Recipes and Cooking Ideas for Homemakers and Amateur Cooks
 

Mint Patties plus an Out-of-My-Comfort-Zone Tidbit

Posted on April 1, 2011
Filed Under Candy, Tidbits

You know how when you have a problem, you try to find a solution? And then sometimes the solution doesn’t work because it hinges on another problem? And then you have to back up and fix that problem before you can fix the initial problem?

Is anyone still with me? If you didn’t follow, I’ll explain it using a few more words… I know I was kind of concise in that first paragraph. Ok, just kidding.

Well, here’s my problem: I miss this cooking site. And having fun in the kitchen. And trying new stuff, making tried-and-true stuff, playing with food, etc.
Solution: Ok, duh, so start cooking, making, playing, and updating!
Problem hinging on that solution: I’m on a South Beach diet, and I couldn’t eat 90% of the stuff I’d make. And if I can’t taste it, how would I rate it? Plus, it would take ALOT of the fun of cooking away. I started posting alot around Christmas time and was planning to keep it up, then one day in January, I looked in the mirror, and decided to go on a diet, and well, you know the rest of the story (see above).
So, I found a solution: Make a diet exception. So, I did that. I decided that I can have 1 serving of anything I put on here. It’ll just be, you know, a cross I have to bear, you know, because I really DO actually want to stay on my diet, you know.

Anyway.

I hope you won’t get tired of me posting cheesecakes ALL. THE. TIME! ????

When I was thinking out loud, rambling to Shannon about my problem/solution/problem/solution and told him how I’m solving it all, his comment was (as if he was saying this one day after my blog was up and going regularly again), “37 posts on Kitchen Scrapbook today?! and 24 yesterday?!!!” :)

Here’s where the out-of-my-comfort-zone tidbit comes in… I’m putting on a Before/After picture of myself. WAY out of my comfort zone…even if I keep the pictures small …and even if the pictures are in poor lighting. But by posting this, it’ll give me some accountability to keep on and get to the Final picture. So, here you go, this is what the halfway mark looks like, I just passed it a few days ago…

beforeafter.jpg

Now, onto the mints. Not sure if you can trust my judgement on these… of course they were good! Hello… it’s CARBS!!

Ahhh, carbs. How I love thee.

Maybe if I was eating normally, they’d get a good/average rating instead of a ‘they were absolutely awesome’ rating. I don’t know. So, just make them yourself… they’re easy enough!

This recipe was not taken from a cookbook. It was taken from the book The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. The book title doesn’t even have to finish that sentence …we all already know that we rule the world. :) If you’re a mom and don’t have that book, you should. It’s great. Every 2-page spread is loaded with inspiration, Bible verses, real life experiences, and here’s my favorite: little sayings/quick quips/advice. A few pages have some fun little recipes on them, like page 145 with Mint Patties.

mint4.jpg

Mint Patties

1 lb. powdered sugar (I’ll save you some research… that’s 3 3/4 cups)
2 tsp. cream
1 Tbsp. soft butter
1 egg white (unbeaten)
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and shape into patties. Dip in chocolate.

And there you have it, simple as that. I got done putting all the ingredients in and then thought “Uhhhh, MINT patties? It must mean mint patties in looks only, because there’s no mint in the recipe.” So, I added about 1/2 tsp. of peppermint extract.

mints3.jpg

I just threw everything into a bowl and mixed it, but it made little pea-sized balls, so I added a bit more cream and then it all blended together like a dough.

Instead of shaping the patties (which I thought would be too time-consuming), I rolled the ‘dough’ out and used cookie cutters. Got a variety of shapes that way too, which inspired me to make a mental note that these could go with any theme or holiday… just make it in whatever shape is right for the occasion!
mints2.jpg

I chilled the patties in the fridge for about a 1/2 hour before dipping them. I dipped some, half-dipped some, and ‘scribbled’ on some. You could even leave some plain, or add a tint of green food coloring.

mints1.jpg

This recipe made about 6 dozen mint patties.

