More Chanukah Chocolate: Cupcake Day & Gelt

There are eight days of Chanukah, so it's not too late to mention two of the more interesting blogs and recipes about Chocolate Chanukah that I've seen this week. The first is Chanukah specific, but the second you can enjoy any time. You don't have to be Jewish.

Today happens to be National Cupcake Day, so this is the perfect blog for today! Cupcakes take the Cake is a really fun site for cupcakes: for photos, for news, for links, for reviews! Everything and anything cupcake. Be sure and add this to your Blog Roll. But back to Chanukah. This week they blogged about another Blog: King Arthur Flour's Bakers' Banter. Now I think King Arthur Flour is great. It's a step above your regular baking flours, and I love their Blog. Lots of great recipes. But back to Chanukah. There's a really innovative post on a Cupcake Menorah with gorgeous cupcakes, cool wrappers and great concept. So much fun for the holiday! Of course, if I were to make this, the cupcakes would all be chocolate! The King Arthur Blog also has a cool video on how to decorate cupcakes. For more info, go HERE. Since there are eight days of Chanukah, you'll need two cupcakes for the first day, three for the second, etc. You'll need six today. How fun! Any good chocolate cupcake recipe will do. It's all in the icing, the cute wrappers and the concept!

You can never have enough Gelt (money), but when it's Chocolate Gelt (gold foil wrapped chocolate coins for Chanukah), sometimes you actually do have too much. What to do with left-over Gelt? Rhea Kennedy tells us on MyJewishLearning.com: Make Hot Chocolate! What a great idea. I especially like her recipe for Spicy Hot Chocolate. This is more of a South American Hot Chocolate than Mexican Hot Chocolate, and it will work with any leftover chocolate you have lying around. Should have added this to National Cocoa Day.

Spicy Chanukah Gelt Hot Chocolate

1/2-1 cup leftover Chanukah gelt (or other chocolate candy), at room temperature, chopped
2 cups milk, divided
1/2 cup water
1 pinch, or to taste, each of ground cayenne, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves
½ tsp. vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, heat 1/2 cup of the milk until just steaming. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir with a fork or wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. If the chocolate isn't dissolving, return the saucepan to the stove and stir constantly over very low heat, or heat in a double boiler. Continue until completely blended and smooth.

Using the fork or whisk, gradually incorporate the rest of the milk and the water. Add the spices and vanilla extract. When the mixture is blended, heat over a medium burner until hot. To achieve a traditional South American scorched flavor, allow the milk to boil for a few seconds before allowing to cool slightly and serving.

Chocolate for Chanukah

Chanukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, starts tomorrow. When I think of Chocolate and Chanukah (Hanukah/Hanukkah/ so many ways to spell this holiday), I always think of Chanukah Gelt, those chocolate candy coins wrapped in gold foil that are given to the children.

Oh!Nuts sells a 24-Pack Elite Bittersweet Chocolate Coin Bags, a 24-pack Nut-Free Chocolate Coin Bags and a Dark Chocolate Coins case of 24 bags, as well as Milk Chocolate, a Chanukah Gelt Treasure Chest and more!
Divine Chocolate has fair-trade Milk Chocolate Hanukkah Coins.
Chocolate.com has lots of different chocolate products from wonderful chocolatiers tht include Chanukah Dreidels, Chocolate Covered Oreos w/Dreidle Design from Sweet Expertise, Coins, Bars and more.

Check with your local chocolatier and discover what they may be offering this year.

Want to bake something? You have eight days, so you can interweave some of your own chocolate desserts into traditional Chanukah fare. The Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot recipe I wrote about for Rosh Hashana would be a star for Chanukah.

And, here's a chocolate recipe the kids will enjoy--and maybe you, too. Chocolate Latkas. Note: these are not 'real' potato pancakes, but they look like them.

Chocolate Latkes from Cooking Jewish, originally from Chocolate Holidays by Alice Medrich: Yield: 2 dozen 2 1/4-inch cookies

4 large egg whites
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
3 1/2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (organic and fairtrade)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla (I use Madagascar)
Scant 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Position racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil. Put some water in skillet and bring to low simmer.

2.Combine all ingredients in large heatproof mixing bowl, preferably stainless steel (ingredients heat up faster in stainless steel than in glass). Set bowl in skillet of barely simmering water and stir mixture, scraping bottom to prevent burning, until sticky and hot to touch.

3. Scoop rounded tablespoons of mixture about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie slightly with fingers to resemble miniature potato pancakes.

4. Bake until cookies feel dry on surface and edges and protruding coconut shreds are dark golden brown (despite chocolate color) and interior still looks like melted chocolate, 13 to 15 minutes. Rotate sheets from front to bake and upper to lower about halfway through. Slide parchment paper onto cooling rack. Cool cookies completely before removing from parchment. The cookies are most delicious on day they are baked – the exterior is crisp and chewy and interior soft and moist. Cookies may be stored, airtight, 4 to 5 days.

You have 8 Days to enjoy Chanukah: Add some chocolate.