Category: Light Shine University

Posted on

Hot Chocolate Sticks

Now, I bet you’re thinking, “Oooh, yum. Chocolate suckers!” but careful now…somehow, this is even better. How about Hot Chocolate on a stick? Hmmmm? The idea is that you warm up some milk or cream and stir it with these little chocolate melties. Clever. Scrumptious. Adorable.

And easy.

You can use them yourself or give them out for the perfect little sweetheart gift.

 

 

Hot Chocolate Sticks

Ingredients:

8 oz. chocolate –your favorite kind will do- milk, semisweet, white–whatever.

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Melt chocolate in a double boiler, being careful not to let the water get above a simmer. This will help your chocolate not get too hot and keep it’s pretty sheen. Be sure not to get even one drop of water in your chocolate or it will become grainy and sad. Once it is nearly all melted, take it off the heat and stir to finish the process.

Pour chocolate into a mixer and beat on low. Add the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. It should be quite thick now.

Press about 1-1/2 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture into each well of an ice cube tray. Insert a popsicle stick into each cube. I rolled some into balls because I only had one ice cube tray. That worked just fine too. Let them cool in the fridge.

After about 2 hours they should just pop right out of the tray. We dipped one corner or the bottoms into warmed red candy melts–just for fun.

Then while they were still warm, we found some other things to make them interesting–Valentine decos…

and red hots–and some we left just their plain, old selves.

When giving them away, be sure to label them clearly and give instructions for their use.

“One Hot Chocolate Stick stirred into 1 cup of hot milk or cream for the perfect winter evening.”

Sweet dreams.


Hot Chocolate Sticks
 
Print
Ingredients
  • 8 oz. chocolate –your favorite kind will do- milk, semisweet, white–whatever.
  • ¼ cup cocoa
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler, being careful not to let the water get above a simmer.
  2. Once it is nearly all melted, take it off the heat and stir to finish the process.
  3. Pour chocolate into a mixer and beat on low.
  4. Add the other ingredients and mix thoroughly.
  5. Press about 1-1/2 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture into each well of an ice cube tray.
  6. Insert a popsicle stick into each cube.
  7. Let them cool in the fridge.
  8. After about 2 hours they should just pop right out of the tray.
Notes
“One Hot Chocolate Stick stirred into 1 cup of hot milk or cream for the perfect winter evening.” Sweet dreams. :}

Posted on

Steamed Chocolate Pudding…

…with Caramel Sauce…AND a giveaway. That’s what I said.

Oh baby–the room is starting to spin. Grab something stable and hold on.

For some odd reason, I’ve been fascinated by the idea of making real Plum Pudding–you know just to see if it tastes like…dirt, or if it’s actually good. Now, it takes a special pan to make traditional Plum Pudding, so, I’ve been on the look-out for just such a pan for many years. Finally, after checking each holiday season, at Williams Sonoma–at last, at last, they had one. But, fortunately for all of us–the recipe included with the pan was for “Steamed Chocolate Pudding with Caramel Sauce.”

Oh my…oh my.  Are you sitting down? Rock beats scissors. Paper beats rock. Chocolate beats just about anything–but certainly…plum.

Dude.

Steamed Chocolate Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

9 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

9 Tbsp. butter, cut up

6 eggs, separated

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1-1/2 Tbsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup caramel sauce

whipped cream

Directions:

Grease a steamed pudding mold. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler and allow to cool. Beat the egg yolks and brown sugar on high speed for about 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add vanilla, cooled chocolate and salt and beat until combined–about 1 minute. Transfer mixture into another bowl.

In a clean, dry bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a clean whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until medium-firm peaks form–about 4 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites and the chocolate mixture together until no whites are visible. Sift the flour over the batter and fold in until well blended. Pour the mixture into the greased mold. Place the lid securely on top.

Next, set the mold on an inverted colander or steam rack, set in a large pot. Fill the pot with water to come halfway up the sides of the mold. Cover the pot, and set over medium high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 40 minutes.

Remove mold from pan and let cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes. Uncover the mold and pour caramel sauce over the pudding.  Let cool in the mold for another 30 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate and…

and serve warm.

