Flavor-of-the-Month . . . Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

Until I was in my 20's, I'd never eaten a truffle. Sure, I'd had chocolate from the box of Russell Stover's, but truffles, no.


Enter my brilliant Aunt Janice who treated me to my first truffle, a Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, at Godiva on a visit to New York City. It was pure heaven...the crisp outer shell, the dark, rich center, the slight tang of raspberry. I believe there were angels singing.

Since I had this raspberry sauce on hand, I decided to try making them myself. You know what? They are pretty delicious.



Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c. heavy cream
2 TBSP raspberry sauce
1 bag dark chocolate candy melts
sanding sugar (optional)


Chop the chocolate and place in a bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer on the stove and pour over the chocolate.



Let sit 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth. Stir in the raspberry sauce.

Let this mixture sit at room temperature for an hour or more until set. (I poured it into a shallow baking dish to help cool it down faster.)


Scoop into balls using a melon baller or a spoon and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. (I watched Ina do this on TV and get perfectly round ball....that didn't happen for me. I got this: )

{not pretty.}

If that happens to you, pop them in the fridge, then remove after 15 minutes and shape into balls. (I had better luck pressing them together, rather than rolling them.)

{much better. }

Refrigerate the truffles until ready to coat.

(You can skip the next step entirely and roll the truffles in cocoa powder, or...)

In the microwave, melt the candy melts with 1 tsp shortening. Melt in 30 second intervals on 50% power, stirring after every cycle until melted.

Dip the truffles into the candy melts and place on the wax paper lined sheet. While the candy melts are still wet, sprinkle with sanding sugar.




Now, I know it is like a sacrilege to use candy melts to coat real chocolate, but I wanted that hard outer shell and haven't been brave enough to try my hand at tempering chocolate. Anyone tried it?



Do you have a chocolate post to link up? I can't wait to see! Link up a the the bottom of the post. Please remember to link to your POST, not the main page of you blog.

Thanks so much for playing along with Flavor-of-the-Month. I've heard from several of you that FOTM sneaks up on you and sends you into a mad panic at the end of each month. You know what, it does to me too, most months. I always meant it to be *fun* not stressful, SOOOOO...this is the last Flavor-of-the-Month. (I think chocolate is a good way to go out, don't you?)

It will be replaced with impromptu linky parties now and again. I might say..."What's the best thing you've baked this month?" and ask you link up. I'll be sure to announce those on twitter, too, so if you're not there, come join the fun!

Alright, ladies & gents....link away!!! {Linky will be open through March 2nd.}

Flavor-of-the-Month . . . Amaretto Madeleines

Welcome to Flavor-of-the-Month, boozy edition!

My favorite drink in the whole wide world is an Amaretto Sour. Even though I'm too lazy to make them very often, I try to keep a bottle of Amaretto in the house at all times, just in case. So, when contemplating Boozy Edition, it was calling to me.

Take a look at this Amaretto I found. Read the label...


"Made by infusion of...cookies!!!" Now, this is my kind of liqueur!

Madeleines are, to me, like a combination of cookie and cake...how can that be wrong? And did anyone else read the Madeleine books growing up? I loved those books and making these made me think of...

"In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines,
lived twelve little girls in two straight lines..."

Amaretto Madeleines with Amaretto-Vanilla Bean Glaze
(makes 22 madeleines)

10 TBSP unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
2/3 c sugar
1/2 salt
3 eggs, room temp.
2 tsp Amaretto
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1 c flour, sifted

Over medium heat, melt the butter in a saucepan. Simmer gently until the butter deepens slightly and there are small flecks of brown in the butter, about 5 minutes.

{Browning butter always makes me nervous!}

Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Beat the sugar, salt and eggs several minutes until they are light yellow and thickened. Stir in the Amaretto and vanilla bean paste.

Gently fold in the flour and butter in 3 additions each, alternating between the two. Refrigerate the batter for 45 minutes.


Preheat the oven to 375. Brush the madeleine pan with melted butter.

Fill the pans with 1 heaping tablespoon of dough per cookie. Bake 12 minutes until the edges are light brown.

Let cool in the pan 5 minutes. Carefully remove from pan and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

If making these in 2 batches, let the pan cool completely. Wipe out the cookie molds and re-coat with melted butter.


Amaretto-Vanilla Bean Glaze

1 & 1/4 c. powdered sugar, sifted
3 TBSP whole milk (or whatever you have on hand, lower fat will make a thinner glaze)
2 TBSP Amaretto
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Whisk to combine all of the ingredients.

Place the madeleines on a cooling rack placed on a cookie sheet. (This will catch the glaze and make for easier clean-up.)


