Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Cookies 'n' Cream Popcorn
Christmas Caramels (and some of them might be chocolate-dipped)
I have so many posts for you it's ridiculous. Also I have lots of stories for you about how mean people can be at Christmastime, but in the spirit of a Grinch-less Christmas, I will refrain... for today.
I have been making these caramels for years (read: like 4 years). I took some to my good friend the other day and this is the message she sent me- "HANDS DOWN THE BEST HOMEMADE CARAMELS I have ever had!"
Take her word for it. Her name is Katie. You can trust her.
If you have never made caramels before I will just tell you, it's going to take you 30-45 minutes of non-stop stirring to make these. Don't do this when you have little kids underfoot, phone calls coming in, or cat sweaters to knit. Oh, you don't knit your cat sweaters for Christmas? Mmm, yeah, me neither...
I like to do it at night when the kids are in bed and my husband is home in case my arm needs a break. Also, you are going to need a candy thermometer. Be sure to calibrate it before beginning or it's pretty much pointless to use in the first place. (I usually do the ice point and boiling method, just for kicks, but either one is fine.)
The only time this recipe has failed for me, is when I decided not to use a thermometer. Duhhhhh. My candy thermometer is WAYYY off, so I usually stick it in to give me a ballpark, but poke in my digital "insta-read" meat thermometer every 5 minutes or so near the end until I reach the exact required degree. Don't be intimidated by the use of the thermometer, this recipe is really not difficult, and also you can count the non-stop stirring as a bicep workout for the day. BONUS!
Be sure to read through the recipe completely before you start because you won't have any hands free once you begin (and you might needa do a little math... but I am Math Ditz of the world, so if I can do it, you can do it!)
Also people will think you are Supreme Caramel Maker of the World when you feed them these, so feel free to embrace the title.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Penguin Pops
I maybe should have titled this post "pops for dummies". These are seriously so easy, because you use a ready-made body you don't have to dip it in chocolate. The hardest part is the molding of the beaks and cutting out the feet. (Which really isn't hard at all). I'd estimate these take about 5 minutes to make the taffy pieces in bulk and then about 3 minutes per pop to assemble. It doesn't get easier than this!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Lemon Drop Cookies
First of all let me tell you, this is the diva of all cookies. Secondly let me tell you that I've still made these 3 times even though only about half of my cookies turn out each time. Worth it? Yep. Also this cookie is made from a mix so it only takes about 3 minutes to put together.
Chocolate-Dipped Clementines
You thought I was kidding when I said we were going to dip everything in chocolate this week, didn't you? Mmmmm, nope, pretty much not kidding at all.
The smell of clementines will always remind me of Christmas. Growing up in Europe, we spent almost every Christmas in a different country. I will have to dig up the picture of me riding a bobsled down the Olympic track in Norway so you guys can see my big dorky owl glasses and huge sweater. I told you I was super cool. The one thing that was pretty much always consistent was clementines. No matter where we were, we had clementines.
Also, when we moved back to the US, one Christmas my sister and I polished off an entire bag of oranges in one sitting. (Not clementines my friends... Oranges... Probably like 10 pounds worth. I'm pretty sure I must've had a vitamin deficiency at that point, because who does that?)
So anyways, I think these dipped-clementines are not only super Christmasy, but also classy and delicious. I highly recommend these for Christmas Eve festivities.
PS- If you love clementines, I wonder if you've made this soda yet? Delish!
Frozen Choco-Banana Skewers
All you need to know is, "There's always money in the banana stand."
Chocolate-Dipped Gingerbread Men
Because everything should be dipped in chocolate at least once.
Happy Christmas!!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Peppermint Whipped Cream (For hot cocoa or cupcakes)
Sorry I always have to spout off randomly to you before I ever give you a recipe. I like to hold them for ransom so I can talk to adults for 3 minutes of my day (Love my 3 year old but he wants to talk about "human bodies" all day and that kind of disgustingifies me.) PS- Don't call social services on me. When I say he wants to talk about human bodies, he wants to talk about the skeletal system and circulatory system and how the small intestine absorbs food, and what the white blood cells fight with. Sometimes he calls me the names of germs, which personally I don't find that hurtful because I don't even know what they are. As you can probably guess- it's nice to have a real chat once in awhile where I can talk about adult things. Like cake batter snack mix.
So, I have to ask. Has anybody seen Jack & Jill? What did you think of it? I laughed through the whole movie. Probably because I'm immature. But then I found out that it only got 1 star on IMDB. ONE. STAR. I thought they reserved that kind of rating for movies like 101 Dalmations II or Land Before Time XII.
So I would probably feel better about myself if somebody else could tell me they thought Jack & Jill was hilarious as well. (If you hated it you don't need to tell me. I don't want to go through life thinking I'm a bad movie judger. You know?)
Anyways, this whipped cream is perfect on the Peppermint Rims I posted a few days ago. Also, it's freaking delicious. You can just plop it in a cup of cocoa, or you can stabilize it and use it to pipe on chocolate cupcakes and add some peppermint pieces. (Also freaking delicious.) By the way, I didn't stabilize mine, so your cupcakes will definitely be prettier than my cupcakes. No worries. And if you stabilize it, be sure to double the piping gel because that recipe only makes half as much as this one.
If you are using it to frost cupcakes you may want to add more sugar. It is lightly sweetened which is perfect for cocoa, but it may need a little umph to replace frosting.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Chocolate-Covered Gingerbread Chex Mix
First of all, you should know that this Chex mix is not covered in chocolate. It's just supposed to *taste* like a chocolate-covered gingerbread man. The chocolate part comes in from the M&M candies. Just wanted to make that clear.
Now that my butt is covered,
I was dying to make something else cute with my gingerbread men marshmallows. So really this was just an excuse to throw in some of them. Excuses are ok in our house as long as they're edible.
I had to play around with this a few times to find the right spice blend but I think I finally got it. If you can't find the marshmallows you could chop up gingerbread men and throw those in. Or look for the little bite-sized gingerbread men. You could also totally drizzle this in chocolate if you're feeling completely betrayed by my title. Just drizzle it while on the wax paper, and wait for it to harden completely. Then break into pieces.
Since this was 98% for my kids, you can probably imagine why I chose not to drizzle it in chocolate. You can really do whatever you want. I'm not going to stalk you and find out if you made my recipe wrong.
Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Swirl Cookies
I'm kinda grumpy today, on account of I have to go to the eye doctor this afternoon. Last time I went to the eye doctor he told me I couldn't see because my bangs were in my eyes.
Ummm.
Thanks very much. Could I have my co-pay back now?
(I didn't get my co-pay back. Also I can't read the E on the chart so it's pretty obvious I have bigger problems than bangs in my eyes.)
Anyways, when I need cheering up a chocolate pb combo will usually do it. I think I'm going to be eating a LOT of these today.
I haven't posted my Butterfinger brownie recipe yet, but these taste almost exactly like them. The peanut butter gives them the most fabulous crumbly texture. If you're on a diet you probably shouldn't make these.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
