Stacey Makes It

I'd been wanting to try out a recipe with chocolate chunks instead of regular chips and thought I'd give this one a shot. Result: rave reviews from the BBQ I went to at my friend's house. Ingredients (weight not volume) 10.1 oz flour 0.5 oz cornstarch 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 12 tbs (1.5 sticks) butter 7 oz light brown sugar 3 oz granulated sugar 1 egg 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (you can use regular vanilla extract if you want) 9 oz dark and white chocolate chunks (I chopped up a 70% bar and used white chocolate disks 6oz:3oz dark:white - you can use whatever mixture you like, or use chocolate chips) 1/3 c dried cranberries Preheat oven to 350F. Soften butter in the microwave. Beat sugar, egg, vanilla, and butter until fluffy.  Add dry ingredients and mix. Drop about 2 tbs of dough at a time on the cookie sheets,  about 2" apart (I used a 1 oz scooper). Bake for 10-12 min, rotating the pan once after 6 minutes until edges are starting to bro...

Recently, I decided to go on a diet, but I was going to let myself have a free day here and there.  This seems to have changed my outlook on what to make for events since I wanted to make things that only I cared about eating, and didn't care as much about my audience.  However, it appears that this recipe was a me-pleaser as well as a crowd-pleaser. Stacey's Super 4x Chocolate Chip Cookie Ingredients 1 1/4c granulated sugar, organic 1c brown sugar, organic 2.5 sticks of butter 1 oz 99% unsweetened chocolate (I used Scharffen-Berger) 2/3c unsweetened cocoa powder, organic (I used Dagoba) 2 eggs, organic 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 1/4c cornstarch 2 1/2c all purpose unbleached flour, organic 1 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 1/2 tsp salt 2/3-1c white chocolate chips (Guittard) 2/3-1c milk chocolate chips (Guittard) 2/3-1c semi-sweet chocolate chips (Guittard) Microwave the butter, unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder in a heat safe bo...

It's that time of year again.  The time of year that people like to eat extra chocolate that isn't Easter or Christmas.  So I thought I'd put together some boxes again to sell to my mom's wonderful friends and my awesome co-workers so that I can keep deducting my ingredients from my taxes. Stacey's 2012 Mid-February (for those who hate Valentine's Day) Chocolate Boxes: Strawberry white chocolate hearts with crispies and milk chocolate bottoms Dark Chocolate Hearts with Candied Almonds Chocolate Bars:  Strawberry White Chocolate with Crispies White Chocolate with Dark Chocolate Drizzle Dark Chocolate with Candied Almonds Kahlua Truffles Two Ways: Dipped in Dark Chocolate with a White/Milk Chocolate Drizzle Rolled in Chocolate Sprinkles and Organic Turbinado Sugar And lastly, my pièce de résistance... The Walnut Meltaway in Milk Chocolate - this is my latest invention of which I am so proud.  I ate one of these and I swear I was transcended t...

Thought I'd make something easy. Stacey's Dark Chocolate Pretzel Sticks Ingredients: 60% El Rey Dark Chocolate couverture Organic Turbinado Sugar crystals Honey Wheat Pretzel sticks from Trader Joe's I tempered the dark chocolate and dipped the pretzels into it.  Then I sprinkled them with the turbinado sugar. Ta-dah!

For those few of you who have gotten to try these caramels, yes, this is THE caramel recipe. I had debated publishing this recipe, but then I decided that I'm never going to make money via my food creations, and really I want to be an author instead, thus exchanging one impossible dream for another. :)  So, without further ado... Stacey's Caramel Recipe : 1.5c heavy cream, organic 2.25c whole milk, organic 3c sugar, organic 1 vanilla bean 1.5c glucose 3/4 stick (6 tbs) of butter, organic Oiled parchment paper in 7x7" and 10x10" cake pans Candy thermometer First, a WARNING : Caramel takes forever to make.  So be ready to have at least 2 hours to do the first part.  Since I needed extra caramel, this is 1.5x my normal recipe where I would only fill the 10x10" cake pan.  I should also note that you need the really sturdy cake pans that won't warp.  If you use cake pans or jelly roll pans that warp, your caramel is going to be all different thickne...

I love mint chocolates.  :) Stacey's Dark Chocolate Créme de Menthe Truffle Ingredients: 8 oz cream, organic 2.5 oz glucose syrup 20 oz El Rey 61% dark chocolate couverture 2.5 tbs butter, organic 1 oz Créme de Menthe   liqueur Chocolate Flake Chopped El Rey white chocolate couverture Chopped Guittard mint chocolate chips I made these pretty much the same way as  my other truffles , but I hand stirred instead of using the immersion blender with whisk attachment.  I decided to make these a little bit more interesting to look at so I rolled them in chocolate flake and chopped white and mint chocolates.  Nummy...

I had some cream I needed to use, so what better fate could it end up with than as part of a delicious truffle? :) Stacey's Dark Chocolate Chambord Truffle Ingredients: 8 oz cream, organic 2.5 oz glucose syrup 20 oz El Rey 61% dark chocolate couverture 2.5 tbs butter, organic 1 oz Chambord liqueur Chocolate Flake Turbinado Sugar, organic I made these pretty much the same way as my other truffles , but I hand stirred instead of using the immersion blender with whisk attachment.  And, I gave them the same treatment as my Scharffen-Berger Chocolate Truffles . I'm not as big of a fan of the El Rey dark chocolate - I think Guittard has richer flavors, but the El Rey behaves well, and is just fine in truffle form.  

