Champagne Marshmallows

I still had a bottle of champagne left over from the Champagne Cupcakes so I decided to continue the theme of Champagne-flavored desserts! This recipe makes a lot of marshmallows. So be sure that you really like marshmallows or have lots of marshmallow-loving friends! By the way, these marshmallows last two weeks at room temperature, a month in the fridge, or almost indefinitely in the freezer. So you'll have plenty of time to eat all of them! ;) If you aren't too fond of the idea of alcohol-flavored marshmallows, I have some Chocolate-Swirled Marshmallows that maybe you'll like better!

Feel free to use whatever Champagne you like best; this type just happened to be on sale at the time. If you wanted to get creative, I feel like Moscato would be a great substitution. 

One of my really good friends, Stacy, marbled my nails for me! We saw the idea on Pinterest, and it was such a great idea. It's definitely a two person ordeal though unless you're extremely talented.

Champagne Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! I took a little bit of time off to recoup from the stress of finals and my first semester as a nutrition major. Thankfully, I made all As this semester, and I had my first day of classes today. If you have champagne left over from your New Year celebrations, then I have two perfect recipes to use that up for you: champagne cupcakes and champagne marshmallows (which will be up tomorrow)! For Christmas, I received a Bamboo graphic arts tablet so I can begin work on designs for recipe cards and other baking-themed projects! What cooking-related items did y'all get for Christmas?

We brought in the New Year quietly at my house. I was asleep by 12:30! Also, Jeremy and I's 3 year anniversary also landed at midnight, so we went out to eat at a fantastic place in Charlotte called The Cowfish. As their name suggests, they serve both sushi and burgers, and they are AMAZING. We got The Motherload as an appetizer, which features a slice of every fish available on their menu! ! I ate several things I knew (octopus, clam, yellowtail, tuna, salmon, shrimp) and tons of things I didn't. I had no trouble downing everything on the plate except the raw shrimp and the tempura battered prawn-big shrimp-crawfish thing. I took a bite of it, and the legs came off in the mouth and all I could think about what that it looked like I was eating a spider, and I freaked out a little. Before you go though, be aware that they have an extremely large menu. It wouldn't be a bad idea to browse the menu online before you went.

Chocolate Wasted Cake

My boyfriend's 21st birthday was this past weekend, and this cake seemed totally appropriate. It's chocolate on top of chocolate on top of even MORE chocolate! It's insane. I had to choose between this cake and an Oreo cake, but I really just wanted to go crazy and throw tons of chocolate on a cake. Seriously, that's what you do. And what could be better? Also, chocolate has phytochemicals, which are good for you. Trust me, I'm a Nutrition major ;)

Sadly, my first wonderful cake fell. I waited too long after adding the baking soda to the wet ingredients (about 12 minutes; I was hastily buttering the pans and cutting out parchment rounds) and the baking soda reacted before I had a chance to put it in the oven. I had to resort to box mix for the cake layers, but feel free to try the original cake layer recipe. It has had many good reviews on the original website. All cake batter photographs are from the original cake recipe, not the box mix version. (I used Betty Crocker Super Moise Triple Chocolate Fudge mix).

Kahlua Refrigerator Pie

I received this recipe from a church member after lamenting on Facebook about how much Kahlua I had in my cabinet. She broke through the hordes of typical college students' comments to pass on a delicious, easy dessert! Monday is Labor Day, and this refrigerator pie is the perfect item to bring to the celebration!

This is the quickest dessert I've made on A Dessert a Week yet, but don't let that fool you about the taste. Once the flavors have time to mix, this dessert is as complex as any. Excluding chill time, this recipe took about 5 minutes to prepare.

If you prefer the taste of Kahlua to be more prevalent, then add 1-2 tablespoons extra.

Ta-da! Instant, delicious pie!


Ingredients:

• 1 chocolate pie crust
• 6 Heath Bars (or a bag of Heath Bar chips)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (reserve 2 tablespoons extra for the topping)
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz Cool Whip
• 1/4 cup Kahlua or to taste!

Directions:

• Crush candy with knife blade in food processor (or with a mallet, car tires, whatever). Add cream cheese to this and process. Add chocolate chips and Kahlua and process. Pour this over Cool Whip and mix.
• Place all in crust and put reserved chocolate chips on on top. Chill overnight or all day if possible to allow flavors to mix through. Freezes very well. You can pour extra Kahlua over the pie or drizzle some on the plate if you wish.

Kahlua Chocolate Truffles

I was amazed after preparing this recipe (which took ten minutes tops) at just how easy it was! I used to shell out two or three dollars per chocolate truffle at Dean and Deluca but no more! This recipe made about 30 truffles. If you want to change the flavor of the truffles, just change the type of alcohol (Grand Marnier and orange zest for orange chocolate, etc) or replace the alcohol with some other flavoring. Oh, and fun fact: chocolate truffles were made to look like real truffles by chocolatiers!

I would've rather used a higher quality chocolate, (Lindt or Green and Black) but I had several bars of Ghiradelli already in the cabinet.

 

The easiest way to break the chocolate into small pieces without buying something expensive is just to pound it repeatedly with a mallet, hammer, or anything heavy you have lying around. It worked perfectly!

I waited about two minutes and then stirred it all up!

I rolled my truffles in cocoa powder, but other toppings could be hundreds and thousands, powdered sugar, coconut, shaved chocolate, or dip them in melted chocolate to have a hard chocolate shell. Send in pictures of your variations!

Kahlua Chocolate Truffles

adapted from Joy of Baking

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons alcohol (Cognac, brandy, Grand Marnier, kirsch, rum, bourbon, or Kahlua to name a few) (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a minute or two. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. 
• Add the Kahlua, (if desired) and cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight). 
• Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate (powdered sugar, cocoa powder, hundreds and thousands, sprinkles, coconut, chocolate shavings, etc). Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, a small ice cream scoop, a melon baller, or a small spoon form the chocolate into bite-sized balls. Roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving.