Eggnog Cake Balls

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Cake balls has truly been this year's baking craze, and with good reason; they're delicious, they're cute, and they're delicious.  How awesome would it make you look if you brought a tray of these to your next Christmas party!?!  

I have made my regular boring ol' vanilla cake into a festive eggnog cake, perfect for the season!  Then I dipped each ball of confectionary goodness into milk chocolate, and sprinkled with fun decorations.  Cake balls are not difficult to make, but they do take some time and patience.

Ingredients:

• 1 box vanilla cake mix
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 can (16 oz-- you could always use homemade if you'd like) vanilla frosting
• 2 12 ounce bags of milk chocolate chips
• festive sprinkles 
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Steps:

Make your cake according to the directions.

Add the nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla to the cake batter (this is what turns it into an eggnog cake.)

Make sure that you spray the pan well for easy removal of the cake.

Notice all the flecks of flavor in there!

When the cake is done baking, allow the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack, and let the cake cool completely.

When the cake has cooled, break the cake up into large pieces using your (clean) hands, and place the pieces into a bowl.

Using your fingers, gently crumble the cake into small uniformed crumbs.

When the cake has been completely crumbled, add about half of the can of frosting to the bowl.

Using your hands (or a spoon if you would like, because this is quite messy--however, I found it easier to do this by hand) mix the frosting with the cake.

The mixture should resemble dough.

If the cake and frosting is too crumbly, add more frosting until you get the right consistancy.

Using a Cookie Scoop put a small ball of 'dough' into the palm of your hand.  Roll the ball into a quarter-sized ball of deliciousness, and resist popping it into your mouth.  Place the rolled ball onto a cookie sheet. 

Repeat this process until all of the cake and frosting mixture has been used up (this should make about 60 cake balls.)

Place the tray into the refrigerator overnight.  Cover the tray with a kitchen towel.

When the cake balls have chilled out overnight, they are ready for their pretty outer layer.

Over a double boiler, melt your chocolate.  

I like to only work with 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips at a time.  For each 1/2 a bag, add 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil.  

When the chocolate is nice and smooth, remove it from the heat.

Take a few (no more than 4 or 5) of the cake balls out of the fridge, and place them on a small plate lined with wax paper.

Using a spoon and a fork drop 1 cake ball into the melted chocolate.

With the spoon, cover the ball completely with chocolate.

When the ball is covered, scoop the ball out of the chocolate using the fork.

With the spoon, gently tap the fork to get the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl.

Place the covered ball onto the wax paper and sprinkle with decorations.

Repeat with the remaining 3 balls.

Place the plate in the freezer for 10 minutes, or until the chocolate coating has hardened.

When the chocolate has set, transfer the bite-sized drops of yummy back onto the cookie sheet in the fridge.

When all of the balls have been dipped and decorated, they are ready to make their debut at your next party!

If you don't plan on eating them immediately, store them in your refrigerator in an air-tight container for up to a week.

If you wish, you could make a bunch of cake balls and store them in the freezer for up to a month.

Homemade Butter-Fingers

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Do you have left over candy corn from halloween?  I know I do.  At a loss as to what to do with it?  Well, whatever you do don't toss it.  Make this yummy version of a classic candy instead.  That's right, you can make butter-fingers right from your own kitchen in a matter of minutes!

What you will need:

• 1 cup candy corn (I had a cup of the autumn mix left from when I made chocolate covered candy corn)
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 graham cracker sheet, crumbled
• 1/2 cup bitter-sweet chocolate chips

How to make butter-fingers:

Grease a cake pan with a generous amount of cooking spray.

Spray the inside of a microwave safe bowl generously with cooking spray.

Pour the candy corn into the bowl.

Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir.

Repeat the cycle of heating for 30 seconds then stirring until the candy has melted.

For me, this took 3 times.

Be careful not to over heat the candy.

It should be slightly puffy when it is ready.

When the candy is melted, immediately add the graham cracker crumbles and the peanut butter.

Stir until completely combined.

Pour the candy mixture out into the cake pan.

Using a spoon, press the candy into a sheet that is about 1/4" thick.

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips for 30 seconds, remove and stir, then heat for an additional 40-45 seconds or until chocolate has melted.

Pour the chocolate over the candy sheet, and evenly spread to cover the candy.

Place the cake pan into the refrigerator and allow the chocolate to set.

This took about 20 minutes.

Once chilled, peel the candy sheet from the cake pan, and cut into bite-sized pieces using a pizza cutter.

Yum!  Homemade butter-fingers from you left over candy corn.  

Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers

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Such a wonderful treat: light and crisp graham crackers covered in rich bitter-sweet chocolate.  This is a great afternoon pick-up, or bed-time snack enjoyed with a tall glass of cold milk!  

To make this treat you will need.

• 1/2 cup bitter-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Baking Chips and these are what I would recommend)
• 3 graham cracker sheets

Steps:

Using either a double boiler or a heat-resistant glass bowl placed on top of a simmering pot of water, melt your chocolate until smooth.

When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the pot of water.

Break the graham cracker sheets into four small rectangles.

One by one, dip each of the crackers into the chocolate, press down lightly to make sure that the chocolate completely coves side that is facing down.

Using a fork, flip the graham cracker over.

Lift the covered graham cracker out of the chocolate, and transfer to a wax paper lined plate.

I used my fork to create a pretty design in the chocolate by moving my fork in a circular motion lightly over the top of the chocolate coved cracker.

Put the plate with your dipped grahams on it in the fridge, and wait (I know, its the hardest part when chocolate is involved) until the chocolate has set.

What a delightful little snack to share (or not.)

What a Spooktacular Treat: Chocolate Covered Candy Corn

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What's super-sweet, tastes like a s'more, and is yellow and orange in the center?  Candy corn covered in chocolate then sprinkled with little graham cracker crumbles.  What a unique Halloween (or anytime) treat!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of candy corn (I chose to use the autumn mix, I like those little pumpkins... I know that they taste just like regular candy corn, but somehow I like them better.)
• 2 cups bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 crush graham cracker sheets

Steps:

Place the chocolate chips and the unsalted butter into a double boiler (if you don't have a Double Boiler, you can make one by placing a heat-safe bowl over a pot of simmering water)

While the chocolate is melting, crush the graham crackers.  To do this, place the crackers into a zip lock bag.  With a Rolling Pin crush the graham crackers into tiny pieces.

When the chocolate has melted, place a few pieces of candy corn into the chocolate.

Use a fork to fully submerge the candy.

Lift the candy corn one piece at a time from the chocolate.

Place the chocolate covered candies onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Sprinkle the dipped candy corn with the graham cracker crumbles.

When all of the candy has been dipped and sprinkled, place the cookie sheet into the refrigerator and allow to cool for at least one hour.

Peel the cooled candy from the wax paper.

You can either devour them right on the spot, or place in a air-tight container kept in the fridge until you plan on eating these delightful little morsels of yumminess.

Chocolate Covered Potato Chips

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Salty, sweet, and crunchy... everything a great snack should be.  This special indulgence includes crunchy potato chips covered in luxurious chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag ridged potato chips
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Steps:

In a Double Boiler (or a heat-safe glass bowl on top of a pot of simmering water) melt the chocolate chips, stirring occasionally.

  

When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from the heat.

One at a time, lay a chip into the melted chocolate, and press down slightly (make sure that your hands are clean.)

With your fingers (or a spoon), cover the rest of the chip with chocolate, making sure that it gets into all the crevices.

Remove the covered chip from the chocolate, and using your fingers, gently remove the excess chocolate.

Place the covered chips on a plate (or cookie sheet) lined with wax paper.

Place the chips in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to allow the chocolate to harden.

Simple as that!  What a delicious sweet treat that is a great addition to your movie night.

Double Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

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Rich, decedent, sweet, and better than chocolate covered strawberries are just a few words that have been used to describe this amazing dessert.  I know what you're thinking, "How can they be better than chocolate covered strawberries?  Those are chocolate covered strawberries."  These treats have a special surprise hidden inside: fudge brownies.  These stuffed and dipped strawberries take some time to make, but they are well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

• 2 cartons of strawberries (make sure that there are some pretty good sized ones in the carton)
• 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 box of fudge brownie mix

Steps:

Make the brownies according to the directions on the box.

Allow the brownies to cool.

Once cool, use a fork to crumble the brownies.

I crumbled all of the brownies except for the outer edge that was a little bit crispy.

After crumbling the brownies, I transferred the crumbles to a bowl.

  

Wash the strawberries.

Use a paring knife to cut the tip off of each strawberry.

Use your pinky to hollow out each strawberry.

Carefully stuff the brownie crumbles into each hollowed out strawberry.

Use some of the brownie crumbles and mold them into a tip for each strawberry.

Place the stuffed strawberries on a plate, and allow to cool in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

While the strawberries are chilling out in the fridge, create a double boiler using a heat-safe bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Pour the chocolate chips into the bowl, and stir occasionally until they melt.

Line a plate (or cookie sheet) with wax paper.

Remove the chilled strawberries from the fridge.  Dip each strawberry in the melted chocolate by dipping one side in, and then rotating to coat each side until the entire strawberry is covered.