I think most people don't recognize there is a difference between buttercrunch and toffee.  I blame See's.  See's Victoria Toffee is actually buttercrunch, at least, according to  Chocolates and Confections: Formula, Theory, and Technique for the Artisan Confectioner , which says that toffee has to have milk proteins in it.  As a result, "real" toffee sticks to your teeth, which is why I love buttercrunch.  It's crunchy, sweet, and rich, but doesn't hurt my old lady sensitive teeth.  I started with a recipe from the book, scaled it back a bit, and then added nuts to the buttercrunch portion.  The book recipe says to put the nuts on the chocolate, but I thought it would give the nuts a better chance at staying crunchy if they were inside the candy. Stacey's Chocolate Nutty Buttercrunch Ingredients : 2 sticks (8 oz) salted butter, organic 1c sugar, organic 1.5 oz water 2 tsp vanilla bean paste ~1.5c mix of raw (untoasted) peanuts and pepitos (pumpkin s...

In case anyone was curious, I performed an experiment.  And failed... or succeeded since now I know what happens?  Anyway, I learned that you cannot use defrosted heavy cream to make truffles.  While making the truffles, the cream seemed a little separate-y after I boiled it, but the end result truffle mixture looked as beautiful and glossy as ever when I placed the plastic wrap on top to let it set last night.  Unfortunately, when I tried to roll them this morning, I ended up with this: There are tiny little spheres in the mixture.  At first I thought somehow the sugar from the chocolate had crystallized, and that maybe it would taste grainy.  But, strangely enough, these little spheres tasted like chocolate, and they melted in my mouth. The mixture tasted exactly as I had expected (I was making Maker's Mark Whiskey truffles), but the texture was just all off and too soft to be rolled. It actually is an interesting texture and would probably make for a ...

I made these a while ago, but I'm just getting around to posting the recipe now.  If you remember my Spring Boxes , they were in there. Stacey's Blueberry Cream Truffle Ingredients  5 oz cream Lemon zest from 1 lemon 2 oz glucose 34 oz white chocolate 4 oz lemon juice 1.2 oz freeze dried blueberries, powdered (1 bag tj's) Guittard 64% dark chocolate toasted chopped almonds These are made just like the Lemon Cream Truffles , but I ground up freeze dried blueberries with my mortar and pestle (like in the Strawberry Cream Crunchies recipe), and added that in with the truffle mixture at the same time as the cream and lemon juice. Once the truffles had set the next day, I used my   1-1/8" scooper   to scoop out truffle balls.   Then I rolled these in the palms of my hands until they were smooth. I prepared little piles of toasted almonds which I sliced. I tempered dark chocolate and then used my spiral dipping utensil  to dip the truffle ball...

I wasn't very diligent about this recipe because I was sort of experimenting.  But, here's the gist of it. Stacey's Chocolate Dipped Maple Candied Walnuts ~3c walnuts ~1c sugar, organic ~1/3c brown sugar, organic ~1/3c maple syrup 1/2 stick salted butter, organic ~2-3tsp cinnamon (it was a quick dash from the costco container) ~1/2tsp nutmeg (I used a whole nutmeg and a spice rasp until it looked like enough) Chocolate for Dipping ~1/2lb to 1lb couverture El Rey chocolate (I didn't measure) So first I threw the walnuts in boiling water for about 5 minutes and drained them.  This helps take the bitterness off the skins.  I drained them and threw them into a pot where I had the rest of the ingredients (minus the chocolate) waiting. I stirred the nuts over a flame until they reached about 250F.  At this point, the sugar started crystallizing in a weird way so I figured it was because the nuts were still wet.  I decided to finish them in the oven....

After I coated the marshmallows in white chocolate couverture, I had some extra white chocolate leftover and I decided to be brave and try making some white chocolate truffles.  I've tried and failed many times to make these.  Because of the high fat content in white chocolate, it tends to seize up and come out of emulsion fairly easily.  There are many painful memories mulling about in my mind of pounds of premium white chocolate couverture turning into a gloppy, oily mess. I started with a recipe from Chocolates & Confections . However, I didn't have any mint, I fear butter because it's even more fat in the recipe (and we just discussed what fat does), and I was afraid of making the whole batch.  So... without further ado... Stacey's Lemon Cream Truffle Ingredients : 2.5 oz heavy cream, organic Lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon (make sure peels are big, without getting the pith) 1 oz glucose syrup 17 oz white chocolate couverture (El Rey), tempered and at...

My parents gave me a couple boxes of Nerds for Christmas. And my philosophy tends to be that chocolate makes everything better. Stacey's Nerdy Chocolate Bars : 17 oz Guittard 64% dark chocolate couverture Holiday Nerds (green, red, and white - watermelon, wild cherry, and punch flavors) 1 oz bar mold (16 cavities) First I put some of the nerds into a bowl for easy access. Then, I tempered the dark chocolate and then spooned it into the molds with a tablespoon.  Two heaping tablespoons full of chocolate fill the mold pretty well.  I followed that with my standard jiggling of the mold on the counter to remove air bubbles.  Then I sprinkled the nerds on top, and went on to the next cavity until I'd filled all 16. I let the chocolate cool overnight and freed them the next morning.  Correctly tempered chocolate will just fall out of the bar molds, so it's important to be prepared for that.  I covered the mold with plastic wrap, and then invert a baking ...