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Posts Tagged ‘chocolate’

I found these delish bites over at David Lebovitz’s website. He has some of the most scrumptious recipes, that you just have to try. To get you started I thought I would share the yummy recipe for theses Chocolate-Covered Salted Peanut Caramel Cups. I love, love love these! How can you possibly resist chocolate, peanuts and caramel? I am not that strong-willed when it comes to chocolate,  which is why I don’t think I can make these that often. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Here’s the recipe

Serving: About 25 cups

This recipe is adaptable to any relatively thick caramel filling. Dulce de leche would work, and some folks fill these with peanut butter. (See links, below.) Don’t melt down chocolate chips, which are formulated to hold their shape when heated, and you’ll find the chocolate too sludgy to work with.

Depending on the size of the cups, and how generous you are, you may get a few more, or a few less, than indicated.

Ingredients

12 ounces (340g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (125g) salted peanut caramel

Fleur de sel, or another flaky sea salt

Preparation

1. In a clean, dry bowl set over simmering water (or in a microwave), melt the chocolate until smooth.

2. Put a dab of the chocolate about the size of a shelled hazelnut in the bottom of a small paper baking cup.

3. Use a small spoon, or a brush, to move the chocolate around and coat the bottom and sides with an even layer of chocolate. Chill the cups to firm up the chocolate.

4. Once firm, in each cup, put a bit of the salted peanut filling, enough so that it will reach about 2/3rds of the way to the top of the cup. (Don’t have to stress to much about exact amounts; it’s candy and it supposed to be fun to make.)

5. Depending on how soft the filling is, rap the sheet of cups on a folded kitchen towel to level the tops. If the filling is too thick, use a spoon to smooth out the filling.

6. Add enough chocolate to cover the filling, and once again, rap the sheet on the countertop to level to tops and enclose the filling.

7. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, such as fleur de sel.

8. Chill until firm.

Store the cups in the refrigerator until about thirty minutes before ready to serve. They’ll keep for about two weeks in the refrigerator. They can also be frozen.

Note: Left at room temperature for a few hours or more, the chocolate can “bloom.” To avoid that, you may wish to temper the chocolate, which isn’t necessary if you store them in the refrigerator and take them out shortly before serving.

Variation: Use milk chocolate instead of the bittersweet or semisweet chocolate.

Enjoy!

celebrate life in style…

Valentine’s Day is all about sharing your love, your heart and some scrumptious mouthwatering treats. Martha Stewart has some yummy heart desserts that you and your sweetie just will not be able to resist. So here’s the plan: Set aside some time in schedule today or tomorrow and bake up some of these goodies. Let the children help as well and turn it into a fun DIY project. Place the heart cookies in decorative packaging and hand them out on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s the hearts that we have (top clockwise):

Pillowy Meringue Hearts:  Brown-sugar meringue cookies that are guaranteed to please. Easy to make just use heart-shape cutters to provide adoring curves.

Chocolate and Raspberry Heart Napoleons: These chocolate hearts are layered with raspberry semifreddo (“half cold” in Italian), a frozen dessert similar to ice cream. YUM-O.

Conversation Heart Cookies: What a delish and pretty way to give messages from your heart to your sweetheart.

Sacher Torte Heart: Give a twist to the Valentine’s Day chocolate sampler, and enjoy this heart instead. You can also make a smaller size with is ideal for sharing with your sweetheart.

Enjoy and  Happy Valentine’s Day!

celebrate life in style…

Valentine’s Day is right around corner so celebrate in style with your sweetheart or at your Valentine’s Day party by enjoying some delicious sweets and treats from Williams-Sonoma. I mean, who could possibly not be overjoyed and filled with delight to receive one of these scrumptious treats on Valentine’s Day. Talk about satisfying a sweet tooth!

So these are the sweet treats that we found (clockwise):

Heart Macarons – An irresistible Valentine treat. With an engaging heart shape, this treat is crisp on the outside, moist and chewy inside. Each pair of chocolaty red-velvet macarons is enhanced by a luscious ganache filling that combines white chocolate with heavy cream and fresh buttermilk for a hint of tangy richness.

Sweetie Pies for your Sweetie -  Pure edible nostalgia, the heart-shaped treats recall the whoopie pies beloved by kids but with a decidedly sophisticated twist.

Perfect Ending’s Heart Red Velvet Cake – With a melt-in-your-mouth texture, this vintage cake makes a grand finale for Valentine’s Day celebrations. The heart-shaped version of the classic cake combines two luscious layers of rich, fudgy devil’s food cake with fluffy vanilla buttercream frosting, this one will be hard to resist.

Message Heart Cookies – What a cute and delish way to express your love for your sweetheart! Each crisp heart-shaped chocolate sugar cookie is topped with royal icing and inscribed with a heartfelt message, awe…

Valentine’s Heart Petit Fours - These will be perfect for your Valentine’s Day party. They are delightful with dessert wines and after-dinner coffee. Each petits fours is topped with delicate marzipan hearts.

Valentine’s Day Mini Cupcakes – Send me a box of these! Surprise and delight your valentine with a heart-shaped red box filled with luscious little cupcakes that are as sweet as can be! Each box includes 12 devil’s food cupcakes: six topped with chocolate-caramel cream and milk chocolate jimmies and six topped with chocolate truffle cream and dark chocolate jimmies.

Personalized Chocolate Heart – Melt your sweetie’s heart with a stunning chocolate valentine cake! How cute is this?

Enjoy!

celebrate life in style…

If it’s chocolate it has to be good… So if you love chocolate as much as I do, I know that you are absolutely  SWOONING over this yummy display of chocolate. When I found these over at Bon Appétit I had a great idea,  instead of heading out the the store this year and buying your sweetie a box of chocolate for Valentine’s Day, think out the box and cook up one of these mouthwatering chocolate treats instead. I mean seriously, which do you think you will get more sweet kisses for: homemade chocolate goodies or store brought candy? Okay, so what is the swooning all about? Read the rest of this entry »