zChocolat.com Gourmet Chocolate Review & Give-Away!!!

 

 

 

I love chocolate!  I received the most beautiful and delicious chocolate the other day from zChocolat.com.  The presentation was beautiful, from the monogrammed bag to the gold wrapped and wax sealed box, which when opened revealed the beautiful personalized wooden box, that held the most delicious variety of chocolate.

zChocolat chocolates represent the perfection that can only be achieved by blending  Pascal Caffet’s renowned expertise in chocolate making with years of meticulous chocolate tasting and feedbacks from thousands of zChocolat.com customers worldwide. Caffet uses only premium natural ingredients to complement his unique and acclaimed chocolate-making talent: Valencia almonds from Spain or Piedmont hazelnuts from Italy, the finest French cream and butter, and the  purest cocoa butter from beans harvested around the world are carefully blended to create exceptional flavors and textures that can only be described as divine. Caffet creates these chocolates by hand, preserving a high cocoa content and using no preservatives and very little sugar. The result is 26 French chocolates numbered from 0 to 24 plus the Z chocolate with more intense flavors and a longer finish than other varieties.

Elevate your gifts well above the ordinary by adding a personal touch. zChocolat.com offers multiple customization options  which are easy to implement when you place your order online. All are available without a minimum order and will not delay delivery of your gift. You can adorn all of their boxes with a diamond-engraved brass plate tastefully conveying your personal message of up to 25 characters. A diamond is used to produce an engraving unsurpassed in its precision. The result is compelling and flawless.

zChocolat sent me the Sapphire Box to review and it was filled with the most delicious, decadent, chocolate.  Everything about this chocolate is exquisite, from the presentation to the delicious white, dark and milk chocolate, it was a chocolate connoisseur’s dream come true.  If you are looking for a truly beautiful and delicious unique gift this Holiday season, then check out zChocolat.com.  Mommy Ramblings is adding them to our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide.

More great news for chocolate lovers, zChocolat.com is sponsoring a give-away on Mommy Ramblings!!!  One lucky blog reader will win an Explorer Box of delicious chocolates.  Thank you zChocolat.com for the beautiful and delicious Sapphire Box and for sponsoring this delicious give-away on Mommy Ramblings.

Explorer Box-this shining silvery box in the Star Collection leads you to the discovery of even more of zChocolat.com’s unique and out-of-this-world chocolates. By including not one, but two layers of 15 chocolates, even the most devoted chocolate enthusiast can comfortably share the ethereal taste experience… or not.

zChocolat.com Explorer Box Give-Away on Mommy Ramblings Rules:

Mandatory Entry– Visit zChocolat.com, and let me know something about their chocolate.  Leave your answer in a comment on this post. (If this entry is not done, all others will be deleted)

Extra Entries: (make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry or they will not count)

1. Like Mommy Ramblings on Facebook and leave me a comment here that you did.

2. Follow Mommy Ramblings on Twitter, and leave me a comment here that you did with your Twitter name.

3. Follow Mommy Ramblings by email, and leave me a comment here that you did.

4. Vote for Mommy Ramblings on Picket Fence Blogs (Button is on the side of our blog, “We’re on the Fence) and leave me a comment here you did.  You can do this once a day, just make sure and leave a comment each time you do.

5. Rate Mommy Ramblings on Top Mommy Blogs (button is on the side of our blog) and leave me a comment here that you did. (Can only be used as one entry per give-away.)

6. Tweet this give-away on Twitter and leave me a comment here that you did with your Twitter name. You can do this once a day, just make sure and leave a comment each time you do.

7. Like Blueberry Hill Photography on Facebook and leave me a comment here that you did.

8. Write a review for Mommy Ramblings on Alexa.com (button is on our blog right under the We’re on the Fence button) and leave me a comment here that you did.  Can only be done once per give-away.

Good Luck Everyone!!!  Give Away Ends December 4th at 12am EST.  Winner will be selected by Random.org.

 

Is it Wrong to Dip Tender Marshmallow Bunnies in Chocolate?

If it is…I’m guilty!!!  I caved, after seeing all the Peep Pop posts, I had to get in on the fun.  Today I put bunnies on sticks, dipped them in melted chocolate and sprinkled them with love.  I took pretty purple Peep chicks and made them chocolate nest that I decorated with sprinkles.  Oh, then I put those purple Peep chicks on sticks.  Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Valentine’s Day Treats!!!

