Chocolate Friday - Double Chocolate Nut Clusters

Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates is bidding farewell to Chocolate Friday. She is also not blogging anymore so you must go say good-bye. When I first read that she was leaving the blogging world I knew that I, for one, would sorely miss her (and her chocolate). But, then I noticed that she would keep her blog up, just not add to it anymore. Isn't she sweet? (Pun intended).

And now my final contribution to Lisa's Chocolate Fridays:

Double Chocolate Nut Clusters

Ingredients:

2 lbs white chocolate almond bark, broken into small pieces

1 lbs dark chocolate almond bark, broken into small pieces

1 4-ounce bar German chocolate

1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 32-ounce container dry roasted peanuts, lightly salted

1 16-ounce container whole almonds

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

Directions:

Turn slow cooker on high and add the first 6 ingredients. Cook for 45 minutes (don't peek or stir). Reduce heat to low and cook one hour, stirring until all chocolate is melted. Add almond flavoring.

Put into miniature Christmas muffin liners. Store in an airtight container or place on trays for holiday gifts. Yields appoximately 75 pieces.

There you have it, folks. Yummy chocolate-y treats. And now please, please, please go over to Lisa's and check out her delicious site. And if you have a chocolate-y recipe to share, post about it, and link up to her Chocolate Friday post.

Until next time...



JenT

Chocolate Friday - Nutella in bulk?!

Have you ever wanted to buy Nutella in bulk?

Oh, yum!

Well now you can! That's right. I found a package of THREE jars of Nutella at Sam's Club.

The only bad thing is that it wasn't a local Sam's. I found it in Cincinnati, OH when we went to the Creation Museum last week. My hubby was so sweet, he bought it for me. (It was only $7.22!!)

Now if they would only stock it around here.



As you can see, I've already opened it up! lol

For more yummy chocolate and recipes visit Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates.


Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - birthday goodies

Well, I had a good birthday yesterday. I pretty much did nothing all day.

I got biscuits and gravy for breakfast. My favorite breakfast that I never get to eat because for some reason the southern gal cannot cook gravy! I kid you not. Somehow I missed that gene. It must be a gene because although I've watched my mom and grandma cook it many times, even with them telling me how, I've never been able to do it. I can cook other things, but gravy escapes me. Oh well. Sam's Club makes a good packaged gravy. :) So my husband and my two oldest girls cooked gravy and biscuits for me. They make good homemade biscuits. (Better than mine, even. Sad, I know).

The girls also fixed lunch.

We took the day off of school since it was the teacher's birthday. :)

Last night a young couple that we know came over and babysat for us while we went out for my birthday dinner. Texas Roadhouse is my favorite place to eat. (Plus I had a birthday coupon for a free appetizer - yum - Rattlesnake Bites!).

After that we went over to Dairy Queen and I used my other birthday coupon for a buy 1 get 1 free Blizzard. To get those you just scroll to the bottom of the main page and there is a place to join the Blizzard fan club. I've gotten a coupon every month this year for a free Blizzard of the Month with the purchase of one. It's a nice treat (and a cheap date :) ). I got the Turtle Pecan Cluster Blizzard, my husband got one with chocolate chip cookie dough or something like that. Anyway, it was really good. It had chocolate, caramel, and pecans in it.

Then when I got home I got presents. The fun part! I got two Yankee Candles; Harvest and Autumn Wreath. The both smell so good. Too bad there's no scratch and sniff on here. :)

Then I got some special chocolate hand-dipped cookies and treats and some fudge. Yummy-yum!

So that's my chocolate for this week. No recipe, but if you go to the Dairy Queen site and sign up, you can get coupons in your email inbox at least once a month and get a treat. It says 6 free blizzards a year, but I'm not sure if that correct or not. But hey, 6 is good too, right?

Now for more chocolate madness, go see Lisa over at Stop and Smell the Chocolates. She has a really great post today. Very helpful. :)



Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - healthy chocolate cake?

