Champagne and Truffles

Hand rolled truffles, to be exact. Buttery, dark chocolate truffles made by my own loving hands.

And the best part? They require very few ingredients and are impossible to screw up. In fact, if you plan on giving these away to someone special, the more irregular the shape of the truffle, the better. You want them to look like you made them, not like they came out of a mold in a factory.

You can roll these truffles in a variety of toppings, including (but not limited to) nuts, colored sanding sugar, white sugar, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, cinnamon and chipotle powder, nonpareils, sprinkles, cocoa nibs, and flaked coconut. You can also dip them in melted dark or white chocolate for a hard coating. Experiment with different truffle flavors by adding nuts or jam to the mix and different extracts. You just can’t go wrong, you guys.

Chocolate Truffles
Makes about 15 truffles
Adapted from allrecipes.com

• 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (depending on how dark you like your chocolate)
• 1/6 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• White sugar, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, chopped nuts, sprinkles, melted chocolate etc. for rolling or dipping truffles

Slowly melt all ingredients over very low heat in a nonstick pan, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Cover chocolate mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

Remove chocolate from fridge and roll into small balls using hands. If chocolate becomes too sticky, place in fridge again for another 15 minutes. Roll chocolate balls in topping of choice. If desired, refrigerate and re-roll balls for a thicker coating.

Yes you CAN make marshmallows

Feeling better today!

LOOK I made marshmallows. You should make some too.






Wait wait wait... You don’t think you can do it? And that you might as well buy those machine-sliced cylindrical sponges instead? Well I’ve got news for you, friends; you can totally make marshmallows. And just so you know, the primary ingredient in those Nerf-ball-like machine-cut "marshmallows" is ground up puppy ears.

Maybe I’m a little off in my calculation about the puppy ears. But once you try homemade marshmallows, you’re probably going feel angry towards your mom for ever feeding you those gross little sponges in your champurrado when you were little, and the puppy-ears thing wont seem that far-fetched after all. Real marshmallows are soft and pillowy and just melt in your mouth.

(Sorry, Mama. I know you were too busy feeding our 20 turtles and finding our run-away dogs to make me marshmallows too. I’m not actually angry.)

There are just two tools one must own to make marshmallows: a stand or hand mixer, and a candy thermometer. And you aren’t a complete kitchen savage, right? You own those two things?

Good. And if you don't, make haste and purchase them! (I used this and this to get the job done.)

It's snowing here. So I'm going to go sit by a window and drink some hot chocolate with melty vanilla marshmallows now. Cheers, everyone.

Vanilla Marshmallows
Adapted from Ina Garten
In the US we use corn-syrup in homemade candy instead of liquid glucose. They aren’t exactly the same, but for the purposes of keeping sugar crystals at bay in this recipe, one can be substituted for the other depending on where you live.

Ingredients
• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup or pure glucose
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 of a bean pod (about 3 inches in length), sliced lengthwise and scraped for seeds, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Grease a non-metal 9x13 inch pan with oil. Line bottom and sides with parchment paper. Dust with powdered sugar.

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of cold water in a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment) and allow mixture to sit while you make the syrup.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup or glucose, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Raise the heat to high and cook until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat. (And for heaven's sake, don't even think about touching that syrup.)

With a mixer on low speed, slowly (and carefully!) pour the sugar syrup into the dissolved gelatin. Put the mixer on high speed and whip until the mixture is very thick, about 15 minutes. Add the vanilla beans or extract and mix thoroughly.

Spread the marshmallow mixture evenly into the prepared pan using a spatula and dampened hands. Make sure to lick spatula and fingers when done.

Dust the top of the marshmallow with more powdered sugar and allow mixture to sit out uncovered over night at room temperature.

Peel marshmallow from pan and turn over onto a powdered sugar-dusted cutting board. Using a large sharp knife or a pizza cutter, cut into squares. Roll sides of marshmallows in powdered sugar.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.