So, I can only have 1 serving… how many patties is 1 serving? Just wondering, because the recipe doesn’t say. Oh well, I’ll just assume the whole batch is 1 serving. ????

Comments

16 Responses to “Mint Patties plus an Out-of-My-Comfort-Zone Tidbit”

  1. Aug on April 1st, 2011 5:54 pm

    I can NOT get over how great you look! I called Jeremy over to see the “before and after” cuz, wow! You are looking SO much thinner and I think you look amazing! I am wondering what you will look like by the time you get all of the way there, if this is only 1/2 way!! I am so happy for you!!

    Excited about you doing a little more updating on here. That will be fun for all of us!

  2. Liz on April 1st, 2011 7:06 pm

    I asked Kaitlyn who the person was on the picture and she said, “Kara?” I thought you would appreciate that. :) You look great! Glad we can look forward to lots of updates. Except now I’m trying to diet. So I’ll just look hungrily. I don’t think I would have enough self-control to just eat one.

  3. becky on April 1st, 2011 7:20 pm

    omGOSH! kay!! seriously, you look amazing! i cant believe how much younger you look. great job, girl!

  4. Beth on April 1st, 2011 7:37 pm

    Love that you went out of your comfort zone to let the world see that you got 1/2 way! I thought the last line was too funny. The whole batch is a serving…wouldn’t that be nice?! I’ll say at least 1 dozen is a serving. :)

  5. Michelle on April 1st, 2011 7:43 pm

    Kay, you look aMAZing!!!!!! You go, girl!!!

    I always wish your blog posts came with those little sample things like they have at Sam’s Club. :) B/c I just want to taste one without having to make it! (Would that make my original problem laziness?)

  6. lisa on April 1st, 2011 8:28 pm

    oh my word! KAY! you look incredible. really, really good!! makes me excited to have this baby and start working on the (minimum of) 30 pounds that are sure to be hanging on! YOU GO!

  7. linda hershey on April 1st, 2011 9:50 pm

    kay, i cannot believe how good you look!!! smashing!!like i said, i am so proud of you!!! because chocolate is chocolate and cooking good is cooking good and you somehow just busted through with nerves of steel, baby! so happy to see you up and running with the show and i hope cooking is kind to you and you are able to eat and enjoy and still see all the good results that you want! i’ll be trying the patties and letting you know how they rated!

  8. cretora on April 2nd, 2011 6:58 am

    Like I said before-you’ve inspired me to keep on my diet. Just when I was feeling like giving up, i saw your pics-thanks for posting! :)

    ps-I made mints like that at christmas and they were one hot commodity on cookie trays. your recipe looks creamier than mine though-i’ll have to try that this year.

  9. Kay on April 2nd, 2011 7:13 am

    Thanks for all your encouragement in the diet realm!!! Linda, you said it well when you used the term “busted through”… that’s exactly what dieting is, there are no easy secrets. ???? Michelle, I’ve often wished I could somehow put samples on here! That would be so fun! Then we could do polls of how each recipe rates.

  10. Shannon on April 2nd, 2011 11:09 am

    These look delicious!! I love Mint patties so I might have to try them, but I’d be the only one eating them!! Bad deal. -Just got to say again how great you look!! Keep it up!

  11. Loretta on April 3rd, 2011 12:16 pm

    Wow!!!! Good job on the weight loss!!! I make mint patties to sell at christmas time!! These look good too! I roll mine in logs and stick it in the freezer for awhile and than slice it!

  12. Sandra on April 7th, 2011 12:21 pm

    Wow lady!! you look beautiful!! So happy for you!..I wonder wahat I could do to lose some###:)

  13. Christy on April 9th, 2011 1:04 pm

    I missed this post somehow, but I am in AWE! Hello, you look PERFECT! How can this be 1/2 way. I’m so jealous, too, because I’ve been on the crackdown for 3 weeks (no sugar or flour) and I have lost 1 lb. I just want to jump ahead to where you are. :) I’m so impressed because I know you worked really hard for it. And it makes me wonder if you’re checking off your list. ????

  14. Judi on April 11th, 2011 12:27 pm

    you look amazing!! Keep it up – hope the warmer weather and outside activities help you move along too.

