Chocolate Mint Swirl Fudge

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1/4 cup light corn syrup

4 tablespoons butter

5 oz. Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Notes:

*Use a wooden spoon to stir.

*Use a candy thermometer with a clip.

*In medium sized pot, make only one batch at a time because sugar will expand about three times when boiled and nearly overflow out of pan.

*Double recipe if using a large pot.

Step 1: Prep Pyrex container or tall square pan

A.      Line an 8 inch square pan or glass pyrex with foil. Use enough foil that it sticks out of casserole.

B.      On a separate plate, melt a slice of butter in the microwave until liquid.

C.      Brush melted butter onto foil.

D.      Set pan aside.

E.       If making a double batch, get another 8 inch square pan or glass Pyrex and repeat previous pan prep steps.

Step 2: Boil fudge mixture

A.      If making 1 batch, get a medium pot; I use a 3.2 quart stainless steel pot.

B.      Add sugar, milk, corn syrup to pot.

C.      Cut butter in small pieces and put in pot.

D.      Clip candy thermometer to the side of the pot and turn it on.

a.       Make sure candy thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pot.

E.       Turn stove on to medium heat.

F.       Stir constantly with wooden spoon while pot is heating up.

G.     When candy thermometer reaches 238 degrees F.

a.       Stop stirring. Remove wooden spoon from pot. (Do not stir fudge mixture anymore during cooling)

b.      Take pot off of burner.

c.       Move it to another burner and allow pot to cool.

d.      Turn off burner.

e.      Let pot sit for 45 minutes or more until temperature of pot reaches 120 F.

H.      Add dark baking chocolate chips to glass bowl.

I.        Melt chocolate chips in microwave following package directions.

a.       I microwave for 30 second intervals stirring between each microwaving session. Once chocolate is melted; set aside for now.

J.        Add peppermint extract to fudge mixture and stir with wooden spoon.

K.      Separate ¼ of fudge into a separate pot or bowl.

a.       Scoop fudge out with a large spoon, make sure not to scrape the sides of the fudge pot to prevent large sugar crystals from contaminating fudge texture.

L.      Add green food coloring to separated ¼ of fudge.

M.      Beat green fudge and set aside.

N.       Add melted chocolate chips to the 3/4 of fudge that is left over.

O.    Beat fudge with a wooden spoon until it starts to thicken and loses its shiny/glossy look.

a.       Fudge should  be hard to stir. Your arm should hurt!

b.      The second it starts to thicken stop beating the fudge.

P.       Pour chocolate layer onto bottom of your glass Pyrex or square pan (lined with buttered foil)

Q.     Spread evenly with a knife or spoon.

R.      Add green layer of fudge on top of chocolate layer.

S.        Swirl with a spoon or a knife.

T.        Let sit for 20 minutes on counter.

U.      Cover fudge with Pyrex lid or plastic wrap if using a different container and put in the refrigerator.

a.       Let sit for at least 3 hours.

V.     Remove fudge from refrigerator.

W.      Grab fudge by foil and remove from Pyrex container or pan.

X.       Turn fudge over onto cutting board.

Y.       Peel off tin foil and cut fudge into squares.

Store fudge in air-tight container.
Fudge will last 3 days if left at room temperature.
Fudge will last 1.5 weeks if refrigerated.
Or...

You could freeze it.

S'sK Marble Chocolate Chip Cookies

* A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe

Marble Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup King Arthur Flour Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup Saco premium cocoa powder

1 bag Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips

Step 1: Cookie Dough

Wet bowl: 

In a large bowl, beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together until well incorporated. Add eggs and vanilla extract and continue beating for about a minute until fluffy. Set bowl aside.

Dry bowl:

In a separate bowl add all-purpose flour, unbleached white whole wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix well with a fork.

Combining ingredients:

Add dry bowl ingredients to wet bowl slowly; mixing with a fork until dough forms. Keep dry bowl around for next step.

Separate dough

Separate dough into two equal halves and set in two bowls.

Add Saco premium cocoa powder to one of the bowls to make cocoa dough

Add Saco premium cocoa powder to one of the bowls and mix into dough with a fork. Make sure to really incorporate the cocoa into the dough evenly. Add half of the chocolate chips to this bowl and fold them into dough.

Add the second half of the chocolate chips to the plain cookie dough.

Fold them into the dough.

Step 2: Putting the cookies together

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Form marble dough by adding one part plain dough to one part cocoa dough. This is really easy, just push the two dough parts together and flatten on the pan.

Step 3: Bake Cookies

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-14 min or until slightly golden, yet firm - depends on how thick/large you make your cookies and if you want your cookies hard or soft. Once cookies are finished, remove from oven and let them sit out for about 10 minutes to cool, then remove from pan. I usually just take the parchment paper off of the pan and let the cookies sit on the counter for another 10 minutes. Store in an air-tight container. For soft, chewy cookies, store cookies on counter or in pantry. Cookies should last 4-5 days.

S'sK Cocoa Alfajores with Dulce de Leche dipped in Dark Chocolate

* A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe for traditional Argentine Cocoa Alfajores

Cocoa Alfajores with Dulce de Leche dipped in Dark Chocolate

Total ingredients list:
1 ½ cups butter softened
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons premium cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 jar dulce de leche
1 to 2 bags dark chocolate Ghirardelli Chocolate


Cocoa Cookie Dough:
Wet bowl:
1 ½ cups butter softened to room temperature
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs

Dry bowl:
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons premium cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Step 1: Prep dough
In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and continue beating until well combined. In a separate bowl mix flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet bowl. Wrap dough flat with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.


Step 2: Shape cookies
Roll the dough onto plastic wrap covered counter. Roll until desired thickness.  I usually roll them out to about a fourth of an inch. Use a cookie cutter or a small glass to cut the cookies to be round and identical in size.

Step 3: Add cookies to baking sheet and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add cookies to parchment paper.


Step 4: Bake
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Cookies should be slightly firm, but not browned on the bottom. We want these cookies to be soft, not crunchy. Let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then remove the parchment paper with the cookies on top and set that on the counter to cool even more. Once cool enough to handle so that they won't fall apart, put cookies in an air tight container and put them in the refrigerator to harden for about 30 minutes.

Step 5: Assemble the alfajores/spreading the Dulce de Leche
Open your jar of dulce de leche. Now that the cookies are cold and firm, spread (with a knife) a dollop of dulce de leche on the flat side of the cookie (you can add it however thick you'd like) and place another cookie on top making a sandwich. Squeeze them lightly together and then even out the dulce de leche coming off the sides with a knife.

Step 6: Dip alfajores in chocolate (or spread chocolate on top and sides of sandwich cookie)
1 to 2 bags dark chocolate Ghirardelli Chocolate

Dipping chocolate can be messy, so I like to spread a dollop of melted chocolate on top of the sandwich cookie and spread it around with the back of a spoon, or a knife. You can do whichever method you find easier.

Melt dark chocolate in the microwave or in a double broiler on low heat. Pour melted chocolate on top of cookie and spread it even with a knife or spatula. (If you like more chocolate to cookie ratio, you can completely dip the alfajor in chocolate.) Let chocolate sit on counter for about 10 minutes to set. Then refrigerate alfajores. If you'd like to also cover the bottom in chocolate and dipping seems to be too messy, another technique is to first pour and spread the chocolate on the top layer, then refrigerate. When chocolate is hard, turn cookie over and pour and spread the chocolate on the other side. (If you are completely dipping the chocolate, you may need more than 1 bag of Ghirardelli chocolate.

Store alfajores in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Alfajores will last about 3-5 days if stored properly.