Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans are a quick and simple snack you can make yourself, either as a special treat, or to serve at the end of a dinner party.

Chocolate and coffee work well together, so much that some chocolates in Europe will have recommended servings that include serving with coffee, particularly dark chocolates. However, any kind of chocolate can make great chocolate covered coffee beans, even white chocolate. This sweet, crunchy snack gives you the mellow flavor of one of the favorite candies in the world with the tang and aroma of coffee. And even better, this is a snack with kick, since you’ll get a little caffeine rush from eating chocolate covered coffee beans.

Making Your Own Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans

Some people are serious enough about their coffee to buy their own beans and grind them. If you’re serious about your coffee, then you can be just as serious about your chocolate covered coffee beans. By purchasing your own beans and chocolate, you’re guaranteed a quality product.

Making this great snack food is a snap; all you need is a pot to carefully melt the chocolate in, and some sort of device, whether a fork or a strainer, to remove the beans. Once the chocolate is melted, simply place the beans in the pot to coat, and then remove with the fork. Set on wax paper to harden overnight, and you’ll have a great snack that you made from scratch.

The selection of coffee beans can be important in the making of chocolate covered coffee beans. You want to buy a medium or dark roast, since a light roast will simply be too acidic for chocolate covered coffee beans. This is one reason why chocolate covered espresso beans are a popular sell, since it’s a very dark roast.

You can bring out interesting flavor combinations with your chocolate covered coffee beans by purchasing flavored beans. Usually considered inferior by aficionados for creating a brew, they can add an extra kick to chocolate covered coffee beans. Give making this sweet, crunchy, snack a try and you’re sure to get hooked.

Brisket is a cut from the breast, usually the lower part. It commonly refers to beef, but can mean chicken, pork or other animal meats. Though a badly made brisket can certainly be tough and unappetizing, if well done they can be highly tasty.

One key to cooking a brisket is the necessity to do so very slowly. Throwing even a small brisket cut of beef onto a grill for twenty minutes is almost to guarantee something that would be better regarded as beef jerky. But slow cooked, in a smoker or brick oven, sometimes for even as long as 24 hours can produce a tender, mouthwatering meal.

But, however prepared, every good meal starts with good ingredients.

A good piece of brisket will have some fat on it. On top of the cut it should have a fat cap that is about 1/4 inch thick, in order to supply the meat with ample flavor as it melts into the outer layer of muscle.

A fine brisket will be fresh, not frozen. Thawing frozen meat in the refrigerator, not on the counter, is always preferable but still a second best proposition. Once frozen, meat never returns fully to its original state. A healthy looking red color and ample marbling throughout are signs that you’ve selected well. ‘Marbling’ is a pattern of ‘veins’ of fat that wend through the meat.

A proper slab of brisket is going to weigh about 10 pounds, so it will need to be prepared properly before being slow cooked.

Every backyard chef has his favorite rub and preferred marinade. In the case of brisket, be prepared to use more than usual, owing to the thickness and the need to slow cook. The meat will need to marinade longer as well.

Mustard is a simple, yet popular beginning for a sauce for brisket, especially in the South. Slathering a spicy mustard along the top lets the spices penetrate the meat without scorching on the bottom. Of course, in many cases, the brisket will be turned on a spit so ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ are meaningless.

Use sparingly, in any case. Spices and sauces serve the purpose of enhancing the flavor. They should never become the centerpiece of a recipe. The flavor of the meat should always be front and center.

When both are used, rubs are often applied after the sauce, where the sauce provides a good material for the spices to cling to.

To cook, put the brisket into the smoker with the fat cap on top. Wait at least an hour before turning on any rotating spit motor. You want the fat to melt down and around the sides and penetrate the meat slowly. Some will inevitably drip off, but by starting with the thick marbling on the top, you’ll get good coverage.

Add woods for enhancing the smoking flavor according to your personal preference. Mesquite is a popular choice for obvious reasons: it adds a fine flavor.

Cook at about 225F (107C), about 75 minutes for every pound of brisket. That works out to 12 1/2 hours for a 10 lb cut. Just about right. Check the meat with a thermometer every hour after seven hours to ensure a uniform interior. The meat should reach at least 180F (82C) for taste and safety.

A white sauce (you’ll often see it in recipe books as a “Béchamel” sauce) is an essential for your cooking repertoire.

White sauces form the basis of many recipes, and you can trick up left-overs by adding them to a white sauce. Flavorings for white sauces can be anything you choose: simple pepper and bay leaves, curry spices, nutmeg - it’s entirely up to you.

Your white sauce is made up of butter and flour in equal proportions, with milk.

For a standard white sauce, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat.

Add 2 tablespoons of flour when the butter’s melted, and stir over a very low heat for a few minutes. The cooking ensures that your white sauce won’t taste of flour.

Slowly add a cup of milk to the sauce, stirring as you add the milk. Your aim is to have a completely lump-free sauce.

Add whatever seasonings you prefer to your white sauce.

White sauce traditional recipe

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup scalded milk
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Few grains pepper

Put butter in saucepan, stir until melted and bubbling; add flour mixed with seasonings, and stir until thoroughly blended; then pour on gradually while stirring constantly the milk, bring to the boiling-point and let boil two minutes. If a wire whisk is used, all the milk may be added at once.