  15. Sheila on April 13th, 2011 9:11 am

    Here I come, way behind everyone else, but I just had to comment on this one. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the pics! Your Mom had told me that you were losing weight, but I didn’t know it was that much! Like everyone else said, you look SO good! I had to get the computer out and show my family the pics when they were here the other night. :-) Thanks for getting out of your comfort zone to post these pics. I love looking at before/after pictures! And, thanks for the giving me the push I needed to start reading my “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” book. I had been planning to read it again ever since Patrick was born, but hadn’t got around to digging it out until I read this. Now it’s on the table beside my chair and I’m enjoying reading it while I feed Patrick.

  16. Lydia Jo Martin on June 21st, 2011 1:22 pm

    Ok, so I just had fun catching up on your site here. Since we’re in the same diet group and all. You do look amazing. Good job! Such hard work, but so rewarding huh? I don’t grill either. I can’t even turn it on. And last summer when I tried to star the charcoal grill I nearly took off my eyebrows. mmm… I wish all us diet girls could get together. we’d have fun. hope your day is great. -Jo

Chocolate-covered Ritz with Peanut Butter

Posted on December 18, 2010
Filed Under Candy, Holiday cooking

chocolate-ritz-peanut-butter-done.jpg

This is the first year that I’ve done so much chocolate dipping. Kinda fun. I was looking around for more stuff to dip… did you know mini marshmallows dipped in chocolate are good? And peanuts, of course.

I just wanted to put these dipped Ritz cracker things on here because I learned something with them.

First step is to put peanut butter on one side of a cracker. So, I got a knife, the pack of crackers, and the jar of peanut butter and went to work, spreading crackers with peanut butter. You wanna talk about tedious and hard to get the peanut butter even along the edges, plus not be messy with it!

I was about to stop the project when a lightbulb went on… I could pipe it on! So, I got a plastic bag, filled a corner with peanut butter, snipped of a little corner and started coiling it on till the cracker was covered. It really worked, but it took too long.

Then, the lightbulb got brighter and I snipped the corner off bigger and made a pile in the middle of the cracker, got another cracker, and pressed it down on top till the peanut butter was evenly to the edge of the cookie. Fast. Easy. Fun.

So, I started mass producing… laid a bunch of crackers out on the table, squirted piles of peanut butter on them all, then went through and pressed all the top crackers on. The whole batch was done in no time. Maybe you all already do it like that, but just in case there’s someone out there going crazy, still spreading peanut butter with a knife and getting your hands messy, here you go.

ritz-peanut-butter-chocolate1.jpg

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Before dipping, I put the filled crackers in the fridge because chocolate hardens faster when whatever it’s about to cover is chilled. I don’t know any secrets to dipping… I just dip them one at a time, dig them out with a spoon, shake of the excess, and put them on Saran wrap/wax paper to dry. I’ve thought of using a cooling rack and pouring melted chocolate over them, flipping them, and pouring more over, then catching what runs off and re-using it, but that just seems a bit too messy and I’d have to wash the rack and what if it wouldn’t cover the sides right.

I want to make one more thing yet, then I think my Christmas cookie/candy making is done for this year… the first part of next week, I want to make Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies… half of the batch white chocolate and half milk chocolate, and compare them. ???? I decided to wait till after Christmas to post Lexi’s birthday cake because I’m kind of in Christmas food mode, and her birthday cake has nothing to do with Christmas.

Comments

11 Responses to “Chocolate-covered Ritz with Peanut Butter”

  1. Berneice on December 18th, 2010 1:49 pm

    This is something my mom has made for years (and of course I don’t like them=they have pb) but just recently they started making them with marshmallow cream too.

    oh and I am enjoying all these updates on your blog! Keep up the good work. Maybe it will inspire me to get cookin!

  2. Freida on December 18th, 2010 2:37 pm

    I was gonna say something along the same lines as Berneice. This is something we have always made.. for as long as I can remember. Never heard of adding marshmallow cream till I got married, but now that I tried that, I can.not.leave. them alone. So yummy!

