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March 2015 By i sugar coat it! 10 Comments

Biscoff Cookie Butter Chocolate Easter Eggs

Easter is around the corner! Time to unleash my inner bunny and lay down some pastel-clad, dark chocolate, biscoff-laden eggs. These fun, little pastel Biscoff Cookie Butter Chocolate Easter Eggs will have you fully committed to the hunt this year!

Wait... I don't believe I've ever been on an easter egg hunt. GASP! Are they still a thing? Are there rabbits involved? Does one get to dress up like Elmer Fudd and totally obliterate the letter 'r'? Um... we're hunting eggs, not rabbits. Right? OH, please tell me Jessica and Peter will be there. OK, now I'm excited and so very confused...

I'll never understand how the religious story behind Easter was distilled down to this commercial version, but I sure love to see the pastel candy eggs and gold-wrapped bunnies everywhere. This was all so confusing for my young mind as a child, but I think I now have a firm grasp on How Easter Bunnies Are Made.

Still, I often stop to ponder the ~~chicken~~ bunny or the egg conundrum...my creationist self would argue the chicken, but that generally poses some issues for my secular self. Have you ever read Michael Behe's book, Darwin's Black Box - The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution? If you lay awake at night pondering life's biggest questions, this may be the book for you. Or not...

OK, we all know bunnies are mammals and cute as hell, but imagine if they actually laid pastel eggs of chocolate! No doubt, they would look and taste a lot like these Biscoff Cookie Butter Chocolate Easter Eggs. Dark couverture shells in soft pastels, with a decadent, generous filling of white chocolate and Biscoff Cookie Butter.

Oh, what a wonderful world this would be!

Can I just say that these Biscoff Cookie Butter Chocolate Easter Eggs were PERFECT!! This isn't always the case, but this batch had that perfect sheen and snap that are characteristic of well-made chocolate. AND, I actually moved out of my seeding comfort zone and graduated to tabling!! I felt like such a pro!! My chef instructor would be mad proud of her budding chocolatier. I shared a behind the scenes shot on my Instagram feed.

The filling though... that was the star of these confections. I used the same recipe as I did here, but subbed in a healthy dose of Biscoff cookie butter. BISCOFF!! Need I say more?

More Easter Treats:

How Easter Bunnies Are Made Layered Cookies

Carrot Cupcakes with Easter Bunny Cookie Toppers

How Do you Like Your Eggs Mini Egg Cakes

Dark Chocolate Easter Eggs filled with Biscoff and White Chocolate.

Print Recipe

Biscoff Chocolate Easter Eggs

Dark chocolate easter eggs in pastels filled with decadent white chocolate and Biscoff

Prep Time1

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Servings: 10

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

Filling

210 grams white chocolate 1 ¼ cups
75 grams Biscoff ⅓ cup, peanut butter, if Biscoff isn't available
20 grams organic virgin coconut oil 1 ½ tbsps

Shells

350 grams dark chocolate

Instructions

Make Filling:

Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler.
Once melted and smooth, use a hand whisk to stir in the Biscoff and oil. (stir, do not whisk)
Allow the mixture to cool to below 35ºC. This will prevent melting the shells when filled.

Prepare shells:

Prepare your mold my buffing with a cotton pad and set aside. If using colour, paint or airbrush the cavities with coloured cocoa butter. Lay a clean sheet of parchment on a flat surface.
Use a double boiler to heat the dark chocolate to 45ºC. Reserve 15%-20% of the dark chocolate for seeding.
Once at 45ºC, remove from heat and stir continuously, adding the reserved chocolate. Continue stirring to a working temperature of 31ºC - 32ºC. Test for readiness.
Ladle the chocolate into the cavities of the mold, filling to the top of each cavity.
Use a wide spatula to scape off any excess chocolate from the mold.
Invert the mold over a large bowl so that the chocolate in the cavities drain out into the bowl. Use the handle of your spatula to lightly tap the sides of the mold to help the chocolate drain. A thin coat will remain in the molds to form the shells.
While the mold is still inverted, use your spatula to clean up the surface of the mold.
Place the mold face down onto the parchment for a few minutes. This helps the shells to form a slightly thicker edge, which makes it easier to join the two pieces to create the eggs.
Flip the mold back over and allow to set, or place in the fridge.

