Tag Archives: chocolate

August 10, 2012 · 7:12 am

Wedding S’more Pop Favors

Today is National S’mores Day!

A friend of a good friend of mine is getting married today and I made her these S’more Pops as her wedding favors!

Aren’t the tags just adorable?

If you love s’mores, you have GOT to make these. They take no time at all to whip up a few, and I promise they taste sooo much better than you can even imagine they would. I’m pretty much addicted.

How to: (sorry no pics. It’s easy though I swear.)
1. Stand up the mallows on a flat surface.
2. Shove the sticks straight into the tops of the mallows without lifting the mallow from the flat surface. (The stick may be into the mallow crooked, but it should be straight up and therefore sturdier. If you hold the mallow while you shove the stick in, it will end up crooked like 46.5% of the time. Ugh.)
3. Melt chocolate chips or candy melts in the microwave. I did candy melts this time and it seemed easier/smoother. But either works fine and tastes great. By the way, I like to melt in a short drinking glass. It’s taller and less wide so the chocolate is deeper and easier for dipping.
4. Dip the sticked mallow and shake downward to get as much chocolate off as will drip off. Trust me, they’re messy if you skip this step.
5. Roll the chocolated mallow in graham cracker crumbs.
6. Set the mallow “stick up” on wax paper to set up.
Enjoy!!!

6 Comments

Filed under Marshmallows, Misc

Tagged as chocolate, chocolate dipped marshmallows, marshmallows, s'more, wedding

August 7, 2012 · 8:00 am

Pink Ribbon Party

I made these lovely treats for a woman who just finished radiation for breast cancer and was throwing herself a fabulous party!

The colors were PINK and BROWN. So cute.

Cookies…

Chocolate Cake Pops…

and Marshmallows!!

The pink ones were pomegranate, but ended up tasting nothing like pomegranate… I will have to try again one of these days because I love pomegranate!

I decided to try a little piped swirl for these. There were going to be a lot of guests at the party so the smaller the treat the farther it goes! I decided later that I’m glad I didn’t do the swirls with the chocolate mallows …..

These chocolate ones were a million times better than the first chocolate ones I made… dark chocolate is the key!

I hope the party was as fabulous as it was sweet!

4 Comments

Filed under Cake Pops, Cookies, Marshmallows

Tagged as brown, buttercream, cake pops, chocolate, icing, pink, pomegranate, ribbon, sugar cookies

July 27, 2012 · 8:00 am

Mini Krispy Cupcakes

So a couple days ago I stumbled across this recipe for small batch rice krispy treats.

GENIUS!!

All the guilt of making your unhealthy snack is gone because you can make just enough for one little dessert! I thought this would be the perfect way to experiment with different flavors without making a ton of it (just in case it turned out yucky… like that could even happen with rice krispies…)

The recipe suggests pressing them into a muffin/cupcake pan (which makes 2). I decided to do a mini muffin pan instead (which made about 12), because everyone knows that the smaller a dessert is, the cuter it is too!

I have to give credit where credit is due here… my husband came up with the idea of dipping the tops in chocolate to make them look like cupcakes! I was going to just press them flat and drizzle them. I guess he’s pretty smart at the chocolate stuff because they turned out great!

I made 2 different kinds!!

Peanut Butter Rice Krispies

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cups rice krispies

Directions:

1. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a small pot, melt butter, mallows, and peanut butter until smooth.

3. Add the rice krispies straight to the pot and stir until completely coated in goop.

4. Remove pot from heat and carefully scoop krispies into the muffin pan cavaties. Make the tops rounded if you want it to look like a cupcake, or make them flat if you want them to look like little cups.

5. Wait. The hardest part, I know.

6. When they are set up (mine took an hour or 2), melt chocolate, white chocolate, or candy melts to dip or drizzle however you like.

I had just enough mini mallows to do another small batch…

Chocolate Rice Krispies

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 1/2 cups rice krispies

Directions:

1. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a small pot, melt butter, mallows, and chocolate until smooth.

