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).

Peppermint Buttercream

Sunday was the husband's birthday. I always let him pick what he would like his birthday treat to be, and this year he decided he wanted chocolate cupcakes. Not just any chocolate cupcakes though, cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting. He's very particular like that. Don't worry, the cupcake recipe is coming soon as well, but to tide you over here is the recipe for my Peppermint Buttercream Icing!


Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Peppermint extract
3-5 drops green food coloring (optional)


Start by creaming together your butter and one cup of powdered sugar. Next, add in your flavorings and green food coloring, stir to combine. Now, add more powdered sugar and mix well until you reach your desired spreading consistency. I think I ended up using 3 cups for a very spreadable smooth icing, if filling a cake you may want to add a bit more powdered sugar so it is firmer.

I liked this buttercream so much, I challenged myself to use it to fill some macarons as well! They didn't turn out as well as I wanted them too overall (our rainy weather left my poor macarons a little chewier than they should have been). Don't they look yummy regardless though?

I used the recipe I found at Serious Eats for my macarons. Let me know if you have more success :)

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.