25lb of Chocolate, 16 hours and 800 pieces later....

Sometimes I ask myself why do I put myself through this every year!?! But in the end - I love dipping chocolates. Maybe it's the risk you take when you temper your own chocolate, maybe it's seeing beautiful pieces of chocolate sitting in pretty little boxes, maybe it's the challenge of finding the best peanut butter cup recipe, maybe.. I just like it. 

The varieties each year seem to increase. This year I made: caramels, chocolate covered caramels, turtles, almond joys, peanut butter cups, chocoalte covered peanuts, chocolate covered cinnamon santas, butterfingers, mint sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches. Every year I experiment with a new recipe- this year I tried mint truffles and white chocolate truffles. Mmmmm- definitely a keeper.

Of course I would love to share all of my recipes but alas- I'm not typing a novel here. so I'm going to share with you my super secret recipe for mint sandwiches. Now these mint sandwiches are amazing and look and taste just like the store bought stuff.  Of course my worst picture was the mint sandwich so you'll have to use your imagination

Mint sandwiches

22 oz milk chocolate (compound chocolate works best)
11 oz green chocolate
peppermint oil (not extract)
cover a jelly roll pan with wax paper

melt 11 oz of chocolate in microwave stirring every 30 seconds. Add 8 drops of peppermint oil and stir. Spread evenly over wax paper with rubber spatula. Pound on counter to remove air bubbles. Let stand until it loses it's shine. repeat process with green and remaining chocolate. Add peppermint oil to each layer. If you wait too long to spread the layers- they won't bond together. As soon as the top layer loses it's shine- the mints are ready to be cut. Don't let them sit too long or they will break unevenly.

Cut 1/4" in on all 4 sides- this is so your outside rows won't have the roundness of the pan. For 88 mints per pan cut 11 rows the long way and 8 rows the other way.

You must try them and see what you think.  You can also use 1/2 C creamy peanut butter with 11 oz white chocolate for a PB Sandwich.

The Gingerbread House

  I just took a class to learn how to make gingerbread houses.  I had no idea how much effort goes into making a gingerbread house. I baked it from scratch, cut it out, assembled it (with a few break downs and broken pieces) made stain glass windows (which is my favorite part- I turn the lights on and dance with joy everytime I go in my kitchen)  If anyone has some time to dedicate to serious gingerbread making let me know and I'll give you the patterns and lessons learned.... 

The details are the fun part- this house come complete with a wood shed (with cinnamon stick wood), mail box (with mail and a blue bird), presents on the porch and around the mail box, Santa on the chimney, candy cane light posts, candles in the windows, a wreath on the door, ribbons on the house, and snow on the trees.

The Most Delicious Gooey Goodness Ever

I love the Fall for several reasons but I love the Fall mostly for the pumpkin desserts. This dessert is so easy and SO yummy- Get out your recipe cards because you need to write this one down.

Pumpkin Caramel Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Spice cake mix
1 C water
1/2 C pumpkin
1/3 C oil
3 eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Bake cake in 9x13 pan as directed on cake mix box

Cream Cheese Frosting (you may want to double this recipe or add milk and more pwd sugar if you like lots of frosting)

3 C powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese

Mix until smooth and beat in 1 tsp of vanilla


Let cool and poke holes all over cake
Pour caramel ice cream topping over the cake (use the entire bottle)
Let it sit and the caramel will soak the entire cake
Frost with cream cheese frosting or cool whip works as well. 
Refriderate until ready to serve

Aunt of the Year goes to.... ME!!!

This week 4 Teenage girls and I had the complete Twilight/New Moon experience. It was actually a lot of fun! This is the spread they had waiting for them at my house...

Now the best part is the cupcakes- I bought edible frosting toppers from Ebay (because my saying is: you can buy all things on Ebay :) They were $5.00 and completely easy to use. Just frost the cupcakes and stick on the picture. There are several vendors to choose from and many of them will do custom toppers with any picture you have. You can also buy them for the 9x13 sheet cakes (just wait til you see what I have for next month)

 

Cupcake Bites

Now these are so much fun for birthdays!  Cupcake balls are back (I warned you) with just a little different spin and they are so cute!  Again- idea from Bakerella. For these cake balls I used the birthday girl's favorite cake- german chocolate with pecan coconut frosting. Use the same recipe as the cake balls- make cake, crumble it, mix in the frosting, roll into balls, freeze 1 hour and then....

