Everything Chocolate Social
Last week I had my first spouse's social here at my house and I decided that I wanted to have the theme for the refreshments be "Everything Chocolate" because what woman doesn't like...love...adore...cherish...die for...chocolate??
I wanted to have a chocolate fountain but I couldn't find one anywhere to rent and I just really didn't need one more big kitchen appliance to have to move every 2 years, so I decided against that. Plus, my husband is always reminding me that "less is more" and to "keep it simply elegant" because I guess I have a tendency to overdo things...no comment.
I started with my all-time favorite Brownie cookies!! They're a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips and pecans and they are ALWAYS wonderful and a crowd pleaser! The recipe for these cookies is in my cookbook, but I'm going to give it to you here, also.
Brownie Cookies
2/3 c. shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 T. water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill GF All purpose baking flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
16 oz chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar, water and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, salt, xanthan gum, and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes--DO NOT overbake or they will not be chewy. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to parchment paper to cool. Makes 2 1/2-3 dozen.
Unfortunately, I somehow didn't get a picture taken before they were all gone, so I can't show you how yummy they look (: but trust me when I tell you that this will become your all-time, absolute, unchallenged favorite cookie once you taste them!
I wanted something that was salty, too so I made some Pretzel bites. I took those Glutino pretzels that I've talked about before and laid them out, single layer, on a cookie sheet. Then, I placed 1 unwrapped Hershey kiss in the middle of each pretzel. Put them in the oven at 275 for just 3 minutes. As soon as you pull them out of the oven, press an M & M right in the center and let them cool for about 2 hours to harden. These turned out amazing! And such an addictive little treat...I was thinking how good they'd be if I played around with them and used Reese's Mini-peanut butter cups or even, Rolo's instead of the kisses...the options are endless.
Since I couldn't do the chocolate fountain, I decided to make some dipped strawberries. I know these are usually reserved for Valentine's day or some romantic something, but I just couldn't help myself! It's amazing to me that something SOOOOOO simple to make can cost an absolute fortune if you let somebody else do it for you! Don't spend all that extra money--just dip them yourself. It's fast and easy and you'll know that no unwashed hands touched your fruit!
Start by washing your strawberries and leaving the stems on. Dry them completely with a paper towel or the chocolate won't stick to the berries.
Melt 1 bag of Wilton's dark chocolate candy melts in a double boiler. 1 bag will dip about 15-20 strawberries. Once the chocolate is melted, just take a strawberry by the stem and dip it carefully into the chocolate, leaving a small amount of the red showing at the top.
After you've covered the berry, lay it gently on a piece of parchment paper to harden up--this will take about 30 minutes to an hour depending on the temperature and humidity level in your house. Keep dipping until you're all done with the berries and before you can say, "Jack Robinson" (I never was sure why you would want to say that ???), you'll be done dipping and have a bunch of beautiful berries to serve.
You can serve them just like this or, if you want to get fancy, melt some Wilton's white chocolate candy melts, put a little in a cake decorator bag, and drizzle the tops of the berries. I'm not a great drizzler, but I think they turned out pretty good :)
One last note about the strawberries: Always dip them on the day you plan to serve them and not too far in advance because the berries will start to turn mushy inside and leak and nobody wants a mushy, leaky strawberry to eat. I think that would kill the mood...
I have a friend, Bridget Harding, who makes amazing truffles!! She brought some to my house as a Christmas present and I was hooked! She graciously shared her recipe with me and I've been making them ever since. Every time I make them, I change up how I finish them---sometimes I roll them in nuts, or coconut, or I dip them before and then roll them in nuts or sometimes, I just roll them in dark cocoa powder--watch out! But, this is the basic recipe that I've adapted from hers:
Dark chocolate truffles
20 oz Ghirardelli's dark chocolate pieces
scant 2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp almond extract
In a saucepan, combine chocolate pieces and whipping cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 4-5 minutes or until chocolate melts. Remove saucepan from heat and cool for a couple of minutes. Add almond extract and stir to blend. (At this point, you can place the mixture in your electric mixer and beat for a couple of minutes if you think it needs more blending. I don't always do this step). Place mixture in a 13 X 9 baking pan. Cover and freeze for about an hour. Don't go any longer or it will be too hard to work with.
Line a pan with parchment paper (make sure this pan can fit into your freezer! I've been known to forget and end up with a huge cookie sheet full of rolled truffles that I have to transfer out to another pan because it won't fit :) Shape truffle mixture into 1 inch balls and place on paper. If you want to roll balls in nuts or coconut before dipping, now is the time to do that. If you plan to just make cocoa powder covered truffles, roll in the cocoa now and you're finished!
