Enter Rosemary Gladstar.  Her book is brilliant if you’re inspired by Harry Potter’s Potions class, and want to start concocting things in your own kitchen.

I adapted this recipe for a chocolate liqueur that uses the herb ‘damiana’ (ok, admittedly, I had to go buy this herb especially for this project, but it just sounded too delicious to pass up!)

Damiana is a restorative herb that is a gentle anti-depressant, helps you deal with stress/anxiety, and is also supposed to be an aphrodisiac!  Sounds perfect for an after dinner drink.

The key with liquors is that they just take time.  Letting them steep and mellow really improves the flavor.  Also, I learned again that packaging is SO important.   Straight out of the measuring cup this was tasty … but once I bottled it nicely, and added a name and a label, somehow it just tastes better to me.  Yikes, I’m really a child of the advertising age!

Chocolate Temptation Liqueur

(Adapted from Rosemary Gladstar’s Damiana Chocolate Liqueur)

1 oz. dried damiana leaves

2 cups brandy

1 1/2 cups filtered water

1 cup honey

vanilla extract

rose water

chocolate syrup

Method:

Put damiana leaves and brandy in a covered jar, let them soak for 5 days.  Shake daily, if you think of it.  Strain, reserving the liquid. (You just made a tincture!)

Soak these same leaves in the water for 3 days, strain and reserve the liquid.

Over low heat, warm the infused water and stir the honey in until it’s dissolved.  Remove from heat, add infused alcohol.

Add a splash of rosewater and vanilla extract.  Pour into a clean, pretty bottle (I usually fill bottles with boiling water for a few minutes first, as a sort of semi-sterilization).  Label the bottle.  Let it sit for one month or longer, for the flavors to develop.

To serve, take 1 cup of liqueur and add 1/2 cup of chocolate syrup and a splash more rosewater.  Serve in little cups straight or over ice. Yum!

Being lazy, I mixed the entire bottle’s contents of liquor with the syrup and rosewater at one time, and then rebottled it.  I think I decreased the shelf life of the liquor by doing this – will let you know!   The liquor mix (without chocolate syrup) should last quite awhile, at least a year.

Have you tried making flavored liquors at home?  I invented a few more that are still steeping, will share the results soon (a hawthorn berry and cinnamon in vodka, and another with dandelion and burdock in brandy).  Happy experimenting!

Going through my pantry the other day (full disclosure: My pantry is really one small kitchen cabinet crammed to the brim – ahh the joys of apartment living!) I found unopened dark chocolate Easter bunny that I had stashed away last year.  Since Easter is just around the corner, I figured I should really use this one up before the new season of chocolate bunnies appear on my doorstep.

OK, I could just eat the chocolate bunny.  But it was the weekend and I was feeling more adventurous.  I’ve been having a wicked craving for 7-layer bars recently, but haven’t quite made the effort to figure out substitutes for graham crackers etc. here in England.  These blondie brownies have that toffee-coconutty goodness of the 7 layer bar, with a very dense chewy consistency.  Don’t be discouraged by the super thick batter (mine was basically a dough) of this recipe, just press it into the pan like a cookie dough.

Plus, you get the added enjoyment of chopping up an easter bunny, if you have a little pent-up frustration to get out

So, if you have a leftover chocolate Easter bunny – turn it into these delicious butterscotchy, chewy, blondie brownies.

Long-lost chocolate easter bunny

Chopping in progress

Voila! Chocolate chunks.

Easter Bunny Blondies

Adapted from http://southernfood.about.com/od/browniesbars/r/r90510k.htm

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

4 oz. melted unsalted butter, cooled

1c. brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 c. dried shredded coconut

1 chopped up chocolate easter bunny (I used a dark chocolate Dove easter bunny) – about 1c. of chocolate chunks.

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease & flour 8×8 baking pan.  In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter and sugar, then mix in one egg, stir well.  Add vanilla.  Stir in flour and salt until all combined.  Stir in coconut until combined.  Then, add chocolate chunks and stir until evenly distributed throughout dough.  Normally blondies are a batter, mine turned out very stiff like a dough – don’t worry about this.  Pour/press into prepared pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Glaze (optional): Once cooled, I melted a little extra chocolate and 1 TB butter together and drizzled over the top of the blondies.