Vegan Truffled Chocolate Covered Cherries and Mousse

Hey guess what? Valentine's Day is coming up on Friday. Oh you didn’t know? Well then you’ll need something special to make.

Whether you are looking for something special for you and your significant other, for a girls' night in, or a dinner party, they will all be impressed. But it's another thing if you have allergies, are gluten-free, or vegan. No matter your diet, you deserve some decadence too.

So when Enjoy Life Foods sent me a bag of their Dark Chocolate morsels for baking, I knew it was time to make a treat everyone could enjoy. Pun.

The morsels not only contribute to my chocolate coconut cream mousse but also to my chocolate covered cherries. They can be made separately or be put together. Either way you have enough decadence to last you the whole season.

You know I love Enjoy Life's products and since their 69% cocoa chips are gluten-free, vegan, and free of the eight most common allergens, you don’t have to be afraid to have your mousse and eat it too. Oh, and they melt perfectly. 

Likewise, cordial chocolate covered cherries were one of my favorites growing up. But if you don't buy carefully, they can taste quite artificial. So instead, I used fresh Bing cherries that are only in season for a couple weeks in Chile. I know, but forgive me it’s Valentine’s Day. Here, Enjoy Life’s dark chocolate morsels were essential.

I wanted to combine fresh, sweet cherries with decadent dark chocolate so you have a nice crunch with the soft flesh of the cherries. And hey, this is America so might as well stuff the cherry with vegan chocolate coconut cream mousse. This step while totally worth it can be skipped for time’s sake. I do hope you make the chocolate mousse. It is so rich and creamy you won’t believe it is actually vegan…but I promise it is!

Coconut cream is an extra thick version of coconut milk, basically without the water and really cannot be substituted. You can find it at Trader Joe’s (of course,) Whole Food’s, and probably any Asian markets or well stocked grocery will carry it. Just make sure you refrigerate the can overnight so it remains thick and won’t melt as much while you are working with it.

FYI: this mousse is very decadent, so small amounts go a long way. This recipe should be enough for 4 small portions. If you aren’t used to coconut cream, you don’t want to over eat or you might get a tummy ache!

This is perfect for a the modern Valentine’s Day dinner party as you won’t get any complaints from your vegan or gluten-free guests. Get ready to impress some people with this! And you will have a lot of cherries left over….but not for long.

Vegan Chocolate Covered Cherries with Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Makes 4 small cups of mouse and 40 cherries

Ingredients:

For the Mousse

1 cup coconut cream or about ½ of a can, (refrigerate can overnight before use so it hardens)

3 tbsp. vegan sugar

3 tbsp. Cocoa powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels

Coconut or other vegan milk in case you need to adjust the consistency

For the Truffled Chocolate Covered Cherries

40 fresh bing cherries, carefully pitted

1 cup Enjoy Life dark chocolate morsels

Coconut chips or flaked coconut for garnish

About 1/2 cup chocolate mousse

1 plastic bag

40 toothpicks

Directions:

Use a double broiler or sauce pan and glass bowl for melting.

Fill a saucepan with about 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Place glass bowl over top trapping the steam and take off heat immediately.

Add 1/4 cup chocolate morsels into the bowl and continue stirring until all morsel chips are melted and chocolate is smooth. If it isn't melting, cover with lid for a minute and the chips should start to melt around the edges.

Meanwhile add all ingredients including the melted chocolate, for the mousse into a stand mixer or bowl with beaters until completely mixed and air enters mixture making light and creamy. Spoon into individual glasses for serving, reserving about 1/2 cup mousse. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours up to one day.

Separately arrange pitted cherries on a plate and carefully spoon reserved mousse into the plastic bag. Cut the edge of the bag to make a very small slit.

Using the opening of each cherry made by pitting, pipe a very small amount of mousse into each cherry and a little on the opposite side. (This may be a bit messy, so keep a paper towel handy.)

Refrigerate stuffed cherries for about 30 minutes to 1 hour before dipping in chocolate. Before dipping them into the chocolate, carefully place 1 toothpick into the side of each cherry without squeezing mousse out of the cherry.

Meanwhile bring your saucepan with water back to a boil and remove from heat once boiled. Melt the remaining cup of chocolate morsels over your double broiler or bowl and saucepan. Continue stirring until all morsel chips are melted and chocolate is smooth. If it isn't melting, cover with lid for a minute and the chips should start to melt around the edges.

(If you are a slower worker like me, it might be easier only to work with a 1/2 cup of morsels at a time as the chocolate will re-harden very quickly.)

Working very quickly dip each skewered cherry into the melted cherry to cover completely and scrape any drip off the side with a spoon. Place each dipped cherry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.

Refrigerate the dipped cherries for at least 30 minutes and don’t remove until ready to serve.

Before serving, carefully remove the toothpicks from each cherry. Once ready to serve, place several cherries on top of the mousse and top with coconut flakes. Serve immediately.

