Death by Chocolate Again: The Countless Lives of Chocoholics
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
I participated in the 6th Annual Death by Chocolate event at my local public library this past weekend. (See my Feb. 21, 2010 blog, “Death by Chocolate.") Again guests were met at the door by a tuxedo clad volunteer. Live music played in the background as tasters sampled chocolate in all its forms—cakes, tortes, cheese cakes, brownies, cookies, candy, and even trifle. All this was made sweeter because this is a FREE event for the tasters! A generous supply of bottled water (stacked on a book cart!) was available to cleanse palates.
Each guest was asked to pick a category and taste the entire selection of that table before casting a vote. There were nine other entries in my category which included anything chocolate that wasn’t cake, cookies, cheese cake, or brownies.
I had tried a new combination of truffle flavors (my usuals are almond, pecan, lemon, orange, rum, and peppermint) at Christmas time because I ran out of chocolate chips the day I was making candy to donate to the Friends of the Library Cookie Walk. I had picked up a number of packages of Nestles peanut butter and milk chocolate chips at my favorite surplus grocery store (at under a dollar per package), and I had some honey roasted peanuts in the house as well. So I used what I had on hand to create this new (to me) truffle flavor combo and called them Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cup Truffles!
These truffles have the winning combination of salty and sweet PLUS chocolate and peanut butter! People seemed to like them, which resulted in my winning the People’s Choice Award in my category. Here is the recipe if you would like to make them at home. These truffles are easy to make and only require a few ingredients and a microwave.
Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cup Truffles
8 ounces Nestles peanut butter and milk chocolate morsels (use a small food scale to weigh your chocolate)
¼ cup butter (I used unsalted butter.)
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup chopped honey roasted peanuts
Whole peanuts for garnish
1. Place 24 candy cups in minimuffin tins
2. Spoon ½ teaspoon chopped peanuts into the bottom of each candy cup.
3. In a 2-quart microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Microwave at 50% power for 1 ½ to 2 minutes or until melted.
4. Add cream and vanilla extract and beat with an electric handmixer until glossy and slightly thickened. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
5. Immediately ladle into paper candy cups.
6. Garnish with whole honey roasted peanuts and refrigerate until set up.
I like this recipe because I don’t have the mess of forming and dipping the truffles. I made (and washed dishes after) 5 or 6 batches of candy in the time it took for my VHS copies of Monolith Monsters and When Worlds Collide to play through from trailers to catastrophic conclusions. I broke even on materials because I won $15, which covered the $5 entry fee and the minimal expense of a few extra bags of chips and peanuts. My husband and I had a nice evening tasting great chocolate desserts and catching up with neighbors we hadn’t seen since the snow fell—and then we went out for a romantic dinner of salad! Begonia
3 Comments
| 