Spoon glaze over the cooled cookies.

Flavor-of-the-Month February will be CHOCOLATE!!! Oh, I can't wait!!!

♥Reminder: when linking up, please link to your blog post only...not your blog's main page. These links will be removed. If you're not sure how to do that, click here.♥

Want to check out our past FOTM's? Click here! It's a great way to find new blogs to love!

Link away! (Linky will close the evening of February 3rd to discourage spammers.)

Flavor-of-the-Month . . . In Defense of Gingerbread

Is it just me? I love gingerbread cookies. I wait all year to make them, bake them once in December and start dreaming about next year.

They are the perfect cookies for all winter long! They're spicy and comforting...you know, I would eat them in a box and I would eat them with a fox. I would eat them in a house and I would eat them with a mouse. I would eat them here and..sorry...


Who's with me? Let me share my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe with you:

Gingerbread Cookies
(modified from Southern Living Incredible Cookies)

1/4 c water
1 & 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c molasses
1 c butter, softened
1 c sugar
5 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 & 1/2 TBSP ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1 & 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Line baking sheets with parchment.


Stir together the water and baking soda until dissolved. Stir in the molasses; set aside.

Beat butter & sugar until fluffy and combined.

Whisk together flour, salt and spices.

Add to the butter mixture, alternating with the molasses mixture. Begin and end with the flour. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.


On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with a floured cookie cutter and place on baking sheet. Freeze for 5 minutes before baking.


{They are going to spread.}
Bake 12 minutes (for a large shape). Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating with royal icing.

To decorate:

• Using a #2 tip, outline the shape of the snowflake in white royal icing.
• Thin the icing with water, stirring until it is the consistency of thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit several minutes.
• Stir gently to pop any bubbles that may have formed and transfer to a squeeze bottle.



• Fill in the outline using a toothpick to guide into corners.
• Let dry at least one hour.



• Again with a #2 tip, pipe a snowflake pattern on each cookie.
• Let dry overnight.
• Mix a little meringue powder with water. (see sanding station here)
• With a small paintbrush, paint the mixture on only the snowflake design.
• Pour on sanding or sparkling sugar and shake of excess.

I also made some mini gingerbread hearts...very dangerous, these little bite-size ones!

I'm so looking forward to seeing YOUR cookies!!! Click below to link up. The linky will be closed on January 3rd to prevent spammers.

OH...and there is a new feature here....to add this post (or any) to twitter, stumble upon, facebook, etc, just click on the button at the end of each post. :)

Flavor-of-the-Month January Edition....BOOZY! :) Maybe you make a mean pina colada cake, or Kahlua tart, or a gingerbread martini (!)...link it up the last day of January! EVERYONE is welcome!!!

Flavor-of-the-Month . . . Goin' Retro

For our "traditions" theme, I wanted to share with you guys this very retro Jell-O salad that my mom had on the table at Thanksgiving when we were growing up. Every year, my plate was filled with my dad's smoked turkey, mom's cornbread dressing and this salad.

It's really pretty and a kid-pleaser, too.

I tried to scan my mom's recipe card, but our scanner (despite much yelling and bad language on my part) is not cooperating. So...here is mom's recipe...

Strawberry Creme Squares

2 (3 oz) pkgs. strawberry-banana Jell-O
2 c. boiling water
2 (10 oz) pkgs sliced frozen strawberries (I could only find sliced in syrup, that's ok)
1 (13 oz) can crushed pineapple (only able to find 8 oz, so I guesstimated w/ 2 cans)
1 (8 oz) container sour cream


Dissolve jello in boiling water.

{Don't you love that RED?!?}

Add the frozen strawberries and stir occasionally until thawed. Stir in the pineapple.

Pour half of the mixture into an 8 or 9" square pan. Chill until firm.

Gently, spread with sour cream. (I used an offset spatula....I don't know how mom did it without!)

Spoon on remaining strawberry mixture instead of pouring so that it won't mix with the sour cream. Chill until firm.

{Pls ignore those floury fingerprints on the pan...I guess I was multi-tasking while taking pictures!}

I took a poll on Twitter and December's Flavor-of-the-Month will be...

Cookies!

Share any cookie: decorated, drop, bars, filled...you name it!

{As always, anyone is welcome to link to Flavor-of-the-Month; you don't have to ask. Click here to read through all of the previous posts for instructions.}

Ready to link up? I'll keep the linky open through December 2nd, then close it to avoid spammers.

Thanks for participating...wow...November was so much fun! I loved reading EACH and EVERY one of those pumpkin recipes!!!