Last Friday I was in my office talking with Brad when for some reason (unknown to me) I said "chocolate covered Bugles". When I said that, Brad's eyebrows raised and he considered the possibilities. Then I considered the possibilities. Brad said, "You should write that idea down." I did.
On Saturday, I decided to make chocolate covered Bugles. I remembered Alex's Chocolate Covered Twizzlers knew the technique I would use.
I told Michele what I was doing (after I bought the Bugles & chocolate) and she was mildly unsupportive. She said things like "No Way!", "This is going to be a mess!", and "Why are you so crazy? This is for your blog right?!?"
After carefully considering her concerns, I ignored them and walked into the kitchen to begin.
The base ingredients, Bugles and chocolate chips.
This is the doubleboiler setup I made with the bowl of chocolate floating in the pot of boiling water.
I asked Michele how to make it, and she started to help me.
Then she looked up and said, "What the f**k am I doing? YOU figure it out!"
Continue reading about the Bugles....
Zoe on the other hand, was quite supportive of my cooking efforts and helped out.
It takes a while to get the chocolate melted. Have patience, stir a bit, and soon enough it will be smooth and melted.
I simply dipped the Bugle into the chocolate and pulled it out. A chopstick is useful in wiping the excess chocolate off the bottom.
I put them down on wax paper to cool. The first row I laid on their side, but soon decided it was better to put them upright.
I made over 60 chocolate covered Bugles and ran out of wax paper space. To tell the truth, I also got tired of making them.
I had plenty of chocolate left. Looking around the kitchen I spied a few butter cookies.
The butter cookies when into the chocolate and came out fudge cookies.
The chocolate wasn't cooling and hardening, so I placed them on cooling trays in the fridge. In a few minutes, the chocolate got hard and that made all the difference. The children began opening the fridge and snatching them right off the wax paper.
Next time, for time's sake, you might consider just dumping the bag into the chocolate and then scooping them back out into clumps. Kinda like Snickerdoodles (which brings on the debate of what is the true Snickerdoodle, in this case chinese noodles dipped in butterscotch chips).
But the technique you used would be too cute made into little witch hats for Halloween, perhaps with a butter cookie brim?
Also if you have trouble getting chocolate to reharden you might consider adding just a touch of paraffin, this is thin it out a bit and also allow for thinner coats and more even distribution.
Some more ideas for your next dipping adventure: blueberries/dried cranberries/dried cherries dipped in white chocolate, peanut butter and Ritz cracker "sandwiches" dipped in semi-sweet chocolate. MMMMM-mmm gooodddd.
Geez, bet you didn't know this would bring on an essay in chocolate-dipping huh?
Posted by: gesikah [http://www.lifewithageek.com] on September 29, 2003 06:14 AMParaffin?
I thought that was something ladies dipped their hands into or was made into candles.
You want me to eat that?
Posted by: Michael [http://cruftbox.com] on September 29, 2003 06:18 AMgesikah is right. a bit of parafin will help the chocolate harden -- but be careful to not use too much . . . it's wax after all. you could also use chocolate flavored almond bark for bugle (etc.) dipping, although your chocolate flavor won't be as intense. and i must heartily dispute gesikah's calling a haystack a snickerdoodle. a snickerdoodle is a round sugar-like cookie with a smidge of cinnamon (not a good description, but it'll do for the sake of this argument.) chinese noodles in melted butterscotch chips are appropriately called haystacks as that is what they appear to be.
Posted by: mrs diggs [http://www.mrsdiggs.com] on September 29, 2003 08:07 AMPictures. I need pictures of snickerdoodles & haystacks.
Better yet, I need samples. Please feel free to send the butterscotch chip thingies my way.
Posted by: Michael [http://cruftbox.com] on September 29, 2003 09:09 AMHonestly, what isn't good dipped in chocolate? I'm a marshmallow guy myself. I think I would have dipped the bugle in marshmallow cream first, then into the chocolate. Or maybe fill the bugle with cream. Yummy.
I new someone in highschool that one ate wishbone dog biscuits dipped in marshmallow cream.
Posted by: pablocito [http://www.workingdata.com/blog] on September 29, 2003 07:04 PMGummy worms in chocolate fondue.
Posted by: jmv [http://www.octopushat.com] on October 1, 2003 12:43 AMOK - had to post. I saw the butter-fudge cookies in the fridge but failed to try one myself. I shall tomorrow.
Must write down new - albeit bizarre - reciepe...
Gorgeous! Next time use See's dark chocolate and save some for me! You can get ground almonds at Trader Joe’s. I bet that would be a great final dip.
Posted by: Mom [http://momonthealert.com] on October 1, 2003 07:57 PMnanny-Rachael's reaction to taste tasting two:
>,0"
Like - it was good for 3 seconds then WHAM! hellooooooo my friend sodium! It coated my tongue to pave the way for the 2nd one though ^^ By then my tongue was numb. I think maybe I just had one that had been sitting at the bottom of the Bugle box.
Posted by: nanny-Rachael [http://www.livejournal.com/users/odetooz/] on October 3, 2003 01:43 PMI thing that chocklate coveres bugles are the bomb and if people like bugles and chocklate they would like chocklate covered bugles
Posted by: Pamela [] on November 5, 2003 12:50 PMI pipe creamy peanut butter into the Bugle first and then dip the end into chocolate. YUM! :o) If you don't have an icing bag and tip 2 or 3, you can put the peanut butter into a ziploc bag and snip a SMALL piece of one corner off and squeeze the peanut butter into the Bugle that way. Enjoy!
Posted by: Alma [] on February 21, 2004 06:44 PM