tomato soup: a recipe

As a kid, one of my favorite lunches was tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. Of course, it was quick and painless canned soup. There are canned soups here, possibly even Campbell's tomato, but processed food is expensive. Also, I had about 3 cups of diced tomatoes (from our tomato plants!) in the freezer. It was time to recreate my childhood lunch. I threw this soup together on a whim, without a recipe. All measurements are approximate, especially the seasonings. I just sprinkled, tasted, added more, tasted, etc, until it was enough. I added carrots for consistency because I thought the tomatoes would be runny by themselves. A lot of recipes add sugar to combat the acidity of the tomatoes, but I think the sweetness of the carrots did the job. My husband, who as rule doesn't like tomato soup, said it was good, for tomato soup. I, who love tomato soup, thought it was awesome.

3 cups diced tomatoes
2 or 3 carrots, diced
1 small to medium onion, diced
2" ginger, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups bone broth
2 cups water
1/2 tsp (or more) basil
1/2 tsp (or more) oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Put tomatoes, carrots, onion, ginger, garlic, broth, and water in a big pot. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Add seasonings. Simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Transfer to blender and purée.

what you've all been waiting for

Before we got married, Rodgers used to have breakfast at a donut shop every morning. Every day, he would leave for class early to sit in the donut shop for donuts and coffee. The people who worked there even gave him a Christmas gift! (Five $1 gift certificates!)

Then we got married. I had a coffee maker with a timer. We had coffee waiting for us when we woke up, and we would have cereal or toast or cooked breakfast. This is why Rodgers lost weight the first year of our marriage. I was pregnant, so we still got donuts often enough, but they weren't such a big part of our lives. (No more Christmas gifts from the donut shop, unfortunately). But we do like donuts. Good ones.

A donut in this country is horrible. There are no donut shops (that I've seen), but some bakeries sell donuts. And they are a huge disappointment. Think of a really big cake donut. Which is completely dried out. And has no flavor. Or moisture. And you can hardly even bite into it without breaking a tooth. That is the Kenyan version of a donut.

We have lamented this many times.

My husband loves experimenting in the kitchen, and he has been learning something that I haven't yet: how to use yeast. Making donuts was the next logical step. Our first try was so much better than Kenyan donuts but (as my mom pointed out) they were ugly. The taste and texture also wasn't quite right. On the second try, we had perfection!

We found the recipe on the internet, but optimized it for our own needs. For instance, the original recipe says to put the dough in the oven to rise, on the top rack, with a roasting pan of boiling hot water on the bottom rack, to create a nice, warm, humid environment. Our kitchen is already warm and humid, so we let it rise on the counter. I won't make you wait any longer, though. This is what you came here for:

Donuts
Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp yeast
1/4 cup shortening
3 egg yolks
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 2/3 cup flour

Directions:
Warm milk, vanilla, 1 Tbsp sugar; put in mixing bowl; add yeast and let stand until foamy (~5 min). Add shortening, egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar; beat until shortening is broken up. Beat in salt and baking powder. Add flour 1 cup at a time, until dough firm but tacky (usually only takes 3 cups, but we use the 2/3 cups while kneading/rolling/cutting).

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Pat into a disk, dust with flour, and cover with a towel. (Or put in the oven with the boiling water if your kitchen is cold.) Let rise until doubled (~1 hour).

Roll dough into 12 inch round, 1/2 inch thick. Cut donuts as close together as possible. (We use about 2 1/2 inch circle and 1 1/4 inch hole.) Let stand until doubled (~45 min). When they are almost ready, make the glaze (and a pot of coffee to enjoy with the first hot donuts). Set a wire rack on cookie sheets for glazing the donuts and letting them cool.

Fry donuts a few at a time in 2 inches of oil (~1 min or less per side). The donut holes fry very fast. Transfer immediately from frying pan to glaze.

Glaze
Ingredients:
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
Combine milk and vanilla and warm (either on the stovetop or for about 30 seconds in the microwave). Whisk powdered sugar in slowly, until well combined. Set this bowl into a pot of hot water to keep it from cooling and hardening. Drizzle over the donuts with a spoon while the donuts are still hot.

