Chocolate Mint Brownies

Mmmmmmm.... chocolate mint brownies what a wonderful combinations, i love mint, seriously!!! Mint tea, After eigh mints, york peppermint patties, Andes mints, mint lemonade.... get the drift, i love mint. This is a great recipe and definitely one i will be making again and again and again... if you love mint, just give this recipe a whirl. I actually found this recipe on a blog and printed it out so i could try and guess what when i got all the ingredients ready , i was reading the recipes on the hershey's chocolate chips bag and found it there too!!!


Chocolate Mint Brownies
Source: The Kitchenarian
Ingredients:

Brownie Layer:1   cup   sugar
½  cup   butter, softened
4           eggs
1   cup   all-purpose flour
½  tsp   salt
2  cups  Hershey’s chocolate syrup
1 tsp      vanilla extract

Mint Layer:2 cups confectioner’s sugar
½ cup butter, softened
4 tablespoons Crème de Menthe

Chocolate Layer:6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
6 tablespoons butter


Directions:

Brownie layer: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs, flour, salt, chocolate syrup and vanilla. Pour batter into greased and floured 9 x 13 baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Mint layer: Combine confectioner’s sugar, butter and Crème de Menthe. Stir until smooth. Spread on cooled cake. Refrigerate until this layer is set.

Chocolate layer: Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir until smooth. Let cool slightly and spread on cake. Refrigerate until this top layer is set. Cut into small squares and serve.

Oreo Truffles

This a recipe for scrumptious truffles, i knew i had to try these since i first spotted them on (http://www.bakerella.com/). This recipe doesn't call for a lot of ingredients but it does require some effort.

Oreo Truffles:

Ingredients:
200 gms   Philadelphia Cream Cheese
3     pckgs Oreo cookies
White chocolate ( i used vanilla candy melts), to coat the truffles
Bitter-sweet chocolate for drizzling on top

To start:

Dump all of your oreos into the food processor.

Process your cookies till you get fine crumbs.

Next you mix in the cream cheese, you can do that by hand or in the food processor which is what i did.

Then form balls out of the mixture and place them on a sheet to be frozen before coating.

Freeze your oreo balls for about 30-45.

In a double boiler or water bath melt your white chocolate/candy melts.

Dip your oreo balls one by one in the melted chocolate and coat evenly. Here's what i did , i used an egg separator tool to dip the truffles and drain the excess chocolate and used a mini spatula to lift truffles out.

 Place the coated balls on a sheet of wax paper.

When all of the trufles are coated , you can place them in the freezer for a while to speed up the hardening process or wait till they harden on their own.

Once you coating has hardened, melt your bitter sweet chocolate in a water bath and pour into a piping bag or ziploc bag and snip off a tiny bit in the corner.

Drizzle your truffles with the melted chocolate, tada..... that's it. Wait till your chocolate drizzles harden and enjoy!!!!!!

Date Balls

This a recipe for sweet little treats that can be made in no time. They're great to have around the house to enjoy with a cup of tea or incase any guest pops in unannounced as they keep pretty well. This is a very easy recipe that uses only a few ingredients.


Let's get started.

To start you need to pit your dates if not pitted.


Then proceed to grind your almonds.

In a sauce pan on low heat add your butter. When the butter melts add the spices then add your dates. Stir with a wooden spoon and try to mash your dates till they all stick together and fom a paste.

Set the date paste aside till it's cool enough to handle. Then take a small piece in your hand and form a patty or disc, place a walnut half in the middle of the patty then wrap your patty around it to form a ball. Roll your date balls in the ground almonds.

Enjoy!!!




Ingredients:


1    cup  dates
2    tbsp butter, unsalted
1    tsp   ground cinnamon
1    tsp   ground cardamom
1/2 cup  almonds
 walnut halves

Directions:

1. Pit dates.
2. Grind almonds.
3. In a sauce pan set on a low flame melt the butter then add the spice and dates. Mash your dates with a wooded spoon till they all stick together and form a paste.
4. Set the date paste aside till cool enough to handle.
5. Take a small piece of the date paste in your hand and form a patty, place a walnut half in the middle and wrap the patty around the walnut and roll between the plams of your hands to form a ball.
6. Keep going till you use up all of your date paste.
7. Roll you date balls in the ground almonds.