There is one thing for sure at a party fondue is fun, chocolate fondue is also exceptionally popular with most people and is a safe bet to add to the party menu. It can be a pleasant snack on a cold winter’s day, with you and your friends gathered around a pot watching the chocolate boil. Using the classic chocolate in a fondue is great, but you can make it much more fun by mixing other ingredients into the pot, your friends will be over the moon with your creativity.

Ideas for Chocolate Fondue:

Smores, the perennially popular campsite snack adapts itself wonderfully with chocolate fondue. While melting your chocolate, also had some marshmallow, letting it melt and ribbon into the mixture – not only is it delicious, but it’s also a nice image. Dip pieces of graham cracker into the hot mixture and enjoy!

Fruit Goes Great with Chocolate Fondue:

The most popular ingredient that goes with a fondue is fruit, a really cool idea would be to add some fruit flavored syrup and some fruit like for instance, strawberries. Probably the best chocolate to you as with this recipe will be dark chocolate, because milk chocolate would probably be too sweet in combination with fruit syrup. One thing for sure your friends and family will find this recipe irresistible.

Adapt Your Fondue:

A chocolate fondue would be a great idea for a Christmas party. Peppermint syrup is a great additive – simply have guests dip candy canes into the sweet and refreshing mixture. Adding eggnog to a it is also a great seasonal idea. Putting espresso and cinnamon also gives your fondue a special flavor – and using pound cake or bundt cake, instead of fruit is also a nice variation on this simple entertaining idea.

Chocolate Fondue For The Grown-Ups:

If your throwing party for adults only, then adding liquor is a great way of making your chocolate fondue was more exciting. Chocolate liquor is fine so long as you use dark chocolate, however be more adventurous and add whiskey, brandy, or rum. The only limitation will be your imagination.

Technorati Tags: chocolate fondue, dark chocolate, milk chocolate

Chocolate Truffles Be Patience When Making Them.

Chocolate truffles make a enchanting dessert, and one that people from all over the world enjoy both on a regular basis and for special occasions. The one issue with chocolate is that is can be very fattening. People who are searching for smaller chocolate desserts (to be moderately eaten of course) in an attempt to hold their weight should consider a chocolate truffle.

Chocolate truffles, what are they?

A chocolate truffle is a delicacy that is in the shape of a small ball. It is called a chocolate truffle because it looks like the truffle fungus in its shape. The center of chocolate truffles always contains some type of gorgeous filling. These fillings can consist of marshmallows, fudge, fruit, cream, melted chocolate, nuts, and much more.

A favorite truffles recipe:

While chocolate truffles might often be associated with excess, they are in fact not very difficult to create if at home. One of the most well-liked kinds of truffle is the standard one, which just has a simple chocolate filling, and the chocolate truffle recipe is easy to follow.

To make these truffles at home, several ingredients are needed. These ingredients include: a half-cup of heavy cream, 1 teaspoon of light corn syrup, 8 ounces of chopped semi-sweet chocolate, plus another 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate for dipping, 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and half a cup of sifted, Dutch-process cocoa butter.

Once the ingredients have been gathered, mix the corn syrup, cream, and butter together in a saucepan. Place the mixture on the stove with medium heat. Once the mixture reaches full boil, turn off the heat. Add the 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate to the mixture. At this point the pan should be swirled gently. After this has been done, allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.

When the 5 minutes are over, whisk the mixture. Place the mixture in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes. Stir the mixtures every 15 minutes during that time. Line some baking sheets (at least two) with parchment paper. After 45 minutes in the refrigerator, the mixture should be noticeably thick. Allow the mixture to stay in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes, and stir it every 5 minutes.

Using two spoons or a mini ice cream scooper, scoop the mixture out into 1 inch balls and place them on the baking sheets. Allow the balls to chill for about 15 minutes, and while that is happening, melt the remaining 6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate. After the chocolate is melted, allow it to cool just a little bit.

Taking the cooled chocolate balls (now truffles), and dip each one into the semi-sweet chocolate and cover it with some cocoa. After each truffle has been dipped, place it back on the baking sheet and put all the finished chocolate truffles in the refrigerator for approx 10 minutes. Once this as been done, the truffles will stay fresh and fit to eat for about one week, and can be stored in an airtight container (preferably in the refrigerator). Chocolate truffles do require you to be patience when making them, but the end result is certainly worth it.

Technorati Tags: chocolate balls, chocolate truffle, chocolate truffle recipe, chocolate truffles

A chocolate strawberry as an amazing taste when you bite into it and is probably one of the best chocolate treats on the planet. The combination of a juicy strawberry covered with gorgeous chocolate just makes your taste buds come to life.

Eating a chocolate strawberry can have the effect of being an aphrodisiac. There is scientific information that confirms the belief, also by eating chocolate you can increase your energy levels, and it also makes you feel fantastic.

When you feel like giving your whole family some chocolate strawberries to enjoy, rather than paying a lot of money at your local store, why not consider making a chocolate strawberry treat for them yourself. You can easily buy your ingredients from your local super market, and download a recipe from the Internet.

The Ingredients:

There are really only two main ingredients to make a chocolate strawberry and these are obviously strawberries and chocolate. However, it is important to choose a good sized strawberry that is not overripe, and a good quality chocolate.

In addition to the above ingredients, you will also need the following equipment, waxed paper, a mixing bowl, a cookie sheet and a cooker or a microwave.

Directions:
Before starting to make your chocolate strawberry, it is important to wash the strawberries and then dry them with a paper towel. It is important to make sure the strawberries are dry, because any moister will spoil the chocolate.

