Chocolate-dipped Strawberry "Carrots"

Let this day be known in history, as the day I got my 3 year old to eat a vegetable.

It was actually like a month ago, but we can still celebrate right?

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Chocolate Caramel Truffles

I can't say the word "truffle" without silently adding "shuffle" onto the end. 

Chocolate caramel... truffle {shuffles}.

(A truffle shuffle, of course, being when one holds on to, and proceeds to shake, their stomach.)

If you have no idea what I'm talking about you should probably watch Goonies immediately.

This compulsive habit sometimes gets awkward when it becomes necessary to say "truffle" in public.  One more reason I try to avoid social situations. 

PS- These truffle {shuffles} are great for Valentine's Day.

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Valentine's Oreo Truffles

February is here, all my girly pink and red decorations are out, and the sun actually peeked out for approximately six minutes last week.  I am all smiles!  Also one of my dear friends had a little baby girl this weekend, and I have a niece coming any day now.  If the groundhog is correct and Spring is actually on it's way, there are even more reasons to celebrate!

Around these parts, we usually celebrate in the form of chocolatey-goodness.

Oreo truffles are nothing new but I've never actually posted the recipe here.  I figured it was about time.  Also, my husband (who is on Atkins)  is convinced this is the food of the gods.

I agree.

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Pink Peppermint Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

These little peppermint Oreo ice cream sandwiches were my favorite new creation of the Christmas season.  They are SO good. 

Chocolatey.  Pepperminty.  Cool, creamy, and delicious.  

Plus they're bite-sized little babies, so obviously they're low-cal...

Right?

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Chocolate-dipped Toffee Pretzels

These are one of my favorite treats to make at Christmas time.  You can drizzle them with red, white, and green candy melts, or top them with anything from toffee bits to crushed Oreo.  

Delish!

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White Chocolate Peppermint Oreos

The knife block set we got for our wedding conveniently came with a whacker.  You know, one of those long rods that you use to whack things like candy canes or Oreos to crush them?

Okay, so it turns out the "whacker" is actually a knife sharpener.  Yes, I just figured that out today.

Who knew?

Everyone needs a good whacker in their knife set.  Otherwise you couldn't make these babies.

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Rocky Road Caramel Apples

A girl like me can't just make regular old caramel apples for Halloween.  I'm all about the toppings.  How many calories can we load on one apple anyway?  These Reeses apples are my favorites.

This year I made a rocky road version. Totally Disneyland worthy!

Pretend you don't notice I forgot the almonds.

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Apple Pie Caramel Apples

 Pie.  In apple form.

It's a good idea.

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Chocolate-dipped Butterfinger Oreos

My husband and I are slightly obsessed with Disneyland.  We're one of those families that will go every single year if we can. We last went about a year ago and promised ourselves we'd wait until our littlest guy was 40 inches to go again.  Well, he's 35 inches, a little runt for his age, and I'm really not sure we can wait that long.  Do they sell child-sized stilts?

These Oreos are an attempt to bring a little Disneyland magic into our home even though they have nothing to do with Disney except they look like they belong there because everything at Disney is freaking delicious.

You caught me.

I really only go for the food.

Also I found out today that the Arby's symbol is NOT an ice cream cone with a bite taken out of it.  It is in fact a cowboy hat.

WHAT!!

Since my entire world has just been shattered I pretty much feel justified in eating lots of these.  Seeing ice cream cones instead of hats probably says all kinds of deep psychological things about me that I don't want to know.

Have a happy weekend friends!

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Chocolate-dipped Frozen Key Lime Pie on a Stick

Awhile ago when I shared my true feelings about key lime pie I mentioned the Key Lime Pie Factory where they dip frozen slices of key lime pie in chocolate.  Since then I've had these on the brain, and I decided I better make some at home since Key West is pretty much at the opposite end of the country.

It turns out I am not above buying single serve pie slices from Walmart's frozen section to save lots of time and energy.  They certainly aren't gourmet, but are surprisingly good.  And for 98 cents... a pretty good deal too.

If you want to use your own pie just cut it into slices, separate the slices, and freeze for about 6 hours or until frozen through.  (Placing them on a cookie sheet with an inch or two between each slice works well.)

These would be so cute for an end of the summer dinner party!  I'm thinking coconut cream would be delicious.

