Today I have the pleasure of hosting Ana from The Suburban Peasant. I first heard of Ana from a close family friend and have been following her blog ever since. Her Croatian background and Windsor birthplace have found a special place in my blogging heart. She cooks and bakes with passion and always treats her readers to great aromas from her childhood and new adventures as a young married woman.
Chocolate
Coconut Chocolate Bar Hostess Gift
Is it just me, or has Christmas snuck
up on us this year? You know that gnawing feeling where you feel that
everyone's prepared for the busiest time of year, except you? Ya, well I
have that. In reality, I'm not doing too badly but I'm not going to lie,
all those early holiday shoppers, Christmas commercials, flyers, TV shows and
carols have got me sweating a bit. I think it's because I've been
bombarded with Christmas since the day after Halloween, but we're now in
December and it's officially time to get into the Christmas preparations.
Everyone has their to-do list when it
comes to getting ready for Christmas. Most of us have shopping somewhere
on our list, maybe you bake, clean your house from top to bottom or make
cabbage rolls (like me). My to-do list goes something like this.
Number one, decorate, number two write Christmas cards, number three,
make hostess gifts (I'll get to that later), number four bake and number five, make cabbage rolls. Decorating is a given and definitely my favourite item on the
list. We always head out to a Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree,
one that is so big it grazes the ceiling and is almost impossible to circle
around in its little alcove. This is usually followed by a night of
Christmas tree trimming with two of my home boys singing in the background; my
Canadian home boy Michael Bublé belting out Christmas carols, and my
Croatian home boy Kičo singing Croatian "Jingle Bells". Any
Croat knows it just isn't Christmas without Kičo. Then we wrap up the
night with a big bowl of roasted chestnuts and National Lampoon's Christmas
Vacation.
My husband and I began this tradition
five years ago when I first moved away from home. It was my first
Christmas in my shady little apartment. We bought one of those fresh
Christmas trees at Ikea; the
ones that cost $20 and then they give you $20 to spend in store - can't go
wrong with that deal! We had to sneak the tree into my building, as real trees
were not allowed and we began to decorate. Nick would pass me the dollar
store ornaments as I placed them on the tree, sipping wine, eating pizza and
singing Christmas songs. We got down to the last couple of ornaments
and I began to tidy up, when Nick tells me he has one more for the tree.
Ho goes inside his bag and pulls out this large glass ornament and holds
it out in front of me. I was charmed by the gesture, as he thought of
buying a special ornament for my first tree. I take it and begin to thank
him for the beautiful ornament. When I reach for it I hear something
clinking around inside it, and as I peer in closer to see what it is, something
sparkly catches my eye. In the centre of the bulb, tied with a fishing
line was an engagement ring, dangling in the centre. When I finally begin
to register what is going on, I saw Nick lowering himself to one knee. He
said a few words that were barely audible because I was in such shock and full
of giggles. And the rest as they say, is history!
My first Christmas tree away from home, with my special ornament. To this day, it's still the last ornament we place on the tree.
Creating family traditions is what
makes Christmas really feel special. Whether it's the meals you share,
going to mass as a family, or baking Christmas cookies, I find it's the things
we carry on year after year that really highlight this time of year. One
of the traditions I began a few years ago is one that my family and friends now
look forward to and that is my homemade hostess gifts. Every year I make
a homemade treat, whether it's biscotti, spiced nuts or truffles, package them
in pretty little containers and wrap up with festive bows and ornaments to give
to family and friends when visiting over the holidays.
This year I am keeping with tradition
but making a new treat, chocolate coconut bars. I came across this recipe
in a Canadian
House and Home magazine last year. It automatically drew me in because number
one, Bounty bars are one of my favourite chocolate bars, two they
are easy to make (no baking required, bonus) three, the ingredient list is
quite simple and four, your treats should keep well - you don't want to prepare
something that needs to be consumed right away. The last three points are
important when making hostess gifts. You will be making these en mass, so
you will need to buy large quantities of ingredients and spend some time making
them. And you don't want to bog yourself down with complicated recipes
that you will have to replicate for a dozen or so hostess gifts.
Making your own hostess gifts is a
wonderful gift to be shared at Christmas. We're always visiting friends
and family and it's nice to have something to bring with you, to thank them for
their hospitality. I usually make 14 or 15 each year and share them not
only with friends and family, but our paper carrier, neighbours and being a teacher,
I know I'd love to get one of these from my students! It's much more
personal than a box of Turtles and in my opinion, they always taste better too because they come from
the heart.
