Peppermint Bark

So I haven't blogged in a while, but today I thought I would show you a super easy recipe I found on Youtube on how to make Peppermint Bark.

-Melt white (or any type) chocolate in bowl until soft and easy to stir. (DO NOT LET IT BUBBLE, or else it will be burnt)
-Crush candy canes until powdery and mix in with melted chocolate.
-Spread it out on wax paper on a pan and freeze for 1 hour, or until hardened.
-Optional: You can also add leftover peppermint shavings or sprinkles to the top of your peppermint bark to add visual appeal or taste.

Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Mouse Cookies???

Well, they're not exactly cookies. They're more like... appitizers? Truffels? Candy? I don't know. All it really contains is a single cherry, a single Hershey kiss, a single almond, and melted chocolate. Even if you don't care for cherries, (which I don't) then they're still really delicious. They're also as cute as they are good. The tip of the kiss serves as the nose, the almond (cut in half) is for the ears, the cherry is the body and the stem is the tail, and the melted chocolate covers the whole body and "glues" it together. Check out the pics below... it's pretty self explanitory for itself:

Thankful for...

            Usually most people take for granted everything that they should be thankful for, and so do I. But now I try to think of all the things that I can be thankful for that I usually don’t notice because I have access to them all the time. I’m thankful for fall, with itss bright leaves and colors, and the cold but still warm weather that most everyone complains about. I’m thankful for my family, even though they can be obnoxious sometimes, as all families are to each other. They’re always there for me, and each other when anyone is having a tough time or a bad day. I’m thankful for chocolate chip cookies, and warm fuzzy blankets, and sitting down doing nothing but thinking, with some orange juice in my hand. I’m thankful for my wonderful room, which reflects my personality, and the freedom to design it any way I want. I’m thankful for my doggies, my two best friends, which always lend a listening ear when I need to talk. They mean the world to me, and I couldn’t imagine my life without them. I’m thankful for malls to shop in, and restaurants to eat in, and cars to drive in. I’m thankful for hardwood floors, and cozy chimneys with fires in them, for cheese pizza with no pepperoni and old movies from the ‘50’s. I’m thankful for my giant soft rug, decorating magazines, and peppermint milkshakes from Chick-Fil-A that they only have at Christmastime. I’m thankful for the holidays, with candy cane wrapping paper and Christmas trees, and giant Santas at the mall with fake beards. And I’m thankful for fluffy pillows and colored pencils and reruns of Leave it to Beaver. But most of all I’m thankful to be alive, and for the ability to enjoy all these things with people I love. This is what I’m thankful for. To me, it’s the little things in life that count, even if we often forget about them in our hectic daily lives. So pause and take a moment to reflect on the things that really mean a lot to you, even if it’s something as basic as being alive.

Diamond Poem

Cake

Tasty, sweet

Eating, decorating, frosting

Parties, ice cream, flowers, platter

disgusting, steaming, barfing 

Green, bushy

Broccoli 

Dirt Cake?!

So lately my 8 year old brother just had a birthday, and what did he bring in for his class? Dirt cake! If you haven't had dirt cake before, it's basically just vanilla pudding in layers with crushed up Oreos. (You can also use chocolate pudding, but I prefer vanilla because it's not as heavy as chocolate on chocolate.) It's not only delicious, but very easy to make. You don't have to bake anything, and you can eat it right away after you mix and layer the ingredients. It's also always a big hit with kids, because it actually does look like real dirt!

Here's how you make it: (Recipe from Cooks.com)

Ingredients:

1. 1 (6 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
2. 1 (18 ounce) package Oreo cookies
3. 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
4. 1/2 cup powdered sugar
5. 1 (16 ounce) container Cool Whip
6. 1 (5 ounce) package gummy worms
7. 1 (5 ounce) package gummy frogs

Directions:

1. Take one large clean terracotta potting pot and clean with soap and water.
2. Make one package chocolate pudding as directed on box.
3. In electric food processor add Oreo cookies. Blend until smooth and looks like dirt.
4. Take softened cream cheese and powdered sugar and mix/cream in bowl. You can use a hand mixer or a kitchen aide to make it easier.
5. Carefully fold Cool Whip into cream cheese sugar mixture.
6. Take half the pudding and add to the bottom of pot.
7. Sprinkle 1/3 the gummy worms and bugs on top of pudding.
8. Add half of cream cheese and powdered sugar on top of pudding/gummies.
9. Sprinkle 1/3 of Oreo mixture onto the cream cheese mixture.
10. Add other half of pudding.
11. Add other 1/3 of gummy worms and gummy bugs.
12. Add the rest of cream cheese and powdered sugar mix.
13. Add rest of Oreo crumbs on top.
14. Garnish with plastic flowers and gummy frogs, worms and bugs on top.

