February 28: National Chocolate Souffle Day and National Polar Bear Day

Fluffy. Airy. Light. Dreamy. Cloudy. That's how I would describe my first bite of chocolate souffle. Say it with me, souffle. Don't you sound fancy? I definitely feel fancy eating it.

Note: The above, heart-shaped chocolate souffle, is featured with two Kahlua bon-bons from February 27, which was National Kahlua day. Notice how one looks more bon-bonish than the other? That's because it's really hard to cover cold icecream with warm chocolate. Don't panic! (Even though I did panic a little). They turned out great.

Chocolate seems to be a theme around here lately, and I like it. I've been blogging for over a month, and I've already learned so many new skills. I added a new skill today.

Chocolate Souffle:

Ingredients:
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup sugar

(Optional ) Chocolate Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 teaspoon butter

(Optional) Whipped Cream Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

I chose not to make the chocolate sauce or the whipped cream, but I am sure they would be great if you decided to make them. I've been making (and eating) a lot of desserts lately, so I decided to withhold the extra chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Directions for Chocolate Souffle:
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9" by 2.5" inch spring form pan. I used my super cute Valentine's Day heart shaped spring form pans instead.
2. In a pot, melt the chocolate chips and butter, stirring occasionally until melted. Let cool about 5 minutes. Add in flour and egg yolks until smooth.
3. In a bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until soft peaks form. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites.
4. Spread mixture in pan and bake for 30 - 40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Top will appear dry and cracked.
5. If making chocolate sauce, melt all ingredients in a pot until melted. Let cool slightly before serving on warm chocolate souffle.
6. If making whipped cream, beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form (or until it is the consistency of whipped cream that you want). Serve on top or to the side.
7. EAT!!!

Whipped egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar.

Melted chocolate, butter, and flour.

Folding the chocolate mixture, into the egg white mixture.

All mixed together, ready to bake!

Before baking.

And after baking.

It was heavenly. I'm thankful for chocolate, among a lot of other things.


Today is also National Polar Bear day. No, I did not eat a polar bear today.

We have a lot of polar bear stuff at my house, thanks to my mom's pen-pal, Cindy, of over 47 years. (Do the math, yes, my mom is OLD).

Aren't they the cutest?

Note: My mom does not have model feet. But those are some cute polar bear socks!

February 27: National Kahlua Day

I find it interesting, that today, National Kahlua Day, is also the one-month anniversary of my daily blog! It all started with chocolate cake, which is one of my favorites, but I have to say, this recipe might be my favorite so far!

First of all, I would like to propose a toast to my One-Month Anniversary of this blog. Let's drink to that!

Note: I did drink to this actually. I mixed rum, Kahlua, a little bit of coffee creamer, and coffee together. To be extra fancy, I put a little rum on the rim of my coffee mug, and dunked it in sugar. I mean, a one-month anniversary is pretty special, make it fancy! To be extra fancy, I recommend drinking out of a fun coffee mug. I chose a mug that is "It's a Small World" themed, from Disneyland.

The good thing about Kahlua, is that is is multi-purposeful. You can put it in coffee, on top of ice cream, on top of strawberries, in frosting, and you can pretty much add it to any dessert recipe.
Note: Yes, I have used Kahlua for all of the above mentioned occasions.

But to celebrate today, my one-month blogging anniversary, I decided to challenge myself and be extra fancy. The goal: To make Kahlua ice cream bon-bons. Did I succeed? Well, keep reading to find out.

Note: This recipe was labeled "Advanced." I'm not sure if I am actually an "Advanced" baker or not. But let's hope I am. 

JazzyJ's Superb Kahlua Bon-Bons Recipe:

Ingredients:
-2 cups heavy cream
-1 3/4 cups whole milk
-1/2 cup Kahlua
-3 tablespoons instant espresso powder or instant coffee
-6 egg yolks
-3 cups chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil

You are going to need an ice cream maker. Luckily, since I am a true ice cream lover (even though technically I'm not supposed to eat it because I'm allergic to milk), my parents gifted me with an ice cream maker a few years ago for my birthday. My ice cream maker, along with my donut maker, have kept me sane.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, I'm thinking you could buy coffee flavored ice cream, let it melt a little, mix in some Kahlua, and refreeze it.

