My four letter happy word I want to share with you today is: bark. Starting from the bottom you’ll find a dark chocolate layer kicked up with a bit of cherry extract and then for a more teeth grabbing bit of black forest authenticity, I added Kirsch soaked dried cherries. Providing a textural interruption between the black and pink chocolate layers are chocolate wafers. Pink? Yes, pink. That’s white chocolate lightly dyed for some whimsy and decorated for a final touch.
Time for a Baileys Friendsgiving! Okay, it’s really Friendsgiving all the time with me and my friends, but this Friendsgiving mini-soiree was a great excuse to play around with some Baileys. In fact we used this mini-soiree to sample some desserts and plan our bigger holiday party. Since its high holiday season and everyone’s busy with holiday planning and attending holiday plans, I wanted to create recipes for easy entertaining and one that you can even gift. How’s that for multi-tasking?
To start things off I made a truffle with one of my favorite flavors, mint. Let me start by saying I’m really particular about mint. Too much mint and things start to go bad because it can have an overpowering effect. To keep the mint as an enhancer rather than a dominator to the chocolate I used Baileys® Hint of Mint Chocolate. Its smooth mint flavor is set against a subtle chocolate undertone that makes it perfect for flavoring a dark chocolate truffle body.
Make your Starbucks Peppermint Mocha richer, better and in a cupcake form. Yes, I went there and I’m betting you will too. It’s hard to beat a moist chocolate espresso cupcake with chopped bits of Andes Peppermint bits throughout for a bite of coffee and peppermint in one. To top it all is a soft mousse-like Swiss meringue buttercream infused with some peppermint. Then of course I went my usual cupcake carving way and finished it loudly with some chocolate drizzle and more chopped Andes and a peppermint candy on top.
Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes
Call me crazy, but I absolutely love and aniticipate the annual return of Starbuck’s Peppermint Mocha with the same fervor of a McRib fanboy. The annual re-introduction of them triggers all things holiday in me – you know all the jolly things that makes your belly jiggle from over indulgence and your face smile with delight.
