M is For Morsels

I am a definite chocolate lover (who isn't, right?) and our family has used Enjoy Life Foods products for many,many years. I am beginning to wonder if they can read my mind because just when I was beginning to see them appear here and there, I felt myself feeling pangs of jealousy. I was seeing all of these people getting them, tasting them, trying them out. I had silent temper tantrums even though I was happy for my fellow bloggers. Then, ta-da! So you can only guess my delight when I was asked if I wanted to try out their new Dark Chocolate Morsels. I did not hesitate and I could not respond fast enough, to say the least. (Did I mention that I really like chocolate?)

Facts
I bet you may be wondering how a morsel is different from their chocolate chips? (well, I wondered). There are a few things-


A) Morsels are dark chocolate while the
other chips are semi-sweet chocolate (as seen on the package)

B) the size of the chips are different (see picture proof to the left). Clearly, exhibit A are the morsels

C) Ingredients are slightly different. Morsels contain unsweetened chocolate and cane sugar while the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips contain evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor (non-alcoholic)and non-dairy cocoa butter.

D) and , for some odd reason, you get one less ounce of Morsels than you do with chocolate chips....Hey Enjoy Life Foods, what's with that? I may be busy cooking up great stuff with your chocolate but did you think I wouldn't notice that I was missing a full ounce of my precious? Hmmm, maybe if I hold something for ransom, they will send me more. Or, maybe they will just taunt me and I will die alone, chocolateless (is that a real word?)

Recipes
This is the best part of trying them out (chewing) because (chew) I really need to taste everything to make sure (chew) that it's acceptable for everyone, you know what I mean? (smiling with chocolate stuck in between my teeth) As I sat staring at the bag, I was waiting for a brainstorm. Something out of the ordinary, something fun, something that would impress Enjoy Life Foods (thus, sending me infinite chocolate). In the end, I came up with three recipes to share with all of you. With Thanksgiving almost here, I created a turkey cookie using some of Enjoy Life Foods Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies but I am sure that any of the other cookies would taste just as great with the too.

Turkey Cookies

What did the turkey say? Eat! Eat! Eat!

2 Enjoy Life Foods Soft Baked Cookies
10 pieces of candy corn (I used Starburst Candy Corn because it is egg free)
Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Morsels
1 graham cracker (I used Josef's Gluten Free)

Roll one of the cookies into a ball for the turkey's head. Take the second cookie and gently insert the candy corn, spacing slightly. Take two pieces of the candy corn and slice off the colored area, leaving the white areas to use. Insert them for eyes. Insert one piece of orange candy corn as the beak.

On low heat, melt the morsels until smooth. Place a small amount of the melted chocolate on the bottom of the turkey head and secure it onto the body, using the chocolate as a "glue". Then do the same with the turkey body, attaching it to the graham cracker as a base. Using the end of a lollipop stick or toothpick, dip it into the melted chocolate and dot the eyes to make eyeballs. Let cool completely.

Makes 1 turkey cookie

Nog Pops

3 Ounce plastic cups

Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Morsels (plus additional, depending on your taste)

1 Quart So Delicious DairyFree Coconut Milk Nog (or your preferred egg nog)

Cherries(optional)

Lollipop sticks

Cinnamon

Optional- crushed pretzels (I use Glutino) candy canes, nuts, etc. for toppings

Place the plastic cups in a shallow dish for support. Sprinkle enough chocolate chips to cover the bottom of the cups. Pour the nog into each cup, leaving room at the top for chocolate. Optional- add chopped cherries to the cups.

Cover the entire dish securely with plastic wrap. Gently poke one lollipop stick through the plastic wrap into the middle of each cup of nog. Place in the freezer until firm.

Once the nog cups are frozen, prepare the chocolate. Melt the chocolate chips on low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Once melted, remove the nog pops from the freezer and gently spoon some of the chocolate onto the top of each filled cup. Add optional toppings, making sure you gently press down to ensure that they become secured into the chocolate. Place back into the freezer until you are ready to serve.

Allow the pops to thaw for a few minutes prior to serving. To loosen, run the cups under warm water.

Makes approximately 15 pops

Advent Necklace (can also be used as edible garland)

Chocolate advent mold (as seen on EBL Food Allergies)

Elastic String (I recommend you find one that is in a sealed package and is not dyed)
Enjoy Life Foods Dark Chocolate Morsels

Thoroughly clean the advent mold and dry. Begin setting up the necklace/garland by arranging the string along the mold, making sure to push the string down into each mold. I recommend using small bits of tape to hold them in place until after they are solid.

On low heat, melt your Morsels until smooth. Carefully spoon some chocolate into each area, filling completely and making sure the string has been covered. If the string is not covered properly, the chocolate will not adhere to the necklace and will come apart (leaving you short a day or two for the 25 days of Christmas). Let the chocolate set until firm, then gently remove and use. WARNING: chocolate smudges so prepare to see some happy chocolate smears.

As always, I would like to thank Enjoy Life Foods for allowing me to review their products. I love their products and I am grateful to be a part of what they do. Do they pay me to do it? Of course not. So what motivates me to do it? Feeling you get while eating chocolate- Priceless. Feel free to check out all of their other products at http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/. Just make sure you don't buy up all of the chocolate because somebody needs to have some too (wink, nudge).