Oh my. You HAVE to go to Lisa's and check out her post today. She's having a giveaway...chocolate of course. You'll drool. Seriously.

Now to share my chocolate with you today. Here's a recipe I found this morning and I just had to post it. I haven't tried it yet, but I will. I just need to go buy some eggs. You can see my priorities...I have all the chocolate I need to make this...I just need the eggs. :)

Whole Wheat Blueberry-Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 egg
• 1 cup frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
• Fresh blueberries and/or Blueberry Sauce (see recipe below)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In blender combine water, blueberries, and the egg. Cover and blend until smooth. Add to flour mixture. Whisk until well combined. Pour into greased 8x8x2-inch baking pan.

2. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack. Invert onto serving platter.

3. In small microwave-safe bowl combine dessert topping and chocolate pieces. Micro-cook, covered, on 50 percent power (medium) 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Let stand 5 minutes. Pour onto cooled cake, spreading evenly.

4. Cut cake into squares to serve. Top with fresh blueberries. Serve with Blueberry Sauce. Makes 9 servings.

Blueberry Sauce: In blender combine 1/2 cup frozen light whipped dessert topping, thawed, and 1/2 cup fresh blueberries. Cover and blend until smooth.

Can you believe chocolate and healthy are in the same recipe?! Yum!

Don't forget to check out Lisa's site if you haven't already.

Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Double Chocolate Cookies

I ordered some bakers chocolate from a store online; The Prepared Pantry. It is called Gourmet Ramstadt-Breda rich dark cocoa.

It says on the package that it is "quality cocoa used by the best bakers and pastry chefs in Europe and America".

I don't know about that, but I do know it made my cookies oh-so yummy! Seriously, I think they were the best cookies I've ever made. And I'm not bragging - it wasn't me - it was all the cocoa.

And if you hurry you can get your own 1 lb bag at half price! Trust me, it's worth it!



I also used what I consider the best chocolate chips ever...



I didn't use a recipe per se, just threw together the ingredients. Here's a good guess as to what I did.

1 1/2 sticks butter (real butter)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (real vanilla extract, not the imitation)
1/4 cup of the cocoa powder
2 cups self-rising flour (White Lily)
1 cup Ghiradelli chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar; add eggs and vanilla. Then add cocoa and flour. Last (but certainly not least) add chocolate chips. I dropped them on a baking stone and baked them for about 14 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. They didn't last long. :)

One more thing. When I got the chocolate I opened the box and cocoa was everywhere! I thought "Oh no! My chocolate!". I immediately called The Prepared Pantry and I had barely told them what had happened when the man said "Oh I'm so sorry, we'll get another one out to you right away!" Wow! I'm still not sure what caused the bag to get a hole/split and leak, but I am getting another bag for free! Talk about customer service! Just another reason I will definitely be keeping this company on my favorites list! (I got the new bag a couple of days ago. Yum)!

Now, if that wasn't enough chocolate for you, go over to Lisa's at Stop and Smell the Chocolates. She always has a great post up.


Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Kid Stuff

Here's my last installment of chocolate history.

Kid Stuff

Hershey didn't think of his products as candy. In fact, he forbade his employees from referring to chocolate as candy. He claimed there was more energy in an ounce of chocolate than there was in a pound of meat. Chocolate wasn't "merely a sweet," he said, it was nutritious food. (That's what I'm talking about.)

Regardless of what Hershey thought, most people considered chocolate candy, more for kids than grown-ups. That began to change during Wold War I, when the government sent candy and chocolate to soldiers in battle. Why? It was cheap, it didn't spoil, and its high sugar content provided a quick energy boost. American soldiers consumed huge quantities of chocolate during the war and when the war was over they continued to indulge their habit.

During World War II, virtually the nation's entire candy output was diverted into the war effort. American soldiers brought Hershey bars with them wherever they went; in many places they became a form of currency. The U.S. Air Force was the largest purchase of M&Ms during the war; it bought them by the ton for bomber pilots flying long missions over North Africa and the Pacific. The Army was the #2 customer; it issued M&Ms to soldiers in tropical regions where ordinary chocolate melted too easily.

