Today's Guest Chocoholic: Jenn from Rook No.17

Hi all! I'm going to be busy with packing and getting my son off to college ( waaaahhh) so I'm thrilled that several of my BFFs have been wonderful enough to provide guest posts over the next couple of weeks. I promise that you will NOT be disappointed in the great ideas they have to share and hope that if you aren't familiar with these blogs and bloggers, you will go and visit them. In advance, thanks to everyone for your help and friendship! 

My first guest chocoholic is the incredible Jenn from Rook No. 17 with a delicious and of course chocolatey treat! 

Greetings The Answer is Chocolate fans!  I'm Jenn, the crafter, baker, and glitter shaker behind the creative living blog Rook No. 17.  I'm a cake sculptor by profession and a mom 24/7. Rook No. 17 is a place where I share my original recipes, vintage inspired crafts, and cake decorating tips and tutorials.

I'm so happy that Carol has invited me to guest-post here today.  I'd be remiss in showing due respect to my incredible hostess if I didn't bring something chocolaty along to share.  So, today I've brought my easy and delicious Strawberry & Chocolate Tartlets for you to enjoy:

I owe much gratitude to my mom for initiating so many wonderful family traditions when my brothers and I were growing up. One of my favorites involves visiting a local farm every year for berry-picking. I am happy to say that this is one (of many) traditions that we've continued and now includes three generations. Because we can always count on a bounty of fresh strawberries every summer, I enjoy creating new recipes that will perfectly complement their natural sweetness.

This year, I revamped an old family classic for Strawberry and Chocolate Pie to make these delightful two-bite tartlets. The buttery little tart shells and the not-too-sweet chocolate filling are the perfect match for the berries.

While strawberry season is at its peak, visit a local farm, farmer's market or grocer -- pick up a basket of berries, and give this recipe a try:

Strawberry and Chocolate Tartlets

(makes 4 dozen)

Print-friendly button at the end of the post

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

6 oz. (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, room temperature

3 Tablespoons honey

4 dozen small strawberries, caps, or quarters

FOR THE TART SHELLS

Step 1:  In a medium bowl, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth.  Beat in flour, just to combine.

Step 2:  Roll dough into 1" balls and place in a lightly greased mini-muffin tin.  Using a wooden tamper or small shot glass dipped in flour, press dough balls down to form a cup shape.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

  Preheat oven to 350 F

Step 3:  Bake shells for 10 minutes.  Tart shells will puff slightly during baking.  Using the tamper or small shot glass, gently press down the centers of each shell, then bake for an additional 10-15 minutes.  Set on a rack to cool for 10 minutes then gently remove shells and allow to cool completely.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE FILLING

Step 1:  In a small saucepan or in the microwave, melt the chocolate chips over medium-low heat.  Set aside.

Step 2:  In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually beat in the melted chocolate and honey.  

Step 3:  Transfer to a pastry bag, or a ziploc bag with the tip snipped and pipe chocolate filling in to the cooled tart shells.

Step 4:  Garnish with a fresh strawberry and top with a dash of powdered sugar.  Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.  These can be made up to two days in advance of serving.

BFF Link Party #15

Happy Friday everyone. I'm tied up the next couple of weeks getting my young man off to college but wanted to continue the wonderful momentum of the weekly link party. The Blog Feature portion will resume in September. So for now, come on in, grab a chocolate chip cookie, link up whatever you've made that you want to share and then pop on over to a neighbor's for a visit!

Wise Bird Printable

I was smart enough one day to use my smart phone’s note pad to write down a quote I wanted to remember. I wasn’t smart enough to write down where I saw it!

Along came The Graphics Fairy earlier this week with a wonderful bird graphic that was perfect for my quote. I’d already saved this great nest, also from The Graphics Fairy.  The text I generated using my PrintShop Deluxe program.

Click on the image to bring to full size then right click to “Save As”

Linking Up At: 

Superhero First Aid Kit

I got this idea when I was at Old Navy the other day and saw a “Superman” lunch box . My son may be going off to college but he is a lifelong superhero fanatic and comic book collector. So even though he won’t be taking his lunch, I couldn’t resist this lunchbox:

(I also couldn’t resist playing with BigHugeLabs again!) Mom that I am, I couldn’t help but think about practical things too. Like the stuff that we Moms keep on hand….cold medicine, bandaids, anti-bacterial ointment etc. You know…the stuff that’s just magically “there”?

