Chocolate Walnut Strudel

by penji1

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Christmas dinner dessert!  Recipe from the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry website.  Easy to make and delicious to eat!

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

4 squares (1 ounce each) semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 package Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed as per package directions

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

powdered sugar

vanilla ice cream and/or Cool Whip for serving, if desired

1  Heat oven to 375.  Beat egg and water in small bowl with fork.

2  Place chocolate, milk and butter in medium microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on medium for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Repeat until mixture is melted and smooth.

3  Unfold pastry sheet on lightly floured surface.  Roll sheet into 16 x 12″ rectangle.  Spread chocolate mixture on pastry to within 1 1/2″ of edge.  Sprinkle with nuts.  Starting with shorter side, roll up like jelly roll.  Place seam side down onto baking sheet.  Tuck ends under to seal.  Brush with egg mixture.

4  Bake 35 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.  Let strudel cool on baking sheet on wire rack for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Christmas fun with Candy Melts!

by penji1

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I’ve been working so much that I’m way behind in my Christmas prep so I’ve been trying to get caught up especially with the neighbor gifts and candy melts are my new best friend.  The possibilities are endless!  At Michaels they had a couple of fun versions for the holidays – the version in the candy cane is a white candy melt with red sprinkles and the version in the gingerbread man is also a white candy melt with red, blue and green sprinkles.  I got some cookie cutters at the dollar store and then just melted the candy melts according to package directions, spooned the melted candy into the cookie cutters sitting on wax paper on top of a cookie sheet and then put them in the fridge until set.  The little hearts are two tiny candy canes put end to end and then filled carefully with the melted candy, I also put these on wax paper on cookie sheets and also put them in the fridge until set.  So cute!  Wish I had bought more candy canes.  Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Christmas Cupcakes

by penji1

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I had a day of so I spent half the day on Thursday making these for my friends at work.  I was going to make them all snowmen but the box needed some color so I added in some cupcakes with a bit of color on them.  These are Red Velvet cupcakes; all I did to make them was take a Red Velvet Betty Crocker cake mix and then add in a small box of chocolate pudding to give it a little extra kick of chocolate and also to add some density to the cupcakes and they came out pretty tasty.  I frosted them lightly with my favorite Buttercream icing and then had at it with the sprinkles.  I find it easiest to dump the sprinkles in a bowl and then just dip the freshly frosted cupcake into the bowl that way you get good overall coverage.  The snowmen’s eyes and mouths are big and mini chocolate chips and the noses are candy corns.  Pretty simple, pretty cute and pretty tasty!  Merry Christmas everyone!  I wish I could give a Christmas cupcake to each of you!

Chocolate Raspberry Dream Torte

by penji1

torte

It was our Christmas Bunco dinner last night and I actually got off work in time to go and then I actually won!  Woo Hoo!  I made this Pampered Chef torte for dessert.  It is supposed to be topped with raspberries but they didn’t have any fresh ones at the store so I went with blackberries instead, still delicious!

1 Devil’s Food cake mix plus ingredients to make cake

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip, thawed

1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam, divided

1 cup raspberries

1  Heat oven to 350.  Grease torte pans.  Prepare cake mix according to package directions.  Divide batter between pans.  Bake 18 – 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes then remove carefully from pans and allow to cool completely.

2  Combine cream cheese, sugar and zest and beat until smooth.  Fold in Cool Whip.  (I set aside about 1/2 cup of Cool Whip to decorate the top of the torte.)

3  Place 1 cake layer well side up on serving platter.  Spread half of filling over cake layer.  Place jam in small bowl and microwave 10 – 20 seconds or until warm, whisk until smooth.  Drizzle half of jam over filling.  Place remaining cake layer on top of first, well side up.  Spread with remaining filling and then remaining jam.  Decorate with berries and reserved Cool Whip.

Christmas Treat Day!

by penji1

So yesterday was Christmas treat day around here, as in I spent the whole day making treats and thought I would share for those of you looking for some quick and easy last minute gift ideas.  All of these treat ideas are already on the blog so this will just be adapting them for Christmas gift giving.

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First up, chocolate dipped pretzels – easy, delicious and easily made to fit any holiday.  Perfect for families with kids which is where these little guys went!  One bag of Wilton Light Cocoa Candy Melts did all the dipped treats in this post so 1 bag of those babies will go a long way.  All you have to do is buy a bag of those rod shaped pretzels and a bag of candy melts, melt the candy according to package directions and then dip away!  Sprinkle with any chosen decorations such as jimmies, sprinkles, mini chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, the sky is the limit!

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Next up a container full of a variety of treats – Maple Walnut Fudge, White Chocolate Peanut Butter Krispies and two different kinds of M&M Pretzel Bites, one made with regular Hershey Kisses and one made with Candy Cane Hershey Kisses.  All these recipes are already on the blog, each one is easy and quick to make.

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And to round it out, a hot chocolate gift also super quick and easy.  I got some mugs at the dollar store and also those silver spoons which are actually plastic.  I dipped the spoons in the candy melts and sprinkled with some sprinkles then did the same to some large candy canes and then to round it out, I dipped some large marshmallows in the candy melts and then in some crushed candy canes and to finish, stuck another large candy cane into the marshmallow.  Add some hot chocolate and you are done!

