Stacey Makes It

My awesome mom got some orders for me for Easter so I made a few Easter / Spring boxes.  I've been fairly busy lately, so I didn't have a whole lot of time yet to post recipes for all of these, but a random smattering of these was in all the boxes. Bailey’s Milk Chocolate Truffles Guittard milk chocolate blended with organic cream and Bailey’s Irish Cream liquor. Covered in a milk chocolate shell. Peanut Butter Meltaways Guittard milk chocolate with organic peanut butter and coconut oil that melts luxuriously in your mouth.  Covered in a Guittard 64% dark chocolate shell. Milk Chocolate Almond Caramels Vanilla bean caramels topped with a toasted almond and then dipped in Guittard milk chocolate. Dark Chocolate Pecan Caramels Vanilla bean caramels topped with a toasted pecan and then dipped in Guittard dark chocolate. Dark / Milk Salted Caramels Vanilla bean caramels dipped in Guittard milk and dark chocolate, topped with a pinch of Australian Pink Flake s

I know, I haven't been posting very much.  Come on, at least pretend that you've noticed.  Thanks, I appreciate it.  :)  Anywho, it's because of the new office and some big candy orders.  It's harder logistically for me to bring treats in, and I've been working on a few candy orders in my spare time.  But, I did have some time a little while ago to make some more miniatures.  Somehow animals look cuter when they've been reduced to blob-like facsimiles with only a few distinguishing features.  Here, I'll show you. Pink bunny blob Blue bunny blob And I thought I'd do a Martha Stewart style egg basket (you know, since HER chickens make different colored eggs - I've also seen these on her show... they are crazy) although I figured I'd take a little more poetic license, since I'm painting my eggs and not retrieving them from my little free range clay chickens. All together now.  Bunnies, look at the eggs... no, no no! With more longing!

I am in love with Mexican hot chocolate and solid chocolate.  It's spicy and wonderful.  I bought some recently when I found it and I had to find out what the magical ingredients were that made it so delicious.  To my surprise, it was just sugar and cinnamon.  I was a tad disappointed.  I tried to make spiced truffles once, and I put all sorts of spices in them.  Chili, cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves... It was too spicy for some of my co-workers.  I thought it was okay, but definitely not as exciting to me as Mexican chocolate.  So, now with the goal of doing something a bit more simple in terms of flavor, I decided to try an ode to Mexican chocolate, truffle-style. Stacey's Mexican-Inspired Cinnamon Truffle Ingredients : 20 oz Guittard 64% dark chocolate couverture 4 oz Guittard 38% milk chocolate couverture 12 oz heavy cream, organic 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1 tbs cinnamon 1.5 oz butter, salted, organic 3 oz glucose Cacao nibs Turbinado Sugar, organic Chocolat

My boyfriend's sisters invited us over for dinner last week, so I wanted to bring a yummy dessert over.  Usually I make a 9x13" tray of brownies to bring to work, but this was a much smaller audience so I opted for the 8x8" and scaled back my usual brownie recipes.  I've been working on brownie recipes for a long time, and I still haven't quite found one that I'm in love with.  This one was decent, but I think I would have liked to cook it a bit longer for next time. Stacey's Mint Brownie Ingredients : 1 stick butter, organic, salted 3 oz 99% unsweetened Guittard chocolate 1c dark brown sugar, organic 1c white sugar, organic 2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1 tsp peppermint extract 1/2c whole wheat flour, organic 2 tbs Scharffen Berger cocoa powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbs cornstarch 1/3c Guittard semisweet chocolate chips Stacey's Creme de Menthe Frosting Ingredient s 3 tbs heavy cream, organic 2 tsp Creme de Menthe liqueur 1.5c powdered