Raspberry & White Chocolate Scones

Here's a little insight into my world.  I spend all day here:

Surrounded by fake flower pens, a Lego Sears Tower to remind me of the greatest city in the world, an uber-geeky Stormtropper bobblehead, and a field of Post-It notes.  Along with my all-important breakfast stash of Special K protein bars and oatmeal that taste like cookies. Not shown- my old lady multivitamins. It's just real life.

 

But no matter how wonderful Mr. Quaker is (which I originally typed as 'quacker'. No, the oatmeal man is not a duck...), sometimes a girl just needs a change. 

Enter the awesome world of scones.  Light crumbly sweet biscuits shoved full of raspberries and spotted with white chocolate chips.  Perfect with a tall cool glass of milk or a creamy vanilla latte.  This week, I breakfast like one classy broad.

Chocolate Peppermint Bark



I'm OBSESSED with all things mint chocolate.  No. Seriously.  It honestly might be my favorite part of the Christmas season- all the minty chocolately things come out to play.

In the past week, I've had mint M&Ms, Mrs. Field's Peppermint Sticks, a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha and a chocolate mint crinkle cookie from Panera.  While my breathe may have benefitted, not so sure my waistline has....eh- it's the holidays. Calories don't count, right?

But anyways.....yeah, I'm a fan of mint chocolate.  However, I've NEVER EVR made peppermint bark.  I have no clue why not.  Especially because it's SO. FRICKEN. EASY.  5 ingredients, no oven, mint heaven.

I split the recipe in half- the first half got poured into candy molds and the rest into an 8x8 pan.

What's your favorite Christmas treat?

 

Adapted from this recipe

What You'll Need:

• 1 bag Milk Chocolate Chips
• 1 bag White Chocolate Chips
• 4 tsp Shortening, divided
• 1 tsp Peppermint Extract, divided
• Candy Canes, crushed into pieces

 What To Do:

1. Place candy canes into a ziploc bag and crush into small pieces using a rolling pin.  If you have a mesh strainer available, sift the candies to remove any peppermint "dust".  DO NOT use a food processor- I did think and got sticky, nasty, peppermint clumps....not cool....
2. Prepare your molds and/or pans.  If using silicon molds, I don't think you'll need to do anything.  I used plastic candy molds, so I sprayed them with Pam just to be safe.  I lined my 8x8 with parchment paper.
3. In a microwave safe bowl, combine milk chocolate, 2 tsp of shortening, and 1/2 tsp peppermint extract.  Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring as you go, until melted and smooth.  Pour into molds/pan.  Jiggle them a little to spread everything else.  Add a few small peppermint pieces on top of the milk chocolate.  Cool in fridge for at least an hour.
4. Once hardened, repeat with white chocolate. I kept my final ones in the molds overnight before I set them free, but a couple hours should be more than enough.



White Chocolate Creme Brulee

This is pre-caramelized sugar awesomeness

So I’m a very firm believer in that Christmas season does not and CANNOT begin until AFTER Thanksgiving.  You hear that upstairs neighbor blaring the Glee Christmas Album for the past 2 weeks? Now I can allow it (at a reasonable volume between the hours of 9 and 11). ((10 points if you got that movie reference)).

So now that Turkey Day has come and passed, we can start planning for our Christmas parties.  I really want to host a pseudo-swanky shin-dig this year.  Like a legit dinner party with snazzy appetizers and sparkling cocktails and people get a bit dressed up and just have a good time.  Sounds like all sorts of holiday magic, right?  Of course the night will end in a riveting game of Cranium, but who doesn’t love that? 

But one of my biggest worries when I have people over is making sure all the food is hot and ready on time.  It’s a total stress reliever when anything can be done ahead of time.  Here’s where this fantastic dessert comes into play.

1)      It looks totally fancy and classy- perfect for parties.

2)      Who doesn’t love something that comes in your own little personal ramekin. 

3)      It’s super simple and can be done HOURS ahead time.  Actually, it has to because it needs time to cool in the fridge. 

Added plus, it’s dairy-free.  You’ll be your lactose-intolerant’s friend favorite host.  And even if you aren’t dairy-adverse, you’ll never miss the crème.  The white chocolate more than enough makes up for it.

Another V-Day Idea

If you're looking for yet another Valentine's Day dessert, check out Smitten Kitchen's Heart Brownies.

The idea is way cute, however I would ask Duncan (Hines that is) for a little help. One of these,  plus this easy-as-pie blondie recipe, again from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. Add in a mini-heart cookie cutter and you're set.

Photo by Deb @ Smitten Kitchen