Snickers Cookies

Being unique for your dinner party can be daunting. How would you like to serve something different? You can, and you can make it yourself. Pick out the flavors below, bake and cool the layers then, fill them with what I used, and enjoy!

1. Banana and Chocolate Swirl (aka Marble) with a Kahlua Mocha Chip filling.

2. Banana Cake with Cream Cheese., Pineapple and Nut filling. You can add sliced Bananas or Strawberry slices, even a few mini-Chocolate Chips to the filling if you wish.

3. 1 layer each Banana and Chocolate Cake with a Kahlua Mocha Chip filling and Banana slices.

4. Chocolate Cake with Genache OR Raspberry or Strawberry Mousse OR Fudge filling.

5. 1 layer each Chocolate and Lemon Cake with White Chocolate Mousse filling and fresh Raspberries.

6. Chocolate-Orange Swirl (aka Marble) with Chocolate Fudge filling and Mandarin Orange slices.

7. Lemon Cake with White Chocolate Mousse filling and fresh Raspberries.

8. Mocha Cake with Tiramisu Filling and Coffee Icing.

9. Strawberry Cake with Chocolate Icing filling and fresh Strawberry slices. Add a few mini-Chocolate chips to filling for extra special taste.

10. Snicker Doodle Cake. Chocolate Cake with Carmel Filling, Rich's Bettercreme Icing, and sliced Snickers on top.

11. Black Forest Cake. 4 layers of Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse on 1st layer, Cherries on 2nd layer, and White Chocolate Mousse on top layer. Ice with Rich's Bettercreme (see below for where to purchase this item). Sprinkle Chocolate slivers all over cake. Put Cherries with stems on top of cake and you have one amazing dessert!

I suggest you find a great recipe for a Buttercreme Icing or, if you wish, purchase icing in cans at the store, but being they are small, you need at least 2 or 3 cans to cover a 2 layer, 8 inch cake.

Otherwise, Ruth Levy Berenbaum has luscious icing recipes made with liquor and fresh butter (she has a wonderful website). You can add melted chocolate but I prefer Hershey's Cocoa for the Chocolate Buttercreme. Do remember to add a little bit of water as you beat in the Cocoa because Chocolate tends to make the icing too thick and you need it to spread easily.

Rich's Bettercreme (non-dairy topping) can be purchased at your local cake decorating shop. Sams Club sells it but the container is a massive bucket normally for commercial use. Your local cake decorating shop should be able to sell it to you in quart or half gallon sizes.

If you use Cream Cheese, purchase the solid bars, beat with a little water in your mixer so it is spreadable, and keep iced cake in refrigerator until you are ready to serve your dessert.

Lastly, Williams-Sonoma has a cake book with one of the best Chocolate Genache recipes I've ever tasted.

I sincerely hope many of you looking through this article, will try all of these combos and love each one.

granny cookies viking wine

*Stella's POV* Someone rang the doorbell. I'm kind of excited to meet them! I haven't seen much of them like on TV and what not, but they seem like good muscians and nice people. The doorbell rang, that must be them! Mr. Jonas opened it. Mr. Jonas: Hello, welcome to ou--oh, sorry I thought you were our guests. It's not them? Then who is it? I looked into the doorway from my seat. Ohh, it was Mrs. Jonas back from the super market! Mrs. Jonas: Oh, that's fine dear. But please help with the rest of the groceries, there's three more bags in the car. *she called to Nick, Joe, and Kevin* Boys! Go get the rest of the bags! Be careful with the rain! Oh, Stella! I didn't see you there! "Hi, Mrs. Jonas. Good to see you!" Mrs. Jonas: You too, sweetheart. The guys went to get the bags. I got up and offered to help but Mrs. Jonas insisted I stay inside. I looked 'amazing and can't get my outfit/hair ruined.' Another minute or two went by. The guys normally would've gotten inside by now...I wonder whats keeping them. *end POV* *Aly's POV* The rain was UNGODLY. You would swear the heavens literally opened up and unleashed their rath. We had to cancel meeting the Jonas Brothers at Eagle Diner. And now we're going to the guys' house. I'm so excited! I'm also a bit nervous though...they're so big! And like...famous! And awesome! We jumped into Jenny's jetta. Such a small car, she really could use a bigger one. Talk about SQUISHED. I had to sit on Dean's lap! Yuck. Dean: Aly, lay off the ...

italian christmas cookies viking wine flavored rice

Star anise is a very unique star shaped seed pod derived from a small to medium sized evergreen shrub, which is a member of the magnolia family. Grown primarily in Southern China, Japan and Vietnam, it is used extensively in Asian cuisines, and to a lesser extent, also makes an appearance in many Indian dishes as well. Star anise is also one of the main ingredients ingredients found in most chai tea recipes as well. It has a very pungent licorice flavor and aroma, similar to anise seed, only stronger. The assertive flavor of this unusual spice lends itself well to bittersweet chocolate truffle recipes, because it's plenty strong enough to stand up to even the highest percentage cacao chocolates. In fact, it's best to use a cautious and restrained hand when adding ground star anise to any dish, including chocolate truffles, because it can easily overwhelm the formula, and throw the overall flavor out of balance.