Freeze the balls for about 30 minutes.
In a saucepan, melt Wilton's white chocolate candy melts. Take the truffle balls from the freezer and quickly dip them into the chocolate and place them on parchment paper to harden. You can use milk or dark chocolate to dip them in--it doesn't have to be white. I still have a problem with getting a bit of the truffle melting into the white chocolate, so I guess it comes out a little less white, but, oh well...
After I've dipped them all, I like to add a little decoration. So, I melt some Wilton's dark chocolate pieces, place it in a cake decorating bag and do the drizzle thing again. You can decorate them any way you can imagine! After you dip in the chocolate, you could roll them in nuts or sprinkles or coconut or whatever you can think of. You could re-dip half of it in another color chocolate...endless options :)
These are literally coma-inducing truffles!!! I eat one and my head starts to swim and I tell myself that one is enough but do I listen to myself? I'll let you answer that one!
Finally, I decided that I needed a centerpiece dessert. So, I set about to make a Better-than-Sex cake. Now, I don't know what poor woman named this cake, but I definitely have to disagree with her because I've never found ANYTHING to be better than sex!! In our house, we call it "Better than Hugs" cake--a nicer name when there are kiddies around, right? I'm not even sure that it's better than hugs--guess it depends on who's hugging you---but it will surely bring a smile to your face. And, since chocolate is a known aphrodisiac....I'm just sayin'!
Start with your favorite GF chocolate cake recipe. I invented a GF Chocolate Mayonnaise cake that I use as the base for this. Here's the recipe:
GF Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
2 cups Bob Red Mill GF All Purpose baking flour
2/3 cup coconut flour
1 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp xanthan gum
dash of salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cup water
1 T mexican vanilla
Cream water, sugar, mayo, and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and add to wet ingredients. Mix well. If mixture seems too thick, add more water, about 2 T at a time, until it reaches the right consistency. Pour into a greased 13 X 9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.
When you remove the cake from the oven, poke holes all around the cake, being careful to not go all the way through the bottom to the pan. Then, pour Hershey's chocolate syrup liberally all over the cake. Then, pour your favorite jarred caramel sauce all over the cake. Top with crushed Heath bar candy pieces. Oh, my!
Let the cake sit overnight, covering it once it has cooled completely.
Right before serving, whip 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream with about 1/3 (or more) cup of Hershey's chocolate syrup until stiff peaks form. Spread over top of cake and top again with more Heath bar candy pieces.
Words cannot describe the reactions you will get from this cake! People will keep coming back for more, that's for darn sure :)
To finish things off, I set out several dishes of various types of wrapped chocolates that I'd picked up at the store. I also used the leftover dark chocolate that I had melted to make some almond clusters--I think it's probably a mortal sin to waste chocolate!
I just grabbed a can of natural almonds that I had in my pantry and dumped them into the chocolate and then, spooned them out onto parchment paper. You can do this with whatever you might have on hand.
I didn't want to overdo it, so I served some fresh mint water along with all the chocolate :)
I have a good friend, T.J. Downing, who has always said that the lack of chocolate is the root of all evil! Smart man!
Dark chocolate (not milk or white) is filled with healthful antioxidants that our bodies need. It is recommended that you consume about 1 ounce of good quality dark chocolate daily--this means that the chocolate must be at least 65-70% cocoa. I know I can't come up with a single reason to doubt the wisdom of this advice:) And, who knows, if you feed some to your spouse, you might get lucky!
I wanted to have a chocolate fountain but I couldn't find one anywhere to rent and I just really didn't need one more big kitchen appliance to have to move every 2 years, so I decided against that. Plus, my husband is always reminding me that "less is more" and to "keep it simply elegant" because I guess I have a tendency to overdo things...no comment.
I started with my all-time favorite Brownie cookies!! They're a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips and pecans and they are ALWAYS wonderful and a crowd pleaser! The recipe for these cookies is in my cookbook, but I'm going to give it to you here, also.
Brownie Cookies
2/3 c. shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 T. water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill GF All purpose baking flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
16 oz chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar, water and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, salt, xanthan gum, and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes--DO NOT overbake or they will not be chewy. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to parchment paper to cool. Makes 2 1/2-3 dozen.
