Strawberries and Cream Tart

Crust
1 box refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

Filling

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
¼  to 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Topping

4 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled, halved
½  cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

Heat oven to 450°F. Bake pie crust as directed on box for One-Crust Baked Shell, using 10-inch tart pan or 9-inch glass pie plate. Cool on cooling rack 15 minutes.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and almond extract; beat well. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into crust.

Arrange strawberry halves over filling. Refrigerate while making drizzle. In 1-quart saucepan, melt chocolate chips and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Drizzle over strawberries and filling. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate any remaining tart.

Homemade Candy - Three Musketeer's Bars

3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 bags milk chocolate chips (12−ounce bags)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Heat, stirring, to boiling, then continue to cook using a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature.

Beat the egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks. Don't use a plastic bowl for this. When the sugar solution comes to 270 degrees F, or the soft−crack stage, remove from the heat and pour the mixture in thin streams into the egg whites, blending completely with a mixer set on low speed. Continue to mix until the candy begins to harden to the consistency of dough. This may take as long as 20 minutes. At this point add the semisweet chocolate chips. Remember that the candy must already be at the consistency of dough when you add the chocolate; the nougat will thicken no more after the chocolate is added.

When the chocolate is thoroughly blended and the nougat has thickened, Press it into a greased 9x9−inch pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut the candy in half down the middle of the pan. Then cut across into 7 segments to create a total of 14 bars.

Melt the milk chocolate chips in the microwave for 2 minutes on half power, stirring halfway through the heating time. Melt completely, but be careful not to overheat. Resting a bar on a fork dip each bar into the chocolate to coat completely and place on wax paper.

Cool until firm at room temperature, 1 to 2 hours. Makes 14 candy bars.

Valentine's Day Recipe - Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12-ounce package) NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, divided
1-1/4 cups (14-ounce can) NESTLÉ CARNATION Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

Beat butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 1-3/4 cups of the crumb mixture onto bottom of greased 13x9-inch baking pan; reserve remaining mixture. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Combine 1 cup of the morsels and sweetened condensed milk in small, heavy-duty saucepan. Warm over low heat, stirring until smooth. Spread over hot crust.

Stir nuts (if using) into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over chocolate filling. Drop teaspoonfuls of raspberry jam over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with remaining morsels. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Mocha Frappe

18 Ice cubes (up to 22)

7 oz Double strength coffee, chilled

¼ c Chocolate sauce (or syrup)

2 T Vanilla Syrup or 3 drops vanilla extract
Whipped Cream (garnish)

Place ice, coffee, chocolate sauce, and syrup in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a large, tall (chilled) glass. Garnish with dollop of whipped cream or scoop of your favorite ice cream. Makes one 16 oz frappe.

Chocolate Mint Coffee Iced or Hot

1/3 c Ground coffee
1 tsp Chocolate extract
1/2 tsp Mint extract
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

How To:
Place coffee in a blender or food processor. In a cup, combine extracts. With processor running, add extracts. Stop and scrape sides of container with spatula. Process 10 seconds longer. Store in refrigerator.

For hot coffee, brew as you normally would. For Iced, brew with half the water you normally would use, let cool and pour over ice in a tall glass. Yield: mix for eight 6-ounce servings

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Truffles

1 c peanut butter chips
3/4 c butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla

Coatings:
crushed graham cracker crumbs, confectioner’s sugar or crushed nuts.

In a heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chips with butter. Stir in cocoa until smooth. Add condensed milk and vanilla. Cook and stir until thickened and well blended, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Chill until firm enough to handle. Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in desired coating. Chill until firm.

Store, covered in refrigerator. Makes about 3 dozen truffles

CHOCOLATE APPLE CRISP

Here's a new twist on an old favorite! Yumm.....

3 Apples, unpeeled if desired, chopped
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup of uncooked Quick oats
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup Pecans or walnuts, chopped
3/4 cup Butter
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 packet semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels, divided (12 oz)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. With 2 knives or pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in oats; press half of oat mixture into greased 13x9" baking pan. To remaining oat mixture, add Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate mini morsels, apples and pecans; stir to combine. Sprinkle over base. Bake at least 35 minutes until lightly browned. Cool slightly; cut into squares.

Chocolate Almond Pound Cake

1/2 c Finely chopped almonds
1 1/2 c Sugar
4 oz Butter, melted
4 Eggs
4 oz Bitter chocolate, melted
1 1/2 tsp Almond extract
2 c Flour
1 c Corn meal
1 tsp Salt (optional)
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 c Milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 12 c bundt pan. Coat sides with almonds.
In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Stir in chocolate and almond extract.

Combine flour, corn meal, salt and baking powder. Add alternately with milk to chocolate mixture, mixing at low speed until well blended. Spoon into pan. Bake 50-60 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.
Serves 16

Chocolate Cheese Bars

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix (with or without pudding in it)
8 oz Cream cheese, softened
1/3 c Oil
3 Eggs (divided use)
1/4 c Sugar
6 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c Walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)


Mix dry cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup oil until crumbly; reserve 1 cup.