You can apply a second coat of glaze after they have cooled for about 5 minutes or flip them at that time to glaze the bottoms. I add sprinkles to the donut holes for the boys, while the glaze is still wet.

YWIA.

taco night: a recipe

Months ago, I found a recipe for homemade flour tortillas. We have occasionally found some imported tortillas here and there, but they are horrible. Really, extremely unpalatable. I made this recipe a few times. I blogged about it. I tested various methods. A few secrets I would add to that post are these:

The oil. The recipe calls for 2 tsp of vegetable oil. Our vegetable oil here is palm olien. It's ok in the tortillas. I tried coconut oil, but it made them too stiff. EVOO is the best for tortillas, in my experience.

Cast iron. I have a cast iron skillet now. It does a great job! And it is big enough that, when the tortillas are done, I can cook the taco meat in it. Great tortillas, fewer dishes to wash. Win/win!

Fluffiness. I don't know the true scientific basis for this, I'm no chemist, but it seems to me that in our warm, humid, coastal Kenyan kitchen, baking powder has super fluffy powers. I have to reduce the amount I use in our pancakes to keep them less than an inch thick. I also reduce the amount in tortillas to 1 tsp.

Floured surface. Perhaps also because of the climate, the dough is either way too sticky to work with or it has too much flour in it to stick together. I use about 1/4 cup of flour re-flouring my hands, rolling pin, and surface as I roll them out.

1/2 cup this time because I made a double batch

 Most importantly. When I first started making tortillas, I would stack them on a plate when done, covered with a towel. Then we got these nifty insulated serving bowls, with lids. In there, the heat from the tortillas creates a bit of condensation, which helps them retain their chewy texture. I think this has improved my tortilla results more than anything else. I'm assuming it's the same concept as a tortilla warmer.

But, this is about taco night, so on to the taco filling.

In Kenya, people don't really eat raw vegetables. We've gotten into the habit of cooking ours, especially if we're having company. It's only natural for our Ken-Tex-Mex tacos to have cooked vegetables in them.

A couple of months ago, I wanted to make cheesy enchilada casserole, but I didn't want to go to the trouble of making tortillas just to put them in a casserole. I had seen recipes for noodle-less lasagna, using slices of zucchini in place of the noodles. I had zucchini. I tried to mimic that for our enchilada casserole. It ended up soupy, so we used it as dip. But it was so yummy, Rodgers asked for it again! I tried it again, but didn't have the zucchini that day. It was not as good. We realized that ground beef + taco seasoning + zucchini = a winning combination. Thus, our taco meat recipe includes zucchini. And it is so, so yummy.

2 medium tomatoes, boiled, peeled, and smashed
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 Tbsp water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp oregano

Prep the above ingredients in a large saucepan while the tortilla dough is resting. Put it on to simmer while cooking the tortillas.

4 zucchini, cubed
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp black pepper
oil

Prep while the tortilla dough is resting (or get your husband to do it while you're cooking tortillas, like I did). After the tortillas are done, wipe out any flour left in the skillet with a clean towel. Heat oil, then add above ingredients and saute until done. Add to the tomato sauce (which is still simmering).

1 kg ground meat
1 tsp salt

Brown the meat with some salt (I always add the salt to the meat, rather than the sauce, don't ask me why - that's just when I remember to do it!). When it is done, drain and spoon into the sauce. Continue simmering. Do a taste test. I'm never sure quite how much spice I want to use, so I keep tasting and adding more spice. For the dip, I use the same amount of tomato sauce, but half the zucchini, half the meat, and top with cheese. Mmmmm, boy.

Finished product. Ben can't keep his hands out of my plate.

brownies - a recipe

When we want a baked treat, we almost always choose brownies. We. Love. Brownies.

I am almost sure I got my original brownie recipe from Betty Crocker. However, the recipe calls for unsweetened baking chocolate, which I almost never have on hand and never remember to buy. I do always have cocoa. I use the 5 Tbsp of cocoa + 1 Tbsp oil per oz of baking chocolate conversion. This comes to 1 Tbsp short of 1 cup of cocoa. I round up to a full cup. Also, when adding that oil to the called for 2/3 cup of butter, it comes to 1 tsp short of a cup. Again, I round up. I also reduce the sugar because we are fans of less sweet chocolate, not for healthy reasons because it's still a lot of sugar and a full cup of butter! These are more fudgey brownies, not cakey at all. So here is my altered recipe. It is fab:

1 cup butter
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup optional extras (i.e. chocolate chips, chopped nuts, candy pieces...)

