Double the fun with peppermint ganache!

Really, what are the holidays without peppermint and candy canes?

Peppermint molten chocolate cake

with dark chocolate-dipped candy canes

Okay--don't answer that.  That was rhetorical (and yes, I do remember what my high school English teacher said about rhetorical questions being a sign of horrible writing, and I apologize).  :-)

Anyways, along with the ginger carrot dark chocolate candies, I made peppermint dark chocolate candies as a more traditional holiday flavor for Christmas treats and gifts.  You know, just in case people snuff at the idea of carrots in their chocolate.

Peppermint dark chocolate ganache candies

But what to do with all of the leftover peppermint ganache?  Ah, here's where the genius comes in:

Pop a ball of ganache in the center of moist chocolate cake, bake in souffle molds, and voila!  Instant molten peppermint chocolate cakes.  And oh my, were these good straight out of the oven.  I made sure to call my friend, Lauren, over in time for the cakes to finish baking, just so I wouldn't have to scarf these all down myself.

The chocolate cake was so rich when it was still hot, and then when you get down to the bottom, there's just a thick layer of melted dark chocolate ganache, laced with cool peppermint.  It was divine.

Ah, but back to the peppermint ganache:

I mean, do I really have to convince you that these were good?

Wait--damn rhetorical questions.

Read on for recipe for peppermint chocolate ganache...  (chocolate cake recipe now available here.)

Xmas Treats!: Ginger Carrot Dark Chocolates

It's the Holidays!  Oh my--I do love the holidays.

The good cheer and benevolence on everyone's minds, the gathering of family and friends, the warm cider, hot fireplace, sparkly lights on the tree.  And best of all, Christmas treats.  :-)  (of course.)

Promptly after getting off the plane ride back from Taiwan, I was in the kitchen making the first of many holiday treats for the season: ginger carrot dark chocolate candies.

Okay.  Before you call me crazy, hear me out.  These didn't originally start out as ginger carrot chocolates.  No, originally, I set out to make pumpkin chocolates.  But, for some reason, I just couldn't get that idea fully formed in my head.  So then I remembered these wonderful ginger cookies from a few weeks ago.  Yum yum.  Which led me to making ginger truffle filling.  Then, as I leaned over the pot to smell the spicy aroma of ginger cooking in the cream, it hit me: these chocolates needed carrot.

And trust me, they are amazing.  It's weird to think that a traditionally savory ingredient works so well in candies, but they are the perfect finishing touch to these chocolates!  (The idea isn't all that out there, I suppose, since carrot cake requires lots of ginger flavor as well.)

The shreds of carrot in the truffle filling add a perfectly crunchy texture to the ganache.  And the mild sweetness of the carrots compliment the spiciness of the ginger so well.  Not to mention, eating these definitely make you feel less guilty about all that Christmas candy.  :-P

As with rosemary-lemon sandwich cookies, pomegranate-basil cheesecakes, or pumpkin sage blackberry pancakes, I positively adore the fact that these unexpected ingredients like carrots, rosemary, basil, or sage work so well in sweets.  You have to believe me on this one.  :-)  (Or, try them for yourself!--and make sure to let me know what you think.)

Read on for recipe...

O Christmas Tree

Richard's family is quite large, so every year, I have to come up with creative gifts for everyone for Christmas. Here's one that I did a couple of years back, inverting ice cream cones and making them into Christmas trees! Then I filled them with Christmas m&m's (or nuts for the health-conscious ones).