What do I stuff the blossoms with exactly? I have no idea. And how much of the blossom stem do I leave on? I am a complete novice at this. What oil do you use, how much, and what type of pan? Hoping someone can really spell it out so maybe I and other newbies can enjoy this delicacy. What is an "egg wash"? I am completely lost. Stuffed blossoms sounds really good. I want to serve them at my gardeners luncheon this month. I recently began having these with some local gardeners. There are about 10 of us. Each one takes her turn having it at her house, and each chooses a theme. The last one was any dish containing herbs. Mine will be Mexican. Maybe I can come up with a Mexican version of stuffed blossoms. Let's discuss.

Hi Khandi! Here are the results! I was trying to create a piece of candy juxtaposing salt and chocolate. I just had a craving for it. I felt the chocolate had to be something more than *just* chocolate, so, I made an espresso brittle (after reading all the posts about brittle!). I wanted to cover it in chocolate, but didn't feel like taking the time to dip, set, and possibly dip again. so I found some candy molds, filled them 1/2-way with semi-sweet chocolate (Ghirardelli), place a piece of brittle in the mold, then filled with chocolate. After the chocolate set and I popped the candies out, I swirled chocolate over top and dropped a few flakes of sea salt. Here's the result: I think it tastes good. I couldn't quite find the size molds I was looking for...I wanted more of a wafer, and smaller pieces. I think there was a touch too much chocolate this time. I think next time I will take the time to dip, set, maybe dip again. That way I can control the size and amount of chocolate. I might also try milk chocolate. I did love the taste of the semi-sweet chocolate and salt. I could've taken more salt...but I know no one else would have liked that! Just in case someone wants it, here's what I did: Deb's Chocolate-Covered Espresso Brittle Brittle: 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup water 2 Tablespoons espresso beans, crushed 2 Tablespoons butter One dash salt Preparation: Line cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Spray paper with cooking spray. Combine sugar and water. Heat over high heat until color is light amber. Add crushed espresso beans. Continue until color is brown. Remove pan from heat. Stir in butter and salt. Immediately pour brittle onto prepared cookie sheet. Use metal spoon/spatula to spread layer thin. Let cool. Chocolate: 4-6 oz chocolate (milk or semi-sweet) Melt chocolate in double boiler. Break brittle into small, bite-sized pieces. Dip into chocolate. Place onto wax paper and let set. Dip again for thicker coating of chocolate. Drizzle chocolate on top of candy, one at a time, and drop a few flakes of sea salt on top. Alternate: Fill thin candy mold halfway. Press small piece of brittle into mold. Fill mold the rest of the way. Put in refrigerator for a few minutes (until chocolate no longer looks "wet' when looking through mold). Pop candies out onto wax paper. Drizzle tops with chocolate, one at a time, adding a few flakes of sea salt.

This would be a very good filling for a cake, because it is stiffer than most mousses, so it should take the weight of a layer on top of it without it squishing out. I used a Maryann cake pan, with the recess in the top of the pan used for a filling. Here is the mousse recipe: Bittersweet Mousse 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped ( I used Scharffenberger) 2 egg yolks beaten 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup water 1-1/2 cup whipping cream, separated 1. In a small sauce pan, combine chopped chocolate, egg yolks, sugar, water, and 1/2 cup of the whipping cream. Cook over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble around edges * I hate chopping chocolate, so I just melted the whole mess in a double boiler or it could scorch the milk before the 1 oz. chunks of chocolate melted. After it was melted, I removed the bottom of the double boiler and brought the top pan with the chocolate back to a light boil. 2. Remove the chocolate mix and set the whole pan into a large bowl of ice water. Cool, stirring frequently. This took about 10 minutes. Stir hard and often so it doesn't turn back into a hard mess. ( You could skip this step and just cool naturally, but it would take a lot longer) 3. In a chilled mixing bowl beat remaining 1 cup of whipping cream just until thickened. Do not beat to soft peaks or it will be too stiff. ** If using this for a filling on a layer cake, go ahead and whip until peaks form. It will stiffen the mousse up to hold a layer cake nicely. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. *** Normally this is a careful process of not overworking the mousse to keep it lighter. However, I love the thick, spongy-like density of the chocolate mixture from mixing it in well. Besides, the chocolate mixture is pretty thick, and you must beat hard to mix in the whipped cream. Cover and chill 2-24 hours. This is super super simple and very very tasty. Sorry I did not have time to take pix. I am having a chocolate bar at my soup party on the 28th. I will try to take a picture then. Linda, I had the edible flowers on hand cause I bought them for a french silk pie I was making for the neighbors, but ended up not making it, so they were on hand and needed to be used, LOL.

This is from the Animal Poison control Center. You should keep their phone number and web site handy. It's full of important and accurate information. Why is chocolate bad for dogs? Chocolate can contain high amounts of fat and caffeine-like stimulants known as methylxanthines. If ingested in significant amounts, chocolate can potentially produce clinical effects in dogs ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death in severe cases. Typically, the darker the chocolate, the higher the potential for clinical problems from methylxanthine poisoning. White chocolate has the lowest methylxanthine content, while baking chocolate contains the highest. As as little as 4 ounces of milk chocolate or only 0.5 oz of baking chocolate can cause serious problems in a 10-pound dog. While white chocolate may not have the same potential as darker forms to cause a methylxanthine poisoning, the high fat content of lighter chocolates could still lead to vomiting and diarrhea, as well as the possible development of life-threatening pancreatitis, an inflammatory condition of the pancreas. Here is a link that might be useful: Animal Poison control