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Patriotic Chocolate-dipped Cinnamon Bears

The posts are backing up again so hopefully I will be posting a lot over the next week or so.  I wanted to update those of you that follow on Facebook and saw my post about the fire in Colorado Springs.  My parents are still evacuated but are just fine, and for now their house is unscathed.  The firefighters have done an incredible job of controlling this beast and keeping any more structures from burning down.  Unfortunately about 350 neighbors have lost their homes entirely.  Please please keep these families and the tireless firefighters in your prayers.  If any of you are related to a firefighter please let them know they are APPRECIATED.  They don't get told as much as they should, but they are cherished by many.   It truly takes a hero to don a 70 pound suit in 100 degree weather and fight right next to a wildfire that is blazing an extra 500 plus degrees.  And to do it all through the night.  And the next day.  And the next day.  Talk about hell incarnate.   Bless their hearts!  And bless those of you who have given thoughts and prayers to my family and their city.  It is appreciated more than you know.  Wish I could give each of you a great big hug and a basket of chocolate-dipped treats!




Want to talk about cinnamon bears now?


First I have to caution you- these are infinitely easier if you don't put them on skewers.  If you skewer, it takes a LONG time.  You need to thread very slowly and apply even pressure or your chocolate will crack.  And then, your chocolate will crack anyways.  And you will be annoyed and want to throw things.  So I am totally not recommending it but I admit it can be done.  IMO these are just as cute in a bowl for a snack, so no need really.

Cinnamon bears are a great place to start if you haven't dipped much before.  They are small and easy to work with and you can do a lot fairly quickly.  You can certainly use chocolate or brown melts in place of the white melts for traditional chocolate-dipped cinnamon bears.  Be aware that regular chocolate may not harden completely.  I usually get the best results from using a bar chocolate with a good snap (Ghiradelli or something similar) rather than chocolate chips.  You can of course do jimmies or drizzles in any color you like to make these for other holidays or occasions.

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Chocolate-dipped Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

Sometimes you accidentally create a beautiful thing.  (Cough.  Second Child.  Cough.)

Just kidding.  He was on purpose.

What I mean is, sometimes you make something, but you don't realize just how delicious of an idea it was until you taste it.

These Rice Krispy treats are one of those  experiments.  In Brussels, my mom used to pack a Cha Cha in my lunch pretty much every single day.  {A chocolate-covered caramelly wafer treat. } These Rice Krispy treats taste a LOT like a Cha Cha, which I can not find anywhere here, so they spoke directly to my heart.

These are really sweet so cut them small, but they are chewy and chocolatey and delicious.  A little slice of European heaven.

{Well you know.  Kinda.}

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Chocolate-dipped Chips Ahoy Ice Cream Sandwiches (and a 4th of July version)

I am currently trying to think of a good scheme that would convince my husband to buy me a dog.


Like plastering this face all over the house:

Probably two hundred-ish copies or so would do.


If I had a dog I would never have to sweep my wood floors again because everyone knows dogs are human vacuum cleaners.  This means no more crumbs people. No. More. Crumbs!!

Have you seen my floor?

I swept that yesterday.  

As in, one meal ago. 

Also, if I had a dog I could go "walking" in my neighborhood without looking like a moron, because my pace would obviously be a result of my dog's short legs and not my lack of coordination or physical fitness.  Walking a dog is the only acceptable way to walk around the neighborhood when you're 26.  If you're 50+ you can do whatever the heck you want.  But 26 year olds can't just go "walking" by themselves.  People expect you to at least jog or something.  This of course, I am not willing to do in broad daylight.

Also, most importantly, if I had a dog it would  function as a guard dog to scare away kidnappers and murderers when I'm home alone at night.  Probably a more effective deterrent than me wearing a hockey mask around and peering through the back windows at intervals.  (Kidnappers and murderers leave other kidnappers and murderers alone you see.  And they ALWAYS watch your house for at least an hour before busting in, so this is actually a great method. You really should invest in a hockey mask if you haven't already. Talking REALLY loudly next to your windows about your loaded gun also helps.)

All I see is positives here.

Plus, probably dogs clean up ice cream drips.  Which I will need for the next time I make these:

Let me know if you know of any place that does color copies in bulk.

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Chocolate-dipped Dinosaur Rice Krispy Treat Pops

My 4 year old has been out of  "school" for 2 weeks now and so far he has:  asked for 10 million snacks, made a coral reef out of marshmallows and licorice, corrected his grandmother's grammar (further and farther are NOT the same word),  and eaten every single meal in his treehouse.