You need a candy cup mold (just a cheap plastic one from Roberts works- PB cup mold)
colored candy melts
chocolate bark
sprinkles or whatever you want to decorate the top with

Melt the chocolate bark and spoon into the candy mold (just a little bit works- you'll get to know how much once you do a couple)
Press a cake ball into the center and let chocolate set up- stop pressing the cake ball once all the chocolate reaches the sides of the mold- (can put in freezer to speed up process and use molds faster)
While you are waiting- melt the colored candy melts
Remove the cake bites (they're easy to pop out)
Dip the cupcake upside down into the melted candy- you may have to dip it several times at different angles to cover the entire cupcake.
Decorate with sprinkles and let set up
Impress everyone with your baking skills!!

Everyone NEEDS one of these!

What have I been doing all this time without a laser temperature gun?!?
This is the greatest thing ever for you cooks out there. It's a laser gun that can take the temperature of anything- including food!  I bought this gun in preparation of my annual chocolate dipping later this month. Instead of using a lame thermometer that gets in the way during chocolate tempering- all you need to do is scan the chocolate with the gun and you have an instant temperature. It only takes about 1-2 seconds for the laser to interpret the temperature.
I can't stop taking the temperature of everything around me... My door is 58.2 degerees, my wall is 71.4 degrees, the jar of pickles in my fridge is 41.8 degrees.... I love my new laser gun!!! :)

The Melting Pot

Ever been to the Melting Pot? Well last night my favorite cooking friend and I went to a fondue class at Thanksgiving Point taught by.... THE MELTING POT.  Yes- I know- everyone wants to be my friend now! We had a full course meal or maybe 2 or 3 (we had to taste everything!) It was incredible and now I'm ready for a fondue party. I wish I had taken pictures but was so excited to eat all the yummy food I forgot to get out my camera! Here are some samples of the menu:

Cheddar Cheese Fondue

*If you don't have a fondue pot- just use a double broiler.

4 oz Beer (can substitute for veggie broth but beer makes it creamier)
1 rounded tsp of minced garlic
few shakes of mustard powder
Stir on med/high heat
Add 7oz of  cheddar cheese mixture (80% sharp and 20% swiss is a good combo) Use quality cheese
*trick of the trade: add a little bit of flour to your grated cheese to make it stay good longer in the fridge and it helps it not clump together.
Mix throughly using a whipping motion with a fork until cheese is melted. You can continue to add small amounts of cheese until you get your desired consistancy. Remember it will get thicker as it sets up.
Add 5 turns of the pepper grinder, 3-4 shakes of worcestershire sauce and fold in cheese.

Dip Granny Smith apple chunks, breads, carrots, celery, even some meats are great with it.

Now the recipe you've all been waiting for.... the CHOCOLATE FONDUE!!

Flaming Turtle

Depending on the size of your fondue pot- the quantity of the ingredients varies...
Start out with real milk chocoalte (the good stuff) no chocolate chips- sorry!
Add a small amount of water- yep that's right bakers I really did say water!  just a 1/2 tsp-start small. It will help get it to a good melting consistancy.
Melt the chocolate and then add about 1 C of caramel (more or less depending on your liking) I love Mrs. Richardson's ice cream caramel.
Stir the mixture until they are creamed together.
Place chopped pecans on top


Cookies and Cream Marshmellow Dream

You can use milk or dark chocolate. Let the chocolate melt with a little bit of water and add 1C marshmellow cream (again more or less depending on your taste buds)
stir until creamed together.
Add 1-2 C oreo cookie crumbs and stir in mixture

Dip graham crackers, brownies, rice krispie bites, nilla wafers,  pound cake, strawberries, bananas etc....

So yummy! Here are the girls at the Melting Pot last year