Pat remaining mixture lightly in an ungreased 13x9x2 inch pan. Bake
for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove and sprinkle top with
chocolate chips and walnuts.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and remaining egg until light and smooth.
Spread over chocolate chips and walnuts. Sprinkle with reserved
crumb mixture. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes longer. Cool
and cut into bars. Makes 16 servings.

Hand Made Chocolate Confections

Nothing is better than hand made chocolate confections! Yummm. I found a site that has the most scruptious looking edibles!


Corina's Confections

Here you will find Cookies, Brownies, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Favors for that special occassion, Theme Tins, Cookie Club and you can even purchase Gift Cards!

Ingredient Substitutions

Here is a fantastic list of ingredient substitutions! I have it in a .doc format for you to click on as it is a very long (5 pages) in Word, this way you can open it and print it out to keep handy!

Ingredient Substitutions

Wrap It Up!

Gotta love soft tortilla shells for wrapping up a quick snack or meal.

You can pretty much wrap anything in these versitile shells. They come in 8" and approximatly 10" sizes.

Once you have placed your filling on the center, fold up one side about 1/8 of the way, this is the 'bottom', then roll from the side and voila! You have a wrap.

Some ideas of what to wrap:

~ Hot white chicken breast (cooked), drizzle ranch dressing and grated
cheese, 2-3 slices crispy bacon and wrap.

~ Any favorite chicken or tuna salad normally in a sandwich, spread on the
tortilla, fold and roll.

~ Peanut butter and Jelly for the kids!

~ Pizza wrap - 3 T pizza sauce, small handful of grated cheese, 6 pepperoni
slices. Fold end and roll. Microwave for 20 seconds or until hot. Do not over
heat as the edges will dry out.

~ Sprinkle grated cheese on the tortilla, spread on hot freshly scrambled
eggs, add chopped ham or crumbled cooked bacon and fold and roll.

~ Smores Wrap - Spread a thin layer of chocolate syrup or sauce on the
center, about 2" from the edges, sprinkle mini marshmallows and 1/8 cup crushed
graham crackers, fold and roll.

See what I mean? There are endless possibilities with a flour tortilla
shell! Let your imagination go wild!

If you have any other idea's for wraps please leave me comments with your ideas!

Recipe ~ MK's "Ho-Ho" Cake

The chocolate cake layer may be a box mix cake if you choose or you may use my Dark Chocolate Cake recipe below. If you use a box mix, be sure to replace the water with an equal portion of strong coffee, cooled to room temp.

Dark Chocolate Cake(for 9x12 pan)

3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup cream
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot strong coffee

Cream first 4 ingredients till light in color. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture slowly and mix well. Add vanilla and coffee last and beat 3 minutes on High.

Pour into a lightly greased and floured pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees or until it tests 'done' with a toothpick. There should be gooey crumbs on the toothpick. You don't want to overbake it or it will be dry. Let cool before spreading the Creamy Filling on top.

Creamy Filling
1 cup sugar
1 cup white Crisco (Not the butter flavored)(Another shortening can be substituted but Crisco is best)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 Tblsp water
1 tsp vanilla

Put all ingredients into a large bowl and beat on high for 5 minutes. You want it to be fluffy. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat for another 2 minutes.

Spread the Creamy Filling on the chocolate cake and put in the freezer to set.

Chocolate Chip Frosting

In a heavy saucepan
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
2Tblsp butter

Over medium heat bring to a boil, stirring often so it does not burn. Let boil for 4-5 minutes while stirring, be sure to turn down the heat if it is near boiling over the pan edges.

Turn off heat and add 1 - 6 oz bag of Milk Chocolate Chips. (I prefer Hershey's)

Stir until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly but still pourable. Pour over Creamy Filling and let it set up. This won't take long as the cake should already be cold.

Recipe ~ Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

Crust: You may cheat and use a pre made chocolate crumb crust, or....take the time for my Oreo crust.

Oreo Crust
1/2 package of Oreo cookies - split and the filling removed
1/4 cup soft butter
2 T sugar
Crush the cookies into fine crumbs and mix with the butter and sugar. Press into an 8" pie pan and set aside.

Peanut Butter Filling
1 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
1 8 oz package of soft cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 c Cool Whip topping - set aside

Beat the first 4 ingredients well. For about 4 - 5 minutes on medium is good. You want it to be well blended and fluffy. Beat in the whipped topping on LOW till well blended. Spread evenly into the crust and cover lightly with plastic wrap.

Freeze till solid.

Spread a 2" layer of whipped topping on the frozen pie and garnish with Oreo cookies cut in half circles. If you are not going to serve it right away you may freeze it again after garnishing.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Recipe ~ Dark Chocolate Cake

3/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup cream

Cream together well beating on high for 2 minutes.

Sift together:
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt

Add to creamed mixture, beating well.
Add:
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup hot coffee (strong)

Beat on medium for 3 minutes.

Pour into greased and lightly floured 9x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until it tests done when a toothpick has gooey crumbs on it.

Do NOT overbake!

VERY rich cake!