Tip: It's also a big hit if you add gummy worms/ gummy bugs on top to make it look more like dirt. You can also put your dirt cake in a clean flower pot to make it look real!



Dirt cake in a flower pot. Cute!

This is what dirt cake looks like up close...

Nutella-Filled Cupcakes!

Nutella is becoming a worldwide favorite everywhere. If you haven't heard of Nutella, basically it's a chocolate hazelnut spread with the texture of peanut butter. I made vanilla cupcakes yesterday and wanted to add something new to it, besides just frosting. So then I remembered having cupcakes with Nutella added to them, and decided to give it a shot. They turned out delicious! And they’re really easy to make.

All you have to do to add a Nutella filling to your cupcakes is this:

Make the flavor of cake of your choice. (I recommend white cake rather than chocolate to balance out the flavor) 

When they are baked and half-cooled, take a knife and cut a cone shape on the top of the cupcake. 

Next take your Nutella and fill in the the cone and place the top of the cupcake back on. 

Optional: Apply frosting to the top of the cupcake to cover up the cracks. 

A new twist on Hershey's Peanut Butter Blossoms!

Hershey's Peanut Butter Blossoms are a unique American favorite that just about everyone enjoys regardless of their cookie preferences. Peanut Butter Blossoms are basically small, puffy peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's kiss in the center. Recently I made these but found out I didn't have any Hershey's kisses, which are the main part of the cookie. So, I improvised and found that Hershey's chocolate squares work just as well! I actually liked using the squares rather than the kisses, because the squares are much more soft and easy to bite into. The kisses have a tendency to be messy because you can't really bite off a portion of the kiss, since it's hard.

Here’s the recipe I found online for you to try:

48 HERSHEY'S bar squares

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup REESE'S Creamy Peanut Butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Granulated sugar

1.    Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates. 

2.    Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. 

3.    Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. 

4.    Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each
cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Source: Hershey's.com 

 Be sure to try this out sometime and tell me what you think! Check out the pictures below, as well. Enjoy!

Puppy Chow...

If you're ever looking to make a delicious snack that doesn't take long, Puppy Chow (Muddy Buddys) are the perfect food. It’s basically Chex Mix coated with a chocolate spread and powdered sugar. Puppy Chow is highly addicting, I will warn you, but it’s perfect if you’re having a group get-together or if you need to bring a snack somewhere. The best part about this snack is that it’s super easy to make- and also only takes around 10 minutes or less to make.

To make it:

Pour 9 cups of Chex Mix in a bowl and set it aside. 

Then melt in microwave on high for 1 minute:

1/4 cup butter, 1 cup chocolate chips & 1/2 cup of peanut butter in microwave for one min. (or until smooth) After it's all smooth, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. 

Now pour the mixture over the Chex Mix and stir it in until the Mix is completely coated. 

Pour it into a 2-gallon resealable bag and add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar. 

Shake the whole bag until the cereal is coated with the powdered sugar. (This doesn't take long) 

Then you're done! I hope you try making this sometime... it's a great quick-and-easy snack!

 

Puppy Chow (Muddy Buddies)













Puppy Chow up close......

Cake Pops!

I had actually never even heard of cake pops until I recently got one at a bakery and then researched how to make them.

Basically all you have to do is:

Make a regular cake (any flavor). I think it’s easier to use a box mix because the flavor isn’t much different since you’re just going to be crumbling up the cake anyway. Then break it up into small scraps, and finally add chocolate frosting and mix it until it's blended into a 'doughy' texture. (You'll have to use your hands to mix it to make the play-dough texture.) Then you roll them into balls, put a lolly pop stick in the center, and freeze them for about an hour, or until slightly hardened. Then pour a chocolate (or any flavor) sauce on top. I also think if you decorate them with sprinkles or, if you want to go over the top, decorate them with icing they look a lot more fun. :) 

Hint: When I made them I put in too much frosting in with the cake, so then they turned to be very sticky and too moist..... so be careful how much frosting you add!

Hope you decide to make them sometime!

The ingredients you'll need. 
(The white chocolate is for if you want to make white chocolate sauce to go over your cake pop, and the M&M's/sprinkles are for decorating)






These are the basic steps to making a cake pop: