Chocolate Dipped Easter Treats

I love these chocolate dipped peanut butter eggs and they are made even more delicious with the addition of some rice crispy cereal. The crunchy outer chocolate shell, the inner soft chewy comforting flavor of the peanut butter, made a lot better with the crispy cereal.

 

Without further ado.... The recipe for these bad boys is coming right up.

{{Crispy Peanut Butter Balls}}

(Printer friendly version click here)

1 stick butter, melted

1 lb. powdered sugar (2 ½ cups)

1 (18 oz.) jar peanut butter

3 1/2 c. Rice Krispies

Mix together all the ingredients using a paddle attachment of a kitchen aid stand mixer. Using a cookie scoop, measure out the peanut butter fondant and then roll into balls the size of walnuts. Chill 2 hours on a cookie sheet.

In a double boiler, melt

2 bags chocolate chips

Optional: Add to chocolate chips a small piece of paraffin wax (This will make the chocolate shinier and easier to dip balls.)

Drop a peanut butter ball into the chocolate, and using a fork, cover the ball. Tap off excess chocolate and then set on wax paper/parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Chill until set. Remove and layer in container with wax paper. Store in refrigerator. 


After I dipped all the peanut butter balls I had chocolate left over. I grabbed a package of bunny peeps and dipped them as well. Start by pushing a stick inside the marshmallow, then dip into the chocolate. After they are laid down on a piece of parchment paper, add a mini marshmallow tail on the butt of the bunny. 

Let them set up and then serve. The kids thought these were adorable and they FLEW off the plate. Even the kids that don't really like Peeps, liked these chocolate dipped ones. That's what chocolate can do for things. It just makes everything better.

Peanut Butter balls... done. Package of Peeps... done. Still more chocolate left. What to do now with that chocolate??? I saw the mini marshmallows sitting there and remembered something my mom would do when I was little. I raided the pantry and found some Roasted and Salted peanuts.... perfect!

Now it was time to make some Rocky Road Candy! Mmmmmm... Yummy!

The leftover chocolate in the bottom of the pan will always vary so there isn't a set recipe, but basically. Toss in some mini marshmallows, add some peanuts and stir. You can drop tablespoons of the mixture onto some waxed paper or put it into lightly greased pan (if you have that much) and cut it into squares after to serve.

Either way... it is a yummy way to keep yourself from wasting any of this delectable chocolate. The salty peanuts... the soft and sweet marshmallows, and the rich chocolate... Everything you need in a quick treat.

Orange You Glad... Birthday Gift

I made this little gift to give away... I've seen tons of variations on Pinterest. I had to mail this gift so I opted for less chocolate and more mailable items.

Super easy and versatile gift that can be made to fit any person. Basically you just have to collect "orange" colored items.

Here's some orange suggestions:

• Orange notebook 
• Orange pen
• Orange tube of Mini M&M's
• Trident gum (Tropical Flavor- with an orange package)
• Orange Crystal Light
• Burt Bees Chapstick
• Orange Nail Polish
• Orange Slices Candy
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or Reese's Pieces
• Kit Kat Candy
• Soda/Drinks (Orange Crush)
• Orange Tic Tacs
• Goldfish
• Cheetos
• An actual real orange
• Orange cup
• Orange Ribbon
• Orange Stickers
• Anything Orange! Walk around and see what Orange things you find.

Then you add a little tag and it's done! Ta dah!

Here's a free printable of the orange tag for a Birthday gift.

And another tag for other gifts... Teacher Gift, Visiting Teacher gift, neighbor gift, just because gift! You can make the gift big or small depending on how much stuff you put into the collection.

 Right click on the image that you want and save it to your computer, then you can print out, cut out and attach it to your gift.

Here's another idea...

It's a plastic mason jar straw cup with a lid (and it even has an orange on the glass itself). I filled it up with a bunch of Orange candy, gum, Tic Tac's & Burt Bee's chapstick. I bought the cup at Wal-mart and after filling it with the orange treasures, I wrapped a ribbon and attached the tag.

Chocolate Dipped Cinnamon Bears

Yummy treat... cinnamon bears. Their chewy cinnamonny sweetness! Awesome!
What could make them better? Ummm... duh! Chocolate! That brown gooey goodness makes everything better. The kids and I spent an hour or so making these little gifts for their school teacher.

Start with melted chocolate and a bag of cinnamon bears. You can melt the chocolate in a double boiler or an easier way is to do it in the microwave. Chocolate can burn easily so it is best to reduce the power of the microwave. Of course all microwaves are a little bit different so keep a close eye on the chocolate if it's the first time. I will microwave the chocolate for about a minute at a time at 60-70% power, stirring in between each interval. Then when most of chocolate is melted, I like to pull it out and stir it until the last few lumps melt so that the chocolate doesn't get tooo hot. When it's all ready, toss one of the bears into the melted chocolate bath.

