Dayrecipe Food Community

If you’ve ever had the chocolate / candy bar ‘Bounty’ then you will know what I’m talking about here…..these truffles taste like a Bounty that’s been supercharged & had extras added to it! My husband calls them extravagant – hence the title. These are super easy to make & enjoyed by everyone.

Makes approx 40-50 truffles.

INGREDIENTS:

• 397 g sweetened condensed milk
• 70 g butter or margarne 
• 35 g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
• 35 g almonds, toasted and chopped
• 75 g dates, finely chopped
• 200 g dried apricots, finely chopped
• 100 g desiccated coconut (the unsweetened is preferable)
• 300 g dark chocolate, melted (use a good quality if possible)
• 100g white chocolate, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine Sweetened Condensed Milk and butter in a sauce pan, cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until the mixture is light golden in color. Remove from heat.
2. Add nuts, dates, apricots and coconut to the cream mixture then mix thoroughly. Once the mixture cools, shape it into small equal size balls. Chill the balls in the freezer.
3. Dip the chilled truffles in the melted chocolate and place them on a tray that is lined with waxed paper. I find that a cocktail stick helps do this with miniml mess & creates a better finish. Refrigerate the truffles until firm.
4. Decorate with swirl patterns using melted white chocolate piped on with a fine nozzle or using a folded paper cone.

TIPS:

1. Store the truffles in a plastic container in layers separated by wax paper in the refrigerator.
2. If you don’t like a fruit listed, just use more of one that you do like – eg; use extra apricots in place of the dates etc.

Remember the commercial that re-created the invention of Reese’s Peanut
Butter cups? A woman is walking down the street eating a chocolate bar, and a
man is walking the other way eating a tub of peanut butter. They bump into
each other, causing the chocolate and peanut butter to mix. Overcome by the
new taste sensation, they immediately check into a motel (I may be
misremembering that last part). I’ve never cared for the chocolate-peanut
butter combo, so if that idiot had ruined my chocolate bar, I would have
pushed him into oncoming traffic. But my mom, who says she’s going to have
chocolate with peanut butter for her last meal, swears by these cookies. She
thinks they’re even better than Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Makes 40-50 cookies

INGREDIENTS

• preparation time: 20 minutes
• baking time: 30 minutes (10 minutes per batch)
• rating: easy1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for
  greasing
• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (12-ounce package) semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup dry-roasted peanuts

DIRECTIONS Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly rub two cookies sheets with butter, or use nonstick baking
sheets. Set aside.

Put the butter, peanut butter and the sugars in a large bowl. Beat with an
electric mixer or a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and
vanilla and beat again. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt,
and beat on low speed until well blended. Add the chocolate chips (see Mom
Tip), peanut butter chips and peanuts and mix thoroughly.

Using a teaspoon as a guide, scoop a portion of the dough and, with your
hands, roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls on each cookie sheet, 3
cookies per row in 5 rows. Flatten the balls with the heel of your hand or
the tines of a fork so that they spread to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Bake each batch, one cookie sheet at a time, for about 10 minutes. The
cookies will be firm to the touch and just beginning to brown.

Remove from the oven and cool on the sheet for about 3 minutes. Then transfer them with a
spatula to a cooling rack. Let the cookie sheet cool for 1 or 2 minutes more
before reusing so the dough doesn’t melt. Store in an airtight container.

Mom Tip: If you want chocolate coating on the top of each cookie, reserve 1/2
cup chocolate chips when mixing the batter. After the cookies are formed and
placed on the cookie sheets, lightly press 5 chocolate chips into the top of
each cookie. When the cookies come out of the oven, gently spread those
partly melted chocolate chips over the top of each cookie with a knife to
make a thin chocoalte layer. Cool as directed.

Sandra Hersh of Groton, Massachusetts, writes: “A wonderful dinner with out-of-town friends at Mamma Maria, in the North End of Boston, was topped off with an outstanding chocolate hazelnut tart. It was a perfect finish to a great evening. I know the pastry chef would be happy to share the recipe.”