Preheat oven to 350° F

Grease bottom and sides of pan - I use an 8"x12" jelly roll pan, but the original recipe calls for a 9" square.

Melt butter with cocoa over low heat, cool for 5 minutes. (Originally I thought this wasn't necessary, since I'm not using baking chocolate that needs to be melted, but it does make it mix much more smoothly, so I melt the butter with the cocoa now.)

Beat sugar, vanilla, eggs in medium bowl; beat in chocolate mixture; beat in flour until just blended. Add optional extras. Spread in pan.

Bake 30-40 minutes or just until pulling away from sides of pan.

For Rodgers' birthday, Nate wanted to do a bicycle cake, so I used chopped Snickers to make a bicycle and stick figure Rodgers on top of his brownies.

Looks silly, but Rodgers dubbed it The Best Brownies Ever Made.

recipe: fish fingers

Nate has long been in the "I don't like any food" phase of life. Ben is still usually a good eater, but gradually arriving in that phase as well. Because of this, I have been looking for lots of kid-friendly foods. (Now's as good a time as any to point out this Chik fil a copy cat recipe. It's one of the few recipes I actually follow exactly.)

The boys love fish fingers (fish sticks) that come in a box, frozen, precooked, and highly processed. One great thing about living here is that we don't have access to all of that processed food. But it also means that my kids, who have tasted processed food in the US and LOOOVE it, have a hard time finding fresh food that they like. It has taken me a year to find a fish recipe the picky toddler will eat. We've tried to get them to eat different types of fish, cooked different ways. Sometimes in the past Ben would, but less so now. I've tried different recipes for fish fingers, thinking maybe if they look the "right" shape and are fried, they'll eat them. No go.

Until today.

I started with this recipe, but I kind of did my own thing. One thing that is really great about their recipe is the suggested addition of turmeric to the bread crumbs for color. Kids love colorful food. (I'm looking at you, Rainbow Goldfish.) I took that suggestion, and they did turn out with great color. Another secret to the success this time, I think, is that we had a very mild flavored fish (Nile Perch), which also had a great texture for the small pieces.

Note that I did not measure anything, so the following recipe is true Ken-Tex family style cooking.

It's hard to get a good picture in our house at night. The lights are not very bright.

Fish Fingers

2 servings of fish, filleted (It's usually enough. We didn't know the boys would eat.)
flour, about half a cereal bowl
1 egg
breadcrumbs, same amount as flour
garlic powder
paprika
salt
black pepper
turmeric
oil for frying

1. Cut the fish into thumb-sized pieces. I aimed for similar thickness to the ones my mom served them in Texas - the frozen ones they adore.
2. Place flour in a small bowl. Add some (1/2 tsp, give or take) garlic powder and paprika, 2 pinches of salt, and a few shakes of black pepper. Mix thoroughly. Beat the egg in a separate small bowl. Place the breadcrumbs in a third small bowl. Add some turmeric. Mix thoroughly.
3. Coat the fish fingers in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan, < 1/2" deep. When the oil is hot, add the fish and fry until golden brown. The original said 3-4 min per side, but I didn't think they were golden brown enough yet. I did about 10 minutes total. Remove from oil and drain on a towel or paper towels.

There are none left. At all. And I bet we would have kept eating if there had been more.

tastes of home

A few years ago, I started writing down all of my favorite recipes in one notebook. This was before Pinterest. I had some recipes bookmarked on the internet, some saved in a Word doc, some on recipe cards, and others in recipe books. My recipe notebook is my one spot, which I can access even when the power is out and the computer battery is dead, even when there is no internet connection because the signal is bad, etc. 