Vitamins, anti-bacterial wipes, nail clipper, Ibuprofen….

Of course I had to go with the Spiderman bandaids! I was hoping he wouldn’t think I was being a smother mother and he didn’t. He really liked and appreciated it. I am not however, allowed to decorate the dorm room

BFF Link Party#14 : Wrap Up, Features, and FYI

Thanks everyone for continuing to link up to the Blog Feature Friday Open House here at The Answer Is Chocolate. I love going through the links and seeing familiar blogs and new ones.

First, the FYI…the BFF Open House link party will be up for the next few  Fridays without the blog feature portion. During those same weeks I won’t do the Monday wrap-up. The combined blog feature and link party will resume week ending 9/9. Just too much going on trying to get a kid off to college and spend some family time! Thanks for understanding. Now for this week’s features!

You MUST check out this incredible felt flower pouf at JandJ Home!

I love everything about it. The flowers, the colors ! YUM.

I’m so drawn to fonts and typography and if you’ve never visited Aimee at Sprik Space, you are cheating yourself. She has created so many collections of amazing printables and generously shares them. I adore this alphabet:

You will definitely want to check out her multiple series of patterned pieces while you’re there!

Becky, at Buzzy Bee Creations linked up the cutest mason jar project.

Functional and pretty. A combination that can’t be beat! And finally , Suesan from Frou-Frugal linked up this gorgeous chair / bench makeover that will make you want to curl up with a glass of iced tea or lemonade and a good book:

Just looking at the fabric, I feel Mediterranean breezes! 

Fat Quarters Aren’t Just For Quilting!

I’m not a quilter, but I can’t keep myself out of the quilting fabric. I especially love “fat quarters”….they’re about 18”x18” pieces of the same fabrics you can buy by the yard. They’re also a perfect size to wrap a wine bottle.

Starting this week, the first wave of my son’s friends  leave for college. We were stopping by one goodbye party and I was trying to think of how to wrap a bottle of wine and didn’t quite have time to make a wine bag. Fat quarter to rescue! I just placed the bottle in the middle, gathered up the edges wrapped a rubber band around the neck and finished off with some ribbon!

The tag is one I had on hand for just such an occasion (it was really a card and I cut along the score line to have twice as many tags and embellished with some paper scraps, KandCo scrapbook borders etc.) I just threaded some of the same ribbon through the holes in it and tied to the bottle.

I also wanted to bring some cupcakes but with everyone so busy didn’t want to worry about getting a container back etc. Enter aluminum pans from Dollar Tree along with a plain white flour sack towel from the same. The hostess can use these for something else and not have to worry about returning.

The paper flags I simply made using my Printshop Deluxe Program and printed on a patterened scrapbook paper in the Freshman’s school colors.

And I’m still using up the edible gold glitter stars I bought for my son’s graduation which seems like an eternity ago and now they’re all leaving for college! YIKES! Maybe I should have bought two bottles of wine.

Linking Up To: 

BFF Link Party#14 and BFF A Fish Who Likes Flowers

TGIF! Whew. Can you believe it’s August already? And it’s not going by any slower than June or July did. This week, I’d like to introduce you to a fun blogger named Bethany and her blog A Fish Who Likes Flowers. As she puts it:

I'm a creative Pisces girl that loves to sew, knit, and create beautiful things.

And she does exactly that! Look at this cute pillow she made for a friend’s birthday ( and isn’t that sentiment the truth?!)

You might remember some of her other pillows which were recently featured as part of one of my previous party wrap ups:

Bethany did these for a wedding gift but you have to see the other things she did for this wedding!
I love these table markers made from thrift store finds and chalkboard paint:

And these cute moustache and eyeglass accessories on a stick she did when the bride, her niece, saw a similar idea in a wedding magazine:

Guests could take one ( from the equally cute mason jar) and take pictures with silly faces. I love this idea. And since it's still Summer, check out this beachy wreath she linked up last week: 

Much much more to check out over at Bethany’s so I hope you will go visit!

Now, I’m not going to go into a long party intro…you know the drill! Link to your blog post and not your main page and no advertising or selling please. Party on!