Ingredients
50 whole candied cherries
3/4 cup cherry brandy (more may be necessar, y)
1/2 lb sweet milk chocolate, broken into p, ieces
1/4 lb unsweetened baking chocolate, broke, n into pi
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
7/8 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 powdered sugar
1 unsweetened cocoa
Directions
Soak the cherries in the brandy overnight or longer. Drain the
cherries, reserve the brandy.
Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer. In a double boiler, melt the
chocolates. Spoon the melted chocolate, spoon by spoon, into the
butter and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly by hand.
Add reserved brandy to sugar and chocolate mixture and stir by hand
until all is absorbed. Add 3 T. cocoa and mix by hand.
Put mixture in the freezer and thoroughly chill. Prepare a surface to
assemble the balls. Mix equal amounts of cocoa and powdered sugar,
about 1/3 cup each. On a piece of waxed paper, heavily dust with the
cocoa powdered sugar mixture. Remove the chocolate from the freezer
when it is chilled and stiff. For each cherry, spoon out a heaping
teaspoon of the chocolate and drop on dusted paper. Dip your fingers
into the cocoa/sugar mixture and flatten chocolate to a small
pancake. Place a cherry in the center and fold chocolate around it.
Gently roll the ball between your palms to form and finish by rolling
the ball in the cocoa/sugar mixture. Repeat for each cherry. If the
chocolate mixture softens, return to the freezer to firm up.
Place the completed balls in a container with a lid and store in the
frig.
These balls are dense and heavy with a rich chocolate flavor. For a
lighter flavor, I suggest you omit the unsweetened baking chocolate
and add 1/4 lb. more milk chocolate.
Licking your fingers is not permitted during the assembly, but
manditory after you are done. (grin)
Servings: 6 servings
Chocolate Balls With Cherry Centers Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Chocolate; Dessert; Fruit
The History of Recipes
It is possible to read the history of meal recipes way back into antiquity, at least as far back into history as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further. However, mostly, these old cook books were just very simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
In fact, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to experts in ancient history are a few ancient tablets in ancient Sumerian describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who tried it feel blissful and exhilarated. Later on, in The time of the roman empire 25BC a roman called Apicius compiled a number of documents describing recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his scrolls, Apicius describes how the roman meals were split into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and dessert, something that is very familiar to us today. Aspicius informs us how the ancient Romans used a good variety of aromatic flavors, including some familiar names such as bay, fennel and asafoetida. Later, there were some recipe books dating from the 1300s : a book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these are nothing to do with the curry that appears on menues today, but rather recipes for the types of food on the menues of the nobility of the time. Later on in the 1400s, the Crusaders brought back a variety of foods and spices from middle-east cuisine, including spices such as coriander, parsley, and rosemary. The introduction of these new foods and spices created a surge in recipe publications, many of which are now in academic collections. For the centuries that followed, the powerful families of Wesstern Europe strove to offer the most extravagent banquests, and because of this chefs and their recipes increased in prestige. Notwithstanding that, it wasn`t until the 1800s that haute cuisine and recipe collections became popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to assembling, verifying, and publishing popular recipes of the day. By the time we get to the 20th century, recipe publications were greatly in demand as a result of higher levels of literacy, increased leisure time and a general increase in wealth. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate Balls With Cherry Centers recipe.
