The birthday bowl

Poor Alex was sick on his birthday. We tried to cheer him up. He hardly ate His birthday cake. And now he is 8.  And 8= kitchen chores, now he is table duty and John helps with the dishes.   

 

Truffles

I made some homemade truffle and they turned out great.  I will give you the recipe.I made like 57 of these.                

Rum Balls:

1 1/2 cups (150 grams) toasted pecans, finely chopped (hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds can be used)

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) finely crushed vanilla wafer cookies

1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners sugar(powdered or icing)

2 tablespoons (15 grams) cocoa powder(Dutch processed or regular unsweetened)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup (or liquid glucose syrup, golden syrup, or honey)

1/4 cup (60 ml) rum

Toppings:

Confectioners (powdered or icing) Sugar

Finely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds or pistachios)

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Melted Chocolate (Dark or White)


 

Rum Balls: To toast nuts: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Put the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool completely and then chop the nuts finely with a knife or place the nuts in your food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl.

Process the vanilla wafer cookies in the food processor until finely ground. Add the crumbs to the finely chopped pecans. To this mixture add the confectioners sugar and cocoa powder and stir until combined. Add the corn syrup and rum and mix well. Add more rum if necessary. Chill the batter and then shape into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls.

Then roll the rum balls in confectioners sugar, finely chopped nuts, or cocoa powder. If dipping in chocolate, put about 4 ounces (120 grams) of chopped dark chocolate and 1 teaspoon of shortening   (YOU MUST USE SHORTENING I, MARIA FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY.)   in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted, remove from heat and dip the balls, one at a time, in the melted chocolate, making sure the entire ball is coated with chocolate. Then, with two spoons or a dipping fork, remove the rum balls from the melted chocolate, allowing any excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Place the chocolate covered balls on a baking sheet. When all the balls have been dipped in the chocolate, place in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set. Once the chocolate has hardened you can drizzle the rum balls with 1 ounce (30 grams) melted white chocolate.

Can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Makes about 40 rum balls. Preparation time 30 minutes.

Reference:

Maria’s tips: I used honey. Add 1 more squirt of honey.  And I left the balls in the fridge over night, and put them in the freezer 30 min before rolling in to balls.  Dipping them in dark chocolate I think is the best.

You can watch the video if you click the link below.




Read more:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/RumBalls.html#ixzz1rqS5qb7C

Ballbaby

This is one of  Dominic’s favorite chew  toy.  And I caught him at just the right time.                                                                       I’m not in trouble am I?

  It just won’t fit.

 

 

 

 

Quiz Bowl

I went to my first quiz bowl ever and had fun. My group was full of rare and unusually named girls: Maria, Marie, Marie and Marissa. (ha, ha.) Marie McLaughlin was our captain and she was a good one.  I was surprised  how many questions I answered.  There was a question about the name of the feathers that keep birds warm.  And I answered downy feathers!  And that was correct.  Marie McLaughlin said that she knew I would know that one.  We got third out of 14 teams!!  I was so  surprised.