This Bittersweet Life: 2015

The holiday season seems to be flying by so fast. I can't believe we are already half way through December! Now that I am finally done with all three of my holiday concerts, with two of them on the same day (yikes that was a long day!), I can finally focus on my holiday baking!

Wait, I have less than two weeks before we celebrate Christmas?! And I still have to wrap all the presents?! Somehow I always end up wrapping nearly all of the presents--even my own…Well, I helped my mom purchase the presents too. (She's technologically savvy and yet I still end up doing the "finger work" of the online purchases.) I haven't had a whole lot of surprises under the tree for many years but at least I know I get what I want!

Put your truffles in a pretty box with cellophane, add in some nice tea or coffee and give it as a gift this holiday season.

Back to the baking. (One thing at a time, Adrienne!) There is nothing I love more during the holidays than my own, homemade chocolate truffles. The flavor possibilities are endless! They are super easy to make, just be sure you set aside a whole day to make them as it can be a little time consuming. But the results are beautiful enough to give as a holiday gift and just as delicious as they are pretty.

All you need for this recipe is heavy cream, milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, toothpicks, a double boiler or heat-proof bowl, crisco or household wax (I'll explain this, don't worry!), liqueur or candy flavoring, white chocolate baking bars or chips and a piping bag.

Don't these look delightful? And you know they are handmade from the slightly irregular shape and imperfect white chocolate decoration.

Start by placing the milk chocolate chips and the heavy cream in a saucepan on low heat, stirring until melted. Remove your chocolate mixture from the heat and pour into a mixing bowl. This is the fun part--add your flavoring! Here are some ideas to get you started:

Bailey's (there is a variety of Bailey's flavors besides the original Irish Creme, from vanilla-cinnamon to hazelnut)
Khaluah or strong brewed coffee
Fruit flavors such as raspberry, orange, pomegranate, apricot and cherry (use candy flavorings, essential oils or a juice like Pom)
Amaretto (decorate with little slices of almonds)
Coconut (try replacing a small amount of the creme with coconut cream and decorating with shredded coconut flakes)
Guinness
Mint
Cardamon
Lavandar (if you are feeling adventurous!)

Don't be afraid to try new flavor combos. Just make sure you don't add too much liquid flavoring to your mixture--you don't want it so soft that you can't roll it into balls.

Milk chocolate centers enrobed by semisweet chocolate and decorated with white chocolate, nuts, candies--whatever you want!

Once you have added your flavoring, use your stand mixer or hand mixer with a whisk attachment and blend for about 30 seconds. Just to make sure you get the flavoring well-incorporated. The mixture should be nice and smooth.

Pour your truffle mixture into a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until firm. Like me, you can make this mixture several days ahead of the rolling and dipping process. Just leave it in the fridge until you are ready. When you are, let the mixture sit out on your counter until it is soft enough to roll into balls.

You'll want to get your dipping chocolate melted and ready to go. Usually a bag of semi-sweet is more than enough to cover 1 batch of truffles. If you don't have a double boiler, make one by finding a heat proof bowl that will fit into a saucepan but doesn't touch the bottom of it. You want there to be enough room for water and a bit of air in-between--the hot steam is what melts your dipping chocolate. Pour enough water into your saucepan to fill the bottom and place the top of your double boiler or your bowl over it. Pour in your semi-sweet chocolate and put it on low heat.

To temper the chocolate, you will want to add a bit of Crisco or household wax. I prefer wax--I know this sounds weird or yucky, but the wax won't change the flavor of your truffles and it gives them a nice shiny and smooth finish. I use a vegetable peeler and slowly add shavings to the chocolate. You want your melted chocolate to drizzle off your spoon, not plop off of it back into your bowl. *If you have a local bakery supply store, they might carry paraffin baking wax made especially for tempering chocolate, though I find the household wax works just as well, if not better.*

Next, cover a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper and begin rolling your truffle mixture into balls. The size depends on your preference. I find that I like a smaller size because these truffles are very rich and I get more individual truffles out of 1 recipe (in the hopes that they last longer…I'm looking at you, fellow chocolate monsters in my family…oh wait, that's just me and my Oma and since my Oma is 95, she gets a pass). Once I'm done rolling the mixture into balls, I pop the cookie sheet into the freezer for several minutes. If your truffles are too warm, they will fall into your dipping chocolate and contaminate your dipping chocolate with whatever flavor you were dipping!

Once the truffle balls are firm, I place toothpicks into them for dipping. You can use a fork if you like, but using toothpicks makes them come out much cleaner and with less chocolate on them. Don't poke the toothpick too far in--just enough to hold the truffle ball firmly.