  3. Christy on December 18th, 2010 9:07 pm

    Another idea for spreading the peanut butter is to give the job to your child. They think it’s cool. :) I love these things! We’ve already dipped Ritz Bitz, but there’s just something about real peanut butter crackers dipped in chocolate that’s hard to beat.

  4. Renita on December 18th, 2010 9:27 pm

    I do the pb ritz bits. I like that size. It’s a pop-in-the-mouth-one-right-after-the-other and there’s chocolate all the way around. I’m more for chocolate than pb.
    The mini teacup chocolate is SO adorable. I just had some cappuccino mousse that would be perfect in the choc. cup. I was thinking the chocolate roses you’ve made already would be a perfect match!Thx for the “updates” I always enjoy em!

  5. Amber S on December 19th, 2010 8:59 pm

    Use a big fork to dig them out of the choc. It lets the excess drip through the tines. :)

  6. Beth on December 20th, 2010 1:16 pm

    Putting the pb into a bag seems like more mess to me than just using the knife. Hmm…maybe I should try it before I knock it?? :) My mom helped me this year, so that makes it go faster. lol As always…enjoyed the post & love how you show us new ways to do things!

  7. Kay on December 20th, 2010 1:47 pm

    Ok, Berneice and Freida, I’ve gotta try these things with marshmallow creme! But, man oh, if I thought peanut butter was a mess, I can’t imagine marshmallow creme!!!! Sounds worth the mess though. :)

    Renita and Christy, thanks for the Ritz bits idea… the pop-in-the-mouth size sounds delightful.

    Yeah, I should’ve got my girls to do it, Christy. And, Beth, yeah, a mom would be a nice feature in the candy-making process… would make anything better and faster! ????

    Amber, thanks for the FORK idea! Brilliant! I shall do that from now on!!!

  8. Cheryl Weaver on December 28th, 2010 12:56 pm

    I just need to share a non messy way to get that peanut butter in the bag if I’m able to put it into words. I just put the corner of my bag into a drinking glass (kinda short and squatty) then take the top of the bag and fold it down around the outside of the glass. Kinda like you are starting to turn the bag inside out. Then get your spoonful of p.b. or frosting or deviled egg filling or whatever you are putting in there and drop it in. Hope that isn’t too confusing. Just something that works for me.

  9. Dena Skrivseth on January 1st, 2011 8:34 am

    Was going to suggest the Ritz bits…someone beat me too it…and then the fork…was beat to that too. But when I am finished dipping…then I throw in the peanuts for clusters…it finishes up the choc quite nicely! Another thing I like to do is to buy those mini Oreo cookies, and cover them with white choc,(brown works too, but when you have both, you know which you are getting if they are white!) then throw in either raisins, peanuts, or mixed at the end to finish up the choc

  10. Katie Mast on January 4th, 2011 10:17 am

    i make these crackers all the time, but i never thought of the bag. I love it, thanks for that tip i will use it next year. We also add a third cracker with marshmellow cream. Love all your new recipes.

  11. Judi on January 28th, 2011 3:02 pm

    Okay, I was good with crackers and peanut butter… who needs anything else lol. But chocolate covered WOW and Marshmallow?? Oh my. How about if we mix peanut butter and marshmallow creme then dip them in chocolate? A little on the messy side, but hey, we’re already getting a little down and dirty. My daughter does Dove Chocolate home parties… she’s a chocolatier, so I have an endless supply of chocolate… yes, I still have to buy it, but it is delicious.

Mini Teacup-shaped Chocolates

Posted on December 17, 2010
Filed Under Candy, Holiday cooking

teacup-chocolates8.jpg

My sister-in-law Sheila had a birthday last month and her mom got her some teacup truffles from a local bakery. She was showing them off …notice I said SHOWING, not SHARING! ????
Here is a picture of them…
chocolate-teacup-truffles.jpg
Aren’t they adorable? As soon as I saw them, they went into my oughta-try-them-sometime cooking folder in my OneNote. By the way, Sheila took that picture. One of my Kitchen Scrapbook New Years Resolutions is to research food photography (lighting/props/angles/how to make it look good/etc) and practice and get to know my camera and aperture and focus and settings on it to up the photo quality a bit on here. I was planning to go online for that education, but it looks like I don’t need to go any farther than our family gathering over the holidays to get tips… I love this picture! Looks like it came out of a magazine. Of course, the truffles look like they came out of a magazine, too!