As always, when purchasing spices to add into chocolate truffle recipes, make every effort to find the particular spice in it's whole form, as any spice will quickly lose it's punch within days, or even minutes in some cases, after grinding. Therefore, star anise should always be purchased either in whole seed pods, or broken into pieces, if you can find them... not ground. Star anise will also benefit from a light toasting before grinding, so start your recipe by taking 2-3 whole seed pods and placing them in a hot, dry skillet to toast for a few moments to toast them up, and begin releasing the volatile oils. As soon as you start smelling the licorice notes, (2 minutes maximum) take them out and put the seed pods into a coffee grinder. Grind them up a bit, but not too fine, so that you can strain them out later. Then chop up about 200 grams of 70% or higher bitterseet chocolate, until very fine. Place the chopped chocolates into a mixing bowl, and set aside. Then place about 100 grams of good fresh, heavy cream into a heavy bottom sauce pot, and add in the chunks of toasted star anise. Bring the cream and spice to a scald, and then immediately pour it through a wire mesh strainer to remove the spice, right into the chopped chocolate. Let the hot cream and chocolate sit for a minute, and then stir it together, until smooth, with a rubber spatula. After the gananche is very smooth, add in about 30 grams of room temperature unsalted butter, and stir the mixture until it becomes glossy. After the chocolate sets up to a firm, yet still pliable consistency, use two teaspoons to form small elegant quenelles. Drop the truffles directly into a bowl of fine cocoa powder, and then sift the truffles out. Arrange the star anise truffles on a pretty serving platter and serve them with some nice creamy chai, or strong black tea for a sophisticated presentation that is sure to impress!

veggie chips

Since Xocai made it's appearance in the marketplace the chocolate world (and also the fitness food world, the diet industry and undoubtedly your e-mail inbox) has been buzzing with the idea of "healthy chocolate." While there definitely are benefits to dark chocolate and unquestionably benefits to a number of the ingredients utilized in the unique "healthy chocolate" the very simple continues to be that the most effective way to get healthy, slim down, have more vitality and prevent possibly uncomfortable side effects is to simply eat a healthy diet, workout and for God's sake indulge yourself every now and then.

The entire notion of a "healthy chocolate" is laughable and rather reminiscent of the notion of a "cookie diet". One who expects to slim down through eating only cookies can't possibly expect as many health rewards from their diet as they might were they to simply get up exercise and eat proper meals in the first place. That said - is there any reality to the "healthy chocolate" stories which are floating around on the web?

Xocai is a product owned by MXI Corp. Their business framework operates similar to that of Mary Kay, they recruit resellers who are paid out a portion of revenue and compensated with bonuses and allowances for product sales volume. Regrettably due to this method numerous resellers are quite happy to tell you absolutely whatever you are prepared to hear in order to make their sale.

Xocai is a popular new toy on the chocolate market being pushed everywhere you look by anybody and everybody that has subscribed to their resellers program. What about the actual product though? Most Xocai items incorporate dark chocolate. There are several benefits of including a small amount of dark chocolate in to your daily diet. These health benefits include reduced blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, enhanced blood circulation and lowered probability of infarction. So now we've got the benefits that may be found in Xocai along with plain old high quality low-cost dark chocolate. Exactly what does Xocai have that regular dark chocolate hasn't got? The greatest bragging point of Xocai or "healthy chocolate" is the ORAC values of ingredients in the particular products.

What are ORAC values? ORAC values are Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity units, a means of calculating the antioxidant values of particular ingredients. Antioxidants like those present in dark chocolate are beneficial for a lot of reasons but specifically for neutralizing free radicals in the body (which according to popular belief slows aging.) So back to those ORAC levels in "healthy chocolate." It's well known that dark chocolate has high levels of anti-oxidants, we also are aware that particular "superfoods" include high levels of antioxidants too. Fruits like the acai berry and blueberry are regarded as two of those "superfoods" and contribute significant amounts of antioxidants in supplementation to the already large levels of antioxidants in dark chocolate. It is basically a matter of mathematics then when it comes to the question of why Xocai has such large antioxidant values, whenever you blend several items with high antioxidant values it only adds up that the ORAC levels are going to be greater than one of those items alone.

