Wheaties Cookies

These cookies are both chewy and crunchy thanks to the oats and coconut inside and the crispy Wheaties flakes outside. The high amount of sugar also contributes to a softer cookie. You could probably lower the sugar to 3/4 cup each and replace with more flour and/or oatmeal if you wanted a less chewy cookie. I remember my mother baking these with a maraschino cherry half placed in the center. They don’t travel as well with the cherry, however.

Poop by Dumbo

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

What’s the deal with this?

Snickerdoodles

A simple cookie with a silly name, Snickerdoodles are an easy cookie to make and go great with tea. These cookies are actually pretty common, but not everyone knows them by name. They are pretty bullet-proof as far as cookie recipes go and the low number of ingredients means you can almost always make these without a trip to the store. Cream of tartar may not be in your pantry and is essential to help activate the baking soda given the simple nature of this recipe. You have to really try hard to mess these up. The visual cues to their done-ness are pretty evident. If only molasses softies or other dark-dough cookies were so easy to tell done-ness by sight.

Poop by Lola

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

Peanut Butter Criss-Cross

These cookies are soft and not too dry, but a glass of milk still goes really well with peanut butter cookies. I recently made these and brought them to my work. They were a hit, and people frequently described them as “not too sweet”.

Be sure to use natural peanut butter that is not hydrogenated or else they can be really dry. It only takes a few minutes to incorporate the oil in natural peanut butter and it is better for you. Enjoy.

Poop by Kodi

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

Maple Pecan Caramel

I have mentioned this recipe in the hopes that someone out there has had any luck with it. I’ve made this recipe twice, each time the flavor of the hot caramel was simply amazing. I couldn’t wait to dip it in my favorite dark chocolate to make a neat, self contained caramel-pecan turtle with maple highlights. Unfortunately, by the next day the caramel had completely crystallized and tasted horrible. I’ve scoured the web looking for alternative versions of this recipe with little luck.

This recipe doesn’t use corn syrup like other caramels, and it turns out corn syrup is much more resistant to crystallization than regular sugars. Perhaps substituting dark corn syrup for some of the brown sugar would help? I was extra careful to wash the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water the second time I made this, but sadly, the outcome was the same.

Poop by Neva

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

Apricot Bread

My grandmother has been making this delicious recipe for Christmas afternoon gatherings for as long as I remember. Already a huge fan of apricots, this is by far my favorite thing she would serve. This year she was unable to make them, and so I offered to make them since it would also be a great recipe for this blog. They were so good that I made the recipe twice in one week over the holidays—and again last week since I needed to retake some photos since I over chopped the apricots on the second batch.

Poop by Snowy

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

Gianduja Gelato

Gianduja (jon-doo-ya) is a chocolate product that contains finely ground hazlenuts and almonds. I’ve been using it for several years to make gianduja truffles. This gianduja gelato has a silky smooth texture and great chocolate and hazelnut overtones, highlighted by a little bit of Frangelico liqueur.

You can sometimes find gianduja at specialty stores, but I usually buy mine online from e-tailers like Chocosphere or World Wide Chocolate.

Poop by Lola

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

Chocolate Cappucino Ice Cream

This chocolate cappucino ice cream tastes much more rich than any ice cream with only half & half (no heavy cream). The custard base, chocolate and liqueur go a long way to make this ice cream taste extremely rich.

The ice cream base is thicker than most ice cream bases, it almost feels like you are making a pudding. Use good cocoa and dark chocolate; this ice cream is not intended to be like the average chocolate ice cream you grew up with. I served this ice cream with some chopped Coffee English Toffee for a dessert that was not soon forgotten.

Poop by Dumbo

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

Classic Cream Caramel

Caramels are about as indulgent as soft candy can get. What other candy has as much milk fat and sugar compressed into such a tiny cube or ball? Caramels are very easy to make, especially if you aren’t going to dip them in chocolate. I will typically make two to three batches at a time.

Poop by Maggie

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/

English Toffee

This is, without a doubt, the most popular candy that I make. Similar to the almond toffee sold in pink tins (except years fresher), this toffee compresses the flavor of butter and almonds into a compact package. I’m a big fan of dark chocolate, so I naturally enrobe these in 70% - 72% dark chocolate before coating with chopped almonds. This is a big recipe, but there are economies of scale and I still make three batches during the holidays. If you are just curious, reduce quantities in half if you must—but you will wish you made more.

Poop by Neva

Text by Brian

http://www.chocolategourmand.com/