National German Chocolate Day

Today is National German Chocolate Day.  I only know this because I follow Chocolate-Covered Katie's blog.  She has a recipe for some German Chocolate Fudge Bites.  Of course I had to try them.  Here's the recipe:

3/4 cup pitted dates
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/16 tsp salt (I didn't have salt, so I omitted it)
2T cocoa powder
2T shredded coconut (I used unsweetened coconut flakes)
1/3-1/2 cup raw almonds

Mix all together in a food processor then roll into balls.  They are really good.  And, they have the same base as the homemade Lara bar balls I made (which I just realized I never updated you with a good recipe or pics...I'll work on that this week).

This one's 3D...doesn't it look like the top ball is jumping out at you?  It's saying, "I know you want to eat me...let me just help you out by jumping into your mouth!"  hehehe...I know, I'm a dork.

My food processor is a mini Cuisinart.  It doesn't do a great job at grinding up all the nuts.  That's why my chocolate balls are a lot more  nutty looking than hers.  They still tasted great!  All the boys loved them.  In fact, we ate them right up!  Now I guess it's time to make the plain balls.  I can't think of anything cute to call these things.  Balls, albeit accurate, seems...wrong.  If you have any suggestions for me, let me know :)

Here's a bit of trivia for you....True or false: Did German chocolate cake originate in Germany? If you said false, you’re correct! This decadent cake is actually named after Sam German, who developed a baking chocolate in 1852 for Baker’s Chocolate Company and they named the chocolate "German's Sweet Chocolate" in his honor.

According to baking lore, a chocolate cake recipe using German's Sweet Chocolate was published in the Dallas Morning News in 1957 after being submitted by a Mrs. George Clay. Sales of German’s Sweet Chocolate rose dramatically after the company published said recipe across the nation, and the apostrophe was eventually dropped.

The cake is traditionally layered between a caramel-coconut-pecan filling, and is most often frosted. Regardless of its confusing namesake, it’s clearly old-fashioned deliciousness.

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