Christmas Baking Part 3 and 4 (actually done yesterday)

Let's get started.

I pulled out my frozen balls, I had already chopped the chocolate the night before to save time this morning. I wasn't going to have enough of the Gheridelli Chocolate so I was going to mix it with some Hershey's Special Dark.  But that didn't work so well.  Word to the wise here, never use chocolate chips for any thing that you want to set up and harden into a chocolate shell.  Chocolate chips of any kind don't get hard again once melted.  That's why they are soft and creamy when they are in Chocolate Chip Cookies.  So I had to change gears here.  Part 3 to be continued.

Part 4:   Let's make Salsa.  I'm not bragging here but my salsa is well loved by many people.  That makes me feel good.  I was once told by a Mexican (a true from Mexico Native) that my salsa was the best salsa she had ever had that was made by a Gringa.  I make salsa for us here at home about once a month.  Not that it lasts that long, especially when Jolea is home, I just do without for about a week. It's fresh, without preservatives so we have to eat it quickly.  I usually use one package of tomatoes to make one batch.  I like to use the tomatoes that are still on a little vine.  I've found that the ones on vines continue to ripen on the counter, never put a tomato in the fridge unless it's been cut, but you probably know that.

I needed all my cast iron pans for this, I set each burner on high and load them up with tomatoes and Serrano Peppers, I used about a dozen in this process, but when I do one batch I will use 2-3.  I don't use Jalepeno peppers because.... I just don't, the smaller the pepper the more heat it packs.  I roast every thing, turning the tomatoes and peppers over to get little burned spots on them.  This is part of the flavor in my salsa.  It's a cooked salsa but not a cooked salsa.

In the food processor I put in half a medium largish onion cut in half and in half again (did you get that?)  4 cloves of garlic pressed through a press, I like it really small.  About a tablespoon of salt, about a dozen grinds of pepper and the juice of 4 limes.  I whirl these around in the food processor.  I really like this stuff chopped real fine so they end up getting whirled around quiet a few times.

So now you have to start the hot and messy part.  You want to take the peppers and tomatoes out of the pans.  The peppers aren't so bad to deal with, but the tomatoes have turned into little Magma Balls, so let them cool.  IMPORTANT PART:  when you are about to work with ANY kind of hot pepper, take the time to put a little olive oil on your finger tips, your whole hand if you have to, but especially up under your finger nails.  This will keep the juices from the pepper from absorbing into you skin and burning later.  And it washes off easier and you don't end up with it in your eyes or under your nose.  

Back to the salsa,  split the peppers and cut off the stems, cut out the veins and scrape out the seeds, that is unless you are a glutton for punishment, if so, just cut off the stems and throw the whole thing in the food processor.  Give it a whirl.... chop those peppers into smaller bits to share the wealth.   (Note for wennies... if your salsa ends up too spicy, just add a pinch or two of sugar, stir it up, let it sit and voila... not so spicy anymore.)

This is going to get messy,  I just cut  the tops off the tomatoes, getting rid of the stem.  Then I pour out the seeds.  You don't want all those seeds in the salsa.  Do you ever see good salsa with a ton of seeds in it?  NO... good salsa only has the chunks of tomato.  Don't worry about all the juice that goes out with the seeds, there's plenty more in there.  I can make one batch in the food processor, but since I was making 4 batches I had to empty the processor 4 times into a large Dutch Oven pan, it's all I had big enough to hold all this.  The more you process the tomatoes the less chunky the salsa.

In the last batch of tomotoes to go through the processor, I added my all time favorite herb.... celantro!   Don't forget to wash it, this stuff has a lot of sand in it.  I ended up using a whole large bunch, leaves only... no stems (remember that Duder...)  So there you have it.  It's basicly done... now just put it in a jar or continer and stick it in the fridge.  I needed to go get dipping chocolate so I just slid the dutch oven into the fridge to decant (I got that from Overboard) later.  Maybe I'd find some cute jar at the store.  To be continued....

Back to Part 3:  I found this stuff at Hobby Lobby with the help of Paige, a long time acquaintance (her daughter was in one of my Kdg. classes) and store manager.  Paige assured me these worked for candy making and they tasted good.  She said if it was in her store and made of chocolate she had tasted it.  She sounds like someone I could work for. 

I started dunking my balls again.  Can you see the difference?  The ones on the left are the chocolate chip dunked, on the right are the real dipping chocolate.  Yeah the left balls are prettier, but you can't touch them, or pick them up... they melt and make a mess on contact. Who wants balls that disintegrate in your hands?  I know I don't!  You can also see the little holes that are left by the tooth picks in the tops of the... hard balls.

To cover the little holes I drizzled some of the chocolate onto the tops of each ball, but then I wanted to mark them like I did the German balls, so that everyone would know these were Orange balls.  I melted some white chocolate chips (yeah, that won't set up) in the microwave and added some food color to make it orange and drizzled this over the balls.

Aren't those some wild looking balls?

So back to the Salsa....   (do you feel like your train of thought is jumping the track?  Welcome to my world.)

I didn't find anything cute at Hobby Lobby, so I had this one at home.  It's a cool Lock and Lock container I got at the Asian Market, they have cool stuff over there, go check it out.  You need a container with a tight locking lid if you make this stuff or your fridge will smell like salsa and you'll forget that you wanted milk when you go in there.

The tiramisu looks good. I added a little more Kaluah around the edges and got some dribbles on it.  But I'm sure that didn't effect the taste.

I packed this all up and delivered it last night before the weather came in.

We've had wacky weather for the past two days,  While the northern half of the US has been having blizzards and traffic choking snowstorms, we've been having Thunderstorms and Tornados, with temps in the 70s.  That reminds me, I need to call my Aunt in East Texas to see how they are after the tornado that went through Longview yesterday.  Today we are supposed to have snow!  Yeah, it's December in Texas.

I delivered the yummies across town last night and they were well received with chips and spoons.  This is the house just down from where I made the delivery .... they do it up big across town.      We are having Christmas Eve Dinner with the Crains tonight.  We'll have loads of food, Dawn and I will dig into the tiramisu #2, and we'll have a pool tournament.   Then Jody, Jeff and I will have Christmas Dinner tomorrow at our house.  Wish Jolea was here, but I don't want to say that too loud, she's homesick enough without us rubbing it in.

Have a great Christmas Eve.  Tomorrow..... pictures of our Christmas tree and this year's ornaments.