Mostacciole Cookies

Going for a little Italian American flair, I thought I'd try to made Mostacciole cookies.  They're small, spicy, cake-like cookies that blend cinnamon and cocoa for an interesting and unique flavor.  To be honest, I didn't care for them much myself, but the girls loved them, and if you like gingerbread I think you may find these a yummy alternative to the standard.

Recipe:

Cookies

2 cups All-purpose flour

1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. Ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Ground cloves

1/4 tsp. Salt

3/4 cup Granulated sugar

1 stick Butter

1 Large egg

1/2 cup Whole milk

Glaze

3Tbsp. Unsweetened cocoa

1 1/4 cups Confectioners sugar

1/4 cup boiling water

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  Combine the flour, cocoa, cloves, and salt.

In a separate bowl cream your butter and sugar.  Add the eggs to this.  Add in the dry ingredients and the milk alternately until well blended.  Dust your hands with cocoa and roll the batter out into 1" balls.

Bake them 2" apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper for 7-9 minutes, or until they're slightly dry and cracked on the tops.  Cool them for 20 minutes while you make your glaze.

To make the glaze, pour the boiling water over the cocoa and mix until well blended.  Gradually mix in the confectioners sugar.  Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the glaze and place them on waxed/parchment paper to set.  If you choose to garnish them you can do so, with white candy sprinkles or (as I did) grated white chocolate bark.

I made a double batch.  This recipe will make about 60-80 cookies per batch.  

The Toboggan Project

For Christmas I wanted to get my girls a toboggan.  I had one growing up and loved it.  However, I'd already nearly spent my budget for each of them, and we don't get much in the way of snow here, so I didn't want to spend a ton.  AND I wanted it personalized, just for them.  I shopped around and watched for a good deal, and scored this antique Paris Toboggan Company beauty on craigslist.

It needed some work, and I only had a week till Christmas, but I was able to clean it, sand it, stain it and paint it before the big day.  My husband clear-coat varnished it afterwards.  We can't wait to get a big snow so that we can use this thing!

Chocolate Truffles

My oldest daughter "suffers from" (which, in many cases translates to "benefits from") a severe peanut allergy.  With her safety as my #1 concern, and keeping her happiness at the forefront of my mind, I have learned to make a great deal of treats that one usually buys at the store.  These candies were just that - a home-made confection to replace the host of peanut contaminated chocolates that come in big heart shaped boxes.  While somewhat time-consuming, they're not difficult to make, and are perfectly delicious.  They also leave plenty of room for creativity, as one might add extracts and purees (raspberry comes to mind) for a variety of flavors.

What you'll need:

For the filling:
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese - softened
3 cups Semi-sweet chocolate chips - melted
3 cups confectioners sugar (that's the powdered stuff)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

For softer, perfectly round-rolled shells:
3 cups Semi-sweet chocolate chips - melted
8 Tbsp. Light corn syrup

For harder (though potentially lumpier) "dipped" shells:
3-4 cups Semi-sweet chocolate chips - melted

For white chocolate fanciness on the top:
7 oz. white chocolate chips, baking squares or candy bark - melted

What to do:

Melt your chocolate in a microwavable bowl on high for 30 seconds at a time until it's smooth.  Set this aside.
Using a mixer (hand-held or heavy duty) cream your cream cheese until it's smooth.
Next add the confectioners sugar, gradually if possible, mixing until it's well-blended.
Add the vanilla extract.
Last, pour your melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture, and beat it until it's well mixed.
Scrape it into the center of your bowl, cover it, and chill it for a couple of hours.  You want it firm but easily workable with your hands, not hardened.

If you want perfectly round, softer shells you will need to prep your modeling chocolate (a.k.a. chocolate clay) now.  Melt 3 cups of chocolate chips in a bowl, stirring until smooth.  Add about 8 tablespoons of light corn syrup (this can vary with current humidity and the brand of chocolate that you choose, so start with 6 or so, and add until you reach the right consistency) and stir well for at least 2 minutes.  You want your chocolate clay to be slightly softer than taffy.  Place it in a zipper bag and chill it for about an hour.

After your filling has chilled, use a tablespoon to scoop it out and roll it between your hands to form 1" balls.  You should be able to get 60-80 from this recipe.  Place them on parchment/waxed paper and let them stand in a cool dry place while you prep the shells.  If you're planning on dipping them into melted chocolate and chilling them for harder shells, you'll want them quite cool (so that they don't melt), and you should chill them in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. If you plan to skip the shell you can roll them, just as they are, in chopped nuts, crushed candy canes, powdered sugar, cocoa (for a bitter-sweet taste), or grated chocolate bark (or whatever your imagination can come up with), and then chill them until firm.

To make the softer shells, remove your modeling chocolate from the fridge, and (while it's still in the bag) work it in your hands until it feels like easily workable clay (a little firmer than play-dough).  Dump it out onto a large piece of parchment/waxed paper.  Cover it with another sheet of parchment/waxed paper.  Using your rolling pin, roll it out to approximately 1/8" thick (a little thicker won't hurt, it will just make for a thicker shell). Remove the top layer of paper and use a round cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, or sharp knife to cut the clay into pieces that are just large enough to cover your fillings.  Drop a filling onto your clay and wrap it tightly.  Finally, roll it between your palms to seal it in and smooth it out.  Set them aside on parchment/waxed paper.
(I covered some in regular chocolate and some in white chocolate clay)

To make the harder shells, melt 3 cups of chocolate chips until very smooth and "runny" in texture.  Place the filling on the tip of a fork, hold it over the bowl of chocolate, and use a spoon to drench it in melted chocolate.  Set it on a cooling rack or waxed paper to set.  Chilling will speed this up.

For the fancy part: For a uniform look, melt your white chocolate JUST until smooth.  Place it in an icing bag with a small lettering tip (plain round) and pipe lines onto your cooled truffles.  For a more drizzly effect, melt it until very runny, and use a fork to "sling" it on randomly.

Cool your truffles, and store them in sealed containers away from heat.

NOTE:  I just did another batch of these today, slightly different.  I had felt that the powdered sugar was over-powering the tastes of the chocolate and the cream cheese.  So today I made these adjustments:

8 oz. cream cheese
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

It made the filling softer, so you have to be more careful working with it, chilling becomes much more necessary between each of the steps, and the final product is slightly lumpier, HOWEVER, the taste was PHENOMENAL and nearly matched the Godiva Double Chocolate Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory (I'm an addict).  :)  If you try other variations or flavors, let me know how they turn out!