Pinned there, done that: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

These were so fantastic I ended up having my husband taking a bunch to work just so I wouldn't have them end up on my thighs(and tummy, butt, etc) I also made some Kahlua Chocolate Mocha truffles the same day.  Trust me when I say this, dipping nine dozen truffles in one day is a dumb thing to do! I just can't stand in one place for that long of period of time without my body paying for it the next day.  If (and that's a BIG if) I could trust myself enough to avoid sneaking into the freezer to it them, it would work well to freeze these and just dip them into chocolate when you want them.  I know me though and that would not work.  But hey, if you have more will power than me just go ahead and give it a try!

These Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, and their variations, have been pinned hundreds of times.  I'm more of a raw cookie dough gal than an actual baked cookie dough gal, so when I saw the pin I knew it had to be done.

This is the recipe I sort of  followed.  Here is what I did:
Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1-1/2 pounds chocolate, chopped, tempered and ready to use.

Cream together butter and brown sugar for a good three minutes.  It takes at least three minutes for the mixture to cream up nicely so don't try to cheat on this!  Add the vanilla and salt, mix together.  Slowly add the flour (I used the lowest speed on my Kitchen Aid mixer) mix to combine then add the sweetened condensed milk. Mix until well blended.  By hand stir in the 1 cup miniature chocolate chips (if you want nuts, go for it! But use 1/2 cup nuts and only 1/2 cup chocolate chips.)  Refrigerate dough for a couple of hours.  I used my smallest cookie scoop to make the truffles.  I found that when the dough was refrigerated before hand I didn't have any problems with the dough being sticky.  I also didn't have to roll them by hand since my scoop got them nice and tight.  I did have to stick the dough back into the refrigerator again once I was half way through as the dough started to get sticky.  Another half hour in the fridge and all was good again.  Hubby, however, liked the look of them being more rounded so he did a few trays that way for a photo.

I don't care to use the candy melts or almond bark for my candies, but hey - if that's your thing then I say go for it!  I must admit that it does make the job easier for dipping chocolates using those products. I bought some chocolate in bulk at the local Winco store a few months back.  It had to be tempered (tempering gives the chocolate that nice glossy look and also gives it the crisp crunch when you bite into it) but the word tempered sounds more scary than it really is. My chocolates didn't get the high gloss I usually get but that didn't alter the taste at all!

I believe this recipe made over five dozen truffles.... we won't discuss how many didn't get made since I picked at the dough throughout the process.

Pinned there, Done that: Pretzel Toffee

I am afraid that I have a bit of a Pinterest addiction... Ok, possibly more than a bit.  I just love seeing all the creative things out there.  See, I'm not a "creative" person.  Give me an idea and I can run with it, but I have to be given the idea.  That's where Pinterest comes in to play as they have ideas coming out of their ears! But I wanted to be more than a lurker on there (although lurking is just fine over there!) so I'm going to try to actually try some of the things I pinned. Which I am going to call my "Pinned There, Done That" section.
First up is this delicious looking pin from the Legume Loyalist website for Salted Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bark .  It is very much like our family favorite of Saltine Cracker Toffee.  I love, love, love the M&M pretzels so this pin just made my day.  Just yesterday we gave the recipe a try using our recipe for the Saltine Cracker Toffee and just substituting pretzels for the crackers.  We actually crushed the crackers before laying them in the pan and I think we used to much. Next time I will lay out the crackers first to get a more accurate amount and then crush them.

This layer is too thick. It worked, but to create more of the Toffee Crunch you would either have to double the Toffee recipe, or reduce the amount of pretzels. You can see from the other picture that the toffee just barely covered everything.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

37 saltines cracker squares (this is equal to one package of the crackers I use)

1 cup butter, cubed

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups (12 ounce package) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Place crackers in a single layer in a foil-lined 15-in. x -10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. In a large saucepan, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil. Stir for three minutes longer with it at a strong boil.  Remove from heat and carefully pour over the saltines. rs.

Bake at 400° for 5 minutes, check to see it isn't burning and bake for another minute longer. Remove from oven and sprinkle top with the chocolate chips. Return to oven and  bake for another 1 to 3  minutes longer or until chips start to melt; spread chocolate evenly over top.

Chill for 15-20 minutes or until set; break into pieces. Store in the refrigerator in a covered container

candied lemons

I had a huge wedding order for both cupcakes and a wedding cake.  Her colors were yellow and green and the entire decor just suited her perfectly!  Since we were going to do the lemon cupcake with lemon curd filling I needed to do something for the decoration; candied lemon.  It was a lot easier than I thought it would be and was pretty gosh darn tasty.  My only problem was getting them to dry.  Even after fifteen hours they were still very, very sticky so I put them into my dehydrator and dried them that way.  I was quite pleased with the results and my mom hasn't been able to keep her hands off the left overs.