Mini Hot Chocolate Bar

by penji1

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This may have been the girls favorite thing about the party, they seemed to really enjoy the mini hot chocolate bar!  You can see from the picture that I had both large and small marshmallows, large candy canes, chocolate dipped spoons (more on that soon) and two different kinds of hot chocolate – mint and dark.  The spoons are so easy to do and so fun to have with hot chocolate.  I just used plastic spoons and dipped them while I was making the other dipped items then added some Christmas sprinkles to make them even cuter.  I asked Courtney what would be some other good things for a hot chocolate bar and she suggested whipped cream and then Bob suggested ice cream, both great ideas.

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Here are the treats trays with Nutter Butter Reindeers, Mini Donut Snowmen, Marshmallow Reindeer Pops, M&M Kiss Pretzel Bites (recipe already on the blog) and Angeletti Cookies (also already on the blog).  It was a fun party.  I sure do love those girls, they are sweeter than all these treats!

Nutter Butter Reindeers

by penji1

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Another treat for the Christmas party!  This idea was kind of a combination of several things that I saw on Pinterest but none in this exact configuration so I’m going to take credit for these.  🙂

1 package Nutter Butter cookies

1 package light cocoa Wilton candy melts

tiny twist pretzels

red M&Ms

chocolate chips

Melt candy melts according to package directions.  Carefully dip 1 Nutter Butter in melted chocolate with a spoon, shaking excess chocolate off as you bring it out of bowl.  Set dipped cookie carefully down onto a piece of wax paper.   Place 1 tiny twist pretzel of top of cookie for antlers.  Place 1 red M&M at the bottom of the cookie for a nose and then 2 regular size chocolate chips in the middle for eyes.  Allow to set for an hour or so until chocolate is firm to the touch.

Mini Donut Snowmen

by penji1

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This one too was for the Christmas party for the girls, another idea from Pinterest and another picture that led to nowhere so here’s what I did!

mini powdered sugar donuts

candy corns

mini chocolate chips

Cut wide end off 1 piece of candy corn then carefully stick, pointy end facing out, into slit (there really isn’t a hole in the middle of these little guys).  Next take 7 mini chocolate chips – 2 for eyes and 5 for mouth and, wait for it, you’re done!

Marshmallow Reindeer Pops

by penji1

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Here is one of the treats that I made for the Christmas party for the girls.  I saw the picture on Pinterest but the website that it led to, called “Wedding Day Pins”, had no instructions just the picture so I’ll just tell you how I did it.

1 bag Wilton light cocoa candy melts

large marshmallows

tiny twist pretzels

red M&Ms

candy eyes (or make your own, with Wilton confetti and a black edible food marker, like I did)

Popsicle sticks

Melt candy melts according to package directions.  Push Popsicle stick into side of a large marshmallow, do not push all the way through to the other side.  Dip marshmallow in melted cocoa melts making sure to cover spot where stick was inserted into marshmallow.  Place 2 pretzels side by side in ear configuration on a piece of wax paper.  Gently place dipped marshmallow onto pretzels, adjusting positioning of pretzels as needed.  Place 1 red M&M on front for a nose then place 2 candy eyes on top.  Allow to sit for an hour or so until chocolate is set and firm to touch.

Cupcake Ornaments

by penji1

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Last night my girls from church came over for a Christmas party so I thought a craft would be fun for the party and since I am the food lady I thought this cupcake ornament was just perfect!  And while it isn’t a food item with a recipe like I usually do on this blog, since it is food related, I’m going to share it here.  Now I am not really a crafty gal when it comes to mediums other than food but this was pretty easy to do and I easily found all the necessary items at Michaels craft store.  The idea comes from a blog called “Bake It Pretty”.

Styrofoam balls (2 1/2″ for regular size cupcakes and/or 1 1/2″ for mini cupcakes)

heavy duty foil cupcake liners (either standard 2″ size or mini size)

artificial snowflakes

artificial floral berry sprigs

bakers twine or ribbon

wooden skewers

white craft glue

foam or paint brush

hot glue

scissors

1  Stick 1 Styrofoam ball onto a wooden skewer for easier handling.  Use a brush to paint upper 2/3 of ball with a generous coating of white craft glue.

2  Roll ball into faux snow flakes, gently pressing and sprinkling flakes to cover ball.  It should look like a frosty snowball.

3  Place stick and ball into a mug or piece of foam and allow to dry completely.

4  When balls are dry, remove skewers.  Run a circle of hot glue around the top inside of the cupcake liner and place cupcake ball inside, frosty side up.  Cup your hands and press gently around edges to glue liner on snugly.  Do not push ball down too far or bottom will curve and your cupcake will not be flat.

5  Choose a cherry for your cupcake.  Cut 1 floral berry from bunch.  Add small dot of hot glue to center of your cupcake.  Set a small loop of ribbon or twine into the glue first, then press the cherry firmly on top.