Variation: Use a little bit of the melted chocolate to attach coconut flakes to cover the hole made by the toothpick in the chocolate shell.

Enjoy!

DIY Planted Teacup Favors and Seed Packets

One of the major headaches that weddings can cause is the question of favors. They can also be an afterthought if you aren’t careful about planning. What should we get in bulk to give to our guests to take home? What favors won’t cost a big load of money? What will they actually use and like?

 

Pinterest has definitely tackled that dilemma that will take brides beyond the standard candle or potted plant. These revolutionary ideas include everything from candy stations (which I have actually seen in person) to every small knick-knack that has ever come in bulk. But really how many pairs of cheap sunglasses do you need?

To go with our English theme I played around with the idea of using vintage tea cups collected from various thrift stores for my bridal shower. The ideas went from filled with homemade wrapped caramels, to briefly candles, and finally to potted plants. Despite the cliché, I liked the idea of individual plants in different teacups.

 

We even played around with attaching teabags to the teacups, directly plagiarizing from my bridal shower (I’m a hopeless bride.) Luckily, our wedding coordinators suggested seed packets instead.

Whether or not my guests will actually use the seed packets and potted teacups is still unknown. But then again, they were pretty.

The Breakdown:

You of course want a beautiful favor your guests will remember. But unlike the SNL skit, that doesn’t mean two tickets to Italy and $40,000. Hopefully these budget friendly favors will go over better than cheez-its and a mini bottle of water.

The teacups cost about $1 per cup at thrift stores, but if you have a bigger wedding than 50, I recommend finding bigger quantities for less.

We got the potted pansies $4 for 6, costing roughly about $1.50 per plant.

The cost of actual seeds which you can get in bulk from flowersoul.com ended up costing roughly 70 cents a packet (versus $2.00 a packet at retailers.)  They had quantities starting at ¼ lb. to multiple pounds so you can get different types of seeds like we did.

Including the printer paper, glue, etc. each favor cost about $3.30 said and done to make.

$1.00 Teacup and Saucer

$1.50 Plant

.70 Seeds

       +   .10 Paper/Glue

__________________

Total: = $3.30 each

Why DIY?

When doing extensive research about our particular favors, I found that traditional seed packets (that aren’t even that pretty,) you see at the garden store go for $1.50-$2.00 each and those aren’t even personalized! There are companies that will customize wedding seed packets with your names and image, but after the initial “personalization cost” of $85-$115 for your own “message,” in addition to .35 per packet for 50-100, we would have nearly reached our total budget just for the packets. Not to mention they only offered three types of wildflowers for the seeds. (If you don't want a DIY seed packet, that site isn't bad and they will send you a packet sample.)

 

After shopping around, I found seeds in bulk for much cheaper with a heck ton more variety. Armed with vintage seed packet clip art from Jodie Lee Designs and the Microsoft Office template, we could make our own packets that were really personal.

Not to mention the teacups looked awesome.

Verdict:

The Knot and wedding wisdom say budget 1-2% of your budget for favors, so we were “right on the money” so to speak. Either the teacup portion of the favor or the seed packet would make nice favors for your wedding or even a bridal shower.

The completed seed packets would also work as a part of another favor such as a small garden shovel, pale, wine glass etc. With a little bit of tweaking the template, these would also be great as combined place cards/favors for seating with the guest’s name printed on the seed packet.

If you have a smaller wedding like us and have the time to DIY, this was a very personal gift that a lot of the guests loved (and pocketed two or more.) If you have a more standard 100+ wedding, I recommend either the teacups or the seed packets. But hey, I heard you can get sunglasses in bulk!

How to do it yourself:

Planted teacup favors

with attached customized seed packets

Planted Teacups

You will need:

1 teacup and saucer
1 small plant, we used pansies in different colors (I recommend getting plants that are individually packaged in six-packs)
Extra soil if small plants
Water
Small shovel
Optional: Dot adhesives to attach saucers

 Directions:

Tips:

·         First check each teacup for leftover sticky adhesives or grim before planting.

·         You will want to buy the pansies and transfer into the teacups around the week before the wedding so flowers stay nice and don’t wilt. Keep in cool area, especially if it’s for a summer wedding.

·         If possible bring to space the night before so you don’t have to worry about these favors on the day of. Understandably, most coordinators won’t want to deal with watering the plants days before the wedding.

 Working with individual plants, carefully take plant out of plant container. Make sure each plant is a little wet. If not, water in container before transferring.

Depending on the size of the plant, you may have to take off some of the bottom root system. Do this carefully as you don’t want to hurt the plant.

Using the small shovel and your hands, mold the bottom of the plant to fit into the narrow teacup. Place the plant in the teacup and press down on the soil so plant is securely in the cup.

Once each plant is in the teacups, gently water if needed. Be sure to wipe off the teacups for any residual soil.

