White Hot Chocolate

I found this recipe a while ago, and it has already become a favorite. What a wonderful treat for the chilly season!

White Hot Chocolate (from allrecipes.com)

2 cups whipping cream
6 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (12 oz) package white chocolate chips – Note: this recipe tastes the best with a premium white chocolate chip, not vanilla flavored chips.

 
Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and white chocolate chips in a slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chips are melted. Stir again before serving.

Garnish with whipped cream and candy canes, as desired. Makes ten servings.

Chocolate Ganache Blocks

I admit it…I am a chocolate LOVER!!  I will take it in all forms, but I especially love this recipe.  It’s perfect on its own, but lovely when added to some warm milk to make the most heavenly hot chocolate! Add some homemade marshmallows and you’re all set for a cozy winter night!

Chocolate Ganache Blocks {Click here to print the recipe}

• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3 cups of semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla {or any other flavoring that you would like, e.g. hazelnut, peppermint, coffee, or whatever would be good with chocolate}

Using a double boiler, (I use a heat-safe bowl on top of a sauce pan) place 2-3 inches of water in the sauce pan.  Bring to a low boil and then turn down to low. Place bowl on top of sauce pan.

Heat the cream and the sweetened condensed milk in the bowl of the double boiler.

Once warm add the chocolate and gently melt.

After about 10 minutes, whisk mixture until thick and smooth.  Add vanilla or the flavoring of your choice.

Whisk in the flavoring and pour into a parchment or foil lined 8x8 in. dish.

 

Let sit overnight to slowly set up.  Once set, turn out onto a clean surface and cut into 1 inch cubes or use a small circle cookie cutter to cut into rounds. {Note: it’s best to heat knife in hot water and wipe clean with each cut.}

This is wonderful as is, but pair it will a fluffy homemade marshmallow and melt it into 4-8 ounces of warm milk…it’s divine!!

 

Gingerbread Pecan Biscotti with Peppermint White Chocolate Drizzle

 

One thing you need to know about me is I'm a dunker. I need a glass of milk with me at all times when having any type of cookie or chocolate. I've even been known to pour milk over my cake (you've got to try it!). So biscotti is right up my alley, but this time I thought I would make a biscotti that says "Christmas".

What's better than the aromatic smell of gingerbread baking? So I searched until I found a recipe for gingerbread biscotti that had great reviews, and I think I found one. This particular recipe isn't overly sweet or heavy; it's light and crunchy like a good biscotti should be. And the peppermint white chocolate drizzled over it makes it the perfect little Italian treat.

Gingerbread Pecan Biscotti (adapted from food.com)

2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I grated whole nutmeg for added flavor)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In your mixer, combine the egg and egg whites, brown sugar, molasses and vanilla until smooth.
Stir the egg mixture into dry ingredients just until moistened; fold in pecans; cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
Divide dough in half; shape each half into a ball; on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray, or parchment paper; roll each ball into a 14-inch x 1 1/2-inch rectangle.

 

Bake at 325 for 24 to 28 minutes or until firm to touch; remove from the oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees.
Cool for five minutes then transfer to cutting board. Cut diagonally with a serrated knife into 1/2-inch slices; place cut side down on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray; bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Peppermint White Chocolate

6 oz. Baker's White Chocolate
1/4 teaspoon Peppermint extract

Place chocolate in microwave safe container, and add peppermint extract. Microwave according to directions and heat in small increments, stirring each time until fully melted. Making sure your biscotti is completely cooled, line up and drizzle chocolate over them with a  spoon.

Let the chocolate cool and harden, and place in an air safe container. Or if you’re like me, pour yourself a glass of ice cold milk and enjoy! Also great with any of your favorite hot beverages like cocoa.

Double Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Double Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Who Doesn’t love a cupcake? It’s the perfect portion of sweet indulgence. They transcend through every season and holiday, and Christmas-time is no exception. These cupcakes are a double chocolate fudge with red buttercream frosting.