Instructions:
1.  In a pot, combine cream, milk, Kahlua, and espresso powder/instant coffee. Bring to a gentle boil and remove from heat.
2. Beat the egg yolks until thick in a bowl. Add in one cup of warm cream-milk mixture and stir together. (I think you do this so that when you add the egg mixture to the warm ingredients, it doesn't cook the egg. It would be rather gross if you had an egg-y ice cream mixture.)
3. Now add the egg mixture into the pot containing the rest of the cream-milk mixture. Cook over low-medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens. The mixture should be at the consistency that it coats a spoon without dripping off.
4. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a container you can refrigerate in. (Note: I didn't have a fine mesh strainer. I read online you could try to strain it through either paper towels or coffee filters. I tried coffee filters. I laid two coffee filters over the strainer and dumped the mixture onto it. It didn't work. The mixture wouldn't drain through the coffee filters. However, my regular strainer did a good enough job.)
5. Cover and refrigerate mixture for 3+ hours or until the mixture is cold. The colder the mixture, the better it will work when you pour it in the ice cream maker.
6. Once mixture is cold, pour into your pre-frozen ice cream maker. I let mine mix for about 1 hour. My ice cream maker never turns the ice cream hard, it normally turns out to be a thick consistency of soft serve. That's ok. You are going to freeze it anyway.
7.Transfer to an airtight container and freeze ice cream in the freezer over night.

Step. 3. The whole mixture heating.

Step 4. This is the "junk" that remained after I strained it through a regular strainer.

Ready to create ice cream!

The ice cream after it has been mixing for about an hour.

The Next Day:
8. Line two baking sheets with foil and freeze for at least 2 hours.
9. Working quickly, scoop approximately tablespoon sized balls of the ice cream onto the foil covered baking sheets. Once you have one sheet full, place immediately in freezer and use the second foil covered baking sheet. Make approximately 24 (or more) ice cream balls.
10. Stick a tooth pick in each ice cream ball and freeze until very cold, at least 2 hours.
11. Melt chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a double boiler until just warm. (Remember, you are working with ice cream and ice cream melts easily.)
12. Holding an ice cream ball by the toothpick (have you ever heard that sentence before? haah) hold over a bowl and coat the ice cream ball in the melted chocolate. I would recommend making a couple of these bon-bons and then putting them immediately in the freezer before making more. Once they are all chocolate covered, freeze for at least 30 minutes before eating.
13. Think of all your hard work, and eat one! I wouldn't recommend sharing with too many people. These take a considerate amount of work. While it is good to share, it is also good to enjoy. Don't eat too many at once though, they are not low in calories!
14. Take a picture and share on Instagram and Facebook.

Not too bad, ehhh?

 Okay, so maybe they do look a little, lumpish? It's really really hard to get the warm chocolate, on the cold ice cream. As soon as the chocolate touches the ice cream, it hardens, and then it repels itself from the ice cream (possible because the ice cream is melting?) It's a weird thing. Probably due to some science-y thing that I don't know of.

And then there is this picture. 

Note: It is very important to note, that each ice cream blob does have chocolate on it. That's what is important. It is not important the amount of chocolate, just that each one has some chocolate on it.

These make me laugh. But they still taste amazing! It's probably the Kahlua in them...

Close up of a good looking bon-bon!

And a close up of a not so good looking one.

So was I successful? It depends on what your definition of successful is. I hand made ice cream and I hand made bon-bons. Not a lot of people can say that. The ice cream itself, was superb. It was so fresh, creamy, and rich. At one point, while trying to get the chocolate on the ice cream ball, more chocolate wound up on me, than on any of the ice cream balls. Is that successful? I don't know. But I do know that I laughed really hard and questioned how I got myself into this situation. It was an adventure. I learned new skills. And I now have a really big appreciation that there are machines that can make bon-bons, so that each time I have a craving, I don't have to go through this two day process. But really, they were really really good. I told my parents to close their eyes when eating them, so they weren't turned off by the appearance. If I were to serve them at a party, I might blind fold everyone first, but I still guarantee they would be a huge success!

I have a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. I was born to be a teacher. I believe the most important part of teaching, is the learning part. I learned a lot from this. And because of this, I'm declaring it a success.

February 26: National Tell A Fairy Tale Day

Sometimes, the older, learn from the younger....

