A few weeks ago, I bought some of these Eliot’s Adult Nut Butters. As I have mentioned here before, I am not a huge fan of BP on it’s own, but lvoe it as an ingredient, so it was time for some experimenting. Turns out these Honey Chipotle Sea Salt Buckeyes are awesome… and spicy! They weren’t kidding when they say “bold flavors”! But paired with the chocolate, and the whole sweet/salty thing with the sea salt, they are excellent. Certainly not your everyday Ohio treat. 🙂
I know that cranberries are more of a Thanksgiving or Christmas type of thing, but when I first saw a recipe for cranberry curd, I thought that it had this absolutely amazing deep pink color, so why not make something with cranberries for Valentines Day, especially if you are overloaded on the chocolate? This has a nice tart but sweet bite and is the perfect plalate cleanser after a rich meal.
A few final thoughts for Valentine’s Day this year, and this one would be great for kids. Admittedly, these are really time consuming to make, but I made the graham cracker bears a few days in advance and just the cupcakes and frosting this morning. Obviously a play on the whole S’Mores thing (chocolate = the cupcakes, marshmallows = the frosting, graham crackers = the bears). Cute, eh?
Ever notice that most recipes only call for a cup of chocolate chips and you somehow end up with about 4 or 5 open bags of various kinds of chocolate chips — or any other “flavoring thing” like nuts or dried fruit for that matter? Well that was the case this week when I was looking for a cookie inspiration and so this is what I came up with. Mini chips (very meltable), crunchy toffee bits (for texture), sweet and tangy dried cranberries. Turned out quite yummy for a cookie on a whim. Now, pass the milk.
Continuing the Valentine’s Day theme … Two types of Christmas Cookies that I often make are both Snowball Cookies (aka Russian Tea Cakes or Mexican Wedding Cookies, they have lots of names) and my Walnuß Kardamom Schneebällchen (similar cookies as normal snowballs, but with Walnuts and Cardamom). Both are delicious, but these have a new twist: hidden inside are Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses (I used the dark chocolate ones because I like them better). Hence the name: Secret Kisses. Perfect for your special someone.