Assemble:

Pipe the filling into prepared shells and allow to set.
Warm the edges of the shells on a warm, flat surface and seal two pieces to create the eggs (use cotton gloves while working with the shells).
If the seams are too obvious, remove a glove and run your finger over to smooth the edges and hide the seams.

Notes

I used a professional, polycarbonate mold which works best, but a hobby-grade, plastic mold, or slicone mold would also work.
The finished eggs are the size of medium to large chicken eggs.
I airbrushed my mold with coloured cocoa butter, but you can paint the mold as well. Or, if using white chocolate for the shells, simply colour the chocolate during pre-crystallization.

March 2015 By i sugar coat it! 2 Comments

Macaron Day Toronto

Happy First Day of Spring! Did you know that it is also Macaron Day? Could this day be any more amazing? Well, only if it were Eat All the Dark Chocolate day! But I digress, and so early in my post.

So, back to spring and macarons. The snow has melted, the weather forecast shows big, bright, yellow circles accompanied by temperatures above freezing, albeit single digits. But after longer than normal stretches of minus twenty degrees weather, anything zero and above is relatively warm.

It is also Macaron Monday! These light, airy, delicious, meringue-based treats are the perfect accompaniment to spring and serve a great cause. Macaron Day Toronto coincides with similar celebrations taking place around the world. Participating patisseries across Toronto offer complimentary macarons to customers. In addition, a portion of macaron sales on this day will be donated to the Red Door Family Shelter to support their efforts to break the cycle of homelessness. Visit their site and see the wonderful work they do to support the community.

Click on over to the Macaron Map to chart your sweet attack. You get to sate your sweet tooth and support a great cause - a win-win in my books!

Want to make a few of your own? Visit my Macaron Recipe page.

Have a wonderful day! I'll be back in a few days to kick off Easter.

March 2015 By i sugar coat it! 20 Comments

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Feuilletine Cake

With layers of chocolate, peanut butter and cereal, this Chocolate and Peanut Butter Feuilletine Cake has all the components my kind of breakfast!

In my sweet, make-believe world, chocolate and peanut butter are main food groups and are represented on the food pyramid by an image of this Chocolate and Peanut Butter Feuilletine Cake. While we're at it, lets just make chocolate THE foundation, turn all the water into wine and wrap all the things in bacon. Yes? YES!

Chronic euphoria and type 3 nirvana would replace diseases like obesity and diabetes and we would all live sweetly and happily ever after... Given how frighteningly (f-word revised for the meek of heart) frigid February has been, I am definitely ready to pack up and move to this chocolate-fueled utopia. Feel free to come with! Only your birthday suit, a bib and an insatiable appetite for the sweet stuff required.

I made this Chocolate and Peanut Butter Feuilletine Cake using the layers left over from my Ferrero Rocher Gianduja Cake, paired them with the most wonderfully light and fluffy Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream and dressed it in Paillete Feuilletine for an exquisitely delicious texture.

Feuilletine is a caramelized pastry wafer made from crushed crepe dentelles. You will find it in a number of French pastries. Until recently, you could find it only in pastry kitchens. I first used it in a culinary course and immediately became hooked. I've since gone through two or three of my own bags. Remember these Hazelnut Rocher? I promise to share the deliciously, crispy pastries of my labour with you in future posts.

No Feuilletine? No problem! A cereal like Frosted Flakes could probably do the trick, but it certainly is no match for the buttery, crisp this real deal offers. If you can get your hands on a bag of feuilletine, you most certainly won't regret it. Or, you can in fact make your own! (see link in recipe below)

For this particular application, the crunch only lasted a day (lasts longer when used with tempered chocolate), which presented the perfect excuse to EAT ALL THE CAKE! Or, for the less adventurous, just add the flakes right before serving, or to individual slices only.

The swiss meringue peanut butter buttercream is absolutely amazing! Its a variation on this buttercream recipe that is originally from Three Little Blackbirds. If you can stop yourself from eating it straight from the bowl, it is the perfect complement to this rich chocolate cake. For the swirl design on top, position an offset spatula at the centre and turn the cake as you move the spatula away from the centre.