Besides baking Michael’s birthday cake for tomorrow, I decided to bake some sugar cookies for  Valentine’s Day.  I use the following sugar cookie recipe and I just love it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt (I do not use the salt myself)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Use Valentine’s Day theme cookie cutters. I chose to use hearts of different sizes and edges.

The dough is so easy to work with.

Prior to baking you can decorate or leave plain to dip in chocolate after baked.

I do not let them over bake and I love that they are soft and not crunchy.

The recipe makes a good amount of cookies.  Amount will depend on the size of cookie cutters you use but I have three platters full.

These cookies were calling to Ethan who we told had to wait until after dinner.  As you can see from his face and hands, he did not waste any time.

 

 

My Little Cupcake Pop Mold Review.

Well, I just got done making about 40 cake pops.  The “My Little Cupcake Company” sent me a mold and one to giveaway to a reader of my blog.  They sent everything out so fast and gave me a nice history of the company and business cards and brochure. The mold was invented by a mother of 3.  I love mom-invented products.   The mold itself is very sturdy and easy to use.  It has a hinge on the bottom which is very handy and makes the mold really easy to operate even with sticky hands.  The company will be coming out with at least three more designs in the near future.  If you can’t wait to see if you win the giveaway, you can visit their website at http://www.mylittlecupcakepop.com/ You can purchase the mold direct from there or they are available as well on Amazon.com.

The first step is to take your cooled baked cake and put it into a large bowl and break it up into small pieces.

Then I added my cream cheese frosting and mixed it all together.

Then take the mixture and scoop it out with a cookie scoop and put the balls in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

You will have about 40 balls.  Then take your “My Little Cupcake Pop Mold”

Open the mold and put one of the balls in.

Close the mold and let the excess squeeze out.  Then wipe off the excess and put it into a bowl to re-mold later.

Open the mold and you should have a nicely formed little cupcake.

Repeat with the rest of the cake balls and then put the formed cake balls in the freezer again for at least 30 minutes.

Melt your chocolate, then dip the bottoms of the cake balls into the melted chocolate.

After you dip it in the chocolate, put a pop stick in it and let it dry upside down.  When dry, melt the white chocolate and dip the top in white chocolate and sprinkle with decor of your choice.

Stick the pops into Styrofoam and keep going.

Okay so that is it.   Now for my review.  This was not a lot of work until the end.  The dipping of chocolate is messy and tedious.  There are also some casualties where the ball falls off the stick.  I think that is why some people just make cake balls and not pops.  The mold itself worked well.  It is just a lot of work and for me I do not know that I would do this again.  I mean the end result was okay but nothing that spectacular that I would have to make these again.  Maybe it is me.  Maybe I am not that creative or this just is not my thing.   I do not feel the need to rush and make another batch.  Like I said, someone else may have a knack for it, and I do appreciate that the mold was designed by a mom.  As I said in a previous post she does recommend using a pack of Oreo cookies and a brick of cream cheese.  Maybe that mixture holds better and definitely is less work than making your own cake and frosting.  Maybe sometime soon I will give that a try, who knows?  It depends how fast I forget.   I am giving away one brand new mold.  If you want it and you will give this a try then you need to subscribe to my blog and like my Facebook blog fan page.  In the next day or so I will post a post about the giveaway and it will have the instructions for the contest.   I think I am going to spend a bit of time with my treadmill now.  Have a great Saturday night!!!

I will leave you some pics of the little guys eating them.  Luke had a problem with it falling off the stick but he solved that by just stuffing the whole thing in his mouth.  : )

Paula Deen’s, Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I am really not sure if these are a true Paula Deen creation because I see the recipe with a different kind of cake mix without the Paula Deen name.  Anyhow, I made these Chocolate Gooeey Butter Cookies a few weeks ago and my husband loved them and has been begging me to make them again so I did.  They are super easy and from what I have been reading you can use any flavor cake mix.  So far I have only chocolate varieties.  Next time I may try a  golden or butter cake mix and see how they taste.   Anyway here is the super-duper easy recipe.  Feel free to comment with your individual results and if you tried different cake mixes.  Would love to hear your opinions.

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner’s sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and “gooey.” Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners’ sugar, if desired.