3. Add the rice krispies straight to the pot and stir until completely coated in goop.

5. Wait. The hardest part, I know.

6. When they are set up (mine took an hour or 2), melt chocolate, white chocolate, or candy melts to dip or drizzle however you like.

As soon as I can get to the store to buy more mini mallows, I will be making new krispy recipes!

5 Comments

Filed under Misc

Tagged as chocolate, marshmallows, peanut butter, rice krispy treats, white chocolate

July 20, 2012 · 8:00 am

Coconut Star Marshmallows

In these coconut star marshmallows, coconut is definitely the star!

Ingredients:

2 packets of powdered unflavored gelatin (I use Knox)

1/2 cup cold coconut water

1/4 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/8 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla

some shredded coconut

cornstarch/powdered sugar mixture for dusting (1:1.5 ratio)

Directions:

1. In a microwave safe bowl, whisk together the cold coconut water and gelatin, then let it stand for 5 minutes.

2. Spray a 13×9 pan with non-stick spray, then sprinkle the bottom with shredded coconut. It doesn’t need to be a full layer, but you don’t want too much empty space.

3. Pour 1/4 cup corn syrup into your stand mixer. Pour the other 1/4 cup into a medium pot with the water, sugar, and salt. Attach the candy thermometer so that the tip does not touch the bottom of the pot, but instead sits in the mixture. Turn the heat on high and stir occasionally while checking the temperature (you want it to get to about 235-240*).

4. Microwave the gelatin for 30 seconds. Pour it into the stand mixer (fitted with the whisk attachment) with your corn syrup, turn the mixer on low and leave it running.

5. When the sugar mixture reaches 235-240*, slowly pour it into the stand mixer. Turn the speed up to 5 or 6 and set the time for 5 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn the speed up to 8 and set the timer again for 5 minutes. After the timer goes off again, add the vanilla and turn the speed up to the highest setting and set the timer for 2 minutes.

6. After the last timer goes off, turn off the mixer and pour the mallow on top the shredded coconut in the pan. Smooth out the top as much as possible, then dust with cornstarch/powdered sugar mixture and pat it down even.

7. Waiting is the hardest part. Let set up overnight.

8. The next day, place a cutting board on top of the pan and invert to release the mallow. It should come out easily because of the shredded coconut.

9. Cut with a small star (or any shape) cookie cutter. Make sure to cut them as close as possible so there isn’t much waste. (Haha, yeah right.. the “waste” tastes just as good!) You may need to clean the cutter every couple of stars because the coconut gets sticky.

10. Dust the sticky edges of the mallows in more cornstarch/powdered sugar.

They are amazing as is, but I wanted to take them a step further…

Chocolate time!!

11. Melt chocolate in microwave in 30 second intervals, or in a double broiler. I chose to use my mini crock pot warmer. Once it’s smooth, you’re ready to dip!

Because the mallows were dusty and I didn’t want it to get into my chocolate, I pressed the mallow into the melted chocolate, covered it with chocolate without moving it around. Then I just lifted it out with a fork and tapped it on the edge until all the excess chocolate dripped off. Then used a knife to gently scrape the mallow off the fork onto wax paper.

They look a little bumpy, but that’s all the yummy coconut in there!

Don’t they look pretty?!

The coconut is subtle enough and not too sweet. Absolutely perfect!

3 Comments

Filed under Marshmallows

Tagged as chocolate, chocolate dipped marshmallows, coconut, marshmallows

July 13, 2012 · 8:00 am

Flavored Homemade Mallows

So I have been a little marshmallow crazy lately, thanks to Shauna Sever‘s book Marshmallow Madness. Instead of drawing this out, I thought I would just share some pictures of the many mallows I have been creating lately…

Milk Chocolate (my brother’s favorite):

Key Lime Pie:

Bubblegum (my coworkers’ favorite):

Vanilla (my husband’s favorite), but pretty colors:

So far my favorite is funfetti!