During WWII, the average G.I. consumed 50 pounds of candy and chocolate a year, three times what he had eaten before the war. And he brought his appetite for chocolate home with him. It wasn't just for kids anymore; it was the food that had kept the fighting man strong. The two world wars helped to establish what Hershey had been saying for more than 40 years - that chocolate is for everyone.

~ taken from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader

There you have it, folks. Chocolate is for everyone! As if we didn't know that. :)

Last week, I asked you what your favorite Hershey's product was. This week I want to know what your children's favorite Hershey's product is. So, go poll the kiddos and get back to me.

Here's a really great snack recipe for the kids. (Just follow the link).



Go see Lisa (if you haven't already) for more great recipes with chocolate.



Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Chocolate for the Masses!

How appropriate that I came to this part of chocolate history right before Valentine's Day. :)

Chocolate for the Masses

The Industrial Revolution helped to make chocolate more affordable than ever. Now it was possible to grind massive quantities of cacao beans with steam-powered grinders and using hydraulic pressers to separate cocoa butter from cocoa powder was much more efficient than making chocolate by hand...and the cost savings were passed on to the consumer.

The invention of chocolate that could be eaten created a huge demand for cocoa butter, which caused the price to go through the roof, and made chocolate bars expensive. Anyone could afford to drink chocolate, but if you wanted to eat it, you had to be wealthy.

Then in 1893, Milton Snavely Hershey, owner of the world's largest caramel factory, visited the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and saw a demonstration of chocolate-making machinery given by Lehmann and Company, a German chocolate maker. Hershey was so impressed by what he saw that when the exhibition closed he bought the machinery and began making chocolate-coated caramels. "Caramels are only a fad," he told anyone who would listen, "chocolate is a permanent thing." (I guess he knew what he was talking about, dontcha think?)

In 1900 he sold his caramel company so that he could focus exclusively on chocolate, and he went about manufacturing it the same way that he'd become the king of caramel - he built the largest chocolate factory on the face of the earth. (I'd love to visit!)

Hershey then applied the principles of mass production to the manufacture of chocolate - he built his factory on 1,200 acres of Pennsylvania dairyland, and then bought up thousands more acres - until he owned enough dairy farms to supply his factory with fresh milk. He built an entire town, Hershey, Pennsylivania, to give his workers someplace to live, as well as another - Hershey, Cuba - near his sugar mill in the Caribbean.

Hershey manufactured his chocolate bars and Hershey's kisses on such an enormous scale - as much as 100,000 pounds of chocolate a day - that he was able to realize huge cost savings, which he passed on to the consumer. He priced his Hershey bars at just a nickel a piece, and they sold at that price until 1969. And rather than settle for selling his chocolate regionally, as other American chocolate companies did at the time, he set his sights on selling his products throughout the United States. He also expanded his sales beyond the traditional outlets of candy stores and drugstores, selling his chocolate bars at newsstands, in grocery stores, at bus stations, even in restaurants. Soon, his candy bars were everywhere.

~ taken from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader

I can't begin to list the numerous chocolate products that you can purchase from Hershey's. The chocolate chips, the candy kisses (and hugs), the large variety of candy bars (including M&Ms), the baking cocoa, the syrup. Whew - a person can get a chocolate fix just reading about it.

So tell me; what is your favorite Hershey product? I think mine (if I had to choose) would be this:


Or possibly this:


Yeah, dark chocolate is my favorite kind of chocolate. The Kisses, I think, would last longer than the bar. Individually wrapped and all.

I also found a yummy looking recipe on their website. I'm planning to try Valentine Message Brownies this weekend. Sounds and looks very delicious! Go check out their website for lots of chocolate recipes. This is definitely the weekend to indulge!!

Also, go visit Lisa (if you didn't come from there), to see what she has this week. I know it's something good.


Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Solid Chocolate

A Pressing Matter

Things began to change when, in 1828, a Dutch chemist named Coenraad Johannes Van Houten invented a hydraulic press that could remove fatty cocoa butter from the ground cacao beans, leaving behind a solid "cake" that could then be ground into a fine powder -what we know as cocoa powder. Then he treated it with alkaline salts to prevent if from separating when added to hot water.

Drinking chocolate was changed forever. As anthropologists Sophie and Michael Coe write in The True History of Chocolate,

In the year 1828, the age-old, thick and foamy drink was dethroned by easily prepared, more easily digestible cocoa. Van Houten's invention of the defatting and alkalizing processes made possible the large-scale manufacture of cheap chocolate for the masses, in both powdered and solid form.

Passing the Bar

The next great change came in 1847, when an English chocolate maker names Francis Fry figured out a way to combine cocoa powder and sugar with melted cocoa butter (instead of the usual warm water) to create a chocolate paste that could be pressed into molds and formed into solid shapes. It was the world's first eating chocolate, which the firm sold under the sophisticated-sounding French name Chocolat Delicieux a Manger ("Delicious Chocolate for Eating").

Then in 1867, a Swiss chemist named Henri Nestle discovered how to make powdered milk through evaporation. In 1879, after several years of collaborating with Nestle, Swiss chocolate maker Daniel Peter finally figured our how to add Nestle's powdered milk to his chocolate, creating the world's first milk chocolate.

That same year, another Swiss Chocolate maker, Rudolphe Lindt, invented a process he called "conching." Until then, chocolate was much coarser and grittier than it is today, kind of like granulated sugar. Lindt's conching process crushed chocolate paste beneath huge granite rollers for more than 72 hours, at which point the particles became so tiny and smooth that the resulting chocolate literally melts in your mouth - the first chocolate to do that. Lindt's invention so vastly imporoved the texture of chocolate that conching quickly became a universal process and coarse, gritty chocolate became a thing of the past.

~ taken from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader

And now a question: what's your favorite candy bar? Mine is a toss up between Reese's and Butterfinger. I just love the chocolate/peanut butter combination.

A recipe with chocolate? Sure. In fact, here's one where you can use your favorite candy bar.

Candy Bar Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate covered candy bar, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In large bowl using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed and until mixture looks fluffy and smooth, about 30 seconds.

4. Blend in egg and vanilla extract to butter mixture. (Stop the mixer and scrape bowl with rubber spatula once during this mixing.)

5. Decrease speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing just until flour is incorporated.

6. Gently mix in candy bar pieces.

7. Drop batter by large tablespoons on baking sheets. Bake for approximately 8 minutes, watching to prevent burning.

8. Remove while warm to prevent sticking and cool on wire racks.

Enjoy!!

And head over to Lisa's for more chocolate. (Psst...she had Nutella recipes today. Yum!).


Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Chocolate, the Cure-All

YOU WON'T HEAR THIS ON THE HERSHEY TOUR
By the late 1500s, the Spaniards had abandoned the Azetc name cacahuatl - "bitter water" - and coined a new work, chocolatl, possibly a combination of the Maya word for "hot," chocol, and adding it to the Aztec word for "water," atl.

Why would they do this? Their chocolate was sweetened, not bitter and they drank it hot like the Mayans did. But some historians speculate that there may have been another reason: just as the Spaniards were initially disgusted by the bitter taste and frothy brown appearance of cacahuatl, they may have also been disgusted by its name.

In many Romance languages, including 16th century Spanish, the caca has scatological connotations. "It is hard to believe that the Spaniards were not thoroughly uncomfortable with a noun beginning with caca to describe a thick, dark-brown drink which they had begun to appreciate," anthropologists Sophie and Michael Coe write in The True History of Chocolate. The Spaniards "desperately needed some other word. and we would not be at all suprised if it was the learned friars who came up with chocolatl and chocolate."