Dip your truffle ball into the melted semi-sweet chocolate, tapping the toothpick on the side of your bowl to help the excess chocolate drip off. Place the truffle onto your cookie sheet. Once, I'm several truffles into dipping, the first ones are usually firmed up enough to take the toothpick out. Just give a little twist and discard the used toothpicks. (I've tried reusing them but I either get my fingers sticky with chocolate left on the toothpicks or they don't come off as cleanly as unused toothpicks.) Be sure to not leave the toothpicks in the dipped truffles for too long, if you do, use a fork to push down on the truffle while pulling up on the toothpick--using your fingers may melt the truffle again.

Truffles and tea or coffee--the perfect mid-day holiday pick-me-up!

During the dipping process I'm not opposed to "accidentally" messing up a truffle or two. I have to have some to taste test to make sure they turned out okay, right? I also return my un-dipped and dipped truffles to the freezer every once in a while to keep them from getting too soft. Once you are done dipping a full batch, return them to the freezer until the chocolate shell has hardened.

In a heat proof bowl, melt 4 bars of baker's white chocolate. Thirty seconds in the microwave should do the trick. You want the bowl to get warm and the chocolate to soften a bit. Stir the chocolate vigorously until it's fully melted. If you need to, microwave it up to two more times at 5 seconds each. Any more time in the micro and your chocolate will no longer be tempered. Again, it should be smooth and drizzly, not ploppy. If it plops back into your bowl, throw it out and start over because you have successfully burned your chocolate. Spoon your melted white chocolate into a piping bag with a small round tip or a zippered plastic bag with a small tip cut off. Drizzle or pipe a design onto the top of the truffles. This will hide that toothpick hole! I like to design mine based on the flavor so people know what they are getting. I mostly do this because of my Oma--her favorite is coffee flavored and she wanted to be able to pick them out so I obliged.

If you want to add something other than white chocolate, like coconut flakes, be sure to add them before your dipped truffles get too hard. Or you can drizzle on white chocolate and add the coconut flakes. You can also use a dot of white chocolate to adhere a slice of almond to amaretto flavored truffles or a red hot to vanilla-cinnamon flavored truffles. Want to get super fancy? Brush on some edible gold dust!

Put your truffles in a pretty box with cellophane, add in some nice tea or coffee and give it as a gift this holiday season.

The possibilities are endless! Not to mention these truffles look absolutely delightful in a decorative tin or box--the perfect gift for the chocolate lover or the person who is hard to buy for. Because, seriously, who doesn't love chocolate?!

Be sure to store these in a cool and dry place--melted truffles are yucky and temperature changes make the chocolate taste funny. You can even keep them in the fridge if you like and then let them soften on the counter for about 10 minutes before serving.

This year I was invited to Bake Day by my friend DeLyn. A whole group of friends get together and spend the whole day baking holiday goodies! Each person brings a recipe they want to make, so of course I chose my truffles. I pre made 2 milk chocolate mixtures so all I would have to do would be to roll, dip and decorate my truffles. I made raspberry and vanilla-cinnamon to share with everyone. At the end of bake day, everyone gets to take home a bit of each treat made that day. And we made a lot of goodies that day! I only took home a few of my own truffles so that everyone else could take more of them. I knew I would be making more at home later.

For the holidays, I make between 2 and 4 batches of truffles. If I'm pressed for time, sometimes I divide the melted milk chocolate mixture in half before flavoring, so I get two flavors out of one recipe. The two to three batches made about two weeks before Christmas usually lasts my family through New Year's.

Enjoy!
Adrienne

Yum

Easy Chocolate Truffles

Recipe by This Bittersweet Life

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 1-2 hours
Yield: 20-40 pieces

Ingredients

One 11.5 oz pkg. milk chocolate pieces
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon flavoring (such as candy flavoring, extract or liquor)
8 oz. white chocolate
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
Crisco or household canning wax/paraffin to temper chocolate
optional: candies, nuts, edible gold dusting, etc. for decoration
20+ toothpicks