Is Xocai a sensational revolution in healthy chocolate? Most likely not. Does Xocai offer some gains that can't be obtained in standard dark chocolate? Possibly, however were you to consume a few acai berries or blueberries with your dark chocolate you'd probably take in just as many antioxidants as you would with the Xocai mixture and pay a substantially smaller amount of your paycheck. The truth is, if you are searching to become healthy think about foregoing the chocolate all together and augment your diet with all-natural berries along with other foods high in antioxidants like standard unsweetened cocoa powder, cranberries and spices.

Then why the hype? Healthy chocolate is a unique product on the market which includes two of our favorite words, healthy and chocolate. Even though our minds realize that this could never be the sensation we would like it to be we persuade ourselves that it is...or else we're persuaded by the countless Xocai resellers. While Xocai does absolutely incorporate natural ingredients and health and fitness benefits it's not a staple of a nutritious diet and regrettably numerous "healthy chocolate" sales reps are pushing it as such. Xocai is not only not an efficient to way diet but it is a very costly one. The soundest way to diet is and always will be eating healthy unprocessed foods and integrating physical exercise into an everyday routine. It also needs to be mentioned that the jury is still out on whether acai berries really do offer any kind of slimming benefits at all without the inclusion of thermogenic additives.

Well since there are some advantages to Xocai are there any negative effects? The so called "healthy chocolate" includes acai berries that in addition to antioxidant advantages also have the natural quality of cleaning the bowels. This can lead to diarrhea and increased bowel movements. It's also entirely possible that anyone who has a serious allergy to pollen could have a serious allergic reaction to acai berries causing itching eyes, congestion and a rash. While there is little data available about the specific adverse side effects of Xocai in general it could be well worth noting that every website in searching range about Xocai also ends up having a "buy your healthy chocolate here" link on it too.

Xocai is the most recent idea, the follower to the acai berry diet, that was the follower of the cookie diet, that was the follower of the Hollywood diet and it is certain that there will be a newer idea to follow Xocai when it's moment passes. Meanwhile I recommend that you use caution but most importantly use your common sense. A healthy chocolate with absolutely nobody telling you about their unfavorable experience but simply everyone publishing their remarkable experiences with reseller links? Even Godiva have their critics.

wine chiller rice crop

Chocolates never ceased to delight people of all ages. They are often used as gifts, and sometimes even use for wedding favors.

Brief History of Chocolates

The cocoa bean unleashed the world's preoccupation with chocolates. Consumed as cocoa bean drink, the cocoa bean drink was the drink of royalty in ancient kingdoms in South America. The cocoa bean was taken to the western world by the Spaniards who set foot in world of the Incas. Modifications by adding sugar, sweeteners and milk, made the chocolates everybody's favorite drink. This was thought to boost energy levels and was considered a medicinal drink.

Then the cocoa bean was used to make chocolate candies. Societies have their own secret recipes for the best chocolates, candies and drinks and soon enough, these chocolate delights infused more money into the economies of countries producing chocolate candies, cakes, and drinks.

Chocolate Gifts

Chocolates are the best gifts you can give to friends and family. Pure chocolate candies easily delights receivers of the chocolate gifts. You can send special packages for valentines, Easter, birthdays, and as get-well gifts. No one can resist these gifts. Receivers of the chocolate gifts can indulge in their passion for chocolate or share the gift with friends.

Choosing chocolates as gifts is a sure winner. You don't have to worry if the recipient will love the gift or worry if the size fits, and there are hordes of delights from the world's best chocolate companies. You can treat your friends gourmet hot-chocolate or tantalize them with nut free chocolate and get raves for your choices.

For your whims, you can always indulge anytime of day. Convenience stores in the neighborhood carry a line of great chocolate candies. You have your pick for the day - soft chocolate bars, hard candies, chocolate with nuts, and one's with caramel. Name it and you can get it.

Shopping for the Best Chocolates

For very special occasions and for very special people, you can order online. You can browse the different types for different occasions. You have several choices, too. You can go for chocolate cookies, beverages, chocolates in beautiful boxes or tins, chocolate squares, or baking chocolates. The assortment can be bewildering if you're lover at heart.

Shopping online for gifts has its perks, too. For a $50 purchase, you enjoy free shipping and have this shipped to the recipient's doorstep on the very special day. You can shop for chocolates under $10 and go for chocolate delights over $100.

Next time you can't think of something nice to give to friends, think chocolates. To give the gift on time, make your order days ahead to time the delivery right on schedule. You can also order chocolate powder for your home baking and cooking or simply indulging in hot drinks. Thanks to the Internet, you can have the best tasting chocolates and try new products without having to go far to South America or to European cities to satisfy your cravings.

low fat snacks veggie chips