recipe

Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate Recipe

December 1, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 5 Comments

How fun is this?! I’m part of Sandy Toes and Popsicle‘s Hot Chocolate Recipe Party blog hop. What that means is that several other bloggers are sharing their favorite hot chocolate recipes too. After you check out my post I know you are going to want to go check all of them out. My contribution is this Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate. I’ve been wanting to try this recipe out for a while so when Jill asked if I wanted to be part of this party I said YES! I’ve been super into cardamom lately. And orange just goes really well with chocolate so I figured they would all work really well together. As with most of my recipes, I ran it by Kristin to make sure that amounts of each thing and technique sounded right. And then I set to work to try it out.

There are tons of ways to make hot chocolate and it is pretty much a personal preference. So whatever way you like it, do it that way. The orange and cardamom will work with whatever base you decide to go with. I used 1% milk because that is what we had in the house. But whole milk would make it super creamy and delicious. And Pioneer Woman likes a mix of milk and cream, and has her own version of orange flavored as well. YUM! Grab an orange, about a cup (or more) of semi-sweet chocolate and set to work finding whole cardamom pods. They aren’t everywhere but I ended up finding them at World Market of all places. Powdered would work fine too I’m sure if you can’t find the pods.

These ingredients smell amazing. The cardamom pods were not as fragrant as I thought they would be when I cracked them. Cracking them was really easy. Place them, one at a time, on the cutting board. Lay a large chef’s knife (blade aiming away from you) on top of the cardamom pod. With the heal of your hand give it a quick whack. It will split the pod without breaking it in to tiny pieces. The orange flavor is so clean and bright and totally reminds me of Christmas thanks to my mom making me candied orange peel every year while growing up.

With Kristin‘s approval, I decided to steep the orange peel (being careful not to get the white bitter part when I peeled it with a vegetable peeler) and cracked cardamom pods in the milk.

When heating milk, you need to make sure that you stir often over a medium to low flame so you don’t scald it. It doesn’t smell good when it burns. So I’ve heard…

Once the milk has come to a boil, I skimmed out the orange peel and cardamom pods and threw them away. Then I added the roughly chopped chocolate to the pan. I continued stirring until I felt like it was really melted. I’m not a chocolate expert so I really don’t know why my chocolate stayed looking speckle-y instead of being really smooth. It didn’t stop me from drinking the end result though.

And doesn’t hot chocolate taste better in a special mug? This was one of my husband’s from when he was a kid. His mom gave it to use a few years ago when she was cleaning out her cupboard. He never uses it but I certainly do.

I ladled the hot chocolate in the mug and topped it with another piece of orange peel. I also sprinkled a little bit of powdered cardamom on top to make sure that when you go in for that first sip you know what you are getting. Overall the orange and cardamom flavor was subtle but delicious. This is definitely something I will be making again!

Jill created a download for the recipe card. Download it below:

Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate Recipe Card

It prints two to a page so be sure to share it with someone! Huge thank you to Jill for creating the party and all the printables!

Don’t forget to go check out the other amazing hot chocolate recipes (each with their own printable recipe card! Collect them all!):

Caramel hot chocolate – Alma ( fieldtripmom.com )
Nutella hot chocolate – Tee ( thatsitmommy.com )
Mexican hot chocolate – Pattie ( livingmividaloca.com )
Peanut butter hot chocolate – Linsey ( lillepunkin.com )
Coffee with hot chocolate mix added – Kara ( smallthingsarebigthings.com )
Frozen Hot Chocolate – Jamie ( mngirlinla.com )
Peppermint Hot Chocolate Floats – Caryn ( rockinmama.net )
Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow cream topping – Jill ( sandytoesandpopsicles.com )

Filed Under: Recipes, Sip it Tagged With: Blog Hop, Holidays, Orange Cardamom Hot Chocolate, printable, recipe

Kitchen Sink OREO Cookie Balls Recipe with Dippers

November 20, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 3 Comments

*This is a sponsored post on behalf of OREO. All opinions are my own.

My family goes through a bag of OREOs like nobodies business. They are a favorite of my kids, my husband and I have also been known to eat one or 30 of them for a snack. And even my son’s pickiest friends will indulge in a cookie snack while over for a play date. So while I like sharing the cookies as it is, I also like to use them in sweet treats (OREO stuffed chocolate chip cookies anyone???). OREO has a classic cookie ball recipe that they invited me to put my own spin on and share with my readers. So I reached out to my pal, Kristin of Meringue Bake Shop, to come and create with me. The holidays are all about sharing and spending time together. Kristin and I love to be creative together so I thought this would be a fun way to get to hang out and create something super yummy. Plus, she’s a pro in the sweets department.