This impressive-looking tart is easy because the crust is pressed into the pan rather than rolled out. The pastry chef at Mamma Maria serves it with candied hazelnuts and a chocolate sauce.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 4 hr

Makes 10 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• for tart shell
• 1/2cup hazelnuts, toastedand any loose skins rubbed off in a kitchen towel, then cooled completely
• 1cup all-purpose flour
• 3tablespoons sugar
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• 1/2stick (1/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1large egg
• 1teaspoon vanillafor chocolate filling
• 7oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2cup whole milk
• 1/4cup sugar
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 2large egg yolks
• 1teaspoon vanilla
• 1cup crème fraîchespecial equipment:a 9- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with removable bottom; pie weights or raw rice

DIRECTIONS Make tart shell:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Pulse hazelnuts with flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until finely ground (be careful not to grind to a paste), then add butter and pulse until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Add egg and vanilla and pulse just until mixture begins to clump.

Press dough evenly over bottom and up side of tart pan and chill 10 minutes. Line tart shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake in middle of oven until pale golden along rim, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake shell until bottom and side are golden, about 10 minutes more. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

Make filling while shell cools:
Put chopped chocolate in a bowl. Bring milk, sugar, and salt to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, then pour milk over chocolate in bowl and let stand until chocolate is melted, about 1 minute. Whisk until smooth, then whisk in yolks and vanilla. Whisk in crème fraîche and pour into crust.

Bake tart in middle of oven until just set, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour, then bring to room temperature before serving.

Watch everyone’s eyes open wide when you serve this big four-layer cake.

Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 3 hr

Makes 12 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4teaspoon baking soda
• 1teaspoon salt
• 2sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2cups sugar
• 4large eggs at room temperature
• 2teaspoons vanilla
• 2cups sour cream
• chocolate sour cream frosting garnish: brown sugar buttercream

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter2 (9- by 2-inch) round cake pansand line bottoms of each with
rounds of wax or parchment paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Add half of flour mixture and mix at low speed until just blended. Add sour cream, mixing until just combined, then add remaining flour mixture, mixing at low speed until batter is smooth.

Divide batter between pans, smoothing tops. Bake in middle of oven until cake is springy to the touch and a tester comes out clean, 30 to40 minutes. Cool in pans on racks10 minutes, then invert onto racks, remove paper, and cool completely.

Trim tops of cooled cake layers with a long serrated knife if necessary to make flat and level. Halve each layer horizontally with serrated knife to make a total of 4 layers.

Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate and spread with3/4 cup frosting. Layer remaining cake layers using 3/4 cup frosting between each layer. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting.

Cooks’ notes:

•Cake layers can be made 1 day ahead of assembling and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

•Cake can be assembled 1 day ahead and chilled in a cake keeper or loosely covered with plastic wrap (use toothpicks to hold wrap away from frosting). Bring to room temperature before serving.

• This batter can be baked in a 13- by9- by 2-inch pan 50 to 55 minutes; or in30 (1/2-cup) muffin cups about 25 minutes.

• We used 2 pastry bags, one fitted with an3/4-inch plain tip and the other fitted witha 3/4-inch ribbon (basketweave) tip, and couplers to decorate our cake, but it won’t be any less attractive or delicious if you decide simply to use candles.

These cakes are great for parties because they can be completely assembled the day before and then quickly baked before serving, for the all-important “ooze” factor.

Makes 8.

INGREDIENTS

• ice cream
• 1pint vanilla ice cream, softened
• 2tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
• 1tablespoon dark rumcakes
• 14ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/4cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2teaspoons ground coriander
• 2teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2teaspoon ground white pepper
• 6large eggs
• 6large egg yolks
• 2teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3cups powdered sugar
• 1cup all purpose flouradditional powdered sugar
• crystallized ginger strips

DIRECTIONS For ice cream:
Place softened ice cream in medium bowl. Using plastic spatula, fold ginger and rum into ice cream. Transfer to airtight container. Freeze ice cream mixture until firm, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep frozen.)

For cakes:
Generously butter eight 3/4-cup soufflé dishes. Stir chocolate, butter, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and white pepper in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool slightly. Whisk eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Whisk in 3 cups powdered sugar, then chocolate mixture, then flour. Transfer batter to prepared dishes, filling to top and dividing equally. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Bake cakes until batter has risen above dish, top edges are dark brown, and centers are still soft and runny, about 15 minutes, or about 18 minutes for refrigerated batter. Run small knife around cakes to loosen. Allow cakes to rest in dishes 5 minutes. Using hot pad and holding dish very firmly, place plate gently atop 1 cake and invert onto plate. Repeat with remaining cakes. Dust with powdered sugar. Top with crystallized ginger. Serve cakes with rum-ginger ice cream.