A couple of weeks ago my friend Edie told me about friends who had moved to San Francisco from Vermont.  ( I’m sure that they didn’t move for the natural beauty, this Vermont sunrise was worthy of Maxfield Parish.) They created Recchiuti Confections with the idea “… once you introduce people to truly exquisite chocolates they will be won over instantly and forever.”  The next day Edie sent me a link to the Hot Chocolate Recipe Contest. I called to find out where I could buy some of the Hot Chocolate wafers and was surprised when I was told that they would send me a sample. The chocolate came a few days later – they were yummy. The wafers are meant to be used to make a perfect cup of hot chocolate but I decided to create a new cake that would feature this wonderful semisweet chocolate.

I was inspired by a package of dried mission figs in the pantry and decided that figs and chocolate would be an interesting combination. I emailed my recipe for a Chocolate Figgy Cake with coffee mousse to Recchiuti and I am waiting to see it they agree with my friends who declared it a winner. Their site says that the winning recipe will be announced before Valentine’s day.

Here’s the recipe, written in cookbook recipe style, that I sent: … read more

Cookies are simple to make with few ingredients and can be modified to include fruit, nuts, seeds, and spices, and rolled, cut and decorated for any occasion.

Whether making and sharing easily transportable energy bars or delicate treats served on fine china, cookies are a sweet way to say, “I love you.”

Since my early attempts at cookie baking, I have been fascinated by the endless variety of both names and flavors of cookies. There are snaps, sandies, hermits, dainties, thumbprints, gems, biscotti, pizzelle, crisos, mondel brot, tray bakes, gems, moon cakes, whoopee pies and snicker doodles. I enjoy saying Karlsbader Oblaten as much as I enjoy eating the delicious butter wafer made crunchy with coarse sugar and groundnuts. Learning names of exotic cookies and tasting them is a hobby similar to stamp collecting but one I find more rewarding.

When my younger son, Matthew,  was eight he had a cookie stand during an annual two day garden tour in our neighborhood. We baked trays of cookies and after two very successful days, he was able to made a hefty deposit to his drum kit fund. Toffee cookie bars, called toffee tray bakes in the UK, topped with nuts and chocolate were the most popular. Here’s how we made them a few days before the garden tour: … read more

Last December, after I had mailed out the final gift boxes of cookies to friends, I realized that I had forgotten to save cookies to serve to Christmas Eve visitors and any of Santa’s helpers who might stop by.

Out of time, frosting and cookie-baking energy, I wondered if the adage, “less is more” was true and then I remembered my breakfast in bed at the Colony Club twenty years earlier.

The Colony Club, established in 1902, was the first social club for women in New York City. It is an elegant and very private club with members whose last names range from Astor to Whitney. I spent a weekend there as the guest of my friend Jean. She was my guide in the culinary world and to the rarified dining of the Colony Club. As we planned my trip to New York, she took me under her wing and insisted that my day begin with “perfect Colony Club cinnamon toast” served on a tray in my bedroom. Perfect cinnamon toast? I had my doubts but Jean was a Manhattan matron with a sophisticated palate who was not to be denied. She ordered my breakfast, it was perfect and I’ve never thought of cinnamon toast in the same way since. Inspired by that memory I decided that Colony Club Cinnamon toast would be perfect Christmas Eve treat. Here’s how I made it: … read more

Hot chocolate spoons were the final creation to come from my kitchen this week.

Here’s how I made them:

Spicy Hot Chocolate Spoons

I used a double boiler to melt eight ounces of semi-sweet chocolate over simmering water. While the chocolate melted, I sifted together a quarter of a cup of cocoa powder, half a cup of confectioners’ sugar, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and a quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I omit cayenne pepper when I’m giving these spoons to friends who prefer food without a spicy kick.

When the chocolate was melted, I added two teaspoons of unflavored vegetable oil, anything but olive oil will do, and used a spatula to stir in the sugar/cocoa mixture.

I put one tablespoon of chocolate into the bowls of eight Chinese porcelain spoons that I found in an Asian market. I added a tag to each spoon with the these simple directions: To make a sublime mug of spicy hot chocolate, put six ounces of very hot milk in a mug and stir with this spoon until the chocolate has melted.

I used the remaining chocolate to make chocolate cubes with cinnamon stick stirrers by spooning  the chocolate into plastic ice cube trays and poking a cinnamon stick into each cube before the chocolate hardened. Regardless of how they are packaged, it is important to include directions or the hot chocolate cube will be mistaken for a piece of spicy fudge or a chocolate lollipop.

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Spicy Hot Chocolate List

• 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/4 c cocoa powder
• 1/2 c  confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• a pinch of salt

On Monday I made chocolate covered almonds.

They are simple to make and look as if they came from an upscale chocolatier. I tuck away a few small gift bags of them, decorated with a ribbon and a gift tag as last minute gifts for unexpected visitors. Here’s how I made them: … read more

Today marks the end of chocolate week in my holiday kitchen. Homemade chocolate treats are a gift of my time and since they are delicious and extraordinarily consumable they don’t occupy valuable space in anyone’s home for very long.

Last Saturday, I created chocolate turtles consisting of five pecans (the head and four legs), held together with a disc of creamy caramel (the body), and topped with dark chocolate (the shell). Creating chocolate turtles is a three-step process: building each turtle body, making caramel and adding the shell.

Here’s how I made them:
… read more