1 Comment

Filed under Marshmallows

Tagged as blue, bubble gum, chocolate, funfetti, lime, pink, purple, sprinkles, vanilla

July 3, 2012 · 8:00 am

Snickers Cupcakes with Chocolate Rose Frosting

These cupcakes are life changing.

Life changing. Seriously.

I’m going to just get right into it.

Snickers Cupcakes with Chocolate Rose Frosting

cupcake ingredients:

1 box white cake + water, oil, and eggs called for

1/4 cup brown sugar

3-4 snickers bars

frosting ingredients:

1 stick of butter, cut into pieces

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3 tbsp + 1tsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 lb (16 oz) powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Cut snickers into small pieces, spread out on a glass plate, and put into the freezer for 30 minutes. This will keep them from melting when you bake the cupcakes.

2. Mix together the water, oil, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Slowly add the cake mix until fully combined, then add the eggs.

*For the record, I forgot the last part. Yup, I forgot eggs. They still came out great, but they kind of crumble apart as you try to eat it. Tells me that if you are vegan, you can make these without eggs and they’re still amazing!!**

3. Use a cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup to scoop batter into your cupcake liners.

4. Remove the snickers pieces from the freezer and shove a few into each cupcake.

5. Bake at 350* for 18-20 minutes.

Mine came out puffy but sank in a bit after cooling. I don’t know if this is because I forgot the eggs or if they will do that anyway, but I thought I would mention it just in case it happens to anyone else.

6. To make the frosting, mix together the butter and cocoa powder, adding the milk slowly to make a fudgy paste. Add the vanilla, then slowly mix in the powdered sugar.

This frosting is not too chocolaty, because the cupcake is really sweet and rich already.

I took a couple photos to show how I made the frosting roses. You basically start in the center and go around in a circle while squeezing out frosting. When you get to the outside, stop squeezing and pull to stretch the end of the rose.

The insides are gooey and rich, and absolutely perfect!

1 Comment

Filed under Cakes, Uncategorized

Tagged as caramel, chocolate, snickers

June 19, 2012 · 8:00 am

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

My brother and I love candy.

This love of candy is one of the reasons he makes an excellent Target shopping partner. (I have gone to Target with a number of different people and I have discovered that not everyone shops Target the same way. My brother and I are good together at Target because we understand the most important part of the store is the 3 aisles of candy in the far back corner near the seasonal section.)

I recently had a poll on facebook asking people to rate these in order from MOST favorite to LEAST favorite: cookies, cake, ice cream, candy, pie. (For the record, mine is 1. Candy 2. Ice Cream 3. Cake 4. Cookies 5. Pie) It was fun seeing everyone’s answers!

Anywhoo… on one of my brother’s candy trips to Target, he disovered this:

It’s basically like a Hershey bar except each individual bar is a separate Reese’s.

I knew I had to make something with them, and this is what I came up with!

It’s a Peanut Butter cookie dough wrapped around an individual Reese’s bar, then baked long and slow so that they are soft, chewy, and melty chocolate on the inside!

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies – adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Beat butter for 2 minutes. Add sugars and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping sides of bowl halfway through. Add peanut butter and egg and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to sugar mixture until completely combined. Let chill for at least 2 hours.

2. Cut apart Reeses bars. Get a ball of dough about 2-3 tablespoons and flatten with your fingers. Put the little Reeses bar inside and wrap it up all snug. I sort of rolled it into a little log shape after the bar was completely covered.

3. Space the cookie logs about 2-3 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet, they will spread quite a bit.

4. Bake at 300* for 15 minutes. Let cool for about 15 minutes on the pan before moving to a drying rack. They will come out of the oven a little poofy so they need to set and settle as they cool.

These might be the best cookies I’ve ever had. Especially if you eat it when it’s still warm!