And being bigger, doesn't mean you can't learn from those who are smaller.

Richardo Richalde Racoon read The Three Little Pigs as the fairy tale for National Fairy Tale Day. One plus for being so small, he was able to be the book mark, as well as the reader of the story.

Note: Today was also National Chili Day. I decided not to make chili. It doesn't agree with me. I won't say anything more. 

February 25: National Chocolate Covered Nut Day

 I think my house was targeted by aliens last night. And they left me some messages, in none other than chocolate covered nuts. Which is very appropriate, because today is National Chocolate Covered Nut Day.

At least a happy message was left.

 

I think this is a turtle. Which is appropriate. I LOVE turtles.

  

Yes, the chocolate covered nuts were YUM!!

And this is a shout out to my dad. These are his favorite, candy-chocolate coated nuts!

February 24: National Tortilla Chip Day

Today is National Tortilla Chip Day. Not too exciting. I ate some tortilla chips. Then Sophie, my cat, wanted to try one. She lost interest pretty easily and decided instead of eating one, she would rub her head against one.

Stay tuned, I have some tasty treats planned for National Kahlua Day.

February 23: National Banana Bread Day

Because I like cinnamon and I like chocolate chips, I made...

JazzyJ's Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
8 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
3 to 4 very ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk (I used almond milk)
4 tablespoons cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips

See? Lots of cinnamon!

 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cream sugar and butter together. Add one egg at a time, mixing well.
3. In a different bowl, mash bananas, add milk, cinnamon and chocolate chips, mix well.
4.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5. Add banana mixture to the creamed butter and sugar.
6. Slowly add in flour mixture, stir just until mixed.
7. Bake in a 9 x 5 x 3 bread pan for approximately 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.

While 1+ hour is a long time to wait to taste this delicious bread, I came up with a list of suggestions to keep you busy.

Suggestions To Keep You Busy Until The Most Delicious Banana Bread Is Ready:
-Fold laundry
-Do dishes
-Mop the floor
-Watch your favorite TV show
-Learn to juggle
-Take a Shower
-Knit a hat
-Learn to unicycle

What I Did To Keep Busy Until The Most Delicious Banana Bread Was Ready:
-Unloaded the dishwasher
-Reloaded the dishwasher
-Folded two loads of laundry
-Realized that I own two different pairs of very similar umbrella socks (see picture below)
-Texted with Molly and Courtney and tried to determine if someone did, or did not, spit in Molly's mug of water during work today (we aren't sure, but Molly got a new cup of water just to be sure)
-Found my cat (she wasn't missing as in lost just to clarify)
-Ate two small cookies
-Watched the last part of a Shark Tank episode

Finally, my cinnamon chocolate chip banana bread was ready! And it did not disappoint!

Different, yet similar umbrella socks.

February 22: National Margarita and Cook A Sweet Potato Day

Sometimes, I wonder where they come up with these days. Why not National Eat A Sweet Potato Day? I guess it has to be cooked? What if it was mashed? But I'm not going to complain about National Margarita Day.

Just like I believe anything is better with sprinkles (well, almost anything), I also believe anything is better with a little umbrella. Why not be fancy on a daily basis.

Note: I guess I didn't get a picture of the sweet potato I cooked, but I did cook one.

February 21: National Sticky Bun Day

Today is the day I have been waiting to celebrate for a while!! National Sticky Bun Day! While I have home-made cinnamon rolls, I have never home-made sticky buns. And let me tell you, they were delicious.

In the words of my dad, "They were magically delicious!"

I made the dough in a bread machine so they were actually pretty easy to make.

Ingredients (for dough):
1 cup warm milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
2 eggs (room temperature), beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1 /4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast


Ingredients (for topping):
 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon light corn syrup



Ingredients (for filling):
1 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter, melted


Directions:
1. Add the dough ingredients into the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle.
 2. About 15 minutes before the dough is complete, mix the topping ingredients together and melt on low, just until the sugar is dissolved. When dissolved, spread the topping mixture on the bottom of a 9" x 13" inch pan.
3. Mix the filling ingredients together and set them aside.
4. Once the dough is done, place on a lightly floured surface and let sit covered for 10 minutes.
5. Roll the dough out into an approximate 15" by 20" rectangle. Spread the filling mixture on top and roll up the dough like a jelly roll, lengthwise so you have a jelly roll dough roll. 
6. Cut into 12 equal pieces and lay in the pan on top of the spread out topping.
7. Cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.
8. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown,  in a 400 degree oven.
9. Eat, enjoy, and don't think about how many calories you just consumed!