Chocolate Coconut Bar Hostess Gifts
Some
prior organization and planning will be required to prepare these gifts,
especially if you're going to be making a dozen or more. The recipe below
makes about 30 bars. Each gift has 10 bars, so before beginning, I knew I
had to make at least 150. You will want to go out and buy everything
before hand, so once you get started you can get yourself into assembly line
mode and start pumping them out! This recipe can be multiplied nicely
so, making double or triple batches is easy.
Don't
use chocolate chips for this recipe. These are meant to stay whole and
soft in whatever you bake them in. You want the chocolate to melt and
become hard again, so chocolate chips are a no-no. Ensure that you're
chocolate is cut up into small pieces to melt quickly. When choosing
chocolate, you want to choose the best you can afford. Pure Belgian dark
chocolate (70%) or more is the best; however, if you're going to be making a
lot of bars, it may not be the most economical. A good option is to go to
your local bulk food store and find the mid-quality brand. But if you're
looking for the best tasting and money isn't an option, then Belgian chocolate
is where it's at.
Melting
chocolate may seem easy, but if you do not temper the chocolate there is a very
good chance that the chocolate will split and you won't get the hard shell
you're looking for. The chocolate shell is important, because the coconut
is quite soft and the entire bar will fall apart without the chocolate
coating. I have included very detailed directions on how to temper
chocolate here. If you have a candy
thermometer at home, I suggest you try it, if not don't sweat. Just
follow the important steps I outlined in the recipe below.
The
jars and ornaments are from Ikea and the ribbon and labels are from Michaels.
Recipe adapted from “Chocolate
Coconut Bars”, Canadian House and Home
Magazine
Makes roughly 30 bars
7 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
60 toasted almonds
1 kg of dark chocolate, cut up into
small pieces
In an oven preheated to 350 degrees
Fahrenheit, roast almonds on a baking sheet, in a single layer. When you begin
to smell the almonds roasting, flip then once and continue to roast for another
3 or 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
In a large bowl thoroughly combine
the shredded coconut, condensed milk and cinnamon with a wooden spoon.
Chill in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes to stiffen. When cool, remove
from fridge and begin shaping small bars by making quenelles with two tablespoons, then press down to flatten. You
can also shape the bars using your hands, but I find this technique keeps your
hand sticky-free and makes a more uniform bar. Place the bars on
a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Once you have used up
all of the coconut, gently press in two of the roasted almonds on top of the
bars. Freeze the bars for at least 3 hours, but overnight would be
best. (Tip: It's better to freeze these in your regular
freezer, not you chest or deep freezer. The gentler freezing
of a deep freezer, that makes long-term freezing ideal in these
appliances, just doesn't get the bars hard enough. You want the bars to
be as close to frozen solid as possible, or else they will
fall apart in the melted chocolate).
Keep the bars in the freezer while
you are preparing the chocolate. Begin by melting 2/3 of
the chocolate in a glass or stainless steel bowl, set over a pot of
lightly simmering water. Be careful not to add any moisture to the
chocolate as it is melting. This will cause the chocolate to seize
and once it seizes, there's no fixing it. As soon as the chocolate melts,
remove the bowl from the pot and add in the remaining third of chocolate.
The chocolate will melt from the residual heat of the
melted chocolate. This is called seeding and it's what gives your
chocolate a smooth and shiny finish.
At this point, the chocolate may be a
bit thicker than ideal, as it has begun to cool. Thin the chocolate out
be reheating it over the pot of simmering water. You can now begin
dipping your bars into the chocolate. If at any time the chocolate gets
too thick, simply reheat it over the pot of water. Prepare a baking sheet
with parchment paper. Using a fork, carefully immerse the bars into the
melted chocolate, keeping it on the fork, cover the bar fully. Lift
the fork and bar out of the chocolate and let any excess chocolate drip
away. Scrape any remaining chocolate from the bottom against the edge of
the bowl and set to cool on the parchment paper. Repeat until all of the
bars have been coated in chocolate.
If you are planning to assemble the
gifts the same day, refrigerate the chocolate coconut bars for at least 2
hours. If you are planning to assemble them later you can freeze them or
refrigerate them until you are ready. To assemble, place each bar in a
muffin cup. Stretch the muffin cup so that it will fit the length of the
bar. Place them in a decorative jar or box and wrap with a bow,
cellophane or place in a gift bag. Add a personalized label or gift card
and a Christmas ornament to complete the package.
Thank you for your time Ana and the great recipe. To check out what I'm wearing head to
The Suburban Peasant.
