Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Oh, hello there! Guess who remembered she writes a blog? Yeah, I've been MIA for a few reasons and now I'm back for more crafty fun. First I thought I'd beg your forgiveness by sharing these yummy truffles with you. Am I forgiven? Excellent.

Not only did the holidays get me bogged down, I also changed up my work life by quitting one job to go Full Time at the other! Yay! I'm super happy about it, but I have had to adjust to a new schedule, which now allows me to actually see my husband more than a few minutes each day while we are both awake. Don't worry too much, I have lots of crafty projects I am working on that I will share with you soon. Now, on to the truffles.

These are super easy, to make them all you need is:

1 pound of dark chocolate
1 cup heavy cream (you can substitute full fat coconut milk for the vegans in the house)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup crushed peppermint sticks (I prefer the soft peppermint sticks, but you could use candy canes as well)

Start by chopping up your chocolate into small pieces, you want them to be as small and as uniform in size as possible so they melt evenly. Once the chocolate is all chopped up, pour it into a heat safe bowl.

Next, heat your cream in a small saucepan on the stove top. Stir continuously to prevent scorching. Your cream should be all ready to go once small bubbles start forming around the edges of the pan, we aren't bringing this to a boil, just getting it nice and hot.

Add your teaspoon of peppermint extract to the chocolate, then pour all of your cream on top. Don't stir yet, just let it all hang out for about 3-5 minutes. Then, go ahead and stir slowly and watch all the chocolate and cream melt together into yummy truffle goodness. If you have some small chunks that don't melt all the way, you can pop this in the microwave for 10 second intervals and stir after each one until your mixture is nice and smooth.

Let this stand for about an hour, then scoop out small balls of chocolate and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. If your truffles need to firm up more before dipping them in crushed peppermint candy, refrigerate them for about 10 minutes. Otherwise, you can start dipping them right away and place them in the refrigerator to set up afterward.
Keep them in an air tight container in the refrigerator and they last a couple weeks (well, if they actually stay in there that long). If you plan to server these at a get together, I generally take them out of the fridge an hour ahead of time and serve them room temperature. SO GOOD!

With Valentine's Day on the way, I have another remix on these you could try: Instead of peppermint extract add a couple Tablespoons of Amaretto and then roll these in sliced almonds! You can also mix up your chocolate flavors: dark, milk, bittersweet, just make sure you have a pound of chocolate (chocolate chips will taste fine if it's all you have, but the stabilizers in them will make your final chocolate mixture a little grainy looking, so go forthe big chocolate blocks if you can).

Food Craft: Candy Cane Coffee Cakes

This is a great breakfast dish for Christmas morning. The best part: you can make it ahead of time and just pop it in the oven to bake while presents are being opened. Another great thing: it looks pretty fancy but is actually quite easy to achieve! My mom used to make a coffee cake similar to this when I was younger, I have no idea where she got the recipe but it was pretty tasty, so here is my version. :)

To make this "candy cane" coffee cake you will need:

For the filling:

2 cups cherries, drained (I used Dark Morello cherries from Trader Joe's. My mom used to use maraschino cherries. Both will do just fine)
3/4 cup dried apricots
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch salt

Drain you cherries well and check for pits, remove any you may find. Place cherries into your food processor along with your dried apricots (I tend to use a kitchen shears to cut my apricots up a little first) and your spices. Pulse together until well combined. It should still have some fruit chunks, not look like jelly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the dough:

1 cup warm milk
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), room temperature (you can microwave to soften, it's ok if some is melted)
1 egg
4 cups flour (plus a little extra for your counter tops when kneading)


Start by warming your milk. This can be done in a microwave or in a small saucepan on your stove top. It should be around 108-110 degrees, too hot and it will kill your yeast (not a yummy thing). Put your milk, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl (or stand mixer) and mix it together a little bit, let stand for about 5 minutes.

Next, add in your butter and egg, plus one cup of your flour. Mix this together until your egg and any butter lumps are worked into the dough (sometimes I just melt all of my butter to avoid the lumps altogether). Then add in the rest of your flour and mix until it has come together. Remove onto a floured surface and knead by hand for a couple minutes, if your dough is too sticky you can add a bit more flour.

Place dough into a greased bowl and cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size. Punch down, and allow to rise another 30 minutes before rolling.

Separate your dough into 2 pieces (this makes 2 coffee cakes, you can make one larger one, but it is easier to move them on and off pans, etc. if you make 2 smaller cakes). On a floured surface, roll out each piece of dough into a rectangle (or close to it, mine are always just long ovals) about 1/2" to 1/4" thick. Then, using a clean kitchen shears, cut strips into each side about 1/3 of the way into the dough. You will want to make sure each side has the same number of strips. Your dough will look a bit like this:

You will spoon half of your cherry/apricot filling onto the center of each coffee cake and spread evenly. Now, "braid" your dough closed. Start at one end and fold one strip over the filling, followed by a strip from the opposite side over the center and continue until you have your braided "log" of dough. Then, to make the candy cane shape, arrange your coffee cake on a sheet pan and gently pull and turn the dough to curve one end. You will have something like this:

You may now cover well and refrigerate until baking Christmas morning, or preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, until the dough is golden brown.

I typically rub a little butter over the top of my coffee cakes as soon as they come out of the oven, but it is not needed.

Then, mix up a simple glaze of confectioner's sugar and water (about 1/2 cup powdered sugar to 1 Tablespoon water) and drizzle this over the top of your warm cakes. Serve warm or cold, this makes a great breakfast or afternoon snack :)

Candy Cane Sugar Scrub

This is an incredibly easy sugar scrub recipe that makes a great gift (if you are already Holiday minded it is an excellent stocking stuffer!). The best part is you probably have the main ingredients on hand already! I like to make a small batch for myself and keep it in my 4 oz. mason jars, as pictured. However, if you want to make a large batch and separate it into smaller jars it is very easy to just use the ratio of 2 parts sugar to one part oil and make as large or small a batch as you like.

To make my Peppermint Candy Cane Sugar Scrub you will need:

4 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon flax seed oil
3-4 drops peppermint essential oil

container for storage (I keep mine in a small glass mason jar, you may want to opt for a plastic container, especially if little ones are around, to prevent breakage)

Just add all of the ingredients together, stir well and you have a great exfoliating facial scrub! You can make it unscented as well, or choose a different essential oil as well. The peppermint is very refreshing, as is tea tree oil. For something calming I would recommend a lavender essential oil.

*The sugar does tend to settle at the bottom, so be sure to stir or shake before using.

If giving as a gift, I might recommend making several small containers of varying scents! Also, you may substitute in brown sugar for the white granulated sugar in equal amounts. I like to use a little flax seed oil, as I have mild psoriasis and it seems to help calm my skin better than just olive oil, but you may use entirely olive oil, or experiment with other natural oils to see what you like best. :)




This post was featured on Wildcrafting Wednesday.