated cost: $8.00, makes a pan, ingredients can make one to two batches)
1 bag white chocolate chips (or whatever the cheapest alternative is)
1 bag dark chocolate chips (optional, and if you made truffles, you should have leftovers)
1 box candy canes
1 baking pan or sheet, at least two inches deep, 9x9 or larger for thin bark, smaller for thick bark.
Personally, I hate white chocolate, and mint upsets my stomach, but people go nuts for peppermint bark around the holidays. If you really want to spruce it up, throw in some mint leaves.
Get a pan (9x9 or larger), and grease lightly. For easy removal, you can line the pan with parchment paper, but this can lead to weird looking bark. But if you're anything like me, looks mean nothing when taste is involved.
If you want dark chocolate at the bottom, melt the dark chocolate pieces and lay it out in the pan. It's better to do about half of the white chocolate: if you do equal amounts, you'll have a half and half bar. Up to you!
Chop up the candy canes into little mint bits. You can put them in a bag and crush them for no mess. Also, when you do this, you can get the finer peppermint powder, and sprinkle this over the top of the bark. Or lay it on the bottom for magical foundation.
So, once you're ready, melt the white chocolate (in a chocolate pan or in a glass bowl in the microwave, the means justify the end)
Once the chocolate is melted, mix in the thicker candy-cane chunks and pour the mixture into the pan. If you want, you can sprinkle more chunks on top, or some peppermint dust.
Refrigerate for two hours or more. Don't break apart or cut until fully hardened.
HOLIDAY MASH-UP: THE WHITE CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT TRUFFLE
Are you ready for this? (Estimate budget: see other recipes)
Simmer 1/2 or 3/4 cups of cream again--this time have a bowl of finely chopped white chocolate waiting.
Also have some crushed peppermint ready.
Repeat the process from earlier; pour the cream over the white chocolate. There are two options here: you can stir in bits of peppermint, or just let it cool as is.
When you're ready to roll the truffles, get out the peppermint. More options! If you put chunks in the mix, use a fine dusting of peppermint bits to coat. Or roll out the balls in thick chunks to really pick up some bits, as you would with chopped nuts.
Let cool for a few hours, and then bite into this magical morsel. Believe me, even if it doesn't look very pretty, this will pack a punch.
A quick note on chocolate bark: bark is easy as all get-out to make, and easy to substitute ingredients. for instance, to shake things up, try a dark chocolate pretzel and sea salt bark, or a dark chocolate and ginger bark. almonds, nuts, and other such treats are easy to mix in.
COMING SOON: Caremel goods (I'm currently testing recipes), and bath/beauty products you probably didn't realize you could make yourself. And D.I.Y kid's gifts. Basically, everything you'll need to make a baller Christmas gift, and stuff you can make just for the hell of it.
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