To candy the lemon I followed the directions from here.  Here are some tips I learned along the way:
Make sure your pieces of lemon are even.  I used my mandolin and did they 1/8 inch thick as it didn't seem to mangle them as much.
I would blanch the lemon longer than one minute.  The peel was very tough and I think the extra blanching time (maybe a minute longer) would help that out.
I have a glass top stove and my first batch cooked in the sugar water absolutely burned.  It was NASTY! Throughout the remaining batches I had to keep a very close eye on things.  The second I started to see it getting even slightly bubbly, I turned off the heat to let things cool down.  The process still only took a bit over an hour but it certainly saved things from burning and browning.

Easy Chocolate Turtles

Nothing new really. This candy has been seen on the Internet for several years now, 

but that doesn't stop me from sharing these highly addictive treats!  

You just take these ingredients:

1 bag of Rolo candy 

1 bag of M&M’s or pecan halves 

1 bag of pretzels (knots, squares or rounds)

Place the pretzels on a foil lined baking sheet. Unwrap the Rolos and set one on top of each pretzel. 

 Pop it into the oven at 250 degrees for about 4 minutes. 

 The Rolos will look about the same, but that’s long enough to make them soft. 

 Gently place and M&M or pecan on top of each Rolo and press down a bit. 

 Let them cool completely.

Crazy Cooking Challenge:Dark chocolate Kahlua Mudslide Fudge

Once again Tina, from the Crazy Cooking Challenge, has given us a task: find a blog that has fudge and recreate it.  Oh my but there are so many wonderful sounding fudge recipes out there!  I wanted to try them all, but my thighs stopped me.  On Pinterest I had pinned a recipe for Kahlua fudge.  This recipe had been pinned many times. I don't expect that I am the only one that will make this recipe, but I did make some adjustments that may separate me from the others.

 Before I get to those changes, please give a big thanks to La Phemme Phoodie.  She has a wonderful blog that just so happened to feature these delectable bits of fudge-y happiness! Click on the above link and give her some blogger love!
This fudge is fantastic.  Its creamy, and not overly sweet.  Even my mom, who dislikes dark chocolate, gives it two thumbs up!  I added a teaspoon of espresso powder right before I added the chocolate.  The original recipe calls for 3 cups total of chocolate but I only did 2 cups and I omitted the nuts (yes dear, I did that for you sweet husband of mine!)  be sure to click on her link to see the original recipe!

Kahlua Creamy Fudge (Adapted from La Phemme Phoodie)
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 (7 0z) jar marshmallow creme*
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup salted butter
1/3 cup Kahlua Mudslide
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon espresso powder

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS:
Line an 8 inch square pan with baking foil.or parchment paper.
In a 3 1/2 quart saucepan combine sugar, marshmallow, milk, butter, Kahlua and salt. Bring to a rapid boil, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; add the espresso powder and chocolate. Stir until melted. Add vanilla. Turn into prepared pan.
Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until firm. To serve cut into squares.
Serving: Approximately 2 1/2 pounds

 Here's a tip; make the length of the foil, or parchment, a bit longer  This way all you need to do is cut around the pan and pull out the fudge!.

Make it yourself candy: Butterfingers

I try to be good with my eating during most of the year. Yes, I have a sweet tooth, but I really do try to limit myself.  Come Christmas time, though, I go full out in the candy mode.  I love making candies! There is just something so lovely about seeing a plate of glossy chocolates.  

Lately, however, I have been experiencing signs of aging (I guess that's what happens when you are in your 40's) and standing at a stove plays havoc with my fibromyalgia. So when I see a recipe for candy that uses minimal ingredients and is quick to make, I am all over it! 

Candy Corn Butterfingers

adapted from Taste of Home forums

1 lb. candy corn

16oz jar peanut butter (I used a generic brand of  peanut butter)

16oz good quality chocolate, tempered  ( I cannot stand the stores chocolate coatings but they will work if you want to go that route) 

Melt candy corn in microwave on high 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking in 15-second intervals til melted, stirring after each interval. Stir in peanut butter. Spread mixture in an 8x8 pan lined with parchment. Cool completely. Cut into squares. Dip in melted chocolate candy coating. Lay on waxed paper to set.

Note: I made mine using the stove top with a double boiler.  It worked great!

Caramels

Next to baking, making candies is an all time favorite thing to do.  However, I have a confession to make... I absolutely hate having to wrap candies!  BORING!  The sad fact is, if you don't wrap some candies, caramels for instance, you have nothing but one big sticky mess.
This recipe has been in my family for years and is from an old candy making book (How to Make Candy; Culinary Arts Institute 1983). If you like soft chewy caramels then this is the recipe to try.

