The Prattler, May 2023: 30 Days of Chocolate.

Welcome to my monthly prattle about all things food, skincare, books and writing. This month’s theme: Chocolate.

Who doesn’t love chocolate? It’s decadent, delicious, and rich; almost illicit with its inherent indulgence. It follows us throughout the year, making appearances on many major holidays from Halloween, to Easter, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. It’s a part of our culture, nostalgia, and one of the greatest, most accessible small joys in life. Instead of “let them eat cake!” Marie Antoinette should’ve proclaimed, “let them eat chocolate!”

This month in Healthy Eats, Sweets & Treats: honey, caramel chocolate cheesecake. My mouth waters anytime I think of how decadent and delicious this cheesecake was. The richness, the creaminess, is to die for. Just eating it feels like a luxurious trip to the spa; an indulgent form of self care. The best part? It’s relatively easy to make. Read on to get the full recipe.

From Do.It.Your Self-care comes a new exfoliant recipe: a cocoa coffee scrub. Its yummy smell will have you wanting to taste it, but your skin will thank you if you don’t :-p
This mixture will awaken your skin, scrubbing it of debris and making it brighter and tighter all at once. Bonus: you’ll smell like a freshly brewed pot of coffee.

In the Book Nook: a review of Chocolat by Joanne Harris. Not only does this book feature a chocolate shop, but it delves into the complex nature of mother and daughter relationships. This book is the perfect bridge between Easter and Mother’s Day. With poetic prose and its historical setting, Vianne Rocher’s chocolate shop in the French countryside will have you proclaiming Viva La France until the last page.

At The Writing Corner: a writing prompt featuring a seasonal chocolate egg festival. On the back of Easter and the brink of mother’s day, I couldn’t help but to introduce a lighthearted prompt featuring chocolate and merry children. I hope it inspires you as chocolate inspired me this month 🙂

This sumptuous cheesecake is the stuff of chocolate dreams. I’m unashamed to admit I ate it for breakfast every day until it was gone with nary a guilt pang, haha. Despite its decadence, this cheesecake is incredibly low on sugar for a dessert, (or breakfast :-P) making it satisfying enough to kill those chocolate cravings without busting your waistband.

Ingredients for the caramel:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp salted butter
1/4 cup milk

Directions:

Melt sugar on stovetop pan at medium/high heat until it caramelizes.
Remove from heat and add butter and milk simultaneously.
Stir until caramel forms, and set aside to cool.
Melt chocolate bar over a double boiler until creamy and smooth.
Cream together sugar, honey, cream cheese, and vanilla extract. Then add chocolate, mix until smooth.
Add in one egg at a time, mixing with hand mixer until just combined. Set mixture aside.
Take 1/3 cup of melted butter and combine with mixture of crushed Oreos and 1 tsp flour.
Press the Oreo mixture into greased 8×8 pan, and pour cheesecake mixture on top.
Bake at 325 degrees for half an hour, or until center is almost set. Cool slowly by opening oven door, otherwise thermic shock may occur, causing your cheesecake to crack.
While cheesecake is cooling, coat toasted pecans with 1 tbsp of melted butter and tbsp of honey to candy them.
To serve top cheesecake with whipped cream, caramel, then candied pecans.

I hope you all enjoy this cheesecake as much as I did! 🙂

This coffee scrub is a powerhouse among facial products, boasting properties that’ll leave your skin bright, tight, moisturized, and luminous.
Caffeine has anti-inflammatory properties, meaning it can reduce redness and puffiness.
It also brightens the skin, making it more luminous and youthful.
Beyond that it tightens the pores, reducing fine lines, wrinkles and smoothing skin texture.
Its rich anti-oxidants help repair sun damage caused by UV rays.
And panda eyes will be no more with this rich, brown scrub as it reduces dark circles, evening out skin tone.
The cocoa powder added to it acts as a skin superfood, rescuing dry, dull, sensitive, or aging skin.
Within it are nourishing compounds that revitalize the skin. Phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids all work together, feeding the skin, leaving it with a healthy glow and protective barrier against environmental stressors.
Both caffeine and cocoa powder increase blood flow to the epidermis.
Blood Flow=Cell Regeneration=Younger Looking Skin.

Directions:

Combine the above ingredients, and Voila, you have your coffee scrub.
There’s enough for 3 treatments in this recipe. I recommend you keep this mixture inside the fridge and use it within a week.

Below sits my chocolate inspired writing prompt. If you’re needing a fun idea to get yourself out of a writing rut, writing prompts are a great tool to take the pressure off and reaffirm the joy of the craft.

I’d love to see how this prompt inspired my fellow wordsmiths! Email me your short stories at tremuloustrinatales@gmail.com if you want the chance to be featured in a future blog post. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with! 🙂

Thanks for checking out this month’s Prattler. Stay tuned for an update on next month’s theme. I’ll be announcing it before the end of May. Subscribe below so you don’t miss it!