Chocolate and Candy
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Chocolate Mint Snowball Cookies
It’s February, which means BRING ON THE CHOCOLATE! This month I have a couple of great new chocolate recipes to share with you, beginning with these Chocolate Mint Snowball Cookies. February always seems like the perfect month for chocolate – in part because of Valentine’s day (really, is there any other acceptable V-day treat??), and in part because it’s still winter, still cold, and still dark out most of the time. Hand me the chocolate, please. Chocolate Mint – Decadent and Refreshing I absolutely love a deep, dark, chocolate cookie. Full disclosure – I think Oreos may actually be my favorite cookie of all time. I know that’s a controversial…
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Amaretto Dream Cookies
With the leaves turning, the blustery weather, and Halloween around the corner, my reading preferences are quickly turning to murder mysteries. Now, I have to tell you – I can be a bit of a book snob, and have been known to turn down my nose at anything that isn’t a classic. However, more recently I’ve embraced the joy of a good murder mystery. A few years ago I discovered a series of books that are equal part murder mystery and BAKING(!) by Ellie Alexander. This recipe for Amaretto Dream Cookies comes from book two in that series, “A Batter of Life and Death: A Bakeshop Mystery”. (Side note: if…
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Dark Chocolate S’mores Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt
Spring has sprung in Duluth, though we’re not quite out of the woods for snowstorms yet (we often get blizzards in April!). Still, I’m already dreaming of summer – sunshine, green grass, sandy beaches, long wooded walks, and s’mores around the campfire. I love a perfectly toasted marshmallow (or even a burnt one, I’m not that picky). On its own it’s delicious enough, but add some melty chocolate and graham crackers and I’m in heaven! Since it’s not quite campfire season, I decided to create these dark chocolate s’mores cookies to tide me over until summer. And oh boy, are they good! These cookies are rich and fudgy with chocolate…
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Irish Coffee Truffles
Irish Coffee – that iconic combination of strong black coffee and whiskey with a dollop of slightly sweetened cream on top – is an amazing combination of flavors in and of itself, but add those flavors to chocolate? DIVINE. Enter Irish Coffee Truffles. Silky, creamy, and slightly boozy, these truffles will make your St. Patrick’s Day this year – trust me. And if you are generous enough to share with your friends, they’ll think you’ve found the end of the rainbow. That’s how good they are. Plus, they only have 4 ingredients and are incredibly easy to make. Have I convinced you yet? Good. Let’s make Irish Coffee Truffles! Basic…
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Meringues
Meringues are one of my favorite desserts. Meringue is an amazing thing: It can take many different forms, from the soft, slightly toasted fluff on a pie to crisp-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside pavlova to light, airy, melt-in-your-mouth morsels that crumble to bits as you eat them. Today we’re taking a look at the last one. These light-as-air treats are a delight to eat on their own and also make great decorations for other desserts like cakes, cupcakes, and tarts. They’re incredibly versatile, as you can make them pretty much any size and shape you like, with endless flavor options. Meringue can be tricky to make – I’ve personally been working on perfecting…
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Salted Caramel Brownies
It is insanely cold in Duluth right now. As I write this, it’s -20°F outside (yep, you read that right, 20 degrees BELOW zero). And that’s the actual air temperature, not including wind chill. It’s the kind of cold where you get an instant ice cream headache just from walking outside. It is awfully pretty though. There’s something in me that loves this kind of cold. Partly because of how beautiful it is, partly because just going to the grocery store feels like an adventure, and partly because it’s a great excuse to stay home and enjoy some of my favorite indoor activities. It’s supposed to stay this cold for…
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Homemade Dulce de Leche
I’m a big caramel fan. I love it all – caramel lattes, caramel apples, caramel corn, even fake caramel-flavored coffee (though I’m embarrassed to admit that!). But my absolute, hands-down favorite is the thick, creamy, completely addicting caramel sauce known as Dulce de Leche (Spanish for “candy of milk”). This treat is made by slowly cooking sweetened milk until it caramelizes and thickens, resulting in one of the most delicious things ever. This recipe is the simplest way I’ve seen to make Dulce de Leche. You boil UNOPENED (yes, really) cans of sweetened condensed milk in a water bath for a few hours, and BAM! Just like magic, you have…