CURE-ALL
No one knows for sure when chocolate first arrived in Europe. Cortes may have brought some back to Spain with him on his trips in 1519 or 1528. The first recorded appearance of chocolate in Europe was in 1544, when some Dominican friars took a delegation of Mayans to visit prince Philip of Spain. Nobody knows if the prince tried the chocolate, and if so, what he thought of it. In any event, it took a few years for the new taste to catch on in Spain.

By the time the first commercial shipments of cacao beans began arriving in Spain from plantations in Central and South America in 1585, the exotic beverage was appreciated mostly for its "medicinal" value. "This drink is the healthiest thing, and the greatest sustenance of anything you could drink in the world," one chocolate advocate wrote in the 1550s, "because he who drinks a cup of this liquid, no matter how far he walks, can go a whole day without eating anything else." (Ha, I knew it! All you need in life is chocolate!)

EUROPEAN TOUR
In 1655 England seized the Caribbean island of Jamaica from Spain, including a number of thriving cacao plantations. Up to that point chocolate was practically unheard of outside of Spain. Then, in 1657, London's first chocolate cafe opened, advertising "an excellent West India drink, called Chocolat." Similar cafes soon opened up in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Hot chocolate quickly established itself as the drink of choice of the European aristocracy (no one else could afford it); by 1690 chocolate was so popular in England that the British Parliament passed a law forbidding the selling of it without a license, giving King William and Queen Mary fa financial stake in the booming trade.

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON
In the late 1600s, chocolate began appearing as a flavoring in food. In France you could buy chocolate biscuits and pastilles; in Spain, chocolate rolls and cakes. In Italy, you cold order chocolate soup, chocolate liver, and chocolate pasta - including chocolate lasagna. And in 1727, and Englishman named Nicholas Sanders became the first person, as far as historians can tell, to make a hot chocolate drink using milk instead of water.

But you still couldn't find a chocolate bar - not in Europe, not anywhere in the world. Nobody knew how to make chocolate in solid form in the 17th century - chocolate preparation had hardly advanced at all since the time of Cortes. The beans were ground, usually by hand, and then shaped into wafers or cakes that were dissolved in hot water to make drinking chocolate, which if you wanted you could pour into your food. That was about it.

~ taken from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader.

And now for a recipe. (With chocolate of course).

Ultimate Double Chocolate Brownies

3/4 cup Baking Cocoa

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

2/3 C. Butter or Margarine, melted, divided (I use the Butter)

1/2 C. Boiling Water

2 C. Sugar

2 Eggs

1-1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 C. chopped Pecans

2 C. (12 oz.) Semisweet Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl, combine cocoa & baking soda; Blend in 1/3 C. Melted Butter. Add Boiling Water; Stir till well blended. Stir in Sugar, Eggs, and remaining melted Butter. Add Flour, Vanilla, & Salt. Stir in Pecans & Chocolate Chips. Pour into a greased 9x13x2" baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or till brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool.

To feed more of your chocolate addiction, head over to Lisa's (@ Stop and Smell the Chocolates). She always has some great recipe and links to more.

Enjoy!




Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Origins

ORIGINS
The cacao plant is native to Central America. There is evidence that the Maya established cacao plantations as early as 600 A.D., after harvesting and trading the wild cacao beans for hundreds of years. They used cacao beans to make chocol haa, or "hot water," a frothy chocolate beverage flavored with vanilla, hot chili powder, and other spices, including achiotl, a spice similar to allspice that left the drinker's mouth, lips, and facial hair bright red, "as if they had been drinking blood." But only Maya royalty were allowed to drink chocol haa; everyone else had to settle for balche, a fermented beverage made from honey and bark. Cacao beans were so valuable that by 1000 A.D. they were being used as currency, which is why Columbus's captives treated them with such reverence.

