Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Chocolate Sprinkles

My nod to Chocolate Friday - low-fat sugar-free chocolate milk in my morning cuppa, and chocolate sprinkles on top!  I couldn't find the precise sugar content of a chocolate sprinkle, but sugar is the first ingredient on the bottle, so....  Well, says I to myself, go ahead, throw caution to the wind!  What harm can a few chocolate sprinkles do, fer cryin' out loud??

 

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A friend posted this on facebook this morning, I just had to share it here:

 

Oh So Many New Things!

Tootin this horn that belongs to me. :) 

In the process of trying to clean up my sidebar links, my housekeeping project turned into much much more than I had planned.  I'm still a bit mystified by all this social networking stuff, but I'm trying to catch up to the world.  Even if I am still running behind, I can see all your heinies ahead of me now, bouncing along in the summer sun. 

So here's some of my new stuff:

I'm finally on Facebook. I've created a page just for my coffee/tea/chocolate obsession. Please drop by and say hi.

I've also created an account on FoodBuzz.com, another social networking site for foodies. I'm still kicking around the kitchen there.

 

Now, about those links... I decided to just scrap the old list and start from scratch. It was sooooo depressing to see so many broken links - like dead blog friends, gone forever from the blogosphere. Gone to blog heaven? Sigh.

I've created a couple of new pages for links, which should be easier to manage. I hope. You'll notice these new buttons on the sidebar. They take you directly to the links pages for coffee, tea and chocolate. There is also a category for foodies but I got tired of making buttons. Heh.

I'm slowly adding links to these pages.  If you have a blog or website that you want to suggest please use this form to send me your suggestion.

Let's see, anything else? Oh yeah, new photo album here: Coffee, Tea, Chocolate Pics. I haven't deleted my Flickr albums, just trying something new.

Ok, I think I'm done tooting. I know, I know, where's the Beano?

Easy Microwave Chocolate Chip Bars

Breakfast of Champions!

My momma always said (while trying to make me eat my spinach YUK!) -- "when you're a grown up you can eat whatever you want..."

I have taken that to heart in a big way. I eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. Whenever I can get them. :) It's a serious pain that I live in one of the hottest parts of the country and have to fret about using the oven to bake. But it does spur me to look for good substitute recipes that won't turn my whole house into an oven.

This recipe for microwave chocolate chip cookies originated here. I modified it a little, firstly because I had no bisquick and secondly because I had no microwave-safe cookie sheet.

First, about Bisquick -- I actually had no idea what was in Bisquick, so I Google'd it and found two substitute recipes as well as a wealth of info.

Wikipedia says: According to General Mills, Bisquick was born when one of their sales executives met a train dining car chef in 1930 who mixed lard and the dry ingredients for biscuits ahead of time. The recipe was adapted, using hydrogenated oil, thus eliminating the need for refrigeration (Sesame oil was originally used as a preservative, identified on the box as "Ingredient S" over the years), and officially introduced on grocers' shelves in 1931.

Huh.

Anyway, Wikipedia also offers this as a substitute for one cup of Bisquick:

• one cup of flour
• 1½ teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of oil or melted butter

Here's another substitute recipe from CopyKat Recipes, but it's for a much larger amount:

• 10 C. Flour
• 3/8 C. Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Cream of Tartar
• 1 1/4 C. Powdered Milk
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
• 1/4 C. Sugar
• 1 lb. Crisco shortening
• Store in an airtight container. This will last approximately a month.

So, there ya go, if you have no Bisquick, you're not SoL. Now having said all that, here's the promised recipe:

Breakfast of Champions Microwave Chocolate Chip Bars

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup Bisquick or substitute
3/4 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup chopped nuts (if desired)

Mix oil, eggs, vanilla and brown sugar till creamy. Mix in Bisquick. Using a spoon fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Pour mixture into a 6x9 inch greased, microwave-safe casserole dish.

Microwave on medium until cooked through (knife will pull out mostly clean.) Cooking times will vary depending on your microwave. I cooked mine for 10 minutes, stopping every 2-3 minutes to check.

Note: You can make these as regular flat cookies. The risk of overcooking and getting ugly brittle cookies is pretty high, so watch them carefully! I tried making cookies first, pouring a little of the batter into the bottom of the cooking dish. As you can see from the pic here, they were ok, nuked 3 minutes, but the thick bars were SOOOO much better.

Pick your poison - chewy or crunchy. It's hard to go wrong with chocolate chip recipes! :)

Chocolate Friday: Lava Cake?

Does it get any more delish than this? I wish mine turned out as pretty as hers!!

How to Make Chocolate Lava Cakes

The Best Kind of Houseguest ...

The best kind of houseguest ... brings chocolate.  A stellar houseguest brings GREAT chocolate.

We had a visitor from New Zealand recently who ranks at the top of my list.  She cleaned up after herself, didn't stay too long, was friendly to our unruly dogs, but best of all, she brought us some of the best, swear-to-god TO-DIE-FOR chocolates from the Chocolate Boutique in New Zealand. 