To make your cupcakes, you can use a special family recipe, or you can certainly use your favorite cake mix from the store. One of my favorite things to do is to jazz up a store bought cake mix. You can add any type of chip (milk, semi-sweet, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.) to your batter to give it a pop of flavor when you bite into it. Or you can add any of your favorite nuts or sprinkles. One of my secrets to a really moist cupcake is to add pudding into my batter. I like to pick an instant pudding that matches my cake flavor, and I add it in with my wet ingredients. Be sure to make the pudding, not just add the powder into it. Do this and your cupcakes will come out moist and irresistible!

For the frosting, I like to use a homemade buttercream recipe. It’s creamy and delicious, and so simple to make. A few tips about your frosting. First, if possible, use a high-ratio shortening. It gives your frosting an unbelievable creaminess. Second, if you want to make your frosting really white, use a clear vanilla extract and replace butter with shortening. And third, don’t forget to sift your sugar. It helps to make the frosting silky and free of clumps.

Red Buttercream Frosting (via Wilton.com)
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or your favorite extract)
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk
1 bottle of Wilton no-taste red food gel
Makes: About 3 cups of icing, enough to cover 24 cupcakes.

 
 
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add extract. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add your gel coloring until you get desired color. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
 
Once your cupcakes have cooled, place your icing tip at the bottom of your pastry bag, and snip off the tip. Use the biggest round frosting tip you have (if no.12 is the biggest you have use it) Load your frosting in your bag, and squeeze down to get the air out.  Then take one of your cupcakes and slowly, in a swirling motion, pipe your frosting onto your cupcake. Once you’re done you can add sugar crystals to your cupcakes to give them an extra sparkle.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzels:

I am a self-proclaimed peanut butter connoisseur.  I LOVE it.  Everything is better with peanut butter smothered all over it.  But only certain kinds.  If it's not the right kind of peanut butter, I won't even eat it.
I've received a lot of chocolate covered pretzels as "neighbor gifts" at Christmastime over the years, and I've always loved them.  But when the idea popped in my head to make pretzel rods covered in peanut butter and THEN chocolate, nothing was stopping me.  I made a bee-line to the grocery store and bought some pretzel rods.  I experimented with a few different ways and finally got a delicious peanut butter chocolaty treat that any sweet tooth would die for.

Here's how I did it:
Gather together some pretzel rods, some chocolate (I just used chocolate chips) of your choice... milk, semi-sweet, dark... whatever you like, and your favorite peanut butter.
Melt the peanut butter in the microwave so that it runs.  I melted about 3/4 cup in 30 seconds.  Dip your pretzel rod in the melted peanut butter and immediately put it in the freezer.  Continue dipping and freezing until you have all the pretzels that you want.  I like to freeze mine until they're nice and hard, to ensure that the peanut butter doesn't just slide right off when you dip it in the chocolate.  This should take 1-2 hours.
Next, melt your chocolate in the microwave in small increments (10-15 seconds) so that you don't burn it.  Make sure you stir it well in between.  Once it's nice and melted, take your pretzels out and dip them, fully covering the peanut butter, and put it back in the freezer quickly so that everything doesn't melt off the stick.  Once you've dipped all the pretzels, let them freeze until they've set up, 15-30 minutes.
Take them out of the freezer and give them away or eat them up, they're definitely hard to resist!

Snowflake Sugar Cookies

These fun snowflake cookies are made using the same recipe as my airplane sugar cookies.  I love this recipe for 2 reasons.  The first is that the cookies hold their shape really well, which is perfect for intricate cookies like these.  The second reason is that they're just yummy.  They really taste fabulous. 

Sugar Cookies (via cakecentral.com)
6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (white granulated)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself)
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients, and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.  Chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Cut cookies and place on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Once your cookies are completely cooled, you can frost them. I like to ice a border of royal icing around the edge of my cookies first, so that I don't have run-off.  It gives the cookie a crisp, professional look.

Royal Icing
3 large egg whites
1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until they reach the soft peak stage.  Add confectioner's sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.

To ice your cookies, fill a zippered sandwich bag with icing and cut a little off the corner.  Frost your border and allow a few minutes for the icing to harden.  Finally,  you'll want to fill in your cookie with regular icing.  I put about 2 cups of confectioner's sugar in a bowl and add a little milk until I get my desired consistency (not runny, but not stiff).  Fill another sandwich bag with this icing, snip the corner of the bag, and fill the cookie.  To get an even consistency, use a toothpick or your (clean) pinky finger to spread the icing. 