When we moved here, we brought our Betty Crocker recipe book - there's a lot of great stuff in there which we haven't even tried yet, plus basic cooking guides (how long to broil a steak?). And we brought my trusty recipe notebook. Mostly, I don't cook supper from recipes. I remember more or less how it should go and approximate something similar to the recipe. But sometimes I need a real recipe, especially when it comes to breads. 

One of the hardest things about living outside of Texas is the complete lack of acceptable tortillas. We have found adequate tortilla chips, but the tortillas we've found are either inedible or more like a big super thin wrap, rather than a fluffy, chewy flour tortilla. Then someone pinned this on Pinterest, and our lives were improved. (If you don't feel like clicking it, it's a recipe for flour tortillas.)

Unfortunately, I don't have a cast iron skillet. I have seen some here, but they all have grill bumps (is there a better word for that?) on the bottom. If you're cooking meat, the grease drains off a bit, and the meat ends up looking like it was cooked on a grill. But it does not work for making tortillas (or cornbread - still working on that one). I just use my nonstick skillet over med-high heat.

Welcome to Taco Tuesday.

perfection

Or nearly there.

We used to always snack on granola bars, cereal bars, muffin bars, etc. We called them all "breakfast bars" to simplify things for Nate. There are such things here, but they are all imports and super expensive. So I started thinking that surely I could make some. Our oven scares me, so I scoured the internet for no-bake options. I settled on Rachael Ray's (no linky right now because her website is down, but it's easy to find).

I had some trouble with it, though. It's ok. I'm not afraid of experimenting with a recipe. I don't know if it's because of the humidity here or what, but I couldn't get the bars to stick together. We had granola clumps for a few batches. But, I think I have arrived at the best way to make them.

Melt 1/4 cup margarine, 1/4 cup honey, 1/2 cup brown sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. I experimented with the amount of sugar and honey and with adding peanut butter, but the stickiness wasn't right.
Add 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal, 3/4 cup rice crispy cereal, 1/2 cup pretzel sticks, 1/2 cup raisins. Mix until thoroughly coated in the syrupy mixture. RR calls for 2 cups granola and 1 cup rice crispies. Mine stick better with oats instead of granola and with less cereal total.
Press into jelly roll pan. Mine's small, and this doesn't quite fill it up. I just squish it into about 3/4 of the pan and make a line with a knife on the "open" edge.
Top with 1/2 cup chocolate chips or 1 crushed dark chocolate bar if you live somewhere that doesn't really have chocolate chips like me.
Chill until set. I work on these during naptime, and right about this point, Ben is waking up, so I come back to it the following day to cut them into bars. I store them in the fridge because of ants.

We left our previous batch of breakfast bars, which was nearly but not quite as good as this one, in Malindi in the fridge at our hotel. I reminded Rodgers yesterday that I'd made more, and they were already cut and ready to eat, then I went to put Nate down for nap. I came back and Rodgers said, "Those are gooooood. I had four."

The only thing I think could possibly make them even better would be a bit of peanut butter. Maybe melted and drizzled over the top of the chocolate?

it's bean day!

The first week we were here, Nate hardly ate anything at all. Then, we visited our friends Francis and Constance. Constance served us a lovely lunch of maharagwe nazi (beans cooked with coconut milk) and chapati (flatbread). Nate ate more than I did. The following Saturday, we made out own maharagwe nazi and decided that henceforth, Saturday is bean day.

We start by sorting the beans. Nate loves this part. We throw the “yucky beans” on the ground and put the “nummy beans” in the pot. Then, we wash the nummy beans.

I soak them overnight. I’ve done a quick soak before by simmering them for a few hours (when I had a crock pot), but I prefer soaking overnight. It just takes a little planning. In the morning, I make sure there is still water in the pot (sometimes I put too many beans and not enough water, and all the water gets absorbed by morning).

clean beans

cooking beans

Around 4 in the afternoon, we begin the cooking part. The beans are washed again and drained. Then, we put them on the stove to start cooking with some spices (whatever strikes our fancy on that particular day). I think they cook for about an hour, but honestly, I have no idea. When we think about it, we taste test to see if they are getting ready.

Kenyan kitchen essentials: mbuzi and machete

Meanwhile, Rodgers shreds the coconut. I should get more practice with the mbuzi (literally: goat), but usually he does it because he’s just more efficient. Before we had the mbuzi, he used a spoon.