Next, put the chocolate into a mixing bowl, and place into a microwave for approximately 30 seconds at the highest temperature. While the chocolate is melting, place a layer of waxed paper over your cookie sheet.

Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the microwave and stir well. Place the chocolate back into microwave for a further 30 seconds, this is to make sure that the chocolate is completely melted. Once again, remove the bowl chocolate and stir well, this should result in the chocolate looking like a creamy soup mix.

You can now begin to dip the strawberries in the chocolate. Simply, hold the strawberry by the stem and dip it into the chocolate turning it so as to completely cover the fruit in chocolate. Now, remove strawberry and allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the mixing bowl. Voila, you have just made your first chocolate strawberry.

Finally, after completing the steps above place the chocolate strawberries on the wax paper that is covering the cookie sheet. Leave the strawberries for approximately 2 hours to allow the chocolate to set.

All you have to do now is to enjoy the chocolate strawberry you create, yummy.

Technorati Tags: chocolate strawberries, chocolate strawberry, strawberry flavored candy

Chocolate candy is definitely the best present to give someone for their birthday or any other day that is classed as special such as, Valentine’s day or Mother’s day, Chanukah, and Halloween. Lets not forget that a chocolate candy gift would be fantastic at Christmas too. The amazing thing with this type of candy is it seems that presentation is just as important as the candy itself. Therefore, don’t spend to much on baskets, there is no need.

Packaging will enhance your chocolate candy:

Most people that eat chocolate like most types, not just the best gourmet ones, so any well wrapped and presented chocolate will serve as a gift. You don’t have buy your gift from a gourmet shop and spend a lot on yummy truffles, because your local drugstores and supermarkets will offer great selections for you to buy. Hershey’s Kiss or a bar of chocolate are fantastic and will take some beating, both for taste and price.

Chocolate candy is actually quite inexpensive, therefore you could be a little extravagant and a tad crazy about how you present the candy. A fun idea would be to have some sort of theme like buying some chocolate balls  and wrapping them to look like basketballs and  baseballs  is a fantastic way to please the sporting person in your life. Making a plastic baseball helmet, or football helmet and filling them with these sports themed chocolate candy is a super idea for a gift.

For that dog lover in your life, another creative gift would be to buy chocolate candy shaped as dogs and wrapped in beautiful cellophane, and fill the dog bowl with them. This crazy idea will work for a cat lover as well, or you can buy  fish shaped fish and fill up the small fish bowl. Just remember you are only limited by your imagination.

Chocolate fruit:

Another creative and possibly crazy idea that would definitely fit into a theme, would be to find some fruit covered chocolates, like chocolate covered fruit peels and marzipan fruit and create a fruit chocolate fruit salad. Chocolates that are orange flavored are sometimes sold in slices, like real oranges, so making sure your fruit salad looks like it was made of real fruit, and not chocolate candy is where your imagination and creativity can come into its own.

Chocolate Candy and your imagination:

Laughing at funny and creative gift baskets is part of the pleasure your friend or loved one gets when receiving a gift of chocolate candy. You could take chocolates left over from Christmas and re-use them for another occasion. For instance, chocolate lips and hearts normally reserved for Valentine’s Day would work in a romance themed basket at any time of the year.

Just remember to have fun, and have the person your giving the gift to, in mind when thinking of a theme for your chocolate candy gift basket.

Technorati Tags: chocolate candy, chocolate candy gift, chocolate candy gift basket, themed chocolate candy

Valentine’s Day Would Not Be Right Without A Cherub Chocolate Centerpiece.

Like sculptures, a cherub chocolate centerpiece is a great conversation starter for a Valentine’s Day party. Locating the right supplier is important, because you don’t want your friends to chew on a chocolate centerpiece that tastes dreadful and is unrecognizable. The deluxe kind of chocolate cherub is the sweet, diapered baby with feathered wings. Shopping about for caterers and suppliers is the best way to find a centerpiece that will bring happiness to you and all your guests.

Find a reputable pastry maker:

Whether it’s for a wedding or a romantic dance, a cherub chocolate display, must be handled by a pastry maker or chef that you can trust. The worst thing that can happen is for someone to approach your centerpiece and ask “What is that?”

Having an angel themed party is another great way to use a cherub chocolate centerpiece. The cool thing about an angel-themed party is that you can also use chocolate cherubs in other parts of the party (i.e. bite size cherubs as favors), as well as, angel-food cake with cherubs on the top tier.

Chocolate cherub for all occasions:

Along with weddings, cherubs are also appropriate for other kinds of parties and events, including baby’s births, New Years or a mythology-themed event.

*For New Years, along with your centerpiece (for an extra added bonus, have the chef make a banner with the year being welcomed), there could be tiny favors of small chocolate cherubs, emblazoned with the New Year. An interesting twist, would also have the centerpiece have an older Father Time figure with the year ending. Unlike the romantic cherubs of Halloween, the New Year’s cherub chocolate centerpiece would be jaunty and even have a top hat.

*Your baby’s 1st birthday party is another time when using a chocolate cherub centerpiece is a fantastic idea, because at such a young age, most of the guests will be adults, and how many parents don’t think their child is a cherub. Like an angel themed party, having cherubs decorated with chocolate in honor of a child’s birth will express the sense of joy and happiness, as well as, the innocence and purity of a newborn child.

The cherub chocolate centerpiece  will be fantastic, and the guests will be able to enjoy this cute symbol of love and affection.

Technorati Tags: cherub chocolate centerpiece, cherub chocolate display, chocolate cherub, reputable pastry maker