Crab balls are delicious with beer, wine and
sparkling wine. Photo courtesy Jakes Crab
Shack.

The demand for crab cakes resulted in a casual restaurant, Jakes Crab Shack,* with crab cake sandwiches, Kobe beef burgers and lobster rolls. Keeping with food trends, there’s also a traveling food truck dishing up crab cake sandwiches.

*No write-ins from the editing police are needed: There’s no
apostrophe in Jakes.

Now, Jakes Crab Shack has gone retail.

Folks who can’t get to Belmar, New Jersey (south of Asbury Park) can get the delicious crab cakes and crab balls online, in packages of 24 one-ounce crab balls or six four-ounce crab cakes (both $42.00).

We love the crab balls for entertaining: they fit in with both casual or elegant fare, and are light enough to be enjoyed as an appetizer without filling up your guests. Serve them with sparkling wine (or beer, or any wine or sparkling water).

Treat your guests to some! Learn more at BrandlRestaurant.com.

Do You Know The Different Types Of Crab?

Here’s all you need to know about crab, including which type of crab meat to use for what recipes, and the different species.

Make your own crab cakes with this recipe. Also try the crab cheesecake—a great hors d’oeuvre or first course.

Peppermint lovers can add a hint of mint to their libations.

The mint flavor works with many cocktails, soft drinks, tea, coffee and hot chocolate.

We hang them on a Vodka Martini, Chocolate Martini, Espresso Martini, Cosmopolitan, Irish Coffee, Mojito and other favorites.

Or, you can crack the candy canes into chips (in a plastic bag, using a rolling pin or hammer) and sprinkle the garnish atop the Chocolate and Coffee Martinis or Irish Coffee.

Deck the drinks!
 
 
Find more of our favorite holiday drink recipes
in our Cocktails Section.

Hang a candy cane on a holiday drink. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Delicious, either plain or chocolate-dipped
(above). Photo by Jaclyn Nussbaum | THE
NIBBLE.

Beyond the luscious flavor, the thinness means fewer calories per cookie (in other words, two for the calories of one).

Moravian Cookies History
Moravian cookies are a rolled cookie that was introduced to Colonial American by communities of the Moravian Church. The recipe originated centuries ago in the kingdom of Moravia, located in what is now the Czech Republic.

Moravian cookies deserve the title “wafer-thin”; they are the thinnest cookies to be found. The dough is rolled to an almost-transparent thickness; the baked cookies are very fragile.

Original recipes have been traced back to the 18th century. While some bakers still make them by hand, most are factory-made to keep up with demand. Perhaps surprisingly, the factory-made cookies are thicker than the handmade ones (to help guard against breakage).

Salem Bakery’s Ginger Spice Moravian Cookies are made with the finest ginger, cloves and other exotic spices. The chocolate-dipped version is dipped on one side in rich artisan chocolate.

The regular spice cookies are just great; but the chocolate-dipped ones move you a little closer to heaven.

 
Love Cookies?

Check out our beautiful Cookie Glossary.

*For a Black Russian, mix 1 ounce of coffee liqueur and 1.5 ounces vodka, and serve on the rocks. For a White Russian, add one ounce heavy cream.

As with almost every cocktail, there are numerous riffs on the original, including:

†The historic hotel, in midtown near Central Park, Fifth Avenue shopping, Rockefeller Center and the Theatre District, was built by William Randolph Hearst.

EGGNOG WHITE RUSSIAN RECIPE

Ingredients Per Cocktail

 
Preparation
1. Pour coffee liqueur, vodka and eggnog into a shaker filled with ice.
2. Shake and strain into a rocks glass.
3. Top with a grind of fresh nutmeg. (Forget those maraschino cherries in the photo—and the candy cane, too.)

Some people like to float the cream/eggnog on top of the spirits to make a more arty White Russian. We prefer ours shaken, not layered or stirred.
  

Make hot chocolate dippers. Photo
courtesy Petrossian.com.

As a young adult, we wanted to be locked in a sushi bar.

As we mature, we realize there’s only one place in the world to be locked in: Petrossian’s New York restaurant and luxury food store.

Petrossian is known worldwide for its fine caviar and other luxuries such as foie gras and smoked salmon. If we weren’t on a budget, we’d be there every week.

But as we were scrolling down the company’s home page, fantasizing over each bite, we came across something any food lover can afford.

The product is Hot Chocolate-On-A-Stick: cubes of the finest Belgian chocolate that are swirled into a cup of hot milk or cream. This is old-school hot chocolate. The Swiss originated* the process of shaving chocolate bars into hot milk to create the rich, chocolate drink.

*The original chocolate beverage, made by the Olmecs in Mexico from around 1300 B.C.E., used ground cacao beans—cocoa powder and chocolate would not be invented, in Europe, for a few more centuries. Xocolatl (pronounced cho-co-lah-tay) mixed the ground beans with water and flavored it with local spices, including chile, cinnamon, musk, pepper and vanilla, and thickened with cornmeal; then frothed in a bowl. No milk was used. When the Conquistadors returned to Europe with cacao beans, water was still used. The English added milk in 1657. See the chocolate timeline.

It inspired today’s tip (no, it’s not shaving chocolate bars into hot milk or cream—we suggested that a few hundred tips ago).

Today’s Tip (Finally!): Chocolate-Covered Marshmallows-On-A-Stick

We adapted the Petrossian product concept to something that works with conventional hot chocolate and cocoa mixes (the difference between cocoa and hot chocolate).

We happened to have some artisan marshmallows from 240 Sweet. And we had those Recchiuti chocolate bars we wrote about on Monday.

Steps 1 to 3 can be done a day in advance.

1. Insert lollipop sticks into marshmallows. They’re also called cookie sticks and cake pop sticks. The six-inch size is best for large mugs; the four-inch side for standard-size teacups. You can also use thick bamboo skewers. Stand skewered marshmallows on a sheet of wax paper.

2. Melt a plain dark chocolate bar in the microwave. Even if you prefer milk chocolate, dark chocolate adds a richer flavor. Cut the bar into uniform pieces, the smaller the better. Be sure to use a microwave-safe bowl that remains cool or just slightly warm. Melt at a 50% power setting, to avoid scorching the chocolate; or heat the chocolate in 30-second intervals and stir between each interval. If your microwave does not have a turntable, manually rotate the bowl’s position after each interval. The chocolate is ready when most, but not all, is melted. Remove from the microwave and stir until completely melted.

3. Dip marshmallows into melted chocolate. Swirl to get an even coating on each marshmallow. Hold until the chocolate is firm; then set on the wax paper to continue drying.

4. Make your favorite hot chocolate or cocoa (here are reviews of our favorites). Serve with a chocolate-covered marshmallow-on-a-stick on a service plate with the cup or mug. Each person can do as he/she pleases: Eat the marshmallow from the stick or swirl it in the cup to add rich chocolate flavor and creamy melted marshmallow.

Or, buy the Hot Chocolate-On-A-Stick from Petrossian.