Mint Hazelnut Chocolates

These are quick little chocolates that I whipped together real quick one evening. I was craving just a plain chocolate but we don’t have your typical candies lying around the house anymore. No, unfortunately no Reese’s, Hershey’s Kisses, etc. But out of necessity, these little devils were born. Another perfect gift idea for a friend or loved one.

1 regular package of chocolate chips (I like Enjoy Life)

1 tsp mint extract            
½ regular package of mint chocolate chips (if you can find them, if not just use regular chips)
½ cup finely chopped plain hazelnuts
1 tsp almond milk
¼ cup coconut oil, melted

• Melt chocolates and mint extract in the microwave (careful not to scorch them).
• Once melted, stir in almond milk and coconut oil until smooth. Add in nuts.
• Spoon into mini cupcake pans lined with mini cupcake papers. Freeze until set.
• Note: We like to leave this in the freeze and eat them cold!

Lemon Mint Jam

Here’s the start of week two of my canning recipes. Again – I have lots of mint. I also have a friend that is pregnant. She is still in her first trimester and is having a lot of morning (all day) sickness. Having two children myself, I know all too well about morning sickness. What my friend has found and what I knew to be helpful was lemon. Not sure exactly why the sour taste of lemon seems to calm the tummy but it does. In hopes to helping her feel better, I decided to try out this lemon jam recipe. It’s really more similar to a marmalade but it is tasty anyway! This is great on crackers or toast. My mother even put it over a cheesecake filling for dessert. You can always add more sugar or sweetener but if you make the recipe as I did, it is still pretty tart and that’s how we like it!

 

1 bag of lemons (about 12 large – you’ll end up with about 4 cups of blended lemon)

1 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
¼ cup of fresh mint, finely chopped

• In a food processor or blender, blend lemons, rind and all with the mint.
• In a large stockpot combine lemon mixture and honey. Bring to boiling and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.  The acidity in the lemons help preserve the jam and the rind helps give the jam some texture but doesn’t add a bitter taste. This recipe makes about 4 half pint jars.

Spicy Watermelon Mint Jam

I won’t lie-I was skeptically about this recipe initially. I have recently been using a lot of ginger in my new recipes I’m trying. My neighbor had brought over a watermelon and we couldn’t eat all of it; there was so much. I hated to see it go to waste so I gave this a try. I also have a TON of mint. All kinds – chocolate mint, spearmint, citrus mint. For some reason, mint is the only herb I have found that can and will grow anywhere. I first planted it a couple of years ago in my garden. It is now all over my yard in random places. By my house, in the back yard, in the front yard… all over. Anyway – I also hate to see it go to waste so this recipe was born. A little disclaimer: this is not just a sweet fruity jam. It has a lot of spice. We have served this with cheese and crackers. It is not bad on breakfast items, like toast, it’s just a little different!

6 cups watermelon (seedless), cut into chunks

½ cup water
½ cup watermelon juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup honey (or 2.5 cups of white sugar)
2 tsp fresh mint
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp no sugar pectin (if desired to help it “gel” up)

• In a food processor or blender, blend watermelon, ginger, mint and pepper until desired consistency. You won’t need to blend this very much as the watermelon is already soft.
• In a large stockpot combine watermelon mixture, water, watermelon juice and bring to a slow boil. Stir in lemon juice and honey. Return to boiling and add in pectin.
• Cook at a slow boil for about 5 more minutes, stirring constantly.
• Ladle jam into prepared glass jars and finish preparing jars as desired.