The cookie cutters were bought at Williams-Sonoma last winter, but I was just in their store a few weeks ago and they still have them!  I love the cookie cutters because you can be creative with how you design them.  Every snowflake can be different.

Jamie’s Family Cocoa Recipe

• 2 c. nonfat dry milk powder
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. cocoa powder
• 1/2 c. non-dairy creamer
• dash salt

Mix all ingredients and store in an air-tight container. For an 8 oz. serving, mix 1/4 c. of mix with 3/4 c. of boiling water. Serves 12.

For Heather’s gift presentation idea click here. Enjoy!

Gingerbread House {Recipe}

Every year I host a Gingerbread House Party and invite some people for a confectionary extravaganza that turns out some unique and beautiful houses. If you’ve never made one of these beauties, this is the year! I’ve got a great recipe for gingerbread dough, and icing, and a step by step tutorial to get you from baking to decorating in no time flat. Let’s get started.

Start with making the gingerbread house dough. This recipe makes about 2 houses the size of the template you can find here:

Gingerbread House Dough

• 1 ¾ c. flour
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. ground allspice
• ½ tsp. vanilla
• ½ c. margarine (not oil) softened
• ½ c. firmly packed brown sugar
• Scant ¼ c. molasses (to double, use 1/3 c.)
• 1 whole egg

Now, let me insert here that I don’t eat my gingerbread houses. They are purely decoration. This being said, I use margarine instead of butter when I bake them. If I were going to make these into cookies I would use butter. But since I am making a good dozen and a half houses every Christmas, I go for the cheaper butter-alternative and use margarine.

Alright, let’s get mixing.

In a medium bowl mix together flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, soda, and allspice. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat vanilla, butter, and sugar for about five minutes--or until mixture is light and fluffy. Mixture will not be completely smooth. Beat in molasses and egg until blended and scrape down the sides of the bowl once. Beat in flour mixture on low speed until well blended. Divide dough into 2 equal parts, and flatten each piece of dough into a circle. Wrap pieces in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

 

Hopefully by this time you have a plan for your house. Do you want windows? A door that stands open? Plain sides and front? If you want the standard cut outs, proceed as specified. If you would like some windows, let’s say, then you will want to line your cookie sheets with parchment paper, cut out the window shape you want, crush up some hard candies (like lifesavers or jolly ranchers) into teeny tiny pieces and sprinkle them evenly into your window cavity. Then proceed as indicated. The sky is really the limit here. Do whatever the inner architect in you is yearning for.

Next, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease large cookie sheets, or line them with parchment. If you’re doing the candy windows, please use parchment paper. My first time I didn’t, and the windows stuck to the pan. It was a mini tragedy.

Once your pans are ready, remove plastic wrap from one piece of dough and place it on a heavily floured surface. Roll out the dough with a thickly floured rolling pin to 1/8 inch thickness. Keep the remaining dough refrigerated until needed.

~For house template, and decorating instructions click here for the full tutorial.~

Gingerbread House Glue (Royal Frosting)

• 2 c. Confectioner’s sugar
• 1 egg white
• ¼ t. cream of tartar

Please note, you will want your frosting to be very thick and cement-like. You will get a VERY thick frosting from this recipe. If it is thinner, you will have trouble getting your house to stay together without having to hold it in place for a long time. If you would like your frosting to be a bit thinner, you can play around by adding more egg whites, or sugar, depending on the consistency you want.

Mix all ingredients together until thick and firm. Scoop into frosting bags with a rubber spatula. This recipe will fill one frosting bag very full. You can get disposable frosting bags at your favorite craft store in the cake decorating aisle. You may also use a Ziploc like I did in the beginning, snipping off a corner. Be aware that you may end up with blowouts from the Ziploc popping apart midway through decorating. Otherwise, these can be a good alternative in a pinch.

For detailed building and decorating instructions – with photos – click here for the full tutorial.

I hope this becomes something you enjoy from year to year. Merry Christmas from the WhipperChicks!