Cooking Directions

Combine milk chocolate pieces and heavy whipping cream in a heavy saucepan, cooking on low 4-5 minutes or just until the chocolate melts, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat, cooling slightly. Add flavoring of choice.
Beat mixture with an electric mixer on low till smooth.
Cover and refrigerate 1 hour till firm. If you refrigerate longer, let the chocolate mixture soften on the counter for about 5-10 minutes until pliable enough to spoon out.
Line baking sheet with waxed paper. Roll chocolate mixture into quarter-sized balls or smaller (I do about nickle-sized because the truffles are so rich) and place on covered baking sheet.
Insert wooden toothpicks into each truffle--not too far! Just enough to hold it firmly while dipping so it doesn't fall back into your melted dipping chocolate. You can skip this step if you choose to use a fork for the dipping process.
Place the baking sheet of truffles into the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. Don't leave them in too long or your dipping chocolate may crack off your truffle later on. We just want to quickly firm these back up before dipping. Or, if you have some other things you need to get done while waiting, you can place the truffles back into the fridge for about a half hour.
In a double boiler, melt your semisweet chocolate pieces. Once melted, add small amounts of crisco or wax to the melted chocolate to temper it. You know it's ready for dipping when you lift your spoon or spatula out of the pot covered in chocolate and it runs off of it easily in ribbons (no plopping!).
Take your truffles out of the freezer or fridge and begin dipping one truffle at a time, letting the excess drip off.
Once the truffles have firmed up a bit, take the toothpicks out by slowly and gently twisting it up and out. Just keep checking them to see if they are ready. You can always re-dip or just dip the bottom of the truffle into the chocolate mixture if you waited too long to take the toothpick out--or use a fork to push down on the truffle while pulling up on the toothpick. Discard used toothpicks.
After dipping, place the truffles back into the fridge for about 10-15 minutes just to help harden them up.
In a microwave safe bowl or Pyrex measuring cup, microwave your white chocolate for about 20-30 seconds. Remove and stir vigorously until all the chocolate melts. Heat for an additional 5 seconds if needed.
Spoon or pour white chocolate into a piping bag with small tip or a plastic sandwich bag with the tip cut off.
Remove truffles from fridge and pipe designs onto them using the white chocolate. Add candies, nuts, etc. to a dot of white chocolate before it hardens.
Store in a pretty box or airtight container in a cool and dry location or in the fridge.

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I have made this meal three times now, so I felt pretty confident making it again. I've based my own recipe from Rita's Recipes Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chile [sic]. I followed it pretty closely, but you will see where I made some changes.

I was smart this time and put this meal together the night before (this bit of advice is really from my mother). I started by adding 2 frozen chicken breasts to the bottom of the slow cooker bowl. Then I added the beans, corn, Rotel tomatoes and cream cheese. I put the cover on and stuck the bowl in the fridge overnight.

I measured out the spices and stuck them in a small plastic zip top bag for the morning. Better safe than sorry with a dog that likes to eat bacon off my counters and tables! As always, I add more spice than what is called for, so my recipe below has a measurement range for the spices, so you can add them to taste. I've also used a Chipotle Spiced Ranch Dressing Mix that makes it taste wonderful too. This recipe is so simple it's easy to experiment with the flavors.

Before going to work I took the pot out of the fridge and placed it in the slow cooker and threw the spice in the pot and put it on low for eleven hours. I work an eight hour day so I figured eleven hours on low would give me two extra hours cook time so I could take the dogs out to the dog park for a good run, set the table plus have some down time.

At the end of the cook time, you should be able to shred the chicken breasts with two forks and mix it all together. However, next time I'll do a shorter cook time because it cooked so long that it got a little dry and my husband had to add some broth to it.

I was thinking I would add chicken broth or even a can of creamy soup to it next time to make it more like a soup. But when I make it thick my husband loves to put it in tortillas.

So for our meal, we topped the chili with sour cream and paired it with chips and guacamole!

Yum

Easy Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

Recipe by This Bittersweet Life

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 6-8 hours
Total time: 6-8 hours
Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts, frozen
1 Can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 Can Corn, un-drained
1 Can Rotel Tomatoes, un-drained
1 Package Ranch Dressing Mix
1 to 2 tsp Cumin
1 to 1 & 1/2 tbsp Chili Powder
1 to 2 tsp Onion Powder
1 8 oz. Package Light or Regular Cream Cheese
1 quart Chicken Broth (optional)
4 to 8 Tortillas
Tortilla or Corn Chips
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Cooking Directions

Place frozen chicken breasts into the bottom of the slow cooker bowl.
Top with drained and rinsed beans, corn plus liquid, tomatoes plus liquid and seasonings.
Add the optional chicken broth if you would like to make this a soup, stir.
Add the cream cheese and set to cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
About 2 hours into the cook time stir to blend in cheese, or stir as soon as you can. Shred the chicken just before serving and mix together.
Serve in tortillas or with chips. Top with sour cream and guacamole if desired.

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barbecue, BBQ, pulled pork, pork, crockpot, crock pot, Hawaiian, pineapple, vinegar, coleslaw, sweet and tangy, Sowiian, sandwiches, pulled pork sandwiches

I used to work with a lovely Southern lady who was my boss at a local school district. When she retired we had a last potluck party to celebrate her many accomplishments. When we had staff meetings we often started with “get to know you better” questions. That is when I learned that she liked North Carolina pulled pork sandwiches topped with coleslaw. I have never been to the South and in Colorado we have lots of barbeque places, but none that I know of that make a North Carolina style pulled pork. Quite honestly I never thought about how many different ways there are to make pulled pork, even in North Carolina they are divided about whether or not to use barbeque sauce at all, in Georgia their sauce is made with mayonnaise (huh???) then of course as you come west there is Kansas City barbeque (with a red sauce), I’m sure there is probably a special Louisiana or Creole barbeque (never looked, but should), a Southwest barbeque (smoky and spicy of course), probably a special California barbeque, and of course a Hawaiian barbeque. I could eat my way across the country just in barbecue!