Place the chocolate covered strawberry onto the wax paper.

When all the strawberries are dipped, put them into the refrigerator, and chill for at least an hour or until the chocolate has completely hardened.

Serve these delectable bites chilled.

Perfect for that special get together, or date night!

Choceur Chocolate Crisp Bars: Quality Made German Chocolate Part 2

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Germany we have a problem because I'm going eat all your awesome chocolate. I just can't break myself away from quality chocolate made in Germany. This time I've gone too far and bought more of it because it's always guaranteed to satisfy a chocolate craving like no other. Choceur Fine Chocolate Crisp Bars are no exception.

What I experienced in this particular chocolate crisp bar was delicious crispy milk chocolate rounded out by smooth hazelnut creme. The crisp part was brought to me courtesy of Kit Kat like wafer. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm biased towards wafer chocolate because I've been known to consume massive amounts of Kit Kats. Kit Kats just so happens to be one of my favorite candy bars next to Snickers but this opinion of mine is probably shared by many others.

I bet you can't eat just three.

Ok, I'm sure you're going to seek these out now so I gotta tell you what you're getting yourself into. I was amazed when I opened the box and found not 1 not 5 not 7 but 10 modest sized bars waiting for my sweet tooth. You just can't beat that value for German made chocolate especially coming in at a little bit over a $1.50. That's of course if you're lucky enough to have a Aldi store nearby. Hopefully you do because if your into saving money on groceries like me then Aldi is the place. What is Aldi? Aldi is a German grocery store and they've opened a ton of stores in the last 2 years so you might be in luck.

Last but not least, how do I rank these fine chocolate wafers? They definitely deserve a 8 out 10 which equals these are more than addiction, they're a permanent part of your sweet tooth.

The Baumstamm: Quality German Made Chocolate

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There's just something about authentic chocolate from Germany. It tastes sweeter than the chocolate made in the U.S. Kind of brings to mind their cars, talking about the Audi, it's just quality stuff. Who really knows what they do to make things so good?

Take for example this Karina brand chocolate bar from Germany. I don't know how many of you have actually had this particular chocolate bar called the Baumstamm which appropriately translates into the tree trunk or the log, but I'm assuming not a whole lot. You're not alone, this was my first time sampling it too. Got to say, it looks like a log but it doesn't taste that way! Not that I've ever tasted a log but you know what I mean.

Extraordinary would be a good way to describe how the Baumstamm tastes. It combines a milk chocolate shell with nougat and rich creamy marzipan. For those of you that might not know what nougat is, it's a type of sweet made with sugar and almonds although it tastes more like coconut for some odd reason. Marzipan on the other hand is made very out the same ingredients but it tastes a lot different because it's pasty, kind of like a filling that's creamy.

Technicalities aside, the Baumstamm is very rich, creamy, and sweet. It's a perfect after dinner dessert kind of like the chocolate mint Olive Garden gives you but satisfies 1000x better. For that, it rightfully earns a 7 out 10 ranking in my book which means warning, these are habit forming and your chocolate addiction just got worse.


Where to get: try a German grocery store, if all else fails you can always probably get them online.

Chocolate Covered Popcorn

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Is it possible to like something too much? That's me when it comes to popcorn like I'm sure a lot of people. Then they have to go and invent gourmet popcorn like there wasn't reason enough to eat too much popcorn. Yeah, and eating too much popcorn is an easy thing to do especially when there is gourmet popcorn involved.

To make matters worse, there is something known as chocolate covered popcorn. I haven't had it in years so when I stepped into a gourmet popcorn store recently I knew I had to reintroduce it into my diet.  After I got it home and sampled some (yes, I actually did resist until I got home, amazing I know) I was amazed that it took me as long it did to have chocolate covered popcorn again. So good doesn't even describe how delicious and sweet it is.

The fluffiness of the popcorn mixed with the brownie fudge flavor of chocolate is real treat. Yeah, it might be a little on the expensive side at 7.99 for 3 cups worth but you gotta treat yourself now and then. As expensive as it was, I would pay that again because it gets a 9 out 10 ranking for a chocolate lovers sweet dream come true.

Where to get: check your nearest gourmet popcorn store or if you're in the Dallas area, stop in at POParella's (gourmet popcorn and treats) in Frisco, TX

Get it from Amazon: Chocolate Covered Popcorn Gift Box

Cheesecake Factory's Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake

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I know this looks unbelievable, that's because it is, unbelievably good that is. You have no idea how good but you can kind of get a visual taste just by looking at it. Visual tastes are not good enough though in this particular case. That's because this is the end all of all cheesecakes. That's right, the big kahuna, the ultimate, the best cheesecake I've eaten in my life. I'm betting that at least 99% of you that had the fortune of trying this cheesecake would agree.