Cover the bear up with a fork. Pick it up and tap it on the edge of the bowl and let the excess chococlate drip off back into the bowl.

Slide the bear off the fork onto a piece of parchment paper. Check to make sure that on the side where the bear slid off the fork it is covered up with chocolate.

The proceed to cover each little bear, one after another...

After all the bears had been dipped, for some fun I put the leftover chocolate into a pastry bag and drizzled it onto some of the bears. You could use a contrasting colored chocolate, white or some Wilton melts in any color to suit the holiday. This was just an easy way to add more chocolate to the bears.

I thought about only doing half the bear... but that was just crazy. Every part of the bear wants to be covered in the silky warm chocolate. It wouldn't be fair to leave out half of the bear.

After the bears take their warm chocolatly bath, it was time to let the bears cool off in a cool place (such as a refrigerator).... and then when the chocolate gets hard and set... you now it is time for the party in your mouth to begin! Mmmm.....

I put some chocolate covered cinnamon bears into the bag and then mixed them up with some plain cinnamon bears. I wasn't sure the teachers position on cinnamon bears. I thought... this way they'd have a choice... some with chocolate and some without.

I made a hand written tag using the Sale A Bration Stampin' Up set, which included the cellophane bags, the long striped tags the hexagon tags and the glittery heart stickers.

Caramel Apple Dipping Bar

Mmmmmmm.... Love Caramel Apples.

Love them!

They are the epitome of Halloween for me. I find that I crave them at least once every season.... if not more. My kids love them too.... especially now that they don't have their braces on anymore.

We've made lots of fully dipped apples and then covered them in yummy treats and toppings, but they can be such a pain to eat. This takes "most" of the mess away from eating a caramel apple and the best part of separating out the toppings, means that you can have lots of variety. Each apple slice can be it's own delicious caramel apple.

First I like to start with green apples.... the tartness of a green Granny Smith apple pairs nicely with the sweet caramel. Using a simple hand apple slicer that makes 8 even slices, I cut up the apples. Sometimes, I will cut each individual slice again to make a total of 16 slices per apple, especially if there are lots of peeps... (plus that means there is a greater caramel to apple ratio.... very important!) You can use skewers to pierce the apple before dipping or just use your fingers.

Here are the few toppings that we used this time. Sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, peanuts, macadamia nuts, and chopped up M&M's.

Other topping ideas are:

• shredded coconut, 
• mini marshmallows (can be cut in half so they aren't so unruly), 
• chopped up candy bars (Nestle Cunch, Kit Kat, Twix, Snickers, Milky Way, etc.), 
• crushed up Oreo cookies, 
• crushed up chocolate chip cookies, 
• other nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.), 
• toffee bits, 
• candy corn, 
• cereals (Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops- kids love these bright sugary cereals),  
• really just wander around the grocery store and you will find a gazillion things that you can add to this caramel apple dipping bar. 

Since there were only a few toppings and only my few kids, we put them in piles on a plate... but you could put each individual topping into its own bowl.

The caramel recipe I used is available if you click here. Another quick and easy way to make a caramel for apples is to unwrap KRAFT caramels and put them in a saucepan over medium heat (or you can melt them in a microwave) with a small amount of milk or cream. I would say for a full bag of caramels you would add about a tablespoon or two of cream.

So many choices... so many varieties... so many yummy choices. 

Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread--- Super Fancy!

 

Fall is here and this is a good way to enjoy it! Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. But let's not just do it the plain old fashioned way... let's do it in a better way.

Here it is... a better way to eat Pumpkin Bread. You might say, how can there be a better way to eat pumpkin bread. It is pretty much Fall Perfection in a Loaf Pan. Right? However... a way has been found. Cover it up with chocolate. True, it's already filled up with some chocolate chips, and then it just gets better with a little more chocolate on top. I made about 8 loaves (mini loaf pans) of this the other day. I gave away about 4 of them. The rest were devoured by my kids. They loved it! You must try it! You must make some! Must!!

Without further ado... Here's the recipe:

{{Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread}}

(click here for printer friendly version) 

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup pumpkin

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½  teaspoon nutmeg

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 ¾ cups flour

⅓ cup milk

1 cup miniature chocolate chips

½ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup white chocolate chips

1 ½ teaspoons shortening

In a mixing bowl beat the sugars, and eggs until creamy. Add the applesauce and pumpkin then beat again. Sift together the baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and flour. Add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with the milk. Stir in the mini chocolate chips by hand.

Spread the batter in a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake at 350* for 60-70 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Place the chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon shortening in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds. Stir and heat again for 15-20 seconds. Set aside and repeat with the white chips and remaining shortening. Spoon the melted white chips into a plastic baggie with one tip cut off.

Spoon the melted chocolate chips on the top of the bread. Go to the edge, but be careful to not push the chocolate over. Immediately drizzle the white chocolate from side to side. Use a toothpick to draw lines from end to end. Work quickly before the chocolate sets up. Makes 1 loaf.

