EASY CHOCOLATE KAHLUA TRUFFLES

This year in preparing my cookie list, I came across an Aldi recipe(I love Aldi's!) for chocolate truffles.  Their brand of Choceur chocolate is second to none.

Once I returned to the store, I couldn't find the dark chocolate that I was looking for so I substituted the Moser Roth brand.

The ingredients were one Choceur coffee and cream bar, one Moser Roth Dark 70% cocoa bar, 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream and 1/8th c. Of KAHLUA and sifted cocoa to cover finished truffles.

Begin by boiling the whipping cream.  Remove from heat and stir in the two bars which have been broken up. Stir until smooth.  Then add in your KAHLUA or other liqueur.  Once all blended, put in the freezer until somewhat hardened.  This took about 25 minutes.

Once hardened, using a cookie scoop, scoop balls onto a cookie sheet with some cocoa sifted on the bottom.  Once they are all formed balls(my recipe yielded 25), sift cocoa over the top of the truffles.

I put my truffles in the freezer when finished because they thaw quickly.

I can only say that these are fabulous!

I am definitely making these for Valentines Day.

 

Besides being easy to make, these truffles are fabulous.

 

VALENTINE MANTLE 2017

 As much as I loved the winter mantle, it was time to create the annual Valentine's Day Mantle. 

 

When I was getting ready to sell the Maywood house, I was in the basement cleaning the laundry room.  In this room, Grandma had an old gas stove in which she would do her summer canning. Inside the stove, I found this granite ware pan.  I was intrigued that the pan had an indention of a spoon.  Knowing that I couldn't take the stove with me, I pulled the pan out and brought it home with me as a piece of history of the old house.  Having a kitchen pan that she used 60 or 70 years ago brings back such amazing memories of Grandma's cooking.

Maywood circa 1939

The Detroit Jewel gas stove.  It still worked too.  If I had my choice, I would have loved to have sandblasted the rust off and used it.  Only in my dreams.

The pan before cleaning....

Once I cleaned up the pan, I tried to figure out how to use it in my mantle for this special February holiday.

My dear friend, Tara sent me this beautiful roses and bay leaves wreath which dried beautifully.  I tied the wreath to the handle of the pan.

I left the church window and vintage mirror up and leaned the word LOVE up against the bottom of the window.

Years ago, an older military mom gave me two felted Valentine pillows, one for each of my girls.  Using ribbon, I attached these two hearts and two other hearts from the metal inside frame of the window.

A tasseled silver fabric heart was hung from the mantle clock.

A decoupage  postcard was leaned up against the clock.

A white vintage baby dress with an embroidered valentine is hung from the mantle.

So Grandma lives on with us this Valentine's Day.



WINTER MANTLE 2017

The winter mantle was fun to put together this year.   Actually, I just pulled one idea from here and there and it came together.  The one new piece is the Church window frame that I purchased form the Vintage Market back in November.  Since the frame did not have glass in it, I placed a vintage mirror behind it to give it some dimension.

This is one of my favorite views.  It appears so serene to me.

The sunlight coming in the windows casts such a fresh feeling into the room.



WINTER BUFFET 2017

It is hard to believe that winter is here with the 75 degree temperatures this weekend.  It has been beautiful. I think Mother Nature is tricking us big time.

Now onto the posting.....

Since I had so much fun decorating the buffet in the fall, I thought I would put a winter twist on the same buffet to carry through the winter months.   Using all old embellishments, I created an icy look.

Crystal prisms now hang from the branches leisurely hanging off the top of the buffet.

A crystal gingerbread house is accented on top of a cut glass cake stand.  Silver bells hang from the vintage champagne wicker container.  Garlands of icy crystals lay over the top of the buffet.

Oversized silver ornaments and glittered snowflakes adorn the inside of the buffet.

I like the way the Chinese blue ceramics blend so well with the silver touches.

This wonderful icy vignette will be left up until Valentine's Day.



CHRISTMAS IMAGES AROUND THE HOUSE 2016

 

Welcome to the Christmas Home tour.  The house looked great for the holidays.  Let's take a walk through the various rooms.  Soon it will be time to pack all of this away for another season.  The pictures don't need much explanation.  Enjoy!



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Thanks for hanging with me for a few minutes.  It is time to recoup and get back with the projects.