Saturday, February 16, 2013

Pride and Prejudice: Bon Bon Living

"Oh! my dear Lydia," she cried, "when shall we meet again?"
"Oh, I don't know. Not these two or three years, perhaps."
"Write to me very often, my dear."
"As often as I can. But you know married women have never much time for writing. 
My sisters may write to me. They will have nothing else to do." 
~Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Chapter 53 


Lydia Bennett has the brains of a sea cucumber, but I have to hand it to her on this one:
Married women truly are slammed for time.

It's not that marriage in and of itself is time consuming (unless you count the Phase 10 marathon/feud of 1996 that almost ended up with my husband and I in divorce court).  It's just that marriage leads to babies who lead to LOTS of meals, laundry, carpooling, homework, housecleaning, and diapers.  
So today, as I was simultaneously extracting the toilet water from my carpet and disinfecting the toddler who had dumped it there, I thought of the person who coined the image of "a housewife who sits around all day eating bon bons" and decided that they were single.  Male.  And without kids.

So while I may not have any time to sit around and eat bon bons, I HAVE at least discovered a fast, easy, and crowd-pleasing way to make them.


Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles. 
(My kids thought they had died and gone to heaven when they tasted these.  And the best part is that these don't use any eggs so that NO one has to die and go to heaven from Salmonella.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
(adapted from Taste of Home)

1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1 cup mini chocolate chips
chopped pecans (optional)
* 1 1/2 cups melted chocolate chips or almond bark for dipping 
Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour and salt alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (optional).  Shape into 1-in. balls; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate until firm.  In a microwave, melt chocolate/candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip balls in coating; allow excess to drip off. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm.  Makes 5 dozen.

And as if these didn't taste good enough on their own, they also look adorable when dolled up with a few sprinkles and swirls. 

I would suggest that you do a taste-test of your own to see how you like them, but we all know you will be too busy making these darlings to actually eat them.  Ah, the rub of "married life" . . .


9 comments:

  1. Ah, yes-some of us domestic goddesses like to bake, too, don't we?
    I agree-It was a male that coined that phrase...as he sat on his duff eating a fine meal his wife had slaved over- xo Diana

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  2. ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!


    m ^..^

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  3. I can't wait to try this recipe-- thanks!

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  4. Those look amazing! I think I'll whip up a batch if I ever get through with the laundry, cleaning, and dinner cooking around here.

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  5. Those look so good! What a great gift for your sweetie. Pinning!

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  6. These look DELICIOUS!!!!! I'm afraid I'd eat them all if I made a batch!!! They look so yummy!!!! And I love the excerpt you used from Pride&Prejudice... Lydia was always so silly!

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  7. Yum! These caught my eye, and I think I'll pin them for a family dessert some day soon!

    ~Emily
    http://tossedsaladlife.com

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  8. Wow! These Chocolate chip truffles look so delicious!! I'm sure mine would never look that great though. P.s. I think that the Lydia from the 1995 version of P&P is my favorite! That laugh of hers! Now I want to watch it... :) ~ Jamie

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  9. These turned out yummy. I think they need to be kept refrigerated though as they get gooey if it's too warm in the house.

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