I'm thinking it's going to be a long summer.

I have some fun science/social studies "units" planned for him to keep us from rotting of boredom, so I'll have some themed foods coming all summer, but there will also be plenty of the usual.

This week we are starting a dinosaur unit.  If I had realized this would entail long conversations about carrion and how carnivores shred their meat I probably wouldn't have been so eager to start with this one.  At any rate we had a great time making these pops and I have some super cute dino-themed cookies to share with you later.

Happy Summer to all!

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Jungle Animal Chocolate-dipped Oreos

Have you seen these new jungle animal Mother's cookies?  I am in LOVE with them!  I squealed in delight when I saw them in the store.  Yes, I am apparently 13 years old.  I squeal when I'm excited.

It's so fun thinking of ways to bake with new products.  I decided to make some chocolate-dipped Oreos and top them with jungle animals. The weird thing is these were REALLY good.  I would make these again just for my husband and I-  no kids needed.

Oreo + Mother's cookie = something magical

I wish they would come out with a red, white, and blue version for Independence day.  How fun would those be?

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Chocolate-Dipped Peeps

Yes, I know everyone and their mom posted chocolate-dipped peeps about 2 months ago but with this blog's namesake,  I really have no choice but to put up my version sometime.  

Whenever someone refers to their friends as "peeps" I picture these in my head and wonder if they like to take bites out of their friends.

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Reeses-Stuffed Chocolate-Dipped Marshmallow Pops

Anybody remember back when we invented stuffed marshmallow pops?  I tried a Reese's version last week for my brother-in-law's birthday, and they were even better than the original.  Super sweet, but seriously loved these!

Visit this post for full instructions and pictures of how to make stuffed marshmallow pops.  Just replace the Oreo/S'more filling with chopped Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, and drizzle with melted peanut butter chips once chocolate has set.

The Reese's cups worked great because they "packed down" better than the cookie versions so they had lots more flavor.  Feel free to substitute with any candy or filling you prefer.  I'm thinking Milky Way needs to happen soon.

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Chocolate-Dipped Heart Marshmallows

February is a great month for me.  I get to put up pink girly stuff all over the house and my husband can't really complain about it.  (He is super manly and thinks master bedrooms should be decorated with "gender neutral" colors... whatevs that means... I think fuschia pillows totally qualify.)  Also, we have two boys so I never get to do the girly thing there.  So, I like to start the Valentine's celebrating as early as possible.

(Wait till my husband finds out I'm making this and hanging it on our front door for a month. I'll be sure to take a picture of his face and put a caption on it that says "The cat peed WHERE? " before slapping it on pinterest.)

Anyways- back to girly Valentines things like these mallows. You can make them in any shape you want using teensy tiny cookie cutters.  Fondant cookie cutters work great for this (look in the cake decorating section).  My hobby lobby also has some small holiday themed sets by the modeling clay.

(Bizzar-o, I know... Doesn't anybody have the guts to tell the Hob Lob that modeling clay is inedible?  Suddenly the fact that I use the same coupon every single day and never get questioned or imprisoned makes soo much sense.)


PS- I finally finished my Chocolate Dipping Tips tab. Check it out and let me know what you think.  A video might be coming someday.  I just have to check with Reese  first to see if she could play the part of me while I whisper instructions from the sidelines.

(And by Reese, yes, I mean Witherspoon.  She's not quite as hot as me, but I guess she'll do.)

Have a happy Tuesday!

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Chocolate-dipped Pretzel Peanut Butter Bites

If I had to survive on one food for the rest of my life, it would be chocolate covered pretzels. (I'm pretty sure there are lots of scenarios that would require me to choose a single food source, so I figured this out long ago.)

So really, how could I not make these?

This treat combines chocolate pretzely goodness with mini Reeses cups.  These are a bit time consuming because they are dipped, but they are worth it.

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Christmas Eve Chocolate Cherry Mice

Is it weird that mice remind me of Christmas?  I think it has something to do with going to the Nutcracker every December with my dad.  In case you didn't know, I was basically destined to be a professional ballerina.  Unfortunately my sense of rhythm didn't get the memo or something. 

At any rate, our kids loved these and I think we will be making them every Christmas eve from now on. They are best fresh so I recommend making them day-of.

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