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Chocolate-covered ANYTHING Day! (Dec 16)

Yep… you read that right… today is chocolate covered *anything* day!

Just in time for sharing with your friends during the holidays, we’re going to share a few of our favorite chocolate-covered recipes… these also tend to go well on gift plates and party plates.

Today we’re sharing our Nutty Mushroom Cookies, Chocolate Truffles, and some very simple Chocolate Coated Banana Bites… and discussing some of the health benefits of dark chocolate…

…links to other things you can coat in chocolate… tea cakes (Mexican /Wedding, Russian, and snowballs)…

RECIPES

 

Nutty Mushroom Cookies
(makes 36-42 each of mushroom caps and stems)

Firm, not overly-sweet, cookie with lightly nutty flavor and COVERED in chocolate! 

… for friends overseas I’m posting this with alternate recipe info… we’ll see if I get around to doing it for all of the recipes…   

Ingredients
Stems
1  1/4 cups all purpose flour (200 grams)
2/3 cup nut meal (80 grams) = walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or pecans
1 Tablespoon baking powder
4  1/2 Tablespoons white/granulated sugar (70 grams)
2.5 ounces (5 Tablespoons) unsalted butter,  room temp. (70 grams)
1 egg
Caps
2  3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted = > 2  1/4 cups then 1/2 cup  (380 grams)
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted (155 grams)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
5.3 ounces (just shy of 11 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temp. (150 grams)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (or paste or vanilla seeds)
Filling
crumbs from the caps (use about 3/4 of the crumbs, broken up)
1 /2 cup nut meal (50 grams) = walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or pecans
1 teaspoon cocoa powder (sweetened) or chocolate powder
1/4 teaspoon rum (optional)
5 Tablespoons jam, room temperature (125 grams) = mild jams like peach and apricot or stronger complimentary jams like cherry when you use almonds
Chocolate Glaze
7 ounces dark (70-80%) chocolate, broken into pieces (200 grams) = you can substitute milk or white chocolate to make coating
2 ounces (4 Tablespoons) unsalted butter (60 grams)
vegetable shortening (on hand, just in case!)
Instructions
Stems
In bowl, combine flour, nut meal, and baking powder.
In another bowl use electric mixer to beat the egg with the butter and sugar; beat to *creamy* and gradually add the flour mixture until it’s all mixed in thoroughly.
Form dough into ball and put it in the fridge while you prepare the *cap* dough. If you’re going to leave it for more than 20 minutes, wrap dough in plastic wrap.
Caps
In bowl, combine 2  1/4 cups flour, sugar, and baking powder.
In another bowl use electric mixer to beat the egg with the egg yolk and add butter. Mix until it’s mixed in thoroughly.
Gradually add the flour mixture until a ball of dough forms. The dough ball should be smooth, but not sticky. If needed add more flour (from the additional 1/2 cup set aside). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and cool it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Baking
Preheat oven to 355° F ( 180° C).
Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Take the *Stem* dough out of the fridge and tear it into chunks. You can quarter the dough to make estimating number of stems easier). Roll out each chunk into thin, firm logs and cut it into pieces ~ 3/4″ to 1″ long (~2-3 cm).
I tend to shape the lower end of the stem slightly flared out and flatten the bottom edge.
Place them on your baking sheet, about an inch apart. I recommend using parchment paper or silpat.
Bake 10-15 minutes; baking they will rise slightly and the edges get lightly golden brown. Cool.
When the dough for the caps has chilled (minimum 30 minutes), take it out and form it into small balls. I recommend quartering the *entire* dough so it is easier to estimate the amount of dough for each ball, matching the number of stems you make). Place them on the baking sheet, lined with parchment paper or silpat.
Bake 10-15 minutes; baking they will rise slightly and the edges get lightly golden brown.
Take them out of the oven and start scraping out the centers immediately while they’re still hot (once cold this will be harder to do).
Take a small, sharp knife and cut small circle in the bottom of the mushroom caps and remove a small scoop. Do this over a bowl, because you need most of the crumbs for the filling (I use about 3/4). Set the scooped caps aside.
Filling
In bowl, combine ~3/4 of the cookie crumbs, nut meal, cocoa, (the optional rum), and jam. Mix this into a paste.
Fill the hole in the bottom of each mushroom cap with a bit of filling (varies according to the size of the hole in the bottom of each cap cookie). Then gently press a stem into the center.
Wipe away excess filling.
Set the cookies aside.
Coating/ Glaze
Place the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or fake one with a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter melt and the chocolate is smooth and glossy.
Decrease heat to warm (some people remove the saucepan from the heat entirely… I don’t… but if you leave it on low heat and the chocolate starts to thicken/stiffen too much due to overcooking, add a bit of a solid vegetable shortening to thin the chocolate again).
Dip cookies cap-down in chocolate one by one and stand or lay them on a baking sheet.
Dip all cookie caps (with stems attached), you *can* place the baking sheet in fridge for ~20 minutes to harden chocolate faster… I don’t usually bother.
Suggestions
Store cookies in airtight containers in the fridge (put parchment paper in between the layers of cookies), they should last at least a week.
Best served room temperature.Mushroom caps might crack a little as they bake. That’s fine.
Once the caps are dipped the cracks are masked!Dough can be made a day in advance, if you do wrap it in plastic wrap.Other nuts *can* be used… walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans… I haven’t tried others, but I don’t see why you shouldn’t if you want!
Other chocolate *can* be used!
…*and* you can add food color to alter the chocolate color!
Jams… as long as the jam/jelly is not chunky I think you can use what sounds good, just be careful to be subtle *or* complimentary!

I haven’t tried any flours than the all-purpose flour…

Chocolate Truffles… … mmm… 

(I couldn’t get it narrowed down today, I’ll try to get it narrowed down to just one of the bunch to share…)

Chocolate Covered Banana Bites!

Almost any chocolate covered fruit 
tastes great (imo ; ) … strawberries, oranges, blueberries… and bananas!
Ingredients
3 ripe bananas (2 if large)
11-12 ounce bag of chocolate chips or melting chocolate (dark, milk, or whatever!)
1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening
~6 Tablespoons of chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions
Bananas
Slice bananas into ~1/2″ chunks and set aside.
Coating/ Glaze
Place the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or fake one with a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter melt and the chocolate is smooth and glossy.
Decrease heat to warm (some people remove the saucepan from the heat entirely… I don’t… but if you leave it on low heat and the chocolate starts to thicken/stiffen too much due to overcooking, add a bit more solid vegetable shortening to thin the chocolate again).
Roll banana chunks in the melted chocolate one by one… at this point you can use a toothpick to roll the chocolaty chunks in chopped nuts… then set them on a parchment (or silpat) covered baking sheet.
If you’re feeling creative you can use this as an opportunity to practice your chocolate drizzling skills and drizzle another type of chocolate over the top.
To cool faster you *can* place the baking sheet in fridge or freezer for ~20 minutes to harden chocolate faster…
Suggestions
Store in freezer until ready to set them out to eat!
They are great straight out of the freezer as a frozen treat or as a dessert topper 🙂