It's very hard to put into words how this chocolate cake cheesecake tastes. It is just about the perfect combination of ingredients ever put into a dessert. It's not too rich but rich enough, fused with the most delicious flavor of Reese Peanut Butter Cup chunks. Topping that off, the peanut butter is not too overwhelming where you can't taste the smoothness of the delicate fudge cake mixed with sweet caramel.

By all means, you're going to want to stop by the Cheesecake Factory, if you're lucky enough to be near one and either get this to go or enjoy it over a cappuccino while dining in. I did the latter and I already can't wait until I have another opportunity to make myself miserable by eating way more of this heavenly creation than I should. By the way, its been an hour since I polished off this dessert and I'm just now starting to recover while writing this post but it was so worth it.

Must you ask how I rank this, I think you know that I cannot help but give it the highest ranking that The Choco-Aholic can give out which is to say that this here chocolate cheesecake is worth it's weight in gold which equals a perfect 10.

Chocolate Cupcake With Cream Cheese Frosting

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I was out and about this weekend and while at Market Street (a Texas based upper end grocery chain) a beautiful cream cheese topped chocolate cupcake beckoned to me. I could not deny it's call because there is no doubt I'm a fan of cream cheese frosting and if you put a carrot cake in front me it will disappear. 

So that's what's inside

I have to admit that disappear is exactly what happened with this cupcake shortly after this shot was taken. Hey, who can blame me, because after all the beautiful antenna pieces of this cupcake were sending out the signal to eat them so I did. 

With all this cream cheese frosting talk, I have to remind myself that this not a cream cheese frosting blog. Although,  I have to admit, it made this cupcake. While the inside was moist, it did not do anything to satisfy my chocolate tooth. For that reason, I will give this cupcake a 3 out 10 which equals chocolate satisfaction will elude you. Just goes to show you that looks aren't everything, it's whats on the inside that counts! 

Don't Commit The Chocolate Brownie Sin

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Ordinary doesn't apply to this brownie. That's because it's not so much a chocolate brownie because it didn't taste very brownie like to me. Maybe that's because what it really needed was to be served warm and have at least one GIANT scoop of either whipped cream or ice cream on top, hummm preferably with the ice cream melting all over it. I made the mistake of eating it just as it's pictured. That should be a sin in the chocolate brownie world when you have a brownie that looks this good. There's always next time though to right my wrong.

It will get a 4 out or 10 ranking for my folly which equals too good to be true but too good to pass up

Where to find: Central Market

Chocolate Toffee Bars

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Toffee comes in many forms and it's always a satisfying fix for a sweet tooth in whatever form that might be. I don't know about you but one of the ways I like it is at a self serve yogurt place because I always go crazy with the toppings. Seriously, you should see my yogurt after I get done fixing it up. There's almost as much toffee on it as there is yogurt in the container. I just love the way it tastes all crunched up with the softness of the yogurt, such a treat.

At Central Market, (there's been a lot of that going on lately but I had to get my debut chocolate stash from somewhere to start this blog to share with all my fellow chocolate addicts) I spotted these toffee bars. I just knew I had to get them to remind myself why I like toffee so much. Yes, it's a convenient excuse that all us sugar addicts share.

Did they do the trick for my sweet tooth? Out of all the chocolates that I got at Central Market to start this endeavor, I'd say they tied with the gummy bears at a 5 out of 10 on the rankings which of course means not quite chocolate heaven but worth a try.  Just so you know, that is all my stash from Central Market so Central Market week is over and we will branch out to other shops and see what they offer so stayed turned for more chocolate goodness.

Chocolate Covered Banana Chips

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Chocolate covered banana chips are kind of like chocolate covered gummy bears, where you ask yourself if the two should go together. At least, that's what I thought when I first saw that these existed which wasn't until a couple of days ago while at Central Market.

I've always loved banana chips as they are kind of a guilty pleasure for me and I would of never thought there was anything on earth that could make them better than they already are. However, when I took the first bite and tasted the banana in it's crunchy chip form combined with the the sweet taste of milk chocolate, I knew how wrong I was. After of which, it was hard to stop eating them as they became very addicting and to tell you the truth, I couldn't wait to take a picture of them for this post so I could consume the rest.

For that, these definitely deserve a ranking of 7 out 10 which means warning, these are habit forming and your chocolate addiction just got worse. 


Get it from Amazon: Milk Chocolate Covered Banana Chips (1 Pound Bag)