Tag Archives: dessert

Philly Noms- Naked Chocolate

27 Apr

This was supposed to be in line with all the previous Philly posts, but it looks like this one got left off.  Sorry about that!

We were on a quest in Philly to find a dessert place.  We checked through Yelp and found a recommendation for Naked Chocolate Cafe.  We walked in to find many fun things to try.

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And cases filled with treats.

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We decided to try a sampler of their filled chocolates.

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I was especially excited to try their St. Germaine filled perties.

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We also tried an assortment of the other flavors…

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The chocolates themselves were beautiful.  Each one with their own touch of design…

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We also sampled some gourmet hot chocolate, including one with salted caramel.

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I would say that the chocolates were absolutely stunning, but the taste isn’t quite up the par. They were all tasty, but the chocolate itself wasn’t as flavorful as I would have liked and I had a hard time distinguishing between the flavors once I bit in.  I am also a complete chocolate snob, however, so I think I have very high expectations for homemade chocolates.

It was a fun place to go, however, and I think the hot chocolate alone was worth it.

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Grape and Basil Crumble

30 Mar

I have yet to master shopping for fresh produce in NYC.  With only 2 of us and a NYC apartment, I try to shop in small batches to make sure things don’t go bad.  However, as many a day does not play out the way we expect, and we wind up eating out a LOT more than we should, I have the inevitable problem of having to throw too much food away. It makes me want to cry… wasting all that food.

So when I had a whole bushel of grapes that were a few days from being too soft, I had to ask myself “How do I use up a lot of grapes before they go bad?”  This is when I got creative…

First, there was mixing grapes with brown sugar.

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Then it was “what can I do that will make this unique?” and the spice cabinet was opened and basil was sprinkled and with a moment of both bravery and hope, I threw it all together.

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Then topped it with the leftover crumble I had from the Drunk ‘N Nutty Pie.

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And I popped it into the over and prayed.  I removed it when it was bubbling and starting to brown.

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And it was good.  BOY it was good. I actually wished I had added MORE basil.  The flavors were incredibly complimentary.

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So today’s lesson in baking: Don’t be afraid to mix in spices that wouldn’t ordinary be thought of as baking supplies.  Enjoy the creative spoils.

 

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Fudged Fudge

23 Mar

I have heard horror stories about fudge.  And I have also heard that you can make it in the microwave and no one will notice.  When looking for recipes one day, I decided to try the latter one and see how it turned out. 

I only had deep pans, and I was concerned about getting the fudge out.  So I greased up the sides and put parchment paper on the bottom (cut to size).  Turned out perfectly and came right out.

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And it was easy to make multiple varieties just by mixing it right in the pans (that I made small to have a few flavors).  This one had white chocolate chips in it.

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I then just used a simple bench scraper to cut into squares.

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And we had perfect little servings of fudge.

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 I still had some leftover sweet glazed pecans from the cheesecake, so I added them to one batch. (This wound up being my favorite)

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It was remarkably simple, tasty, and the texture was actually BETTER than many homemade fudges I have tasted.  Next time you need to make an impressive dessert with about 10 minutes of hands on time, look no farther than microwaved fudge. (Let the fact it was so damn easy stay our little secret)

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RECIPE
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Microwaved Fudge
(borrowed from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces semisweet chocolate
  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional.  I tried white chocolate chips and pecans.  I think it would be amazing with pretzel pieces, fruit, or peanut butter)
  • I also added a bit of salt after melting until the chocolate was to my liking

Directions

  1. Line an 8×8 inch square dish with aluminum foil.  (if you want to make multiple flavors, use a smaller pan.  And when I tried to use aluminum foil, it wouldn’t get flat and I didn’t want wrinkled in my fudge, so I just buttered the containers and put parchment paper on the bottom)

    2. 

  2. Chop chocolate and place in a large, microwave safe bowl with condensed milk. Microwave on high, stirring once or twice until chocolate is soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir until completely smooth. Stir in vanilla and walnuts. Spread in prepared pan.
  3. Refrigerate 2 hours, until firm. Cut into squares.

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