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| Original Nestle Tollhouse Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies |
I have no problem promoting the latest product from the Allrecipes Allstars program. I have used Nestle chocolate chips almost exclusively for years now. They are my favorite and I have never been disappointed when using Nestle in any of my recipes. Plus, when you sign up at VeryBestBaking.com, in addition to offering great recipes, they will send you coupons. Who doesn’t love that? They have a new variety of chocolate chips this year: Dark Chocolate Chips. We were given the task of making two new recipes with these morsels.
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| Jumbo Dark Chocolate Cookies |
I recently tried the Jumbo Dark Chocolate Cookies recipe. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the dark chocolate chips at my store. I ended up using regular semi-sweet chocolate chips and the cookies came out pretty good. I swear, I can’t follow any recipe to “the tee” anymore. I had to add my own twist to the recipe by adding 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract and crushed peppermint candies. Very festive. The second recipe I tried is the Original Nestle Tollhouse Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies. Fortunately, I was able to find the new dark chocolate chips at Target and made a special trip to get them. These cookies turned out great.
I’ve had a difficult time getting into the holiday spirit this year. So I was surprised when I found inspiration for a new holiday recipe for fudge. I’ve always seen the Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark chocolates around the holidays, but for some reason, we’ve never tried them. This year my mother-in-law gave us a big bar of this seasonal special chocolate and we found out we loved it. That got the wheels spinning in my head and I thought it would be a great inspiration for a fudge recipe. Thus, Dianne’s Double Layer Peppermint Fudge was created.
The first batch I made wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It was too sweet and I didn’t like the texture so much. I made it by boiling marshmallow cream with sugar, evaporated milk and butter. I decided to try another method. The second time I stirred in marshmallows after boiling the milk, sugar and butter, skipping marshmallow cream altogether. I like what this did to the texture of the fudge. It made it lighter and silkier. I also reduced the amount of sugar and added a little salt to cut the sweetness. Much better!
The new Nestle Dark Chocolate Chips work great in this recipe, but you could also use semi-sweet chocolate chips. A little trick I’ve figured out about decorating with crushed peppermint candies is to use only the bigger pieces. I crush the candies, put them in a bowl and gently shake it. The tiny pieces and “dust” settle to the bottom. You can then pick out a bunch of larger pieces to decorate the top of your fudge or cookies. The smaller pieces don’t go to waste, they just get stirred in!
Dianne’s Double Layer Peppermint Fudge
(This is not a low-FODMAP recipe)
Ingredients
- Line an 8” square pan with aluminum foil.
- Unwrap candies and place in a heavy-duty plastic bag. Pound candies with a meat mallet or rolling pin until crushed (about ¼ cups-worth). Set aside some of the big, pretty pieces to decorate the top of the fudge later.
- Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat and bring to a full boil. Boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Pour half of the mixture (about 3/4 cup) into another medium saucepan and set aside. To the remaining mixture, add 1 cup mini marshmallows and the dark chocolate chips. Stir vigorously until chips and marshmallows are melted. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
- To the mixture that was set aside, add the remaining 1 cup mini marshmallows, the white chocolate chips and peppermint extract. Stir vigorously until chips and marshmallows are melted. Stir in crushed peppermint candies. Carefully spread over the dark chocolate mixture in the pan. Sprinkle with the pretty candy pieces that were set aside in the beginning. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Cut into squares.