I was at a cookie exchange today and I took a plate of candy instead of a dozen cookies. WAY more fun to make and nobody seemed to mind. :) I decided this was my chance to try the teacups, thought it would be a cute touch to a candy plate.
teacup-chocolate-candy-plate.jpg
On the candy plate is:
Rice crispy rolls
— Chocolate-covered Ritz crackers filled with peanut butter (to be featured tomorrow)
— Misc chocolate-coated/drizzled tree-shaped pretzels
O’Henry bars
— Chocolate teacup
— Store-bought peppermint candies

These teacups are not as hard and time-consuming as they may look. I want to make some more and next time, I’m not gonna go as crazy with piping trim on! Actually, I think I’ll skip the piping altogether. I wanted them all coordinating with white and brown chocolate and I think it ended up looking too busy or messy or something. I think next time, I’d make the cup and saucer both the same monotone color. So, minus all that piping, these teacups were done in 7 steps, mostly easy steps:
1. Line the cups  of a mini muffin pan with white or dark or milk chocolate to form the cup part.
2. Make a saucer out of partially hardened chocolate.
3. Form a handle out of partially hardened chocolate and ‘glue’ it on with melted chocolate.
4. Fill the cup with fudge (that’s what I did here) or truffles or mousse or whatever.
5. Pipe white frosting on top to look like whipped cream (remember that cup of frosting I had left over from the red velvet sandwich cookies? It came in handy here! ???? )
6. Sprinkle the whipped cream with a bit of Nestles Quik powder.
7. Form a little decoration out of partially hardened chocolate or make a chocolate curl or use some other decoration for garnish.

Here are pictures and “What I learned” tips with each step…

Step #1.
teacup-chocolates1.jpg
What I learned:
Grease the cups WELL.
The thicker the chocolate, the better… if it’s too thin, the cups might break as you get them out (see the one in the front right has a hole in the bottom).
Chill before getting them out.
Best way to get them out is to push against the inside of the cup and turn it, when it comes loose, pull it out.

Step #2:
teacup-chocolates2.jpg

teacup-chocolates3.jpg
What I learned:
Use utensils/Saran wrap to do the work… using fingers melts the chocolate and creates a sticky mess.
Cut a perfect circle by using a round cutter… a drinking glass works great.
Lay the saucer on a measuring cup… it will sink down just a little in the middle to create a ‘saucer’ look.
The fridge was my friend. Chocolate hardens faster in the fridge. ????

Step #3:
chocolate-teacups4.jpg
What I learned:
If the cups are chilled before putting the handles on, they adhere faster.
You need to hold the handle against the cup until the melted chocolate between them has hardened… otherwise the handle might fall off when you set it down. *rolleyes*

The rest of the steps don’t have ‘what I learned’ tips because there were no issues/problems/lessons learned. That’s a good thing:)

Step #4:
teacup-chocolates5.jpg

Step #5:
teacup-chocolates6.jpg

Steps #6 & 7:
teacup-chocolates7.jpg
I made stars because, you know, Christmas. I thought stars would be easier than holly or trees or a wreath or a gift or a manger scene. ???? I just made a ball, then flattened it, then pinched it in 5 places, then perfected the points. Haha, perfected the points? Then why aren’t they perfect?! :p I guess I should’ve said I just made a ball, then flattened it, then pinched it in 5 places, then messed around with it till it looked more or less like a star. :) Oh, and the one doesn’t have a star, in case anyone noticed. It was the last one and REFUSED to turn out, so I ate it and just stuck in a random dripping from where I had drizzled the pretzels.

