the trouble with truffles...

...where do I begin?


Truffles are delicious, whether they're made with cream, store-bought frosting, cream cheese, or just straight chocolate and sugar. I'll eat 'em flavored with mint or fruit, filled with caramel or marshmallow, or flecked with toffee bits, nuts, or chocolate chips. A bad truffle is hard to find.

That being said, making truffles brings all sorts of problems to the table. First and absolutely foremost, I can't stop eating them. I'll eat one, leave the room, and even cleanse my palate, and I'm still inexplicably drawn back to the fridge for another. And another. Even in making them, only about 3/4 of the mixture actually makes it to truffle-form--I do a lot of utensil and bowl licking (sanitarily, of course). Truffles are, in fact, a mixing-bowl-licker's dream, as there tends to be a lot left behind.

The second issue I have with truffles is the chocolate-coating process. They say practice makes perfect, but I think I'm getting worse. Last time I ended up with some hideous (although still delicious) mounds of lumpy and extremely unattractive chocolate. The dipping chocolate always hardens up on me before I'm finished with my coating and I end up reheating it several times. I believe I need to learn a tempering technique. I've also heard that a small crock pot works well to keep the chocolate liquid-y, but I haven't tried that yet.

For this batch of truffles, I tried a new recipe. Where did I find it? I have no idea. Can I find it again to give credit where credit is due? Unfortunately, no. So if this is your recipe, thanks. I took the easy way out and rolled the little nuggets in powdered sugar. (Wow--with my laziness here and my aforementioned sloth-like tendencies, ya'll are going to think I'm a complete waste of space. I'm not, I promise. I do have my moments.)

Magnificent Mint Truffles
(makes about 50 1-inch balls of evil deliciousness)

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted + extra for rolling
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 teaspoon mint extract

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until well blended. Stir in melted chocolate and mint extract until no streaks remain. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. Shape into balls, roll in powdered sugar, and place under lock and key until time to serve.

read more words!

summation in six words?

I've been asked by Sarah of Homemade to tell you folks six characteristics that describe me. Given my penchant for alliteration, I picked a letter to help me narrow the 239,049,283 words that describe me down to six.

This post is brought to you by the letter "p" and made possible by comments from readers like you.

1. perceptive
2. passive-aggressive
3. persnickety
4. proficient
5. practical
6. proud

and one to grow on...

7. parsimonious (I embrace it.)

I've also seen a few six-word memoirs in sentence form. Mine would probably change daily, but for now, I'll go with:

NORTHERN IN BODY, SOUTHERN IN SPIRIT.


Can you tell I miss my home?

read more words!

cutie-patootie carrot cupcakes

I keep getting lucky on my pairings for Taste & Create. This time, Version 8.0, I was partnered with Jescel at Spice of Life, a delightful blog chock-full of yummy recipes. It didn’t take me long to settle on a recipe, however--I saw the words "carrot cake" and knew that’s what I had to make (and devour).



Carrot cake is one of my favorite desserts, right up there with apple pie a la mode, strawberry shortcake, and anything combining mint and chocolate. I have at least 20 renditions of carrot cake in my abyss of saved recipes--I'm always on the hunt for the best recipe ever. Some have coconut, some have pineapple, some have cranberries, some have nuts. Most have cream cheese icing, which I’ve always considered a necessary component of the cake. In fact, it's probably the main reason I'm such a fan of carrot cake.


Jescel’s recipe for Carrot Cake in a Cup was straightforward and looked like a winner. That being said, I made two major changes and a small tweak. (Is that allowed? I'm such a rebel.) One change reveals my sloth-like tendencies and the other reflects my aversion to messes.

Change #1: Instead of grating carrots, I opted to use some carrot baby food. You tend to have a plethora of such things lying around when you work for a baby food company. That, coupled with the fact that I’m a lazy bum, was why I made this alteration.

Change #2: Following the success of the black-bottom cupcakes I made last week, I decided to skip the icing (gasp! shudder! sob!) and try the same method out on these. I was able to sacrifice the icing because I knew these babies would be traveling to work with me and thought they'd be easier to transport and eat this way. Hey, I'm just thinking about the well-being of my co-workers, that's all. :)

Small tweak: I was nut-less. There wasn't a walnut, pecan, cashew, or pistachio to be found in my apartment, so sadly, I was forced to leave them out. So much for a nice crunch.