The Aztecs acquired a taste for cacao from their contact with the Maya, and by 1200 A.D. they were collecting tributes of cacao from the tribes they dominated, including the Maya The Aztecs believed that cacao was a gift of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, who repeatedly brought a cacao tree to Earth on a ray of sunlight and taught early people how to make cacahuatl, or "bitter water," the chocolate beverage that they believed gave them universal wisdom and knowledge. (Of course it does! lol)

FROM ON HIGH
The Aztecs made cacahuatl in much the same way the Maya made chocol haa: they ground coacao beans into powder, stirred it into water, and then gave it a froth by lifting the beverage high in the air and pouring it into a second container on the ground. But unlike the Maya, the Aztecs preferred their cacahuatl cold; this was the beverage that the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes was served by the Aztec emperor Montezuma in an elaborate ceremony in 1519, when he became one of the first Europeans, if not the very first, to taste chocolate.

There was certainly nothing like cacahuatl in the Old World, and it took a while for Europeans arriving in the New World to acquire a taste for it. "Chocolate...is a crazy thing valued in that country [Mexico]," Jesuit missionary and historian Jose de Acosta wrote in 1590. "It disgusts those who are not used to it, for it has a foam on top, or a scumlike bubbling."

"It seemed ore a drink for pigs, than a drink for humanity," agreed the Italian historian Girolamo Benzoni, one of the first people to describe the experience to readers in Europe:

I was in [Mexico] for more than a year, and never wanted to taste it, and whenever I passed a settlement, some Indian would offer me a drink of it, and would be amazed when I would not accept. But then, as there was a shortage of wine, so as not to be always drinking water, I did like the others. The tasted is somewhat bitter, it satisfies and refreshes the body, but does not inebriate, and it is the best and most expensive merchandise, according to the Indians of that country.

CHANGING TASTES
With times the Spaniards developed a taste for cacahuatl which, like the Maya, they preferred hot, flavored with cinnamon and vanilla and sweetened with cane sugar, which was unknown to the Aztecs. And rather than froth their cacahuatl by pouring it from a high container into a low one as the Aztecs had, the Spaniards used a wooden swizzle stick or beater called a molinillo. Frothing it with a beater became the standard means of preparing chocolate for the next 200 years.

~ taken from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader


Stay tuned...more on chocolate next week... :)

Last week I gave you a hot chocolate recipe. I think I've mentioned this before, but one way I drink my hot chocolate is to add the creamers (intended for coffee) from International Delight.

My favorites are Southern Butter Pecan and English Almond Toffee. I keep looking for the Belgian White Chocolate Macadamia, but can't find it in any stores around here. Hopefully they'll start carrying it soon.

If you've never tried a creamer in your hot chocolate, I encourage you to try it. It's really yummy!

And now for more recipes and information about chocolate, go visit Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates. I swear, sometimes the pictures she puts on there has me drooling! So, go see what she has this week - you'll be drooling, too!



Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Valuable "almonds"

On May 9, 1502, Christopher Columbus set sail on his fourth-and what turned out to be his last-trip from Spain to the New World. He was searching for a direct water route to Asia, plus whatever riches he could find along the way.

In August 1502, he landed a Guanaja Island, 30 miles off the coast of modern-day Honduras. He spied an enormous dugout canoe in the waters nearby and ordered his men to seize it.

The vessel turned out to be a Mayan trading canoe, probably from somewhere on the Yucantan Peninsula, and it was loaded with a full cargo of trading goods - colorful clothing, wooden swords, flint knives, copper hatchets, small copper bells, and other items. As Columbus's son Ferdinand recounted years later, the Mayans who had been in the canoe were also carrying a cargo of "almonds." Very valuable almonds, it turned out. Ferdinand wrote:

The natives seemed to hold these almonds at a great price, for when they were brought on board ship together with their goods, I observed that when any of these almonds fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen from their head.

But Columbus wasn't interested in almonds - he was looking for gold and other riches. "As there was nothing of importance in those Guanaja Islands," Ferdinand Columbus later wrote, "he did not tarry there."

Columbus and his men traveled as far south as modern-day Panama before returning home to Spain, where he died in 1506. He never did find his passage to Asia, and although he was the first European to come in contact with the cacao beans he mistook for almonds, he died without ever tasting chocolate.

(Taken from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader).

