The Cornerstone December Issue | Page 35

December 2016

December 2016

Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups
These treats are perfect for cold winter days . The first step in making these is to put one spoonful of sugar cookie dough into a greased mini-muffin tin . In order to make the cookie look like a cup , they need to be indented in the middle of the dough . After the cookie dough is shaped to fit the muffin tins , they need to go in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 15 minutes .
While the cookies are baking , make the chocolate ganache that is meant to look like the hot chocolate . To do this , you need to boil whipping cream and add a hot chocolate packet into the mixture . Once this has been stirred , it needs to be poured over the chocolate chips . Then , these two items need to be stirred together until they are smooth . The broken mini pretzels were used to make the handles and were stuck to the cup with melted chocolate acting as the glue . To top it off , add mini marshmallows on top of the ganache .
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
This item is a classic that is never boring to make or eat . The first step is get the strawberries ( or any other fruit ) and rinse them . After the strawberries are rinsed , make sure to thoroughly dry them , or else the chocolate will not stick . Next , you need to melt the chocolate in a double boiler over the stove . Once the chocolate is done melting , you can dip your fruit into the mixture and then set it on a piece of parchment paper . After all of the fruit has been dipped into the chocolate , put them into the freezer for 20 minutes . When you take them out , you can decorate them in any way you would like to or not at all .
Contrary to popular belief , hot chocolate and hot cocoa are actually different since hot cocoa is made from a powder and hot chocolate is made from a bar .
Photo Courtesy of The Gunny Sack
Chocolate covered strawberries are an easy treat that don ’ t take any oven time .
Photo Courtesy of Jillian Ash
! 35