Oh, and here are the 5 plates of cookies that I came home with… Peanut Butter Kiss cookies from Rosalyn, Frosted Sugar cookies from Beth, Monster cookies from Sherri, Pumpkin cookies with caramel frosting from Rita, and White Chocolate Chip cookies and some coated party mix and chocolate-covered peanut butter crackers from Mary Esther. I love love love cookie exchanges!!! When else can you mass produce one thing and end up with a fun variety?!
cookie-exchange2.jpg

Comments

14 Responses to “Mini Teacup-shaped Chocolates”

  1. Shannon on December 17th, 2010 8:07 pm

    These little things are so cute. Waaay to much work for me tho! :)

  2. Ruth Hochstetler on December 17th, 2010 10:12 pm

    A very interesting project, and well done! I have one question on an ingredient. On the candy plate you mentioned ‘tree shaped pretzels.’ Years ago, that was one of the ingredients in my party mix, but I can’t find them anymore. Where do you get them? I like them because they are so dainty and thinner than most pretzels. They go well in a Christmas mix.

  3. Kay on December 17th, 2010 10:19 pm

    Ruth, yeah, I agree, they’d be perfect for Christmas party mix! I got the pretzels at our local bulk foods store. I don’t know if you have any in your area, but I’d check there. Good luck!

  4. Rosalyn on December 17th, 2010 10:35 pm

    I’m in Indiana wishing that I’d have my yummy cookies along instead of at home in my freezer. :) Can’t wait to inhale them!! :)

  5. Beth on December 18th, 2010 12:15 am

    Today was so fun!! I vote for you to make candy every year. Those things are so cute & I still didn’t eat mine…just waiting for the perfect moment. :) Also wanted to say I’m excited that you are doing this daily post!!

  6. Cheryl on December 18th, 2010 1:07 pm

    Cute!

  7. Loretta on December 20th, 2010 12:59 am

    Oh can’t wait to try these little teacups!!What a perfect idea for a little girls Birthday party!!!

  8. Sheila on December 20th, 2010 9:17 am

    Wow Kay! I should have known you would try these truffles. :-) They look good! Ha, don’t expect to learn many photo tips from me. I love taking pics of food, but so often am not happy with them. Getting the right lighting has been my main source of frustration. I’ve always wondered how much difference having a better camera would make. Well, Jared got a new camera recently, and then rented one of those huge zooms for a week to shoot pics at a wedding. We were at their place a couple of times while he had it and I had so much fun “playing” with it. I just walked around the kitchen taking pics of food preparations, and I couldn’t believe the difference! Honestly, they almost looked better on the camera than they did in real life. :-) Now, that was fun! So, the fact that a good camera really does make a difference could be encouraging or discouraging, if you know what I mean. :-/ BTW, I’ve seen some really nice food pics on this particular site, so don’t be too hard on yourself. :-)

  9. Jan on December 23rd, 2010 1:38 pm

    I am trying to make some of these for a Christmas present. How did you line the muffin tin with chocolate? I can’t get the things out no matter how much cooking spray I use or how chilled the stuff is.

  10. Jan on December 23rd, 2010 2:15 pm

    Problem solved! I lined the cups with foil and then when the chocolate was hardened, I lifted them out and peeled off the foil. Worked perfectly!

  11. Judi on January 28th, 2011 3:26 pm

    You amaze me. I buy the chocolate cups from my daughter :) Maybe it’s my age, but it’s just too much chocolate for me. Quick, someone call the DR. The chocolate mousse mix that she sells is also to die for. Usually by the time I’ve eaten the whipped topping and chocolate mousse I just am on sugar overload without even eating the cup. I do save it for later though :)

  12. Judi on January 28th, 2011 3:27 pm

    oops, now I remember what I was going to say. For the stars that you were trying to make… do you have any chocolate candy molds? I have some small molds that have lots of different shapes… even a star. You just mold the chocolate and pop it out… perfect every time.

  13. Margarita Brajak on March 13th, 2011 9:53 pm

    Where did you find the teacups with the halow handle, in the second picture? Please respond to mbrajak@hotmail.com Thank you. Margarita.

