With the end of the year upon us it’s always fun to look back at the previous 12 months!

Here are the most popular posts from Chocolate Bytes for 2008. Did I include your favorite?

• Make your own Oreos
• Two-minute microwave fudge
• Layered chocolate cheesecake bars
• Chocolate cake in five minutes
• How to check a label for expired candy
• Grilled chocolate bananas
• New chocolate biscuits baffle Brits
• Lindt Excellence Chili Bar
• Better Than WHAT Cake
• Homemade Oreo ice cream
• Flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
• Chocolate chip blondies

Yes, fudge in the microwave, and speedy fudge at that!

Two-Minute Microwave Fudge
1 lb. powdered sugar (powdered sugar)
1/2 cup cocoa
1 stick (1/2 cup) margarine or butter
1/4 c. milk (any kind, even skim)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 - 1/2 c. pecans or walnuts (optional)

Mix sugar and cocoa together in a microwave safe bowl. Make a well in the center. Slice butter into the well and add milk. Microwave 2 minutes on High. Remove and stir. Add vanilla and nuts and stir. Turn into buttered pan and refrigerate.

[image: flickr]

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I found an awesome link over the weekend with instructions on how to make a single-serve chocolate cake in only five minutes using your microwave!

Five Minute Chocolate Cake

You’ll need:

4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug

Instructions:

Mix flour, sugar and cocoa. Spoon in 1 egg and pour in milk and oil, and mix well. Put in microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (1000watt) and wait until it stops rising and sets in the mug. Tip contents out of mug onto saucer and enjoy!

Make sure you use cake flour - all purpose tends to make it way too dense and thick. A few drops of real vanilla extract also gives it an authentic “cake taste!” Serve with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, fresh fruit, and/or ice cream.

[image: sxc]

Melting chocolate isn’t rocket science but it is something you need to pay attention to! The above video gives you tips and different techniques for melting chocolate (with more attention paid to microwave melting).

This video shows you how to add the melted chocolate to buttercream frosting. Who needs canned when you make the real stuff yourself?

A few days ago my neighbour stopped me out of the blue to tell me how to melt chocolate.  It didn’t seem that strange at the time, but looking back I have to wonder.  Do I look like I need to know how to melt chocolate?  I mean, aside from the constant chocolate smudges on my chin and clothing, how did she know that I am a chocoholic?  Besides, maybe I already knew how to melt chocolate (I really was just kind of winging it).

Turns out there was probably no sinister meaning behind her instructions to me.  She had simply been watching a Martha Stewart show on TV and felt the urge to share what she’d learned.  Martha Stewart is another one who makes me feel like there is a sinister plot afoot.  I think she exists just to make the rest of us feel semi-useless.  Yes, I’m jealous that she can do so many different things so well, but she doesn’t have to flaunt it!

Back to the point, how do you melt chocolate?  Well, these instructions were for those of us who don’t own a double boiler (I suspect a great many of us don’t) and who want to melt chocolate in the microwave.

The thing you need to be very careful of when melting chocolate in the microwave is that it melts faster than it looks like it is melting.  Chocolate seems to hold its shape, so you can put a bowl of chocolate chips in the microwave, nuke them, and they’ll still look like chocolate chips until you stir them.  But if you overdo the melting, the chocolate will be streaky according to Martha, or worse yet, will burn.  That last point is according to me.

So, whether you are melting chocolate chips or baking squares or chunks of chocolate, just put them in for no longer than one minute to start.  Then give it a stir to see how melted it really is.  If it is not yet half melted, put it in for another 20 seconds.  Stir again and repeat if necessary.  But, once it is about half melted, take it out of the microwave and just stir it until the remainder melts.

And that is how you melt chocolate in the microwave according to Martha Stewart with special comments from me!

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