Caramels
2 cups sugar
1 1/2cups light corn syrup
2 cups evaporated milk (I use the skim evaporated milk and works just fine)
1/2 cup margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar and corn syrup in heavy saucepan.  Stir occasionally and heat to 300 degrees F.  Add evaporated milk and margarine.  Stirring continuously, cook to 250 degrees F.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Pour onto a lightly buttered baking sheet.  Cut and wrap individually in wax paper.

Tootsie Roll Fudge

I always hit the candy aisles after holidays.  I can get my candy as much as 75% off regular price and I then use it for decorating cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc throughout the year.  Yes, I will admit that I do eat a teeny, tiny portion of it (I see those eyes rolling!!!!) but honestly, I do it because I want to be thrifty!.  Last year I had finally found those little Tootsie Rolls on clearance and was able to make a recipe that I had stored away from many years ago.  Tootsie Roll fudge is an easy recipe and its a great way to get the kids involved (hey, somebody has to unwrap all those candies!)

Tootsie Roll Fudge

adapted from Taste of Home magazine

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups Tootsie Roll Midgees

2 tablespoons peanut butter

3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkles

Directions

Line a 9-in. square pan with foil. Grease the foil with 1 teaspoon butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. 

In a heavy saucepan, melt the Tootsie Rolls, peanut butter and remaining butter over low heat, stirring constantly.

 Gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla (mixture will be very thick). 

Spread into prepared pan. Using a sharp knife, score the surface into 1-in. squares. 

Top with sprinkles or you may choose to top with holiday M&M candies. Cool. 

Using foil, remove fudge from pan; cut into squares. Store in an airtight container. 

Yield: about 2 pounds.

Chex Brittle

Fall season at the Thiele household means snacking.  OK, you got me... any season for us is snacking season.  But in the fall I tend to gravitate towards crunchy handfuls of snack foods.  A particular favorite of ours is caramel corn (find the recipe here )  Lately I have been craving salty/sweet and I was really hoping to find a snack mix that would fulfill that itch.  While this is a pretty darn good tasting recipe, it wasn't what I was looking for.  I tossed it with some popcorn salt after it came out of the oven, which made a big difference, and I added some caramel candy corn.  

Chex Brittle

adapted from chex.com

8 cups Chex Rice cereal

1 cup salted peanuts

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

popcorn salt, optional

candy corn, optional

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.  Spray two 15x10x1-inch pans with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix cereal, peanuts, condensed milk and vanilla until evenly coated.

  Spread in pans making a single layer.

Bake 12 minutes.   Remove from oven and lightly sprinkle with popcorn salt, if desired. Spread on waxed paper to cool, about fifteen minutes.  Break into pieces and add candy corn.  Store in airtight container

August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Candylicious!

This month were were given the challenge to make two types of candy...gooey, melt in your mouth candy. One of the candies was to be made with tempered chocolate and the other could be our choice. I actually made three types of candy: hard candy, homemade rolo candies and milky way bars. 

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Tempering chocolate is rather easy; it just seems intimidating.  I'll get into the "how to" of tempering in another post, right now I'll share how I made the three candies

 Rolo Candies

Caramel filling:

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate coating:

1 pound dark chocolate,  tempered and ready to use

Directions:Combine sugar, corn syrup, milk and margarine in a saucepan.  Stir an heat to 248 degrees F.  Remove from heat, add vanilla and pour onto a well butter cookie sheet.  Set aside to cool.  At this point you can score into sections the size you desire. I took sections and rolled them into small marble size pieces and covered with chocolate .
Using your chocolate mold, coat the bottoms and sides of the mold with chocolate.  Turn it over and let the excess flow off.
When chocolate has hardened, fill with the caramel pieces and top with additional chocolate.

You will need to use a heavy duty mixer to make these! I gave my Kitchen Aid mixer 

a real work out!

Homemade Milky Way Bars
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted


Directions
In large saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar,corn syrup, water and salt.  Heat, while stirring constantly, until mixture begins to boil.  Continue cooking, stirring periodically, until temperature of candy thermometer reaches 270 degrees F. or soft crack stage.
Using a non-plastic bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Once the sugar mixture reaches 270 degrees F., remove from heat and carefully pour in thin streams over the egg whites, blending completely with mixer set on low speed.Continue to cook until mixture becomes thick like dough. I had to hold my machine down during this process because my mixer was taking a bit of a beating! The entire beating process took me close to twenty minutes!

Once mixture has thickened and become the consistency of dough, add the melted chocolate chips. After the melted chips have been blended through, press mixture into greased 9-inch square pan. I like to line the bottom and sides with plastic wrap, then grease. Having the plastic wraps makes it easier to remove.
Refrigerate until firm. Remove from pan and cut into desired bar sizes. I made 18 pieces.