  14. Kay on April 30th, 2011 9:43 am

    Margarita, those little teacup truffles were being sold at a small bakery in WI.

    Judi, using candy molds… great idea! Thanks! :)

O’Henry Bars

Posted on December 16, 2010
Filed Under Candy

Every year, there are some cookies/candy that are a MUST, but I also like to find a couple of new recipes too. This is one of them. A few weeks ago, I was trying to catch up on my way-behind Google Reader (I won’t tell you how many unread items there are because Shannon gives me a hard enough time about it, I don’t need you all to, too ???? … I know he’s right when he says, “You oughta just mark them all ‘Read’ and start over!” but instead I say, “No! What if there’s a post or two in there that I FOR SURE don’t want to miss?!”) and anyway, I clicked on The Cutting Edge of Ordinary and Lisa had just posted these bars. I knew right then and there that they had to be on my new-things-to-try-this-Christmas list. And they didn’t disappoint me. They are just as good as they sound and look! And a few people that I gave some to let me know they were a hit at their house, too.

ohenry-bars.jpg

O’Henry Bars

1 cup Karo syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanuts (unsalted, do not chop) I didn’t notice this before I got ingredients and I bought salted peanuts, oops, but they turned out great anyway!
1 cup peanut butter
3 cups rice krispies
12 oz package chocolate chips
12 oz package butterscotch chips

Stir together the syrup and the sugar. Microwave for 2 minutes. Add the peanuts and the peanut butter to the Karo mixture. Microwave again for 1 minute.
ohenry1.jpg

Add 3 cups of rice krispies.
ohenrys2.jpg

Spread into a greased 9×13 pan.
ohenrys3.jpg

I pressed them into the pan with a buttered plastic bag.
ohenrys4.jpg

Combine the chips in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Spread over the rice krispie mixture and cool in the fridge. Cut into 1 inch squares to serve.
ohenrys5.jpg

ohenrys7.jpg

ohenrys8.jpg

I should’ve taken a picture of them cut in the pan, but I think I cut them 6 across the short way and 10 the long way, so 60 little bars. What they lacked in size, they made up for in taste. :)

I think I might make some more of these and try something different… make the bottom part and cool it til it’s firm enough to handle, then shaped them into little logs, chill them, then melt the chips and dip them. Maybe twice. ???? The end result would be like a fun size candy bar!

Comments

3 Responses to “O’Henry Bars”

  1. Lisa@The Cutting Edge of Ordinary on December 16th, 2010 3:05 pm

    Fun sized candy bars…what a great idea! Thanks linking back to my blog. I love when I see people actually making something I posted. Glad you liked them. I’m still dreaming about those red velvet ones!

  2. Cheryl on December 16th, 2010 3:10 pm

    Yum! I bet they would be great with dark chocolate, too!

  3. Renita on December 16th, 2010 9:57 pm

    Kay- are you SURE you put some of these on my cookie plate? Oh yeah you probly did. There were 4 boys that somehow devoured ALL the candy fast!!! And I get the red velvet ones all to myself. Reckon I just have to make these myself now that I have the recipe. Thx again! I also want to make carmels and dip pb ritz bits in choc.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Posted on January 18, 2010
Filed Under Candy, Holiday cooking

Fudge. Yum. It’s one of my areas of weakness.

Louise, one of my message board buddies, posted this recipe. I made it before Christmas, so it is LONG gone, but you should have the recipe anyway. I do still prefer the melted chocolate chips, butter, peanut butter, and marshmallow combo, but will definitely keep this recipe on hand for when I need a fudge fix and am out of chocolate chips and marshmallows… two things that I don’t always keep on hand.

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Peanut Butter Fudge

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt

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Mix all ingredients together, and blend until smooth. Press into a 8 or 9 inch square pan, and chill. Louise says, “I like to line my pan with waxed paper so I can easily flip the hardened square out to cut later on. This stuff tastes sinfully delicious, and melts in your mouth!” She is so right on that last sentence! ????
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This was Christmas, remember? Where the fudge went was on a plate to take to the 1st & 2nd grade room for after the Christmas program… rice crispy bars cut into Christmas-y shapes, fudge, and Resees cups.