Melting the topping.

Topping spread out in bottom of pan.

Filling, spread on top of dough.

Cut into 12 equal pieces.

In pan, ready to bake!

Scrumptious, delicious, mouth watering, indulgent!

February 20: National Love Your Pet Day

Alright, so today is actually National Love Your Pet Day (not the 18th, which is what I previously thought). I guess my cat is just lucky because she got extra attention twice.

 This is my cat. Sophia Marie. We have, and always will, just call her Sophie though. She's sassy, has a cattitude, is sneaky, but is very loving.

We adopted Sophie almost 8 years ago. Two friends and I had donated some proceeds from our knitting booth to the local Humane Society. While I knew better than to ask my mom for another pet (at the time we had an old cat named Mr. Kitty), I was drawn to one kitty. She looked like a feminine, petite version of Mr. Kitty. The next day, my mom made an excuse to go back into town and we wound up at the Humane Society. It was a dream come true. Except then it turned into a little bit of a nightmare. My dream kitty was gone! But she had been there the previous day! Luckily, it turned out, she had been transferred to a local pet store in hopes that someone would see her and want to adopt her. We jokingly call her Clearance Kitty (behind her back obviously, never to her face) because she was discounted! We don't know why she wasn't adopted earlier, even though she is very quirky, very loud, and very conversational (if you ask her questions, she responds with different tones of "meows"), we wouldn't have her any other way.

So here you go Sophie, this day is for you!

February 19: National Chocolate Mint Day/ Chinese New year

If it's a food day, it's a good day! Luckily my mom had a chocolate mint candy bar that she so graciously shared with me!

Ricardo Richalde Racoon! Save some for me!

Today is also Chinese New Year. I lived in Asia for 2.5 years growing up and even though I haven't been back in 16 years, I still love Chinese food.

It is a Chinese tradition to give anyone who is single, a red packet containing money.

Make sure to check back soon, next week has some really tasty cooking days!

February 18: National Drink Wine Day

Funny story, luckily I checked to see what National Day it was before I posted this blog post. I thought it was National Love Your Pet Day, but it turns out, that isn't until February 20. I gave my cat lots of attention and took all these photos of her.

Turns out, it's National Drink Wine Day. So here it is, almost 11 at night, and I rush down stairs and yell "Quick, I need to drink some wine." Luckily, there was an open bottle and I was able to drink some which reminded me of a funny story. Almost two years ago I was on my way back from Europe. On the plane, they had given me a free mini bottle of wine, but I hadn't gotten around to drinking it yet. Back in the United States, we had to go through security again, and my mini bottle of wine was over the allotted ounces! Good thing I suddenly remembered! I went into the corner, drank that mini bottle of wine, and then I went through security. Good thinking, JazzyJ, good thinking.

Anyways, here's a picture of the wine I drank.

Good thing is, I now have plenty of photos to share of my cat in a few days. Check back February 20 to learn why my kitty is sometimes called "Clearance Kitty."

February 17: National Random Act of Kindness Day

Today, for National Random Act of Kindness Day, I decided to bake my parent's individual brownie heart desserts. While I love holidays, I love the day after holidays even better because all the holiday merchandise is on sale. While I normally only stock up on candy, this year, I bought three heart-shaped springform baking pans. They were a hit. I made a batch of brownies out of a box and poured it into the baking pans. While the brownies were baking, I made frosting. However, it wasn't frosting suitable for minors.

JazzyJ's Kahlua Chocolate Frosting:

1/4 cup melted butter
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
A bunch of Kahlua (maybe like 1/4 cup?)
A bunch of cocoa powder (maybe like 1/2 cup)

I should really learn to measure.

Anyways, once the brownies had cooled and were freed from their pans (thank goodness for springform pans!), I frosted them and uniquely decorated each one. Luckily, my parents didn't fight over which heart brownie they wanted. Take a look at my mad decorating skills.

Note: National Kahlua Day is coming up in a few weeks. I'm taking suggestions of what I should bake/drink!