Here you'll find delicious recipes for any occasion. The perfect recipe is just minutes away!
I made tamales for the first time when I was in Junior High. We went over to my dad’s friends’ house and made tamales with them just before Christmas. It was my first experience making or eating tamales and it was, unfortunately, wasted on me. I was an extremely picky eater. I enjoyed the tamale-making process, but as far as I remember I only ate one tamale and I didn’t really even eat it. I just picked at the masa.
My maternal grandmother has been on my mind a lot recently. For the past few months, actually. I’m not sure why. I guess everything just reminds me of her lately. She died in June 2009 within just a week of her birthday. She was also married just a few weeks after her birthday in July. Her father wouldn’t let her get married until she was sixteen so she married my grandfather a few days after her birthday. Sixteen. It was the 1950s. I got married at 23 and that feels young. I can’t imagine getting married at sixteen-years-old.
The addition of maple syrup, heavy cream, and goat cheese make this a sweet, savory, tangy and satisfying soup for the last bits of wintertime.
Busy busy busy. That’s how I have felt the last several days. Holidays, man! It’s been a good busy, though. I stayed up way too late making chocolate truffles on Friday night. Early breakfast with my best friends on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve night with my grandparents. This morning I gave my mother the gift of my presence at her church and now I’m finally sitting down to round out our Twelve Days of Cocoa.
This hot cocoa would be considered “sipping chocolate” by some and a ridiculous indulgence by others. It is so thick and rich that if you’re not a chocolate lover like me you’ll want to serve it in small espresso cups instead of regular mugs.
Before I started this hot cocoa series I went shopping at several grocery stores looking for all the different chocolates and flavorings I could get my hands on. One item I found was Dagoba Organic Chocolate
My mother loves coconut. Coconut anything. There is no way I could do Twelve Days of Cocoa and not include coconut in some form. There is a large coffee chain that had a mocha coconut frozen beverage during the summer and she quickly became addicted. I mean, um, she rather enjoyed them. In moderation.
So this one is for you, Mom. (Yes, I will make this on Christmas Day at your house.)
I have been wanting to try Almond Milk for a while now. At the start of this hot cocoa series I finally bought a carton. I chose vanilla because I figured it would add extra flavor to the hot cocoa. It is very sweet. Much sweeter than cow’s milk. I enjoyed it in my cereal, but not so much on its own. Since it is made by soaking ground almonds in water I thought it would be fitting for almond hot cocoa. Almond milk, cocoa powder, a little sugar and a drop of almond extract.
Cherry Cordial candies are one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. I pop those bad boys like Tic Tacs. It isn’t just chocolate, goopy cherries, though. I love all cherries. Anytime cherries are in season that’s about all I eat. I can snack on them all day long. Maraschino cherries are always in my fridge just waiting to plopped onto a bowl of ice cream (I usually have about five maraschino cherries per bowl of ice cream). Then, when the bottle is empty I pour the juice into soda water and add a little cream and ice. Yum yum yum.
There are four full days left until Christmas Day (not including today). That means the shopping malls are crazy madhouses and people are frantically running around to do their last minute shopping; clogging up the streets and freeways and definitely acting more Grinch-like than Christmas-Spirit-Like. Does this sound like you? Lucky for you I have a solution!
You know those chocolate oranges that you smash open and they split into a bunch of scrumptious chocolate-orange wedges? Those are so yummy, right?! Yeah, well, I decided I needed to recreate that flavor combination.