The basic cookie ball recipe includes a whole package of OREOs, a block of cream cheese and some baking chocolate. Kristin and I are both really inspired by Christina Tossi of Momofuko Milk Bar and her ridonkulous Compost Cookies. So we decided to create our version in cookie ball form. But instead of creating a ball that you might eat like a truffle, we decided to make it a little bit larger (I LOVE me some sweets) and serve it with dippers as you might with a cheese ball.

As if cream cheese and crushed OREOs isn’t delicious enough, we decided to add in some pecans, instant coffee and toffee bits. Word to your mother.

Add everything to your mixer and mix it all up. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: dessert, Meringue Bake Shop, OREO, Party Food, recipe

Best Cheese Ball Ever Appetizer

November 11, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 5 Comments

With all the family gatherings that are bound to happen this holiday season I thought I would share with you one of my favorite appetizer recipes. This Cheese Ball recipe is super easy to make, transport and shovel in your mouth hole. I didn’t invent this recipe. I’ve looked at the internet and seen this and variations of this all over the place. But this is the one that I like the best so it is what I wanted to share with you.

There are not many ingredients so make sure that you use good quality items. I think the blue cheese makes it for me but I understand that there are some people who think it tastes like feet so if that is you, just leave it out.

Make sure your cream cheese is softened and then just mush it all together.

Roll it in a ball (or don’t) roll it in some nuts (or don’t) and eat it with Wheat Thins (I’m sure other crackers would work too but tradition states that you eat it with Wheat Thins. You don’t want to eff with that do you?)

You know when this cheese ball would work best? New Year’s Eve. It can sit out for a while without making all your guests totally sick. Edible gold stars are like the jazz hands of the food world and really make this cheese ball next level. Serve with some bubbles and party on.

Best Cheese Ball Ever Appetizer

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (softened)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I like to go with sharp cheddar)
1 TBSP chopped green onion
1 TBSP Blue Cheese (crumbled)
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
Finely chopped pecans (optional)
Wheat Thins

Instructions

Combine softened cream cheese until well blended.
Add remaining ingredients.
Mix well and chill.
Shape in to a ball and roll in pecan pieces.
Serve with Wheat Thins

http://www.cupcakesandcutlery.com/best-cheese-ball-ever-appetizer/

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: appetizer, champagne, cheese ball, holiday appetizers, New Years Eve, Party Food, recipe

Coke-jito, Like a Mojito but with Coke

November 5, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow Leave a Comment

I love a good mojito. And I love Coke. I don’t drink it very often, but it is my soda of choice. So while in Mexico this summer, I was trying to find a drink that would be super yummy that no one could screw up (seriously, we were at an all-inclusive resort that I thought would excel at margaritas and they just butchered them). Mojitos can be made different ways by different bartenders but I thought to my self, “self – if you have them make it with Coke instead of a combination of simple syrup and soda water or some other way bartenders make them, it will be less likely to taste bad.” So basically I invented the Coke-jito. Which I realize is basically rum and coke…And then I found out that other people have posted about Coke-jitos. Long story short, I think I’m a genius but turns out I’m just average. But I still like this drink and I think you will too. You need all the basics for a mojito, lime, mint, and rum. Maybe even a little agave syrup if you need it to be sweeter. And swap the club soda for some Coke.

And you make it the same way. Muddle your lime and mint. And take a deep breath because this is quite possibly the best smell ever! Unless you add in some newborn baby. But I do not suggest muddling your infant.

Then you add some rum. I chose to do a dark rum, although a traditional mojito is a light rum. I don’t know all the nuances of the two types, but I feel like dark rum adds a nice sweetness to drinks it is mixed with.

The Coke-jito is that easy. And so yummy. I like to think of this as my winter mojito. Or a way dirtier version of the Dirty Diet Coke craze that was happening over the summer because of the addition of alcohol.

Coke-jito Recipe

1.5 – 2 oz rum (light or dark – to your liking)

1 lime (quartered and quarters cut in half – you will use 3/4 of the lime but I can’t really tell you to buy 3/4 of a lime now can I?)

8 ish mint leaves

1 can of Coke

Agave Syrup (optional)

To a tall glass, add lime and mint. Muddle. Add ice. Top with a can of Coke. Give it a light stir. If you need it a little sweeter, add agave syrup to taste.

Boom.

*Botran Rum sent me samples to taste. I used on in this post.

Filed Under: Recipes, Sip it Tagged With: cocktails, lime, mojito, recipe

Churro Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

September 26, 2013 by Sharon Garofalow 11 Comments

Oh yeah. This Churro Cream Cheese Fruit Dip is good. If you’ve never had the basic fruit dip recipe of cream cheese and marshmallow creme you should definitely make that at some point too. Who knew those two little ingredients would taste that good together! So since I was serving this dip for my Mexican themed Chicks and Salsa party, I thought I would change it up and try to make it taste more like a churro. Because churros don’t suck.

The only thing that would make this recipe easier is if you could get someone else to mix it for you. And it takes only a few ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your cupboards.