The juice (Rodgers says, “It’s just water.”) from the middle of the coconut is poured out. We don’t use that part. I don’t know why.

The shredded coconut goes into the kifumbu (sieve). He squeezes it and squishes it to get the coconut milk out. When no more comes out, Rodgers sets it in a small bowl of water, then squeezes it some more.

We add the coconut milk to the beans when they are almost cooked and let them simmer until they are done.

We are no good at making chapati (yet!), so we go down the street to a little restaurant (or sometimes just a woman with a stool and a chapati jiko) and buy a few for 15 shillings each.

Karibuni kwa siku ya maharagwe! (Welcome to bean day!)

cookies for Nate

I think I may have mentioned that Nate tends to be constipated. It doesn't help that he looooooves food that stops him up even more. In an attempt to remedy his last bout of constipation, I looked up some constipation cookie recipes. One recipe was really yummy, but he wouldn't eat them. He at least tasted them. I tried bran muffins, but he wouldn't even touch them. So I took a recipe he loves already and made some adjustments. This is based on Quaker's Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe.

1 stick of margarine, softened
1/2 cup pureed prunes (this is about 2 plastic tubs of Gerber 1st Foods prunes)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup black strap molasses
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350
Beat together margarine, prunes, sugars, and molasses until creamy
Add eggs and vanilla; beat well
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix well
Stir in oats and raisins; mix well
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown
Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack

He loves them. And they help him stay semi-regular. Sometimes I let him have one for breakfast. I haven't calculated the nutritional value, but I figure they're better for him than cereal... The other recipe I tried subbed the sugar 100% with molasses and honey and the butter 50% with pureed prunes and 50% with peanut butter. They would be more healthy, but what's the point if he doesn't eat them? Rodgers and I liked them, but the texture was a little off.

My little secret: I divide the dough in half before adding the raisins, then add raisins to half of it for Nate and chocolate chips to the other half for me. :)

QOTW: Me not *take* cookies, me *eat* the cookies. 

 

penguins

After seeing Nate's birthday monkey cupcakes, my dad asked me to make him penguin cupcakes for his birthday. When my parents stopped by yesterday, it was the first time we'd seen them since his birthday, so I wanted to make the penguin cupcakes. Unfortunately, I was out of eggs and didn't have time to run to the store, buy eggs, make cupcakes, let them cool, etc. So, I just made the penguins. I think he liked them.

I used mini oreos for the heads and double stuf oreos for the body, with the top cookie cut in half to make the wings. Eyes, beaks, and legs were a gel icing pen.

cooking blog

When I was in 6th grade, we lived with my grandparents for a few months. My grandmother has a few recipes that she keeps on "repeat" at all times. One thing she cooked frequently was salmon patties. While they were good, I got salmon patty-ed out. In the past 10 years, I've eaten them maybe once.

I follow several cooking blogs. Usually, I star recipes I like in my Google Reader, and maybe will cook them. someday. It surprised me when I saw a recipe for salmon croquettes on Not Your Bubbe's Kitchen, and they actually looked appealing! I decided to give them a second chance. Maybe it was the use of the word "croquettes" rather than "patties" - much more appetizing, right? Or maybe it's just that I know Jackie and trust her to have yummy and healthy recipes.

Whatever it was, I'm so glad I made these for lunch today! They are delicious! They were also very easy and quick to make. I followed her recipe mostly. I only had one egg, not two, but it worked out!

Not Your Bubbe's Kitchen features a lot of other fabulous recipes, too. One that I am eager to try out is The Best Damn Brownies Ever. Check it out!

[P.S. I did not try out the grains recipe today. I was in the mood for mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.]

working mommy wednesday

Prompt 2: favorite recipe

You must know, we love to crockpot. Especially when I'm actually working, it's so incredibly efficient and makes such yummy meals. We used to crockpot once a week. Now, not so much. Our favorite is pot roast. I don't exactly have a recipe per se. And definitely no measurements. More like...estimations.