Tune in next week to hear the rest of the story. :)

A simple recipe: Chocolate en Leche (Hot Chocolate with Milk)

To serve 4

~ 4 to 6 ounces Mexican chocolate (you can actually find this at Wal-Mart - it's called Abuelita and is made by Nestle - go figure)

~ 4 cups milk

In a heavy 2 to 3 quart saucepan, combine the chocolate and milk. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate has melted completely and the mixture is well blended and hot. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. With a molinillo (Mexican wooden beater) or a rotary beater, beat the chocolate vigorously until it is foamy. Pour in into individual cups and serve at once.

Enjoy on these cold winter evenings.

Meanwhile, head over to Lisa's for more Chocolate Recipes.


Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Nutoka and more!

Can anyone guess what this is!? That's right! NUTELLA!!! Yay! Can you tell I'm excited about this?

We got a box of treats yesterday from my husband's brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. (They are serving our country in Germany right now). It was mostly chocolate with a couple of other sweets thrown in.

Check this out:



Choco Love...oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Oh and this one:


I had to laugh...it's a 15er!



As you can see, we all enjoy getting treats.


Ready to chow down. Actually we all got one piece last night after supper. When we get this candy we savor it and eat one piece or two a day until it's gone.


And this is mine...all mine. hehehe

Now I'll let you leave my chocolate madness and head you over to Lisa's. She's the one with all the chocolate link-ups. So go on over and check out her site.

And I'll get back to my Nutella...uh, Nutoka.

Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Heath bar history and recipe

"In 1914 an Illinois schoolteacher named L.S. Heath mortgaged his house for $3,000 to buy his sons a soda shop. A year later he quit his teaching job to join them and expanded the business into homemade ice cream and candy. One afternoon in the mid-1920s a salesman told them about a candy called Trail-Toffee that he'd seen in an other store. The Heath brothers took the basic recipe - almonds, butter, and sugar - and spent the next several months experimenting. In 1928 they finally came up with a chocolate-covered English toffee bar - the Heath Bar."
~Copied from Uncle John's Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader


I love Heath bars. I love cookies with Heath bars broken up in them. Yum! So I thought I'd share a recipe with Heath bars and a little bit of history about them.

After you've drooled over and copied this recipe, head over to Lisa's (@ Stop and Smell the Chocolates) and find some more goodies. You'll be glad you did! :)

Heath Bar Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped Heath Bar pieces (Eight 1.4 ounce bars)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chopped walnuts. Set aside.

2 Cream butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy (a couple minutes). Beat in eggs one at a time, and vanilla.

3 Alternatively mix in the Heath Bar mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes (better an hour).

4 Preheat oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-inch diameter balls (size of a large marble). Place dough balls 3 inches away from each other on the cookie sheets. (Make sure there is plenty of room between the cookie balls, and that the cookie balls aren't too big. These cookies spread!)

5 Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!!

Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Chocolate Puddles and Nutella

Today I repeated a recipe I've posted before. Chocolate Puddles.

Also, if you visit the Nutella website, you can enter a sweepstakes to win a case of Nutella! Is that yummy sounding, or what?!

Limited time today, so that's it. Oh, and go visit Lisa.

Until next time...

Chocolate Friday - Basic Brownie Mix

We all want warm chocolate over the cooler months coming up. And what better way to get our warm chocolate fix with a plate of gooey, luscious brownies? Yum.

Here's an inexpensive way to whip up a batch whenever the mood strikes. No need to go buy a box of brownie mix at the store. Make your own at home. (Unless you regularly stock up anyway).

Basic Brownie Mix
(Makes 6-8 batches of brownies)

6 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons salt
8 cups sugar
8-ounce can unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well, and then transfer to a large container with a lid. Label and date the contents. Store in a cool, dry place. Use within three months.

To make a single batch of brownies:
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups Basic Brownie Mix
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch square baking pan. Combine wet ingredients and mix well. Add brownie mix and stir well. Optional: stir in nuts. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Now head over to Lisa's for more chocolate!


Until next time...