La Belle Cuisine - More Cookie Recipes

Fine Cuisine with Art Infusion

"To cook is to create. And to create well...
is an act of integrity, and faith."

"Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you."
~ Robert Fulghum

Recipe of the Day Categories:

   Recipe Home

   Recipe Index

   Appetizers

   Beef

   Beverage

   Bread

   Breakfast

   Cake

   Chocolate

   Cookies

   Fish

   Fruit

   Main Dish

   Pasta

   Pies

   Pork

   Poultry

   Salad

   Seafood

   Side Dish

   Soup

   Vegetable

   Surprise!

Have a heart for
New Orleans

 
Nuit de Noel
Art Print
Matisse, Henri
Buy at AllPosters.com

Your patronage of our affiliate partners supports this web site.
We thank you! In other words, please shop at LBC Gift Galerie!

 
French Quarter
Art Print
Dynner, Lidia
Buy at AllPosters.com

Home Cooking:
Readers' best recipes
The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, LA
Thursday, December 09, 2004
By Paulette Rittenberg
Contributing writer

"When you own a chocolate store, the chances are you love cooking with chocolate at home. Such is the case with Ann Zerlin Streiffer, who, with her husband, Dr. Rick Streiffer, a family physician, owns Blue Frog Chocolates in Uptown New Orleans. Streiffer recently added double chocolate bourbon balls to her repertoire
of home recipes. They are perfect for holiday parties or gifts this time of year.
The recipe is from the cookbook 'Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight: The Chocoholic's Survival Guide and Practical Handbook, Or, a Spartan Hedonist's Views on Chocolate and How It Enhances Health, Stamina, and General Well-Being, Or, How to Morph Yourself from an Out-Of-Control... ' by Anne Isham (Nortex Press, Austin, Texas). According to Isham, she and her sister, Joan, have been trying out various bourbon ball recipes together for 25 years, but no recipe called for enough chocolate and allowed the bourbon and pecan flavors to shine through. Thus, the sisters developed this recipe that not only soothes their chocolate cravings but stays within reasonable calorie bounds if, of course, you don't go overboard on the quantity.
New Orleans native Streiffer, however, altered the recipe from the get-go by adding lots more chocolate. After all, she goes for chocolate in a big way, almost as much as her husband, she says. Her version of Isham's recipe produces delectably chocolaty bourbon balls with a brownie-like texture. Streiffer also loves that the white sugar coating has a good feel in the mouth, and 'you get hit by the smell of the bourbon' every time you open the bourbon ball tin.
According to the Uptown resident, she and her husband opened their store to have retirement income, and they decided they would sell chocolate because there are so many diehard fans of chocolate. (By the way, did you know that the cocoa bean from which chocolate is made, 'Theobroma cacao', translates as 'food of the gods'?) Having a chocolate store is also a great way to encourage their infant grandchild and future grandchildren to visit them often, Streiffer says."
 

Joan and Anne’s Double Chocolate Bourbon Balls

Makes 60

1 1/4 pounds Newman-O’s or other cream-filled
chocolate sandwich cookies (or unfilled chocolate
wafers or cookie crumbs)
1 pound graham crackers
2 cups chopped pecans
1 to 2 cups chocolate chips, optional (Streiffer doesn’t use)
15 ounces Hawaiian chocolate, or other fine, extra-bittersweet
chocolate (Streiffer uses 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds chocolate
with a cocoa content of 70 to 80 percent, making about
100 bourbon balls)
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 cup Weller bourbon (or your favorite bourbon;
don’t use Scotch)
1/4 cup Grand Marnier (or amaretto)
White sugar (about 1/2 cup)

If desired, scrape away white centers from cookies. In a food processor,
grind the cookies and graham crackers to fine crumbs; transfer mixture to
a very large mixing bowl. Stir in pecans and, if you would like little bits of
solid chocolate in the bourbon balls, also add the chocolate chips; set aside.
Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling,
water. Add corn syrup, bourbon, and Grand Marnier, stirring until the
mixture is completely smooth. Remove from heat. Add chocolate mixture
to crumb mixture, blending thoroughly. Roll into one-inch bourbon balls,
and roll each in [white] sugar. Store bourbon balls in airtight containers,
letting them mellow at least 24 hours before serving.
These bourbon balls get better with age and don’t require refrigeration.
If properly stored, they will keep about a year. If they seem dry after a
few months, or if they’re stored in a cold place, soften them by placing
one to four at a time in the microwave for 5 to 15 seconds.

Back to New Orleans Christmas Cookies