---

Ingredients:
1 beef roast
Some potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
3 handfuls of frozen whole green beans
2 handfuls of frozen chopped carrots
1 can cream of something soup (I use whatever happens to be in the pantry, usually mushroom)
1 packet dry vegetable soup mix (onion soup mix works great, too)

Directions:
Put roast in the crockpot
Throw veggies on top
Pour soup and soup mix over and stir
Cook on low for 6-8 hours

---

Doesn't get much easier than that.

We also cook in substitutions. Don't have the "right" veggies? Throw anything in there. Almost everything tastes awesome in that sauce. The only thing I don't recommend is cauliflower. We tried that once, and we both thought that the flavor of it overpowered the other flavors. Sometimes we mash the potatoes instead of serving them cubed. Or, sometimes we don't have potatoes so I make biscuits to go with it instead. The only thing you really have to have is the roast. Without it, this is vegetable soup, which is also good, but not pot roast.

super double double chocolatey chocolate chip cookies recipe

I wasn't planning on blogging this recipe, so there are no pictures. However, it has been requested, and this is my favorite way to share recipes. These were part of my holiday baking this year. I still have some of other cookies I baked in the freezer, but no more of these. They are quite amazing.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 oz semi-sweet baker's chocolate*
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350' F. In small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Melt baker's chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, stir, then 30 second intervals until melted. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well. Blend in melted chocolate. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in chips. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies should be soft. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.

I made them fairly large and ended up with about 3 dozen.

*You can sub 9 tablespoons cocoa, 7 tablespoons sugar, 3 tablespoons butter or margarine or shortening, if you don't have baker's chocolate. Also, I'm pretty sure I only had 5 oz of baker's chocolate, and they are super chocolatey. So, 6 might be a bit much. The recipe actually calls for 12 oz of melted chocolate chips rather than baker's chocolate, but I didn't like the texture when I made them that way last year. This year, they are perfect.

truffles recipe ::yum, yum, yum::

My truffles recipe is often requested. I sort of made it up myself from a bunch of different recipes I found online and have never typed it up, so it hasn't been very sharable. That changes right now. :)

Ganache ingredients:
1 bag of semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp rum (or other flavoring, optional)

Coating ingredients:
1 package of chocolate bark coating

Day One
Melt chips and butter in a double boiler with the cream.

You could also melt it in the microwave, but I like using the double boiler.

It looks gross before it's melted

After the mixture has melted completely, add rum (or other flavoring, like a tsp of vanilla or a shot of espresso), and mix it in well. If you aren't adding extra flavor, you're already done with this part!

If your flavoring makes the mixture too thin (we're going for a consistency similar to pudding) add 1/2 cup of cocoa and 1 Tbsp of powdered sugar.

Perfect.

Transfer your mixture into a bowl and chill overnight. [I'm imagining that now is when I would pour it into candy molds, freeze overnight, and move on to day three. This is the epiphany I had last night when I was sick of rolling balls of ganache.]

Day Two

Scoop out the ganache and roll it into balls. Put them on a cookie sheet and freeze them overnight. You may leave them on the cookie sheet until day three, but I usually transfer them to a bowl once they're not so sticky. If your ganache is fairly hard, you can just put it back in the fridge. The perfect texture is so soft that, if it's not frozen, it melts too much when dipped in the coating on day three.

It's a messy job.

I made a plain dark chocolate ganache. Without the extra liquid in the mixture, it was very hard. I couldn't roll it after it had chilled overnight. I tried letting it sit out for an hour or so, but it still didn't soften enough. So, I chopped it up with a knife and made irregular shaped pieces.

The rum mixture was the perfect texture.

Day Three

Melt the coating.

Again, you could use a double boiler or the microwave.

Take a few (I usually go with about 2 dozen) pieces of ganache out of the freezer at a time to dip them in the melted coating. I find that if I take out more than 2 dozen at once, they start melting in the coating by the time I get to the last ones, and that makes a big mess. After dipping, lay them out on wax paper. Leave them plain or garnish with powdered sugar, cocoa, a different color of bark coating, finely chopped nuts, coconut, or whatever you may dream up.

There they are! I made three batches, which turned out to be 203 truffles, even though I made half of them way too big. ::whew::