Cooking with Heat, day two!
Susan's back again with another yummy recipe. Nothing like sweets for the sweet. I jokingly told her I gained ten pounds just reading the recipe. LOL
These are just amazing. Basically, you dip the strawberries in chocolate. Once they are set, you inject them with gran marnier and let them sit for 24 hours. The berry absorbs all the alcohol and it just tastes sweeter/more yummy.
Gran Marnier Strawberries
Strawberries (if you can get the driscol's long stemmed ones, these work best), washed but NOT de-stemmed
Your favorite chocolate chips (I like the semi-sweet for this)
Gran Marnier
A syringe – for this you can get the kind from the cooking store – something like this will work well http://www.amazon.com/Cajun-Injector-Deluxe-Marinade/dp/B00005NUVV/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328577885&sr=8-1 Or if you live near a feed store, you can get one there near the animal medicine area. These work better because the needle is smaller.
Melt the chocolate. I like to do mine in the microwave. The instructions on the side of the bag work great!
Dip the strawberries in the chocolate, covering as much as possible up to the stem area.
Place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and place in the refrigerator to set.
Once the chocolate is set, inject each strawberry with gran marnier. You want to just fill it – you don't want it oozing out at all. You will get a feel for it after the first few. You can add a little melted chocolate on top of the hole to seal it up if it is leaking out. Set each strawberry back on cookie sheet once injected and place in the fridge for 24 hours. The fruit will absorb all the alcohol (so you won't notice when you bite into it – it just makes it super yummier!)
Safety Notice: These don't taste alcoholic at all, so be careful around children!
Today's excerpt comes from Three Reasons Why. I'm a sucker for a romantic guy.
Excerpt:
"We're closed," she said before she realized it was Wes on the other side.
He smiled and held up a picnic basket.
She turned the lock, trying not to be so pleased by his unexpected appearance.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as he walked in and placed his basket on the nearest booth. She locked the door behind him.
"Since you couldn't go out for dinner, I thought maybe I could entice you into joining me for dessert." He opened the basket, pulling out large, fresh strawberries and a container of melted chocolate sauce.
"Strawberries and chocolate, my favorite."
"I know," he said.
She was taken aback by his admission. Wes had been paying closer attention to her over the years than she'd realized. The wildflowers and dessert all proved he had indeed done his homework. The idea put the lump back in her throat. He wasn't making this easy.
"Here." He pulled out several more items from the basket. "Why don't you pop this CD in the stereo and I'll light a candle and open the wine?"
She grinned. Candlelight, music, wine. He was certainly pulling out all the stops, and her traitorous heart was falling for every delectable bit of it.
"Wes." She needed to find a way to get him out of here. She'd always thought herself too practical, too cynical to fall for such romantic trappings. "I'm sort of tired."
He turned and softly ran his finger along her cheek, studying her face. She tried to hide the traces of her earlier anguish, tried to erase all evidence of how depressed she truly was. "You work too hard. I just want to take care of you, Jill. Give you a few minutes to relax, to throw off the stress."
His words soothed her soul, cooled the red-hot pain like aloe on a sunburn. She nodded, unable to speak. Turning away, she walked to the CD player.
She returned to the corner booth he'd set up for them. Just a few minutes. She wanted just a few minutes with him. Tomorrow she'd be strong. Tomorrow she'd tell him the real reason she couldn't be with him and he'd leave. Leave her alone forever.
The soft sounds ofGeorgeStraitsinging a slow song filled the air. Damn, how did he know she was a sucker for a country love song?
"So how was your job interview?" she asked, desperate to find something innocuous to lighten the spell he was slowly putting her under.
"Pretty good. I'm not sure it was an 'are we going to hire you' interview as much as a 'get to know you before you start' interview."
"So you got the job?" She reached for a strawberry only to have him swat her hand away.
"Let me." He picked up a strawberry and dipped it into the chocolate before raising the fruit to her lips. She leaned forward, biting the entire berry, her lips brushing his fingertips where he held the stem. His eyes darkened at her movement, and he stared at her mouth without moving.
"You have a bit of chocolate on your lips." He bent to swipe the sweet sauce from the corner of her mouth with his tongue. His lips lingered on hers and she closed her eyes, lost to the soft touch.
She was disappointed when he sat down and pointed to the seat across from him. She struggled to gather her composure.
"I got the job."
"So tonight is a celebration?" She gestured at the wine.
"Every night I'm with you is a celebration."
She expected him to follow his compliment with some sort of joke. When he merely smiled at her as if she were Cleopatra, Helen of Troy and Aphrodite all rolled into one, her face flushed. Shit, he meant what he was saying. This wasn't good.
She cleared her throat. "So what's the job?"
He shook his head. "It's a surprise."
"A surprise?"
"Yep. I'll tell you tomorrow. Tonight I just want to be with you." He fed her two more strawberries before he rose from the booth. Holding out his hand as another slow song came on, he reached for her. "Dance with me."
She started to refuse but the idea of being held in his arms was too great a temptation. She took his hand as he led her to the large aisle next to the table. They swayed slowly in time with the music, and Jill closed her eyes, reveling in the moment. He was a wonderful dancer, and as the Dixie Chicks sang about a cowboy taking them away, Jill marveled at the sensation that she truly was flying away with him, free at last from her fears, her responsibilities, her loneliness.
She rested her cheek against his chest and listened to the sure, strong sound of his heartbeat. His hand drifted along her back, up and down in time with the music, and she savored the sensations his gentle touch created. She was relaxed, comfortable, at peace. All those concepts that were always just out of her reach permeated every part of her being, and she was hard-pressed to resist the magic of it.
As the song ended, Wes loosened his grip, reaching up to cup the back of her head. She raised her face to his as he kissed her. The kiss was warm and slow, the sort of kiss every girl dreams of receiving just once in her life.
It was perfect.
He was perfect.
Three Reasons Why is available at Ellora's Cave, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Sony.
