Holiday Gift Idea: Coffee Chocolate Bark with Macadamia Nuts

This incredibly simple holiday gift idea uses only three ingredients and tastes amazing.  Made with bitter sweet chocolate chips, 100% Kona coffee (Hawaiian grown coffee) and studded with macadamia nuts this gift is sure to please.

I was inspired to make this after seeing a post from Grab a Plate .  I was shocked at how simple it was so I had to give it a try, with my own modifications of course.  To make it my own I added some instant coffee to flavor the chocolate.  I love coffee and chocolate together, almost as much as I love chocolate and peanut butter.  I actually have this favorite candy that I get sometimes, they are coffee flavored dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  It seems that all candy here in Hawaii contains macadamia nuts and it's no secret why, they are grown here, and they have a delicious buttery flavor. So with my ideas I made chocolate bark.

Ingredients:

1 bag of bitter sweet chocolate chips (60% cacao)
1-2 tsps Instant coffee
1/2 cup roasted Macadamia nuts, chopped

In a microwave safe bowl I melted the chocolate chips.  Then I added the instant coffee (I crushed the crystals in a mortar and pestle to make them finer) and half of the nuts.  I stirred this well, and then poured the mixture into a parchment lined 9 by 13 inch baking dish.  I allowed this to cool over night in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardened, then I lifted the chocolate and parchment paper out of the pan, and broke the chocolate into shards.  The chocolate once hardened does not stick to the parchment paper, you can also use aluminum foil.  I then put the bark into gift bags (I got about 4 bags with a little left over for myself).

This is so easy. I don't know if I can stress how simple this is to make.  There are so many variations you can make as well, it's all up to your own tastes and creativity.  I loved the coffee flavor in the chocolate.  The bitter sweet chocolate already had a bitterness to it of a good dark chocolate, and the unsweetened coffee added a little more bitterness.  It was perfect.  If you like your chocolate sweeter you can always choose a sweeter chocolate like semi sweet or milk chocolate.  As always be creative and enjoy.

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Holiday Gift Idea: Peppermint Patties

While making cookies for Christmas, I ran across a recipe for homemade peppermint patties. Since these are my mom's favorite candy I could not resist trying them, even though there is no baking involved. I followed the recipe exactly except for the chocolate. My store did not have enough baking dark chocolate, so instead I used chocolate chips, and added 2 Tbsp shortening. The recipe made 47 patties and I made 9 bags of 5 patties. Overall a great recipe just a little messy dipping in melted chocolate.

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Holiday Gift Idea: Apple Spice Granola

I've posted earlier how to make granola, but I love to try new things and make it special. This time I'm trying apple spice granola.
1 cup apple juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp allspice
Mix ingredients in a small saucepan until it begins to boil, let boil a few minutes stiring continuously (When I finished my juice mixture had condensed down to 2/3 of a cup). Let cool for 1 hour.
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
5 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup canola oil
Apple juice mixture above
I decided it would be a neat gift to give some of my friends homemade granola. I found some cute gift bags at the store, and filled them with granola. People loved it. One batch of granola made 2 bags (about 4 cups per bag).

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