They were tasty and SO pretty.  Little swirly decorations and fancy shapes, melt in your mouth chocolate, and different flavored fillings and centers that were just right, not too sweet, truly something amazing. 

I would love to show you what they looked like, but unfortunately, this is all that's left:

Ok, I'll fess up, I'm the nibbler.  But I was polite.   I waited until the hubs wasn't looking.  And as you can see, I didn't leave too many bones in the boneyard.

I found their website here.  Now I just have to see if they'll deliver.  Overseas for less than an arm and a leg, intact, not melted, even when shipping to Arizona in the summer?  Oh well, that's probably asking too much.    

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, first I have to apologize.  This is NOT the recipe for cream cheese brownies that I've been promising.  I will get that posted soon. I will, no really, I will!!!  But for today, I'm bumping some old posts here by way of wishing everybunny a Happy Valentine's Day. 

Be sure to take a trip back a year and visit the Valentine's Day Carnival of the Recipes, which has some truly splendelicious goodies for you and your Valentine.

And here are some pictures I shared many moons ago, of a fun and scrummy Valentine's Tea Party I had:

First, I baked some Wally-Mari-Brownies (that's brownies with walnuts and marascino cherries inside). 

I just used a brownie mix, and these cute little heart-shaped tins I found in the baking aisle.

Added some chocolate kisses to the plate because ... well... you can never have too much chocolate.

The perfect complement to go with the brownies: Rosebud Gong Fu tea, which just arrived from JingTeas.com.

This is the perfect tea.  I lovelovelove it. Lightly scented/flavored, and there are tiny little rosebuds right in the tea.  It's a treat for all the senses.  Pretty to look at, wonderful smell, the taste is perfect, and the little afterbreath of roses is delightful.

And of course, the only possible china to use was my gold-rimmed roses cup and plate.

Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

I've missed HOW MANY Chocolate Fridays? 

Well I'm jumping back into the blogosphere with something really easy that combines two of my favorite things: chocolate and coffee.  I've always wanted to try chocolate covered coffee beans.  I wasn't sure I would like them, to be perfectly honest.  I'm really addicted to my liquid coffee, but chawing on a crunchy bean... I wasn't too sure about.

I'm here to tell ya, they're great.  This is the perfect antidote for a long drive, or a hiking trip, when coffee of the liquid variety is hard to come by.  Pop a few of these for some tasty instant rocket fuel.  I'm serious, those with heart conditions beware.  I popped half a dozen and a few minutes later, the top of my head came off. 

And the recipe is so easy!  I tried using flavorings in the chocolate, and different types of coffee beans, some more exotic than others.  And the conclusion I've come to is they're best with a good hearty basic espresso bean, and just plain semi sweet chocolate.  Exotic coffee beans detract from the chocolate.  And added flavorings seem to detract from the coffee.  Basic and not too sweet is best, IMHO.

Easy Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

1/2 cup espresso beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds or so, until creamy.  Stir in coffee beans till completely covered.  Spread on a sheet of wax paper.  Allow to cool on counter for 10-15 minutes, then place in freezer.  Once completely hardened, break apart. 

The result looks like peanut brittle... so maybe this should be called coffee brittle.  :)

Enjoy!

Chocolate Friday: Good for a Laugh

Some of my favorite chocolate quotes:

I'm not overweight. I'm Chocolate-Enriched.

The Chocoholic 12-Step Program: Never be more than 12 steps away from chocolate!

Chocolate doesn't make the world go around, but it sure makes the trip worthwhile.

I only recognize two food groups: fruit and chocolate.  And if it's fruit, it should be dipped in chocolate.

One of life's mysteries is how a two-pound box of chocolate can make a person gain five pounds. 

Man cannot live by chocolate alone.  But I bet a woman could.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

Say fast 10 times: A cheery chipmunk chucked chewy cherries in a cheap chocolate chip shop.

Chocolate is nature’s way of making up for Mondays.

There's more to life than chocolate ... I just can't think what.

There are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and chocolate truffles.

I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process.... It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?.

Chocolate Friday: Chocolate in the News

I've missed how many Chocolate Fridays????  Holy cow.  Holy cacao!!!  I have so many things to post piled up here on my desk I don't know where to start. 

USA Today news on chocolate is less than heartening for those of us with serious chocolate addiction.  According to this article, research on the health benefits of chocolate is far from conclusive and much more study is needed.  And more recently, this article says dark chocolate can lower blood pressure, but it only takes a few nibbles (less than 2 hershey's kisses) to get the benefit.  Dang. 

So that ginormous bar of chocolate I'm planning on having for lunch is overkill, healthwise, huh?  Foo.  Not that that's gonna stop me.  Heh.

Also in the news, on the 7th of this month Hershey's celebrated its Kisses' 100th anniversary with a birthday bash where they unveiled the World's Largest Hershey's Kiss.  This massive hunk o' chocolate weights in at 30,540 pounds, and has been added to the Guiness Book as "The World's Largest Piece of Chocolate".  The Kiss Stamp was cool, but this here is a birthday gift I could live with.  Check out this cool video of the "making of".