This pulled pork meal is super easy to put together since it is made in the crockpot. The vinegar style BBQ of North Carolina meets Pacific Islander with pineapple juice to balance out the tangy with sweet.

I learned that that a North Carolina pulled pork is cooked in vinegar and topped with sweet coleslaw lending a tangy-sweet taste to the entire sandwich. Sounded oh so yummy to me, so my food contribution for the party was the pulled pork. Never having made it, I found an easy crockpot recipe on Pinterest to bring to the party and she loved it. Of course she was a true Southern lady so I’m sure she would never have admitted if it hadn’t been good, but I remember that my crock pot was empty by the end of the day so it must have been successful.

Top off your bun with some sweet coleslaw and you have a wonderful, crunchy and messy dinner that is so fun to eat!

It has been many years since I made that recipe, but lately I have had a hankering for pulled pork sandwiches topped with coleslaw thanks to a radio commercial I hear on the way to work every morning. My entire family knows that when I cook, I make it up as I go. If there is a recipe, I may follow the basics, but I change anything I don’t like and substitute if I feel like it. Generally it works out pretty well, sometimes not so much. But I enjoy the trial and error, it’s a learning experience. So, when I decided to have my children over for dinner last weekend I decided I needed to make pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, in a semi-Hawaiian style. I can never go whole hog! When I looked at Pinterest recipes all the pulled pork sandwiches that were listed under Hawaiian style had ingredients which would make them taste sweet, piled on top of Kings Hawaiian Bread (also sweet) and topped with coleslaw . . . more sweet than my taste buds could possibly handle. So I went back to my trusty recipe for North Carolina pulled pork via 'Lil Blue Boo, but instead of adding all of the apple juice required, I substituted some pineapple juice instead. We called it “Sowaiian” barbeque sandwiches. We used basic wheat bread buns piled them high with pulled pork and topped them with coleslaw for added sweetness and crunch. It was just the right amount of tangy-sweet my taste buds were searching for. They were sloppy yumminess in our tummy swiftly devoured by all. Even the leftovers disappeared quickly, which never happens in my household!

I almost didn't want to stop eating to take this photo!

What would I change if I tried this again you ask? I might exchange all the apple juice with pineapple juice to see if it brings out that tropical flavor more. In the alternative I could just use the Kings Hawaiian bread for authenticity and continue using half apple juice half pineapple juice. I could even add actual pineapple pieces to the coleslaw for that tropical flavor. One thing I have learned, there is no wrong way to eat barbeque, try experimenting like I did; you never know what new flavor combination you will enjoy!

For the coleslaw, I just mixed together a sweet coleslaw dressing (like Marie's) with a bag of pre-packaged coleslaw. Let it sit, refrigerated for about 20 minutes before serving.

Yum

"Sowiian" Style BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Recipe by This Bittersweet Life

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 8 hours
Total time: 8 hours, 10 minutes
Yield: 8-12

Ingredients

4 lbs Pork Loin
2 White or Yellow Onions
2 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Cup Pineapple Juice
1 Cup Apple Juice
1 tsp Liquid Smoke
1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Brown Sugar
1/2 bottler (about 9 oz) Regular/Classic BBQ Sauce

Cooking Directions

Cut up both onions and place half of them into the bottom of the crockpot. Place the pork loin in the crockpot and cover with the rest of the onions.
Mix together 1 cup of the apple cider vinegar with 1/2 cup of the pineapple juice, 1/2 cup of the apple juice and 1 tsp of the Liquid Smoke (reserve the other half of the 3 liquids for later). Pour over the roast and onions.
Set the crockpot on low for about 6 hours. You'll know it's time to shred the loin when it falls apart when you stick a fork in it.
Take the loin out and shred it and discard the liquid and the onions.
Place the shredded pork back into the crockpot.
Mix 1 cup of apple cider vinegar with 1/2 cup pineapple juice, 1/2 cup apple juice, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, brown sugar and BBQ sauce in a bowl.
Pour this mixture over the shredded pork and cook on low for another 2 hours.
Then transfer shredded pork to a serving dish. Serve on buns with sweet coleslaw.

9:23 PM No comments

Coconut Tres Leches Trifle

Easy Chocolate Truffles

Easy Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili

French Vanilla Gelato

"Sowiian" Style BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

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