If you're wondering what's with the heart toppers, I made this cake to share with you as part of my Valentine's line-up. I missed that boat, but figured chocolate and hearts fit any and all occasions! Right!

Eat All The Cake:

One Pint Six-Layer Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Oreo Cake With Raspberry Chocolate Ganache

Mocha Latte Chip Cake & Chocolate Whipped Cream

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Valentine's Cake

Print Recipe

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Total Time1

Author: i sugar coat it!

March 2015 By i sugar coat it! 10 Comments

Simple Wafer Paper Flower Tutorial

H there! Hope you are having a wonderful week. I think it's time for another instalment of Tutorial Tuesday. Today, I'm sharing a simple wafer paper flower. These flowers are quick and easy and this medium allows for ample opportunity to get creative. I have used it to wrap a cake, to make fun, little chevron pinwheels and wedding cookie favours, to name a few. Printing or painting on the wafer paper is a great way to add interest to your flowers.

Here's a quick slideshow to get you started making your own Simple Wafer Paper Flower.

https://www.quiet.ly/list/share/03171?settingsId=nc73c8fr%26width%3D680%26height%3D0%26heightAuto%3Dtrue

Easy, right! Wafer paper flowers can be a cost and time saver, while still delivering impact to your designs. The sugar flower I made for this mini birthday cake fell and broke as I was attaching it. It's probably the only time I didn't make an extra as a backup. Go figure! I printed a sheet using a printer reserved for edible ink and in a matter of minutes I had a flower ready for my friend's little birthday surprise.

Craftsy has two great Wafer Paper classes - Delicate Wafer Paper Cakes and Bold & Beautiful Wafer Paper Flowers. They are a great way to learn the make basics and more stylized wafer paper flowers. They just so happen to be on sale at the moment!

Here's what you will need to make this Simple Wafer paper Flower:

See you in a couple days for another sweet fix!

{This post contains affiliate links. Purchasing from these links will result in a small commission for I Sugar Coat It!}

February 2015 By i sugar coat it! 6 Comments

Hazelnut Rocher

Hazelnut Rocher are addictive chocolate covered clusters of almonds, hazelnuts and cereal.

I am nuts about chocolate. NUTS! And just as nutty about nuts. Bring them together and we get the most deliciously addictive clusters of Hazelnut Rocher! They are much like the shell of a Ferrero Rocher, but better in my humble opinion. They are home-made, after all!

They're also very easy and quick to make, which makes them the perfect in-a-pinch treat. You know, for those people who love to show up unannounced around dinner time. You know exactly who you are. 😉 They keep well in an airtight container if made ahead. However, they get eaten pretty quickly, so keeping a batch on hand may not be the best idea, especially where your hips are concerned.

I must admit, until about a year ago, we didn't normally reach for hazelnuts when we're stocking up on nuts. Unlike pistachios, cashews, almonds and pecans, which we keep on hand for snacking, we only purchased hazelnuts when needed for baking. After using them in a few recipes in class last year, we got into the habit of including them on the grocery list. They are great on salads, as a snack and blended up as a spread.

Like all nuts, hazelnuts are very rich in oil - 64%. Can you guess three of the more widely used nuts with a higher oil content? Macadamia, pecans and brazil nuts at 74%, 70% and 65% respectively. Almonds, the other nut used in this Hazelnut Rocher, comes in at 55%.

These Hazelnut Rocher are among the simplest of confections, but are huge on taste. I made a whole bunch for gifting over the holidays and they were hugely popular. The Dude and I may have eaten as many as we packaged.

Feel free to mix things up with any variety of nuts, even dried fruit like cranberry, if that's your thing. Make sure whatever you use has low moisture content, so as not to take away from the crunch, ruin the chocolate or shorten the shelf-life of the confection.

Give them a try! Just know that I'll not be held responsible if when you become hooked.

More Chocolate Confections:

Cashew Butter Cup Chocolate Hearts

English Toffee

No-Bake Vanilla Wafer Butter Cups

Print Recipe

Hazelnut Rocher

Hazelnut Rocher are addictive chocolate covered clusters of almonds, hazelnuts and cereal.

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Total Time25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Chocolate

Servings: 30

Author: i sugar coat it!