Unfortunately, I somehow didn't get a picture taken before they were all gone, so I can't show you how yummy they look (: but trust me when I tell you that this will become your all-time, absolute, unchallenged favorite cookie once you taste them!
I wanted something that was salty, too so I made some Pretzel bites. I took those Glutino pretzels that I've talked about before and laid them out, single layer, on a cookie sheet. Then, I placed 1 unwrapped Hershey kiss in the middle of each pretzel. Put them in the oven at 275 for just 3 minutes. As soon as you pull them out of the oven, press an M & M right in the center and let them cool for about 2 hours to harden. These turned out amazing! And such an addictive little treat...I was thinking how good they'd be if I played around with them and used Reese's Mini-peanut butter cups or even, Rolo's instead of the kisses...the options are endless.
Start by washing your strawberries and leaving the stems on. Dry them completely with a paper towel or the chocolate won't stick to the berries.
I have a friend, Bridget Harding, who makes amazing truffles!! She brought some to my house as a Christmas present and I was hooked! She graciously shared her recipe with me and I've been making them ever since. Every time I make them, I change up how I finish them---sometimes I roll them in nuts, or coconut, or I dip them before and then roll them in nuts or sometimes, I just roll them in dark cocoa powder--watch out! But, this is the basic recipe that I've adapted from hers:
Dark chocolate truffles
20 oz Ghirardelli's dark chocolate pieces
scant 2/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp almond extract
In a saucepan, combine chocolate pieces and whipping cream. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 4-5 minutes or until chocolate melts. Remove saucepan from heat and cool for a couple of minutes. Add almond extract and stir to blend. (At this point, you can place the mixture in your electric mixer and beat for a couple of minutes if you think it needs more blending. I don't always do this step). Place mixture in a 13 X 9 baking pan. Cover and freeze for about an hour. Don't go any longer or it will be too hard to work with.
Line a pan with parchment paper (make sure this pan can fit into your freezer! I've been known to forget and end up with a huge cookie sheet full of rolled truffles that I have to transfer out to another pan because it won't fit :) Shape truffle mixture into 1 inch balls and place on paper. If you want to roll balls in nuts or coconut before dipping, now is the time to do that. If you plan to just make cocoa powder covered truffles, roll in the cocoa now and you're finished!
Freeze the balls for about 30 minutes.
Finally, I decided that I needed a centerpiece dessert. So, I set about to make a Better-than-Sex cake. Now, I don't know what poor woman named this cake, but I definitely have to disagree with her because I've never found ANYTHING to be better than sex!! In our house, we call it "Better than Hugs" cake--a nicer name when there are kiddies around, right? I'm not even sure that it's better than hugs--guess it depends on who's hugging you---but it will surely bring a smile to your face. And, since chocolate is a known aphrodisiac....I'm just sayin'!
Start with your favorite GF chocolate cake recipe. I invented a GF Chocolate Mayonnaise cake that I use as the base for this. Here's the recipe:
GF Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake
2 cups Bob Red Mill GF All Purpose baking flour
2/3 cup coconut flour
1 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp xanthan gum
dash of salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cup water
1 T mexican vanilla
Cream water, sugar, mayo, and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and add to wet ingredients. Mix well. If mixture seems too thick, add more water, about 2 T at a time, until it reaches the right consistency. Pour into a greased 13 X 9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.
When you remove the cake from the oven, poke holes all around the cake, being careful to not go all the way through the bottom to the pan. Then, pour Hershey's chocolate syrup liberally all over the cake. Then, pour your favorite jarred caramel sauce all over the cake. Top with crushed Heath bar candy pieces. Oh, my!
Let the cake sit overnight, covering it once it has cooled completely.
To finish things off, I set out several dishes of various types of wrapped chocolates that I'd picked up at the store. I also used the leftover dark chocolate that I had melted to make some almond clusters--I think it's probably a mortal sin to waste chocolate!
I just grabbed a can of natural almonds that I had in my pantry and dumped them into the chocolate and then, spooned them out onto parchment paper. You can do this with whatever you might have on hand.
I have a good friend, T.J. Downing, who has always said that the lack of chocolate is the root of all evil! Smart man!
Dark chocolate (not milk or white) is filled with healthful antioxidants that our bodies need. It is recommended that you consume about 1 ounce of good quality dark chocolate daily--this means that the chocolate must be at least 65-70% cocoa. I know I can't come up with a single reason to doubt the wisdom of this advice:) And, who knows, if you feed some to your spouse, you might get lucky!
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