Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Finish Line

Today is my last day off before Christmas (well, I guess I do have Christmas Eve day too...which I will most likely spend wrapping presents and maybe making some scotch eggs to take to dad's place) and I am trying to make the most of it.
I got up at 6am thinking I would go in to work anyway to make sure things were running smoothly, but then after I shook off the sleep I said "F that!" and changed gears.
It was so slow yesterday that by the time I left the boys in the kitchen were ACTUALLY CLEANING THINGS. So today should be easy and they don't need me. Hopefully they'll clean some more things.
Instead I decided to make truffles at 7:30am. I had not had enough coffee to think to take pictures of the process, but really it's so simple that you can totally visualize. In fact, it's so simple that I can write down the recipe from memory:
8oz chocolate (chopped--I used 61% dark from Mon Amiee Chocolat) put it in a metal bowl
2T unsalted butter (put it in the bowl with the chocolate)
3/4c heavy cream (heat it to just barely bubbling in a heavy pan)
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Wait a few minutes and then whisk it to melt.
That's it! Then comes the fun part...deciding what flavors to put in.
I went out to the parlor and grabbed a bunch of liquor bottles. (oh--procedural note: I made 2x the recipe, and divided each batch into three, so I had six different small bowls of ganache) I ended up doing 1)cognac 2)bacon! 3)peppermint 4)cointreau 5)goldschlager 6)baileys. Now they need to firm up in the frige, and then I get to roll it into little balls and coat them in stuff. I have some things planned (cocoa for the cognac ones; raw sugar for the bacon; crushed candy canes for the peppermint; crushed red hots for the goldschlager) So I have to made a decision still on the baileys and the cointreau. I might just see if I can get some candied orange peel at the fancy market on Walnut street today for the cointreau ones, and then just do the baileys ones in powdered sugar. We'll see.
So yeah, today's adventure will be a trip to Walnut street to finish up the shopping. I am pretty certain I can get all the rest of the things I want to get there, and I am pretty sure I can do it without visiting any of the chain stores on Walnut street. I really only go to Walnut Street at Christmastime, and I get kind of a kick out of only shopping in the local stores. Might be tempted by Sephora though.
Aside from the shopping and then truffles, I plan to bake another batch of Cherry Bombs and get my holiday letter and cards done. Then when Rebby gets home we'll wrap presents and put up the tree and drink a ton of Pennsylvania Dutch Eggnog. I bought a big handle jug of it for $14.99 yesterday. Bliss.

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