Terribly Terrific Toffee

There's something magical about brown sugar and butter that creates such a buttery treat such as toffee. This is doubly good because it adds the saltiness of a cracker that meets up to the rich bettery taste.

1 cup unsalted butter (no margarine allowed) 1 cup brown sugar 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 40 saltine crackers Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 15x10-inch jelly roll pan or a 12x17-inch cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Lay a flat layer of crackers out on the foil. Melt the sugar and butter until a boil is reached. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until mixture is thickened and sugar is completely dissolved. Pour this mixture over the crackers and spread to coat evenly. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the toffee becomes bubbly. After removing the pan from the oven, let it sit for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips, let them soften and melt, and then spread them into an even layer. (You can add nuts, cracker crumbs, or whatever else floats your boat at this point.) Let cool and, if desired for expediting purposes, refrigerate until hardened. Break into pieces the size of your choice. I personally prefer a hand-sized chunk. 2 DIP crackers in chocolate mixture, turning to completely coat each cracker. Carefully scrape off excess chocolate. Place crackers in single layer on waxed paper-covered baking sheets; sprinkle with crushed candy. 3 REFRIGERATE 30 min. or until chocolate is firm.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip

I absolutely love pumpkin especially when I find creative ways to use it such as this decadent dip showing.  The picture with the dip served in the hollowed-out pumpkin is ingenius and what a clever thing to do.  I will definitely do this in the next few weeks.

Ingredients:

1× 8-oz pkg Cream Cheese, softened
½ – ¾ cup Sugar, to taste
1× 15-oz. can Pumpkin, not pie mix
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Cloves
1 Small Sugar or Pie Pumpkin, hollowed-out
Gingersnap Cookies or Graham Crackers

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth, add pumpkin and beat well. Add spices, then adjust sugar to taste. Cover and refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Fill hollowed-out pumpkin with dip. If desired, sprinkle top with cinnamon-sugar and roasted pumpkin seeds. Serve with graham crackers or gingersnap cookies.

No Bake Vanilla Cake Batter Chocolate Truffles

This is my kind of RECIPE....easy to make, few ingredients and people would think you were baking all day.  Who doesn't love cake batter anyway...??


1 c vanilla cake mix
1/4 c sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp agave (optional and you can just use all sweetened condensed milk if you don’t have agave on hand)
1.5 to 2 c chocolate chips

Directions: In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients, except chocolate chips, and stir to combine.

This mixture should be quite solid and not runny, but not so dry that you can’t mold it into balls.  If you find that your mixture is a little too runny, add a touch more cake mix.  If it’s a little too dry, add more sweetened condensed milk/agave.  I ended up using about 1.25 c of cake mix to get the perfect consistency.

After you’ve made the dough, refrigerate or freeze for 15 minutes and then remove and roll into balls.

After the balls have been made, refrigerate or freeze for 15 minutes minutes or until well-chilled, ensuring the melted chocolate will adhere and set up properly.

Melt the chocolate chips, and dip the chilled cake batter balls into melted chocolate.  Using parchment paper is a tip I’d recommend when working with melted chocolate.  Place truffles in freezer or fridge to set up.

Stir all ingredients together except for chocolate chips.  This is what my dough looked like, and then I put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

I recommend rolling these balls much smaller than you think they should be because once you dip them in chocolate, they almost double in size.  The end result should be a truffle and bite-sized.  You don’t necessarily want to be biting into a golf ball sized truffle.  So start with small balls.

Dip balls into melted chocolate and allow to set up in freezer.

PEPPERMINT BARK

This is another version of bark for those like the peppermint taste and it's fairly simple and less time consuming.  This has to be in the top ten of candies that people make for Christmas.  It's foolproof, it has 3 ingredients how hard could it be.  It looks pretty on a Christmas centerpiece.

1 lb. dark chocolate (I used 1/2 semisweet and 1/2 bittersweet)
1 lb. white chocolate
6 oz. (1 regular package) candy canes, crushed

1. Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. Spread (with an offset spatula) in an even layer on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Place in freezer to harden, approximately 30 minutes.

2. Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. Spread (with an offset spatula) on top of the dark chocolate layer. Working quickly before the white chocolate sets, sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top and gently press into the chocolate. Refrigerate until complete hard and set, at least 2 hours.

3. Break into pieces and enjoy!

Grasshopper Mint Chocolate Bark

I found some fantastic recipes over the weekend... or, I should say mouth watering recipes that wanted me to bake right on the spot.  They say that you shouldn't go to the store on a empty stomach.  I can say the same when looking at decadent desserts on the internet. 

If these sweet decadent desserts don't make you salivate, you're a better person than me.  I was in Pinterest over the weekend, I'm sure everybody knows that site, and if your like me you can get carried away browsing hours on end without leaving the site.  Don't hate me when you see these candy recipes that I posting.  When I saw them it gave me ideas what to make over the holidays.

16 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

1 teaspoon mint extract (NOT peppermint), optional

Green food coloring

16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 box (4.67-ounces) Andes Crème de Menthe Thins, unwrapped and coarsely chopped

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler (or in 30-second intervals in the microwave on 50% power, stirring after each). Once the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and let sit for a few minutes to cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Add the mint extract, if using, and stir to combine. Add a few drops of green food coloring and stir until desired color is reached.

3. Spread the white chocolate mixture onto the prepared pan in an even layer (depending on the size of the pan and how thick you’d like your bark, you may not need the entire surface of the pan). Refrigerate for 15 minutes, until just about set.

4. Meanwhile, melt the semisweet chocolate over a double boiler (or in 30-second intervals in the microwave on 50% power, stirring after each). Once the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and let sit for a few minutes to cool slightly, stirring occasionally. Pour over the white chocolate layer and spread evenly over top. Sprinkle with the chopped Andes mints and press down lightly to push the mints into the top chocolate layer. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until completely set.

5. Cut the bark or break into uneven pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator. When stored in the refrigerator, it will keep for at least 2 weeks.