Hot dang.

We loved this so much–especially the Bald Kid and I–that I can’t bear not to have a partner in-steamed-pudding-crime. Therefore my friends–I’m giving away a true, live, steamed pudding pan to one lucky reader–on Friday at 10:00 am…sharp. To enter, leave me a comment on this post. In fact, I’ll give you one entry for each comment you leave on any previous post–from this moment on. Ha ha! Comments for EVERYone!

 

 


Steamed Chocolate Pudding...
 
Print
Ingredients
  • 9 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 9 Tbsp. butter, cut up
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1-1/2 Tbsp. vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp flour
  • ½ cup caramel sauce
  • whipped cream
Instructions
  1. Grease a steamed pudding mold.
  2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler and allow to cool.
  3. Beat the egg yolks and brown sugar on high speed for about 4 minutes.
  4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add vanilla, cooled chocolate and salt and beat until combined–about 1 minute.
  5. Transfer mixture into another bowl.
  6. In a clean, dry bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a clean whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy, 2 to 3 minutes.
  7. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until medium-firm peaks form–about 4 minutes.
  8. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the whites and the chocolate mixture together until no whites are visible.
  9. Sift the flour over the batter and fold in until well blended.
  10. Pour the mixture into the greased mold.
  11. Place the lid securely on top.
  12. Next, set the mold on an inverted colander or steam rack, set in a large pot.
  13. Fill the pot with water to come halfway up the sides of the mold.
  14. Cover the pot, and set over medium high heat.
  15. Bring to a boil.
  16. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 40 minutes.
  17. Remove mold from pan and let cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes.
  18. Uncover the mold and pour caramel sauce over the pudding.
  19. Let cool in the mold for another 30 minutes.
  20. Invert onto a serving plate and… and serve warm.

Posted on

What Do You Know…

for sure?

That question has become a favorite tagline in a magazine–where each month they do a write up called–What I Know For Sure. Reading the top ten affirmations really got my head racing to come to at least one of my own. Of course, I agree for the most part, with what what they have to say, but my own, most heartfelt belief is blatantly missing from their list.  It is this:

“Motherhood is the most important work you will ever do in this lifetime and it has potential to be the most rewarding accomplishment you’ll ever achieve.”

I am impressed with how motivating the following words are to me. See what you think~

“What I know for sure” List

1.  What you put out comes back all the time, no matter what.

2.  You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.

3.  Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power.

4.  When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.

5.  Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you.

6.  What you believe has more power than what you dream, wish, or hope for. You become what you believe.

7.  If the only prayer you ever say is “thank you,” that will be enough.

8.  The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you give.

9.  Failure is a signpost to turn you in another direction.

10. If you make a choice that goes against what everyone else thinks, the world will not fall apart.

What do YOU know for sure?

 

 

Posted on

{ Eternal Families }

“Marriage is sanctified when it is cherished and honored in holiness. That union is not merely between husband and wife; it embraces a partnership with God…. Marriage is but the beginning bud of family life; parenthood is its flower. And that bouquet becomes even more beautiful when graced with grandchildren. Families may become as eternal as the kingdom of God itself.”

Russell M. Nelson

Posted on

One More Christmas Carol

A few days before Christmas, our family waltzed on over to the Hale Center Theater to see the play “A Christmas Carol.” When I’m independently wealthy, I intend to take my family every year–as a new and glorious Christmas tradition. (Emily–look up, look up! April, Jacob–smile.)

Of course, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the actual performance, still, it was all there and positively perfect!

There was the ghost of Christmas Past….sad, sad, sad—

the Ghost of Christmas Present…quite an eye opener—

and the creepy Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. While this spooky dude was on the stage, Lyndi leaned over and whispered, “Expecto Patronum!”

We. Lost. It.

So, yeah–at the most solemn part of the whole show–weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth–and we’re completely engulfed in a preposterous, hysterical giggling fit.

Sheesh.

If we could only learn to behave.

Not holding my breath. (PHILLIP! For the millionth time—no sticking your tongue out in the family picture!)

~sigh~

Someday…someday…