Chocolate Hearts Tutorial

Sweets for my Sweet today- I first made these last year for Valentine’s Day, and they worked so well I made them again this year and photographed the progress so that I could put together a tutorial for you! These would be perfect for so many celebrations- all you need is a cookie cutter! Here’s what you do:

Gather together your ingredients:

A quarter cup of Peanut Butter; a half a cup of Powdered Sugar; a tablespoon of Butter; and a third of a cup of Chocolate Chips.

Cream together the Peanut Butter, Butter and the Powdered Sugar until you get a veeery stiff dough.

Roll it out between two sheets of waxed paper as thin as you want your finished hearts to be. I choose a quarter of an inch:

Remove the top layer of waxed paper and cut out your shapes:

I got a bakers dozen out of this amount of dough, with a tablespoon left over- which I just rolled into balls. Place your shapes into the freezer to chill until quite firm. You could wrap them and store them at this point for a while if you wish. Melt some chocolate while they are firming up (thirty seconds in the microwave; stir; thirty more seconds; stir until completely melted and smooth) let it cool a bit before this next step until it’s just warm, but still pourable.

Drop the shapes onto the chocolate, then turn over to coat the other side ( I just use a fork for this whole process).  Remove from the chocolate bath and tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove some of the excess, then place on wax paper.

Place the finished shapes in the freezer to firm up the chocolate. I like to store these in the freezer in an air tight container with little sheets of waxed paper between the layers.

Serve either chilled, or at room temperature with a fork, on a tiny little china plate topped with a lacy little doily. Preferably with a cup of tea.

A Strange Change in the Wind…

Well- hopefully not that strange! I thought we could all use a bit of a change of pace around here, and updated the old blog a bit. Shined her up, tossed some things out, rearranged what was left, and voila! I quite like it, and hope that you all will too!

I’ve also decided to change the content as well- it’s been so long since we’ve had any sort of structure in this space, I thought it was high time for a bit of a change, don’t you think? We’ll set up a kind of an on-line Journal, perhaps even the feel of an old fashioned Magazine, shall we? How does that sound? And to break it down for you, I’ve created a new List!

Our new categories are:

Letter from the Editor (perhaps I’ll change that title, but the intent shall remain the same; once a month, a few words to set the tone, hmm?)

Cleaning (Recipes for cleaning supplies, tips, hints, admonitions, bewailments, you know-the vagaries of life in a dirty house!)

Cooking (ooo- this one will be scrumptious! Recipes, receipts, formulas, techniques, etc.)

Crafting (How about an easy-to-do project, for everyone to join in on once a month? With Instructions and step-by-step pictures to boot!)

Gardening (Well, it wouldn’t be a Magickwyrds production without pictures of the lovely Hedge out the Backdoor, now would it?)

Myth & Lore (Faeries, Trolls, Mice and Men- basically anything that catches my fancy we’ll use as a monthly theme- sort of a backdrop for the whole issue? That ought to keep everything in line…)

Seasonal (We could throw a Party for Mother Nature, with the theme inspired by the current Season!)

Sightseeing (A place to put all those lovely pictures of our Outings.)

Writing (I’ve had ever-so-many-ideas popping into my head for more chapters in the Market Faire book- stay tuned for Plot, Conflicts and maybe even some Themes in the coming months.)

Well, that sounds just marvelous, doesn’t it? I love a good Spring  Cleaning, and this dusty shelf certainly could benefit from it I dare say! I look forward to seeing how this “new” space progresses this year, and all your thoughts on our New Look as well!