Results: Using baby food instead of grated carrots obviously made the cake much more moist, bordering on too moist. If I take the lazy route again (and let's be honest, I probably will), I’ll reduce the amount of baby food and use two 4-oz jars instead of three. They still tasted delicious (and I do mean delicious), but they were just a little too sticky. I sort of missed the flecks of grated carrot throughout the cake and was a little put off by the neon orange-ness created by the pureed carrots. Eh, that's a small price to pay for the time and knuckle-skin that I saved. :)

The plop of cream cheese on top was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. It’s a wonderful alternative to cream cheese icing (although clearly not as scrumptious--let's not kid ourselves here). Orange-bottom cupcakes, anyone?

(massacre)(shortly before it went in my belly)

Thanks, Jescel, for feeding my need for carrot cake!

read more words!

everybody's got one...

So this is what a quarter-century of living feels like.


Happy birthday to me!

read more words!

eggs my way

One of my favorite things to have for breakfast, lunch, or dinner is the incredible, edible egg. (What a catchphrase, right?)

Out of all the 154,983 ways to prepare and serve eggs, this is my absolute favorite:


How many eggs? Two. I'm a creature of habit.
How are they prepared? Scrambled to within an inch of their lives.
What's the green stuff? Cilantro, of course.
What kind of cheese? It has to be pepper jack.
Is the salsa hot, medium, or mild? Don't insult me--the hotter, the better.
Anything else? Plentiful salt and pepper.
Time to prepare? About 5 minutes.
Time to inhale? It depends on how my day is going.


Don't ignore your eggs, folks. Or that gooey, melted pepper jack cheese.

read more words!

bewitching black-bottom cupcakes

The word "bewitch" isn't used enough in everyday speech. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard it used out loud until I watched Pride and Prejudice the other day.



"You have bewitched me, body and soul."

Call me sappy, call me a romantic, call me a girly-girl (all right, don't call me a girly-girl), but that line made my heart flutter and has apparently lodged itself in my head.

That, my friends, is why I've dubbed these cupcakes Bewitching Black-Bottom Cupcakes.


In addition to giving me an excuse to use the word "bewitching" and reveal my fondness for mushy love stories, these cupcakes are also the first of many dandified dessert experimentations to come. (In case you've forgotten, I'm making the desserts for my cousin's wedding reception this summer.)

The tried-and-true recipe I used comes from the splendid David Lebovitz, and as expected, it worked like a charm. These little beauties are practically a shoo-in for the reception (assuming they're approved by the bride) because a)they're delicious (clearly the top priority), b)they can be made two or three days in advance, and c)no refrigeration is required. They're also really easy to eat. Trust me, I know. That's an important part of this testing process. :)


Bewitching Black-Bottom Cupcakes
The Great Book of Chocolate, David Lebovitz
Yield: 24 mini + 6 regular cupcakes

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 ounces chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used dark chocolate with cranberries, just to mix things up and make them a little different)(it was a nice touch)

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the filling, beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar, and egg until smooth. Stir in the chopped chocolate pieces. Set aside.

Cupcakes:
Adjust the rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line mini-muffin tin with paper muffin cups.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring until just smooth. Stir any longer and you will over mix the batter and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. (I went about half-way full for each.) Spoon a dab of the filling (less than a tablespoon) into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly. This will fill the cups almost completely, which is fine, but don't get too generous.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.

Since this recipe has been made time and time again and simply will not fail (knock on wood), I'm sending it over to Giz and Psychgrad at Equal Opportunity Kitchen for their first blogging event, appropriately named Tried, Tested, and True.


What a great theme--the round-up will be an awesome collection of go-to recipes.

read more words!

oh, the controversy

To-may-to vs. to-mah-to, fruit vs. vegetable.

What drama surrounding such unassuming, delightful little comestibles!



No matter how you say the name (personally, I'm partial to the term 'maters) or what type of food they are (a berry, for the record), I love 'em.

I love 'em in salad, as salsa or pasta sauce, on a sandwich--I'll take them however I can get them.



I used to think that my favorite type of tomato was sun-dried. That lurvely sweet and tart punch really does it for me. However, there seems to be some stiff competition emerging in the form of oven-dried 'maters.

Grape tomatoes were on sale at the grocery store, so I got a couple pints. I sliced them in half, liberally added salt and pepper (freshly-ground, of course), and popped them in the oven for an hour at 225 degrees F. Then I turned the heat off and let them dry up overnight.


Yes, the concentrated flavor is fabulous. Sweet + tart + salty + spicy = incredible. But what makes these little morsels so delectable and irresistible is the burst of juice that you get when you chomp down on one...if you don't dry them to oblivion. I'm not kidding when I say that I eat them like candy.

They're a primo snack, and I'm sure they'd be great with pasta or in a salad or whatever else strikes your fancy. Tommy-toes can do no wrong!


"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

read more words!