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Every now and then, the creative urge strikes, and I hit the kitchen. I am not, technically, any kind of trained gourmet cook. What I am is a Lunatic with an appreciation for good food, a knowledge of the basic working principles of cooking (thank you, Mama), and a willingness to experiment, bearing in mind that some of the experiments might not come out so well.
Today, at 11:30 am, the monitors' retirement party for the lady who's retiring in November happens. (It's a surprise. The e-mail said it's a monitor meeting. The paper invitations that got passed out detail that it's actually a party, who it's for, and what to bring.) We were detailed to bring "finger foods" -- and since I don't want to get up early enough to be able to make it to the store, and I have mentioned that I do make these things occasionally to my salivating co-workers, I opted to make truffles.
I've made two kinds. The first kind is the tried-and-true Irish Cream truffle, where the two ingredients are Irish Cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I think I didn't add enough Irish Cream this time, because while they're tasty, they're hardly knee-melting. I melt chocolate chips, pour in Irish Cream, and stir until the thing becomes firm. Then I ball up the boozy chocolate, chill it, then dip it in more melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.
The second kind is an experimental coffee liqueur truffle. I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, mixed in a certain amount of Turkish-ground coffee, then added coffee liqueur. I shaped, chilled, and dipped the centers in the usual manner. They are tasty. I'll have to do this again.
I had some melted chocolate left over, so I broke out the cherries that have been sitting in rum since February. These are the store-bought maraschino cherries rather than my own stock. I discovered that unfortunately the cherry flavor has diminished, and there is too much rum content and not enough sugar. I dipped them anyway, just to see how they'll do. I broke out the tea jug of my cherries, and scooped up some of the sugar sediment to add to the rum cherries. I think what I'm going to do is drain out the cherry-juice rum and stick it in a bottle or something, then add sedimental sugar and the cherry syrup from the cherries I prepared this summer, to see if the rum cherries can't be salvaged. I strained out my prepared cherries from the tea jug and put them in another container to save space now that they've absorbed all the sugar they're going to absorb.
The cherries have shriveled up, raisin-style, almost. I don't think they'll be suitable for the way I usually have been dipping cherries. Now I'm wondering if I can use an ice cube tray to prepare chocolate forms to make cordial cherries. That could be interesting!
Today, at 11:30 am, the monitors' retirement party for the lady who's retiring in November happens. (It's a surprise. The e-mail said it's a monitor meeting. The paper invitations that got passed out detail that it's actually a party, who it's for, and what to bring.) We were detailed to bring "finger foods" -- and since I don't want to get up early enough to be able to make it to the store, and I have mentioned that I do make these things occasionally to my salivating co-workers, I opted to make truffles.
I've made two kinds. The first kind is the tried-and-true Irish Cream truffle, where the two ingredients are Irish Cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I think I didn't add enough Irish Cream this time, because while they're tasty, they're hardly knee-melting. I melt chocolate chips, pour in Irish Cream, and stir until the thing becomes firm. Then I ball up the boozy chocolate, chill it, then dip it in more melted semi-sweet chocolate chips.
The second kind is an experimental coffee liqueur truffle. I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, mixed in a certain amount of Turkish-ground coffee, then added coffee liqueur. I shaped, chilled, and dipped the centers in the usual manner. They are tasty. I'll have to do this again.
I had some melted chocolate left over, so I broke out the cherries that have been sitting in rum since February. These are the store-bought maraschino cherries rather than my own stock. I discovered that unfortunately the cherry flavor has diminished, and there is too much rum content and not enough sugar. I dipped them anyway, just to see how they'll do. I broke out the tea jug of my cherries, and scooped up some of the sugar sediment to add to the rum cherries. I think what I'm going to do is drain out the cherry-juice rum and stick it in a bottle or something, then add sedimental sugar and the cherry syrup from the cherries I prepared this summer, to see if the rum cherries can't be salvaged. I strained out my prepared cherries from the tea jug and put them in another container to save space now that they've absorbed all the sugar they're going to absorb.
The cherries have shriveled up, raisin-style, almost. I don't think they'll be suitable for the way I usually have been dipping cherries. Now I'm wondering if I can use an ice cube tray to prepare chocolate forms to make cordial cherries. That could be interesting!
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