(Makes 4 small loaf pans with this recipe. Add a little over a cup of batter per pan. Cook for about 35-40 minutes. These are the perfect size for giving away a small treat to your friends. You'll want to share. It's just that good!) Wrap it up in a cellophane bag and tie it up with some fall ribbons & twine. This would be a great neighbor gift for Christmas too. Tie a tag on with the recipe and share this yummy-ness.

Now that you have the recipe... just a few more notes. 

It's not just fancy and pretty... it's DELICIOUS too and with no oil in it... you could almost call it healthy.  I found it here originally and then changed up the recipe a bit. More spices, less oil.

I have made this recipe with less chocolate chips inside the bread and it still turns out good. So if you think that it will be TOOOOO chocolatey (I'm not even sure I know what that is, but some people feel this way!) then you can reduce the mini chocolate chips to about 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup instead.  You can tell there is a little bit less chocolate chip goodness in this loaf of bread, but it is still delicious. So much yummy flavor filling up the pumpkin and spices. With less chocolate, the nutmeg and cinnamon can really shine.

When making the design on top... you want to work quickly and keep the chocolate warm and melty so that when you put the white drizzle on top it will melt into it and become one layer of chocolateness. You can cut a tiny hole in the ziploc/pastry bag filled white chocolate for a smaller more intricate design...

 

Or you can cut a bigger hole in the bag and pipe more chocolate on top for a bolder look.

See the difference... But it's gonna be yummy either way that you do it.

Happy Fall Y'all! Love it. It truly feels like Fall has begun with this spicy pumpkin smell in the air and that cool crisp feeling outside. The leaves are changing and it's so much fun. Yum!

Edible Image on Cake

For my Grandpa's 80th Birthday we decided to celebrate with a birthday party. It's not every day that you turn 80. I was making a cake for the party and wanted to do something different. I had a picture of my Grandpa when he was younger and serving in the air force. He also worked his career and retired from Disney Studios. I took the picture, scanned it into Photoshop, added some balloons, a Mickey Mouse & some words. I took the picture to our local grocery store, Harmons and in their bakery section they printed the picture out on their edible printer (someday I want to get me one of these). On the left side you see the picture and the frosting edible image on the right. It is an 8x10 image.

You can tell the edible image is not as vivid as the printed picture and it ended up a bit smaller than the 8.5x11 inch image that was printed. 

However it is a great duplication... and went onto the cake nicely. (Check local grocery stores or bakeries for the option to have your image printed cause it makes for a super easy & personalized cake!)

Here is the cake right after I finished decorating. I made a simple chocolate layered cake, covered in a basic white buttercream (had to be a light color so the image would show up). Before I added the blue star border I peeled the image off the backer paper and applied it onto the white background. So easy! Peel & Stick! The edges were super noticeable at first but with time the image blended into the frosting more and more. I didn't really know what I was doing, but it turned out. When they printed the image, there was an ink blur at the bottom and it transferred as well... I should have cut that off. I could have trimmed around the image as well since the cake was bigger than the image and I didn't put the border next to the edge of the image.

I used a large wide open star in blue tinted buttercream for the border.

Grandpa (and Grandma) loved the cake! And that's all that matters. I had bought some camouflage material to use as a tablecloth for our party. The cake cut up nicely when it was time to eat it. I made sure I got a piece with the edible image and it tasted like sugar.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Cocoa Kiss Cookies

These are a new FAVORITE cookie of mine. I try new cookie recipes all the time and while most of the time they are delicious, most of them don't make it into cookie hall of fame. At least in my recipe book hall of fame.

But this one was AMAZING! I loved it! They are like a chocolate version of Sandies (A.K.A. Mexican Wedding Cookies, Snowballs, etc. They have a million different names.) Plus to make them even better, they have a chocolate kiss in the middle of them which gives them extra goodie good-ness.
With no further ado..... Here's the recipe....


{{Cocoa Kiss Cookies}}

(printer friendly version)

1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 bag (9 ounces) Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolate
Powdered Sugar

Beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Stir together flour and cocoa in a separate bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Add pecans; beat until well blended. Refrigerate dough about 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove wrappers from chocolate pieces. Mold scant tablespoons of dough around each chocolate piece, covering the kiss completely. Shape into balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool slightly, about 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Roll in powdered sugar. Roll again in sugar just before serving, if desired.

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.



Here are the cookies after they have been cooked. The dough was wrapped around the kiss and then baked in the oven. Let them cool on the baking sheet for about a minute, before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Then they get coated in powdered sugar.

Then you can coat them again in more powdered sugar right before you serve them so that they look this beautiful white color.

They melt in your mouth. You want to limit how much dough you put around each kiss so that they are a decent size but not too big and so that you can get the full 4 1/2 dozen of cookies from this recipe. They are yummy cookies. You can omit the pecans if you want... but I think they really add a great flavor and dimension to these cookies.

Serve with a tall glass of milk... And enjoy!