Optional: use dot adhesives to attach corresponding saucer to its teacup so they stay as one unit.

 

How to make customized seed packets:

You will need:

Desired seeds such as wildflowers, basil, or other plant (enough for 1 tbsp. per packet)
Printer paper
Quality color printer
Glue stick
Raffia or other string to tie seed packets to teacups
One Hole-punch
Desired clip art for seed packets (Check out Jodie Lee Designs for the ones I used)
Microsoft Word Template

 

Directions:

Download Microsoft Word Template and customize by adding desired clip art and text.

This can include a message from you as well as directions for the included seeds and vintage seed packet cover, photo, or other clip art.

Once you have customized and tweaked your template, print a tester on your color printer to test color. Once you like the proof, print desire amount of templates and carefully cut around black edges.

Once the printed seed packets are cut, carefully fold along the lines:

·         first sandwich each side of the packet together, making sure it lines up perfectly

·         Fold side flap first over; lining up with gray line. Repeat step with bottom and top flaps.

Using glue stick, glue side flap first, then bottom flap over top, careful not to get glue outside flap-lines. DO NOT glue top flap yet. Allow sides to dry.

Once dry, carefully open up packet and fill each one with 1 tbsp. of seeds. Shake seeds to the bottom.

·          Lastly, glue top flap, while leaving one edge of flap slightly loose so packets can be reopened once gifted.

·         Using hole punch, punch one hole into the glued top corner of seed packet. (Leaving the loose side for opening.)

·         Thread raffia through the hole and use to attach to handle of the teacup.

If this long break down hasn’t scared you away, I hope you consider this DIY favor for your special day!

What is the best wedding favor you’ve ever seen? What is your “dream” favor, if that’s even a thing?

A Semi-DIY Wedding: DIY Fascinators

On March 3rd, 2012 my then boyfriend Aaron proposed to me in front of the Arch de Triomphe in Paris. At that moment I held naïve beliefs a year and a half engagement would be long one. Boy was I wrong. This weekend we were married at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, PA among the photographs my late father took and family and friends. I must say the day was just about perfect. But I definitely had my work cut out for me in planning it.

We don’t have all of photos yet but here are a few sneak peeks from our amazing photographer, Kalim including our DIY projects.

In my case planning a wedding takes a village, six bridesmaids, and a coordinator. This wasn't a "DIY" wedding but we also had several do-it-yourself accents.

 

chalkboard direction signs

 

 planted teacup favors with personalized seed packets

 Photos to come: wedding cake, centerpieces (except flowers)

 

 

bridesmaid gifts: personalized wine glasses for a day of wine tasting

And fascinators...

 

With all that said, DIY weddings aren’t always easy. We considered a lot of DIY options including are flower arrangements, but luckily we left the important things to the professionals. DIY weddings don’t always save you money, so consider what is worth both your time and money.

As more of our professional photos become available, I’ll offer more DIY instructions and tips.

Today, here was one of my favorite accents, which remains one of the easiest.

Worth it:       

Fascinators for myself and all my bridesmaids

 When planning an “English” wedding, you must have hats and fascinators! Buying fascinators can run you anywhere to a few hundred dollars just for one.  In order to makes ours a little easier to assemble, I purchased pre–maid clips from A.C. Moore for our base. These worked well because they provided both an alligator clip to attach to the hair as well as a smooth front for the fascinator to attach more feathers towards the back.

 

I was able to purchase these on clearance for only $1.75 each, but you can get them directly from the maker’s website, still making your fascinator much cheaper.

I also found the best deals for different types of feathers and birdcage netting on Etsy. Shop around and should be able to get several different types for low-cost per fascinator. Depending on quantity of fascinators, each one will cost as little as $4-5.

 

Supplies needed for each fascinator:

1 La Liberi White Feather Blossom Pin & Clip Flower (or alligator clip with back and more feathers)

At least two types of assorted feathers, 1 larger, 1 smaller (10-15)

1 square foot of birdcage netting whether French, English, or Russian style; cut into pieces for desired look

1 button of choice

Hot glue gun an glue

Directions:

Using La Liberi clip, remove safety pin from the back, leaving only the alligator clip.

Arrange desired feathers and desired amount of netting together the way you would like them to appear. Such as larger feathers in the back, netting in between, and smaller wispier feathers right behind the La Liberi clip. Use hot glue gun to attach feathers and netting, making sure they are enough glue to hold. Allow glue to cool between layers.

Once layers are set, use the hot glue gun to attach desired button in the front middle of the fascinator along with any other desired feathers or attachments.

Once cooled and dried, your fascinator is ready to where! For special occasions allow whomever is doing your hair to place the fascinator.

All of our fascinators were a little different, that made it more fun! These are great way to add a little English and vintage elegance to any occasion.

More DYI wedding tips to come! Any preference on what to see next?

Love,

The Married Cuisiner