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I love dipped chocolates. I mean, I love to eat them and I enjoy making them because I know that I will get to eat them. I have posted about making dipped chocolates before this,here and here. But, eating fondant filled sugary chocolates is not healthy or good for the waistline. So, how about a healthier alternative?
I recently read an article or two about cacao and its nutritional benefits. Since I love chocolate, finding healthy reasons to eat it is a plus! Did you know that the difference between cocoa and cacao is that cocoa is heat processed, which destroys nutrients and cacao is cold pressed, preserving the nutriants. Cacao is the way to go when it comes to finding nutritional value. It is full of antioxidants, it can help control blood pressure, blood glucose levels and cholesterol levels. And of course, everyone knows that chocolate is a mood lifter, duh! Cacao also has a lot of vitamins and minerals like magnesium, chromium, iron, zinc and more! If you want to read more about the benefits of cacao, go to this link.
Everyone knows about chocolate dipped strawberries, so why not dip them in a chocolate with a higher cacao content? For today's chocolate dipping, I used dark chocolate that was atleast 53% cacao. You can find it even higher, I just purchased the brand that was on sale! Well, besides strawberries, there are a myriad of other fruits that you can dip as well. Just think, you are getting the benefit of the fruit as well as the cacao. It is a win-win situation! My family loves chocolate dipped orange sticks at Christmas time, so Madalynn suggested I just dip orange segments! They were delicious!
Then, I saw an idea for dipped bananas in a magazine from my grocery store. They suggested layering them with a nut butter. I thought that sounded so good! Here is what I did, hover over or click on the images for an explanation.
All of the sources I have checked out say that cacao does have many health benefits, but you do not need large amounts of it to see the results. Just a Tablespoon or so per day is enough to gain the healthy benefits. That means that you don't need to chow down on too many of these little beauties to get some good results, so restrain yourself if you can! But, with the candy filled holidays coming, these fruity, cacao dipped treats are a great foil to all of the sweets! They look so pretty on the tray!
(Click here for a great baby shower idea!)
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Here at 3 Winks, we are so excited to be able to take part in Cupcake Diaries' 30 Days of Halloween! Some of our family absolutely love Halloween, so they will be excited about this post and the others on other blogs throughout the month!
One of the criteria to be a part of this special series is that I post something I have never posted before! So, that got my mind working overtime. As you know, we are the creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs, and those are something that have a bit of a surprise on the inside. I thought, what if I use the Cocoa Bomb mold for its intended use and make Spooky Halloween Brownie Bombs with a bit of a surprise inside as well. Then, Lindsey suggested that to make it even more like Halloween, we should make Pumpkin Brownies! So we did! Here is the recipe, just click the button to print it.
If you don't want to make Pumpkin Brownies, you can made a regular fudge brownie, but be sure that your batter is super thick! It needs to be able to hold its shape as you add the fillings. Click on the slides below for some extra tips.
After you fill the bombs, be sure to put more batter on them to cover the filling. I usually place my molds on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven and bake them from 30-35 min. When they are finished, let them cool and then pop them out of the mold.
I had a lot of fun trying to match the filling to the decorations. I used the cherry pie filling for the vampire or spider bombs. I gave the Frankenstein Bomb some peanut butter chips because he looked like a little boy to me. The ghosts got green cheesecake filling, at Alicia's suggestion, to be like ectoplasm from Ghostbusters! (Good movie for Halloween!) I made the cheesecake filling simply by mixing half of an 8 oz. block of cream cheese with half of a jar of marshmallow cream. I mixed it all together and colored it green with food coloring. Super easy! I think salted caramel chips are especially good in the Pumpkin Brownies and they would of course be cute as jack-o-lanterns! Below, you can see what the baked brownies look like split open with their surprise fillings.
Some of you are probably more experienced than I am at making and decorating cake pops or brownie pops. You can use your mad skills with these Spooky Brownie Bombs. But, here are a few tips on dipping. Luckily, having drippy chocolate for Halloween makes them seem even more spooky!
I love the candy eyes, they are so easy to use. I also used food markers or piped frosting and chocolate to add mouths and other elements.
I think that these would be a lot of fun a child's party! I know that my grandchildren would love them!
Be sure to go to Cupcake Diaries to see more Halloween recipes all month long! Click the collage below!
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This is a great time of year to get pears! I found a delicious looking roasted pear recipe in a grocery store magazine that came in the mail and I decided to tweak it a little to make it something my family would love.
Last Friday we did a Friday Faves about bacon! So, I decided that this recipe needed some bacon in it. I also once did a post about candied bacon, so I new it would be delicious with the maple candied pecans. I suggest starting this dish by preparing the syrup first and letting it get to the right consistency. Or, you can do it while the pears bake.
Cut the pears in half and lay them cut side down in a cast iron skillet or oven save pan in 2 T of melted butter. Brown them for 5 minutes. Flip them over and they will look slightly brown.
Now, you slide the pan into a 400 degree F. oven and bake them for 20 min. That is the beauty of cast iron! It can go from the stove to the oven with ease. Now, make sure your syrup is ready for when the pears come out of the oven.
Any variety of pear will work. The 3 most well known varieties are Bartlett, Anjou and Bosc, all of which are usually seasonally available in your produce departments.
Speaking of pear varieties, I got playing around with Paint and made this little kitchen pear variety chart! It is just something fun for pear season. My friend Anita made me the adorable dry erase kitchen menu/shopping list board a couple of years ago. I thought it would be a fun place to display my little chart during pear season.
I don't think Anita is making this right now, but I found some similar things on etsy, like this one. I love this idea, because now my art projects don't have to go into a permanent frame, but I can change them out when the season or the mood strikes me!
If you want to get a copy of my little pear art, just click the button below!
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My oldest son is that guy who loves bacon so much that he has a bacon print wallet. When anyone finds a great recipe using bacon and posts it on Facebook, they tag him. So, when we noticed that tomorrow is International Bacon Day, well Friday Faves was a no brainer! We had to feature bacon and my son's fave will be part of today's post.
What is your favorite way to eat bacon?
The fact that I used raw bacon as my opening photo may gross some people out. But, true bacon lovers will be drooling and ready to cook it up, nice and crisp. We do have some true bacon lovers in our family, despite the healthy lifestyle we strive for. Let's face it, bacon is one temptation that is hard to resist. It is a guilty pleasure for sure. Coming up with just a few favorite ways to use it was difficult.
Madalynn
The veggie bacon is a healthier alternative to real bacon. Maddy tries to eat vegan as much as possible for health reasons. I wasn't sure if vegan bacon would fit the criteria for International Bacon Day, since I am sure that pork farmers promote that holiday. But, we don't want to leave anyone out and many people are eating vegan these days, so here is an option. If you will eat meat but have an aversion to pork, there is always turkey bacon.
Alicia
Lindsey
Lindsey said that she and her husband also really like this children's book about bacon, as a side note.
It is the story of bacon being so popular (sizzling with popularity) that it goes to his head and he forgets about what is really important. This is a cute read for all bacon lovers or kids who worry too much about popularity.
Helen
I pretty much love bacon with everything. I love it when things are wrapped in bacon. So, thinking of that, I was reminded of rumaki.
Rumaki was invented by a Hawaiian chef. It originally always included chicken liver and water chestnut wrapped in bacon. The little nugget was then marinated in soy sauce and brown sugar before being baked. Since I love chicken liver, this is a delicious dish to me. But, some people do not like chicken liver (all of the rest of my family) and now there are other variations, all of which still contain water chestnuts. Although, I have had the chicken liver kind with an apple slice instead of the water chestnut. I have also seen versions of rumaki replacing the chicken liver with pineapple. That sounds very good! I may have to try out some various versions and post the recipes.
Aaron
Before we asked Aaron to participate in today's blog, we were wondering what he would choose as his favorite bacon dish. Lindsey thought he would choose bacon, stuffed with bacon and then wrapped in...bacon! When I told Aaron about that guess, he explained that if you were to sprinkle bacon bits over the top of that, it would open the time vortex! So be careful!
But, actually we were all just a little surprised that his choice wasn't more elaborate. He chose a classic, the BLT! Yup! The good old bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. It really is a great choice!
So, admit it, everybody does love bacon! How do you like yours? Let us know!
And here is a big PS! This is September 1st, so that means it is day #1 of Cupcake Diaries 30 Days of Halloween! Be sure to check it out! It will be a lot of fun. Be sure to go there on September 9th, and you will see us taking part! So exciting!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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