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When we were working on our pie book and developing new recipes, one of my friends asked me if we made Chocolate Pecan Pie. She hadn't seen a recipe for it, but was thinking that the combination of flavors sounded good. I told her that I would give it a try and bring her one if it was successful. So, I started scouring Pinterest for the many versions of Chocolate Pecan Pie available.
Most of the recipes I found simply added chocolate chips to the pie, along with the pecans. So, I tried a version of that idea. It seemed promising. The pie looks really delicious, right? Well, my husband was unimpressed with the flavor. I have to admit that I was as well. I feel like the best part of the Pecan Pie is the custard below the pecans. In this case, the chocolate overpowered that creamy texture and rich flavor. Not to mention that as the chocolate chips cooled and rehardened, it made the pie difficult to slice! So, I checked off the chocolate chip method as a fail.
One of the beauties of Pecan Pie is that it is really super easy to whip up. A lot of the recipes I found made the process so much more difficult, so I gave those a hard pass. One day I was discussing the Chocolate Pecan Pie idea with Maddy and she suggested I toast and candy the pecans with brown sugar and cocoa powder to see if that would give the hint of chocolate that we wanted. I thought, "Genius!" So, I gave it a try. The pecans came out really tasty after I toasted them in a skillet with butter, brown sugar and cocoa powder. And, the crumbs from the toasting left a sort of chocolate swirl through the custard part of the pie. But, when it was baked all together, the flavor of the chocolate really didn't come through at all. I still liked this idea though, and may explore it further.
To make a long story short, the Chocolate Pecan Pie didn't make it into the ebook and my friend hasn't received her pie. A couple of other suggestions I may try are:
But really, I think the moral of this story is that not every really good thing has to be chocolate! I know, I know, unbelievable! But I have tweaked my Pecan Pie recipe over the years until it is a family favorite, with the perfect balance between the amount of pecans and the custard below them. My husband is firmly in the camp of not messing with the Pecan Pie at all! It is his all time favorite! Sometimes you just don't mess with a good thing.
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I have loved Hot Fudge Sundaes since I was a child. I learned that love from my mom. It was always a special treat to get to go to Foster's Freeze in our little town and get a Hot Fudge Sundae! I could have eaten that hot fudge sauce all by itself, but tasting the hot fudge with a bit of the cold ice cream was like going to heaven with every bite. Over the years, I have tried many different recipes for Hot Fudge Sauce. I haven't really found one that replicates that flavor of long ago. They often have chocolate chips in them and they harden too much when they hit the cold ice cream. But, the other day I was going through an old recipe collection when I came across what is possibly the simplest and closest to the mark version of a hot fudge sauce that I have ever tried. The beauty of this recipe is that I already had everything for it available in my kitchen staples! So, I put my baby granddaughter in her highchair and we got busy making it! It made a nice good sized batch, cost very little and the taste is great! I immediately spooned some over a bowl of my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream, which it melted down the sides of, then squirted on some whipped cream. I tasted it and pronounced it good! (Look up at the top picture and see the goodness that I am describing!)
So, after making this delightful treat, which believe me is a relief to eat during our terribly hot summer, I started wondering what types of toppings my family loves best on their ice cream. Isn't it weird that after all of these years I don't really know! So, today for Friday Faves, the question is, "What is your favorite ice cream topping?"
I polled my family and here are the answers I received:
I was surprised when Alicia answered that her favorite topping is Gummy Bears! I guess she likes something a little chewy to go with her smooth ice cream. She followed that up with sprinkles. I always have lots of those on hand in my Hot Cocoa Bomb Supplies.
Maddy says she loves brownie bites and cookie dough bits sprinkled on her sundaes! I have to agree that those are delicious!
My DIL Korina likes the chocolate that forms a shell on the ice cream when it hits the cold. Smucker's Magic Shell is available in a 4 pack from Amazon! Her husband, my oldest son Aaron, predictably answered with Bacon Bits as his choice!
My other DIL, Jessica, likes good ol' Hershey's chocolate syrup! My husband feels the same.
Hot Fudge Topping: Click the recipe for the printable pdf file.
What are your favorite toppings? Have you tried Bacon Bits? That salty sweet taste might be pretty good, I do like bacon on donuts. Let us know in the comments!
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Hello Friday Faves Fans! We have hit Friday Fave #44! Did you know that tomorrow is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day? What a great day! Of course, we are celebrating this day by beginning with this question:
What is your favorite thing to dip in chocolate?
The first thing I thought of was, "My finger!" Then I asked my husband and he said, "Well, I don't know, my finger?" Great minds think alike.
My girls were much more creative right off the bat. The first thing Maddy said was pretzels. I had to agree right away! That chocolate sweet taste mixed with the salty pretzel is just so good. This time of year, you've got to add the sprinkles, and maybe a layer or caramel under the chocolate? Just a thought.
Alicia also said that she loves chocolate dipped pretzels and then said she loves candies like Mounds that are coconut dipped in chocolate! Alicia is also the one who dipped Oreos in chocolate for us. Those are super good! Who can forget her 2 year old's Halloween reindeer? It is a delicious blend of pretzel and Oreo! What could be better?
Lindsey loves fruit dipped in chocolate. I am also a fan of a big chocolate dipped strawberry. And don't forget the banana peanut butter dipped chocolates I blogged about on this post.
Speaking of peanut butter, Ritz Crackers spread with peanut butter and then dipped in chocolate are so good as well.
I guess we are giving you a couple more than 5 ideas because I can't talk about dipping chocolates with mentioning my family's favorite dipped chocolates that I make on occasion. I am going to repost the recipe below. You can read about how I used them on Easter here.
I know that a lot of people like to just melt their chocolate in the microwave, but I always use a double boiler. I don't have to worry about having to remelt as it cools because I can keep it over the warm water and it stays perfectly creamy. My old set of cookware came with a double boiler, but my new set didn't. I kept my old one. I really like it because it also has a steamer option which is really nice for vegetables. If you don't have one, they are a super great tool to have in the kitchen. There are a few choices available on Amazon. You could get one in time to dip chocolates for the holidays!
Here is a double boiler and steamer set for a great price!
So, What do you love to dip in chocolate? Have fun deciding and let us know!
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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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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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