At this point the candy is ready to be dipped in chocolate and you would have a candy like the 3 Musketeers.  I still had some of the caramel left over so I topped the nougat with a layer of the caramel before dipping into the chocolate.

Using tempered chocolate, dip your candy into the chocolate and coat completely  place on wax paper.
Cool at room temperature. 






Hard Candy
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoonful candy flavoring  (I used sour apple)
1/2 teaspoon liquid food coloring

Combine sugar, corn syrup and water in 2-qt saucepan.  Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.  Bring mixture to a boil without stirring. When syrup temperature reaches 260 degrees F, add color.  Do not stir; boiling action will incorporate color into syrup.  Remove from heat at 300 degrees F.  Stir in flavoring.  Pour syrup into lightly oiled candy molds or onto greased cookie sheet and score with knife to form bite-size pieces.  When cool, break into pieces and dust with powdered sugar to prevent sticking.

Chocolate Apricot Bark

If I wanted to make this candy look super pretty then I would have to painstakingly place each piece of dried apricot, cranberry and cashew on top of the melted chocolate to give it color and presence. There's just one problem with that... see, I am critical of the way my things turn out.  Some people can toss upon their ingredients and create an elegant dish.  Alas, I am not one of them!  I sit there with my tweezers and place each piece gingerly down and still think it looks funky.  In all honesty, I tend to just give it up and toss the whole think into a bowl and mix it all up.... it keeps me sane.
The trick to making a good chocolate bark is using a good quality chocolate.  A rookie mistake is using the flavored barks that are often sold around the holiday season for candy making.  While they do melt nicely, they don't taste all that fabulous.  I like to stock up on the Ghiradelli candy bars when I find them on sale.
I like to use the 60% cacao bittersweet and their semi sweet chocolate for use in this recipe.

Chocolate Apricot Bark

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 8 ounces very good bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup whole roasted, salted cashews
• 1 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or Craisins

Line a  small sheet pan with parchment paper; the bigger the sheet of paper, the thinner the bark will be.  I like to keep my paper trimmed down to about 9inch x 10inch.

Chop the chocolates and melt the 2 chocolates in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt completely. Add the cashews, apricots and cranberries and mix together.  

Pour the melted chocolate over the paper and spread to form a rectangle, drizzle with white chocolate if desired. Let set for about 2 hours. Cut the bark into desired size and serve.  Can be stored at room temperature in container with tight fitting lid.

homemade peanut butter cups

We've been making homemade peanut butter cups for years now using a recipe that required graham cracker crumbs.  This is a recipe I recently came across that does not use the graham crackers and it was oh so creamy and good!  You do not need candy molds in order to make these, however, I find it easier to coat the molds with the chocolate rather than cupcake liners.  If you've never tried home made versions of your favorite candies but have always wanted to try, this is an easy beginners recipe!

Homeme Resees peanut butter cups     For the chocolate:

1 1/2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate (you can use chocolate chips but the chocolate won't stay firm unless it is kept refrigerated.)

2 tablespoons peanut butter  (you may use natural peanut butter only add a pinch of salt)

     For the filling:

3/4 cup peanut butter (add a pinch of salt if using natural peanut butter)

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine chocolate, peanut butter  in a double boiler and melt thoroughly. Put 2 teaspoons melted chocolate in each cupcake liner or  inside of each candy mold (this is using a mold that will give you the size of a regular Resees peanut butter cup. If using a smaller mold, use less chocolate). Carefully spread the chocolate with the back of a spoon at the bottom and only 1/4 of the way up the cupcake line, or all the way up a candy mold.  Repeat with all 12 liners, or molds. Place the chocolate-covered liners onto a plate in the fridge, or freezer to firm up. 

Prepare the filling: Stir together peanut butter, sugar, optional crumbs, and optional salt.

Divide the peanut butter paste into all 12 liners, about 1 heaping tablespoon per liner (less if using smaller molds) , pressing down gently to make sure the paste goes everywhere.

Top with 2 teaspoons melted chocolate, spreading carefully so that none of the peanut butter can be seen. The cups should firm up in fridge for at least one hour before eating.  If you are impatient, like I am, let them set in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Can be stored in fridge or freezer.

Yield: 12 candies

Homemade Candy Corn

After watching the latest episode of "Good Eats" hubby and I decided it was time for us to make some candy corn.  Due to copyright infringement, you will have to find the recipe for it here.  Here are some pictures that I took along the way of making.... enjoy!

First you need to carefully weigh out your ingredients

 After the liquids have reached the proper temperature, add the powder sugar and dry milk.

allow the mixture to cool and cut into thirds.  You will color one third yellow, one third orange and the last third leave white.

roll into 1/2 inch thick strips and press rolls together.  cut into pieces.

Pieces will likely get misshapen so you will have to help them out a bit.... Allow the pieces to firm up and then Voila, you have candy corn!