4 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as chocolate, peanut butter, reeses

June 12, 2012 · 8:00 am

Cake Mix Peanut Butter Brownies

If you’ve been around here for a significant amount of time, you know how I feel about chocolate. I’ve made brownies twice. This time and this time.

But for some reason I have been wanting to make some brownies lately. I got the perfect opportunity when a friend asked me to bring dessert over for a small dinner group. It just so happens that the favorite candy of this group is Reese’s.

I compiled a few different ideas and ingreients from different recipes to make my very own recipe. You can find my inspiration here, here, and here.

Cake Mix Peanut Butter Brownies – recipe by me!

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 package Reese’s cup minis

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350*. Line 13×9 pan with foil then spray with non-stick spray.

2. Mix together cake mix, oil, milk, and egg. Spread half of the batter into the bottom of the pan.

3. In a separate bowl mix together sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Pour and spread evenly over the cake batter.

4. Cut the Reese’s minis in half and distribute over the glorious peanut butter mixture.

5. Dollop the remaining cake mix over the Reese’s and carefully spread it out as much as possible.

Peekaboo Reese’s!

6. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool completely.

7. Remove from pan by lifting out with the foil. Cut into squares. Eat. Share.

Look how cute this plate is that I got from Target! Perfect for the summer…

These are moist, not too rich, and perfectly peanut buttery!

4 Comments

Filed under Brownies

Tagged as brownies, chocolate, peanut butter

May 4, 2012 · 8:00 am

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Oh my my…

These babies are the result of a hot night that Mr. Chocolate Chip Cookie and Mrs. Brownie spent together… in secret… but I am outting them. Because the world needs to meet this baby.

I saw them on Natasha’s blog Butter and immediately knew I wanted to make them. I adapted my recipe a bit based on ingredients I had on hand, but the idea was all Natasha’s.

First we’re gonna start with some chocolate chip cookie dough. One of the best things in the world if you ask me.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (adapted from Butter)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup), melted & slightly cooled

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups + 2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix together sugars and melted butter until smooth. (I always put the sugar in the bowl first then put the butter on top.)

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add to butter mixture until fully combined.

Stir in chips by hand.

Line 13×9 pan with parchment paper. Make tablespoon sized balls of dough and drop into baking dish. (Let’s pretend I didn’t forget to take a picture at this part, okay?)

Next comes the brownie batter… I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like chocolate, which includes brownies. Don’t believe me? Search my blog for brownies. You’ll get 1 actual brownie recipe before this.

Anyways… I couldn’t use Natasha’s recipe because I didn’t have all the ingredients called for, so I used a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. When I did a google search for “homemade brownie recipe” it was the first that came up. And it looked easy and that’s how I roll.

Brownies (as found here on AllRecipes.com)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mix together oil, sugar and vanilla. Looks weird at this point…

Beat in eggs. Looks a little better now.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly add to oil mixture until fully incorporated.

Pour over the cookie dough balls and make sure batter gets into each corner.

Look how beautiful it is.

Lets look again.

Ooooh, aaahhh…

Okay enough of that. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes. It took mine 25 minutes. Toothpick should come out with wet crumbs, but not wet batter.

Half cookie amazingness, half soft rich brownie.

Even I enjoyed these. Well, one anyway. I might have to wait till tomorrow to have another.

As always, brother approved.

Next time I make these, I will press the cookie into the bottom of the pan (to form an entire layer) then pour the brownie mix on top. Even distribution would have made these even better!

2 Comments

Filed under Brownies

Tagged as brownies, chocolate, cookie dough

April 27, 2012 · 8:00 am

“Better Than” S’mores

These little guys happened by chance.

I was making some cupcakes (you can see them here) and had some extra frosting. It is too good to waste, so I pulled out my grahams and piped blobs on them.

This frosting is sort of like a marshmallow but not.. It’s sticky and foamy and light, and after setting overnight it stiffens up just a bit. If marshmallows aren’t your thing because of the texture or because of the “animal” in the gelatin, then this frosting is your friend. It contains none of that.