"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace." - Milan Kundera (b. 1929) Czech author
Chocolate truffles are our mom's favorite Christmas candy to make because they are easy, they keep, and they make nice gifts. With the basic formula of chocolate and cream you can create the ganache and then add whatever flavors strike your fancy. This is mom's favorite combination
Chocolate Coconut Snow Ball Truffles
2 bags of semisweet chocolate chips 1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream 1 tbsp rum about a cup of chopped dried cherries about a cup of chopped walnuts 2 cups sweetened coconut flakes for rolling Put the chocolate chips in a large bowl. Heat the cream in a sauce pan until just starting to simmer at the edges. Pour over the chocolate and whisk until a smooth ganache forms. Add the rum, cherries, and walnuts and mix well. Chill for about 2 hours in the fridge. Scoop out tablespoon amounts and roll in the sweetened coconut flakes. Store in the fridge in a container lined with parchment paper. We have been thinking about our list for Santa Paws
And we want a lot of stuff: bones, squeaky toys, biscuits, a new bed, etc. What we really want though is a Hobbit House!
and here is one in Pennsylvania, read about it here:
Mom would be awful happy if we got this house and we would have a lot of space to play and be comfortable, because we know a Hobbit House means comfort! It seems unlikely Santa will fit him one on his slay though so we will have to content ourselves with our annual Christmas Lord of The Rings marathon.
(Mom and Dad saw the Hobbit movie and they did like it, but they think it was a bit silly to stretch a 300 page book into a 3 part film series. Its probably for serious fans only).
Like any dyed in the wool sci-fi fantasy nerd. I am obsessed with the Lord of the Rings, at fifteen I even made a brief attempt to learn Elvish, yes there are nerds so devoted that they speak and write in it, however my patience and talents for it where akin to my patience and talents for high school French so I gave up very quickly. Every Christmas the whole Urban Hounds family (myself, husband, dogs, and cats) watches the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on DVD, it is a ritual I consider of up most import, as utterly essential to the Yule Tide Celebration as the tree and the gifts. So you can imagine my excitement when I went to see The Adventures of Tin Tin and during the vast slew of previews that now precedes every movie I saw the one for The Hobbit:
It completely overshadowed the movie for me which I thought was only so-so. I was in nerd nirvana.
Any way today is JRR Tolkien's birthday, he was born in 1892 and passed away in 1973. So I thought it was a fitting day to make some hobbit inspired snacks (as Tolkien notes Hobbits love to eat and drink, something that along with being quite short, I have in common with them.)
Hobbits are particularly fond of mushrooms (one of my favorites) and young hobbits often participate in mushroom hunting, our outright mushroom thievery. So an appropriate Hobbit inspired snack is Mushrooms on Toast excellent for elevenses, tea, or second breakfast.)
1 container of button mushrooms, washed and sliced (about 2 cups total) 3 tbsp butter 1 tsp truffle oil (or regular olive oil) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper 1/4 cup sour cream 2 slices of wheat toast or white toast
Heat the butter and oil in a skillet or pan over medium heat until frothy. Add the mushrooms and stir about seasoning with the salt and pepper. Cook for three minutes. Add the sour cream and stir well. Let the mushrooms simmer in the sour cream mixture while you make the toast, serve. (If you want to dress it up a bit add some minced parsley).
I also think that these Walnut Tarts
being small, homely, and tasty would be excellent Hobbit fair. Perfect for tea with Gandalf.
Walnut Tarts
> Pastry > > 4 oz Cream cheese > 1 stick butter > 1 cup all purpose flour > > Filling > > 2/3 cup chopped walnuts > 1 egg > 3/4 cup brown sugar, sift out lumps > 1 tsp vanilla > Dash salt > > > PASTRY > Let cream cheese & butter soften at room temp, and then combine ingredients > for pastry in food processor until firm dough forms. Remove from machine, > form into a ball and refrigerate for about one hour. Shape in 2 dozen 1" > balls. Place in ungreased mini muffin pans, press dough against bottom & sides. > > WALNUT FILLING: Beat together egg, brown sugar, butter, vanilla & salt just > till smooth, stir in chopped nuts. Fill in pastry lined pans. Bake in low > oven (325 degrees) 30 min. Cool & remove from pans.
but in the meantime I can eat my snacks with my hounds at my sides and count down until December 2012 when I can go the theatre and see The Hobbit on the big screen.
