Bacon Peanut Butter Truffles

I have mentioned a few times my appreciation for all things pork, I really am fond of the pig!  It is one of the things that reminds me that there must be a higher power because, well in one  package you have:
ham
chops
tenderloin
hocks
ribs
heck I have even seen their feet in a pickle jar at some of the bars that I used to go to and don't forget that yummy fatty stuff from around the belly BACON. 

Bacon is one of those things that transcends any course of any meal; there is always bacon with breakfast,  Spinach salad with bacon dressing(mmm bacon vinaigrette dressing) bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, bacon on any sandwich.  Then you can't forget beverages or dessert...  yes folks this one is about dessert.

I have talked about my friend the cookbook dealer a few times, he made another visit not to long ago and dropped off a few magazines for me, a couple of issues of Food and Wine, (from 2006 and 2008) one issue of Whole Living from 2009 and a copy of Saveur from March 2005.  Since the whole cookbook/culinary magazine thing is kind of an addiction for me I try to keep the gravity of it hidden (is there a 12 step program for that?)  I tossed these in the back of my car so nobody would find them and there they sat there with the other 30 or so cookbooks and magazines until a few days back when I took Miss Lu to dance I was looking for some reading material for the hour I was about to spend sitting in a folding metal chair.

On our way to dance class

I ran out to the car and riffled around for something to spark my interest... then there it was in the upper right hand corner "Seduced by Bacon"  I couldn't pass on that!  inside was "Peanut Butter Bacon Truffles" Ok if you have read even a few of my posts you know I had to follow up on this one!

6 strips of bacon cooked until crisp well drained
1/2 cup salted dry roasted peanuts
4 tsp sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
8 oz chocolate chips
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Coarsely chop bacon then put into a food processor with peanuts and sugar... pulse until  mixture is ground to medium fine texture.  Pour into a bowl then add peanut butter and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is firm.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Roll the peanut butter mixture into balls 3/4 to 1 inch in size and set them on the sheet, when it is all used lightly cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

Before you take them out put the refrigerator melt your chocolate chips in a double boiler stirring often to keep it smooth, then set aside until cool enough to touch.  Then take your peanut butter balls out of of the refrigerator and drop them a few at a time in the chocolate to coat then toss in the cocoa powder.

The article said that you can set them in a sealed container with some cocoa powder and they keep for about a week in the refrigerator, just bring them to room temperature before serving.  these guys only made it overnight, yes the breakfast of champions!

OK these little peanutbuttery baconey balls of chocolate really did it!  The salty sweet chocolaty candies were as good as they sound!

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Kris and I aren't much for the Valentines day thing, she used to work for FTD (not a good experience from day one) plus she is an accountant so 40 dollars spent on flowers just doesn't make sense.  For Valentines day we spent the day keeping the kids in separate corners of the house so they wouldn't fight so much then had a family dinner.  My gift to my beautiful wife... I let her sleep while the kiddos and I made dinner.  Miss Lu, Mr. Man and I made Blood Orange and Ginger Marinated Tuna Steaks, Ratatoulle and (this is the one for today) Molten Chocolate Cake.  

Much easier than I thought, we made the batter about a half an hour before we started dinner, actually Miss Lu did most of it and Mr. Man did some, I just handed them stuff one piece at a time.  Once we had the batter made I put it in the fridge until dinner was over.

Ingredients:

5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chips)

10 TBS Unsalted Butter

5 Caramel Candy pieces (store bought)

3 Large Eggs

3 additional Egg Yolks

1 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 cup Flour

Miss Lu separates eggs like a pro.

While melting the Chocolate, Butter and Caramel wisk the Eggs and Egg Yolks in a bowl to blend then add the Sugar, blend until absorbed.  When the chocolate, butter and caramel are all mixed set aside for about 5 minutes to temper then slowly add to the egg mixture.  After that is all incorporated add the flour then set aside covered (I put it in the fridge while we had dinner).

When we started dinner I put about 10 pieces of caramel into a small double boiler to let them temper and turned the oven on to 450.  Once dinner was finished I brought the double boiler to a boil then pored the batter into 5 ramekins (6 oz) and put them in the oven.  The cakes take about 12 to 15 minutes and it is hard to say when they are done... I took them out about a minute after the top turned from liquid to solid.  While they were in Miss Lu, Mr Man and I bruleed some strawberries, I cut a mess of them in half, sprinkled them with brown sugar and torched them with the kitchen torch (actually the kids did, I stood over them like a lunatic keeping the 3rd degree burns away for the evening).  Then we painted the plates with melted caramel, just a quick stripe for the ones that I photographed the others were a little more involved.

When the Cakes come out of the oven let them cool for a minute then use a knife to pull them from the side of the ramekin, dump them into your hand and set on the plates.  Garnish with a little powdered sugar. Oh and here is a little hint for eating... use the strawberries to scoop up the melty chocolate stuff.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This month, February, I have done pretty well so far with this blog, I know that is pretty easy to say on the 2nd, by that I mean I have some recipe/menu ideas laid out for the next 26 days. Nothing carved in stone or really even scribbled in ink but some ideas to work with. I made one of the dishes last night... really good... but after we finished Kris and I were both saying. "I want something else." Neither of us could quite say what, there just seemed to be something missing. Then I went completely off my list... so much for planning and organization.

This last weekend when I was shopping I saw strawberries for $1.98 a pound and they looked beautiful. I know, anyone would think "cheap strawberries, January 30, Chicago, nothing good can come of that. I ignored that little voice, I do that sometimes. Anyway a little while after our "I need something else to finish this meal" conversation I thought I would give the strawberries a try. They were exactly what I should have expected, not bad but not sweet WOW close to sour. Miss Lu and I decided to (what else) dip them in chocolate. I had some chocolate left from when I made lace cookies then added a Hershey's Bar and the last of our chocolate chips to that and melted it all down in a makeshift double boiler (Pyrex bowl on a saucepan). I showed Miss Lu how to dip them then made a run for the camera, the phrase "It's almost ready... where is the camera" has become pretty familiar in our house. I took a couple of pictures, then reviewed them and when I looked back up she had finished coating them all. Then I got the look, "don't worry about it daddy the seven year old girl can take dessert while you say bad words at the camera." Not exactly what she said, but close enough.

So how was it? This is the formula: 1 pound of cheap/sour strawberries + every miscellanies scrap of chocolate in the house = the best dessert so far this winter!