Hot Cocoa Truffle Balls

Advent is here, Christmas songs have been blasting my house with my off pitch voice for weeks now, but my kids love me anyways.  Christmas is My Favorite and My Best.  I love this time of year, I think it is because my love language is giving and helping.  Not to mention the whole Jesus was born so that I can live and He can live through me Miracle, right?  MN is a great place to live in December when it is Christmas time, but ask me again in January, February and March!?!?!  Today is freezing, if you have never been here you should truly experience the feeling of your nose hairs freezing in under 1 second.  I would like to let you know of a giveaway I noticed for a Naughty and Nice Holiday Trip Giveaway to the Mall of America!  Good luck to everyone who enters and if you win, email me so I can show you around, ask my friends....I can walk through that place with my eyes shut, ears covered after spinning around 100 times.  Sad but true, and there is no tax on clothes here. 

Anyways, back the the topic of food.  I made these today and they are decadent and wonderful.  Try them right away, do not wait.  You will not regret!

Hot Cocoa Truffle Balls
Print recipe here

2 C (1 12 ounce package) chocolate chips (I prefer the high % cocoa chips)
1 C organic heavy whipping cream
1 TB organic powdered sugar (or any sugar)
½ tsp Vietnamese Cinnamon
dash or pinch of ground nutmeg
⅛  tsp celtic sea salt

1. In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Microwave for one minute. Remove and stir until grainy.

1 minute

2. Place back into microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir until mixture is fully combined and very smooth and silky. When you first start stirring, after the first minute or so, you’ll wonder if this mixture will ever come together.  Stir in your cinnamon and nutmeg.

2 minute

3. Let the mixture cool 10 minutes at room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

4. Scoop out a scant ¼ cup spoonfuls of the mixture and place them on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and let the mounds harden for 15 minutes. (Or in my case, stick them outside....)

5. Bring the tray of chocolate mounds back out. Roll the chilled mounds into balls and place on squares of foo-foo Christmas plastic wrap cut into 6” squares.


Cute, looks like penguin is holding up the Truffle Ball :)

6. Pull the sides of the plastic wrap over to cover the ball and place the balls in the freezer until ready to use.  Makes 12 truffles.

 

 
Make the Truffle Hot Cocoa:

1. Pour 1 ½ cups of whole milk into a microwave-safe mug. Place one unwrapped Hot Cocoa Truffle Ball into the milk. Microwave for 2 minutes. Stir well until the chocolate is combined with the milk. Serve piping hot covered in your choice of whip cream, marshmallows, cinnamon, nutmeg (Ahem- Kahlua) and stir with a candy cane or cinnamon stick!

Wonderful variations ahead, let your imagination go wild and create your own favorite melted mug of naughtiness!

Cherry Cordial Truffle Balls
Sub the chocolate chips for 1 cup chocolate chips, 1 cup cherry chips. Nix the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Hot Toffee Truffle Balls
Sub the chocolate chips for 2 cups butterscotch chips.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls
Add ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper ½ tsp vanilla extract. Nix the nutmeg.

Melted Almond Joy Truffle Balls
Add in 1 tsp each of almond extract and coconut extract. Nix the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Melted Reese's Cups Truffle Balls
Add in ¼ cup peanut butter when heating the ingredients. Nix the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Melted Andes Mint Truffle Balls
Add 1 tsp peppermint extract. Nix the cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir with Candy Cane!



Today's recipes where brought to you by, inspired or adapted from:  Mels Kitchen Cafe

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I wanted to post this earlier but have been dealing with some solid head colds around here.  The kind that throw off your equilibrium and make you feel like you just stepped off the Gravitron!  But we are all better now and while monkeying in my kitchen a few days ago I came up with this gem of a breakfast treat.  Wonderful enough to officially label it as My Favorite and My Best, the flavor is fresh yet intense.  I think I ate almost the whole dozen!  My Big Guy has labeled these as his favorite as well.  The Beurre Noisette (pronounced bur nwah-zet) makes this so savory, the lemon gives it a fresh zest and the yogurt keeps them moist.  I hope you give these a try and love them as much as we do, we are on our 3rd batch already this week.  The How To below is for the Beurre Noisette (Browned Butter), but when you say it in french it sounds all the more fancy.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Print recipe here

⅔ C turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw) + 2 TB for sprinkling tops
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 C whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp celtic sea salt
¾ C plain Greek yogurt or cultured sour cream
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp almond extract
½ C browned butter, cooled
2 TB poppy seeds
¼ C sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees F. Line a 12 regular sized muffin tray with paper muffin liners, place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, measure the sugar and top with lemon zest. Combine until the wonderful lemon fragrance rises and consumes your smelling senses! Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a a smaller bowl whisk together the eggs, Greek yogurt or sour cream, almond extract, lemon juice , browned and cooled butter.

3. Make a well in the dry ingredients bowl, pour the wet ingredients into the well and mix until almost thoroughly combined. Add poppy seeds and combine. Be careful not to over mix!

4. Divide batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle each muffin with sliced almonds pressing slightly, top with turbinado sugar.

5. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the tops are golden and a wood skewer inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

6. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing, if you can wait that long before ripping one out and biting into it!
 
 
 
How To: Beurre Noisette (Browned Butter)
Print recipe here
 

1. Heat your pan to medium high heat, place the butter in a pot or pan.

2. High heat will brown the butter quickly, and maintain a regular consistency. However, if you do not monitor the butter properly, the milk solids and salt particles will sink to the bottom of the pan and burn. Keep an eye at all times on the pan.

3. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter becomes a light tan color. Remove the pan from the heat. The butter will continue cooking even after you remove it from the burner. The finale should be nut-brown and have a toasty aroma. Overcooked butter will have a very bitter taste.

5. Substitute brown butter for melted butter. It will add a complex and nutty flavor to your food with this classic French technique.
 
 
Today's recipes where brought to you by, inspired or adapted from: A Saved by the Egg Timer: Original