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Side note: The picture doesn’t show the shapes too good, but rice crispy bars can be made to fit about any occasion… just make them a bit thinner than usual and sprinkle them with colors and cut them in shapes to fit the ocassion. Kinda like this layered finger jello. :)

Comments

8 Responses to “Peanut Butter Fudge”

  1. Sharon on January 18th, 2010 10:06 pm

    Um, Kay? I thought we were supposed to be LOOSING weight right now, not gaining! Never mind, it does look good… :-)

  2. Megan on January 20th, 2010 9:38 pm

    I love fudge! I just whipped up a batch of it for the holidays but since I gave most of it away to friends and family, I’m thinking I should make some again soon ????

  3. Mom on April 7th, 2010 11:33 am

    I’m getting tired of making peanut butter fudge… But I keep faithfully checking you out!

  4. Mom on April 22nd, 2010 12:39 pm

    I checked again. Hi again.

  5. Linda Hershey on April 25th, 2010 2:56 pm

    oh i would love some fudge! but i would like it better if YOU would make it and then bring it over for me!! how’s baby shopping going? and that school bus cake is amazing! i kept saying to myself, ok i knew she was creative and liked to bake but i had no idea she was THIS good!!

  6. Jenny on July 19th, 2010 9:29 pm

    killer blog and recipes here! let me just say that when i get to heaven, i may say, “can i now be a great cook like kay?” (finally!)
    YOU ARE BLESSED!

  7. amber on July 20th, 2010 6:47 pm

    so good to have met you at ffe, Kay. wish we could have visited more~ i now have my list of those to talk to FIRST next time we all get together. ????

    and i wouldn’t mind a piece of that yummy looking fudge RIGHT NOW. i was craving something sweet and thinking in my mind what i could come up with… now, all i can think of is FUDGE! and i don’t have of that in my kitchen. haha. :)

    hope your week is going well.

    love, a.

  8. Mom on August 16th, 2010 11:44 am

    Jenny and I looked again… Jenny said, “I bet it’s still peanut butter fudge.” I guess we’ll just have to keep making peanut butter fudge until you change it! We’re gonna get really roly-poly if you don’t put on something fat-free. Have a caloric day!! Squeeze all those little fat cheeks for me! Mom

Our Christmas in pictures (and words)

So, what happened then is that Kitchen Scrapbook ended up totally missing Christmas! I was living the moment, er, moments, surrounded by family and making food and snacks without blogging about it.

You know how when you get a whole bunch of Christmas cards in a row, 4 one day and 5 the next, and then it tapers off towards the end of December and then no more cards and then the 2nd week of January, you get another Christmas card? Well, that’s how this post is… the other blogs you read have posted Christmas now and are switching from red & green colors to January blue and New Year’s resolutions, but here, we’re pulling you back to Christmas…

First, we have Pretzel Turtles
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I got this idea from Judy on a message board that I frequent. Take small pretzels and put a Rolo candy on top of each one. Then, put them in the oven for a couple minutes at 350. When you get them out, immediately press a pecan half on top of each Rolo. Yum! They went over very well here!

We also had monster cookies, party mix, and gingerbreadmen:
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Lexi said, “Mom, look! I made twins!”…
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Hmmm, someone samples cookies as she decorates…
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And then onto our Christmas meal…

Here was our menu:
–Mashed potatoes and gravy
Ham, rotisserie on the grill
–Noodles
–Baked corn
–Candied sweet potatoes
–Corn chip salad
–Rolls
–Jellied cranberry sauce
–Pies (pumpkin, lemon meringue, and peanut butter)

This is my husband, making some awesome ham…
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Missed the pies before they were eaten…
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Pictured in the picture right under the ham collage is the candied sweet potatoes. I was trying to make a knock-off of Texas Roadhouse’s loaded sweet potato. I baked 3 sweet potatoes, peeled them and put them in an 8×8 pan and mashed them with a fork. Then, melted a stick of butter and stirred in some cinnamon and about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, poured it over the potatoes, put a layer of marshmallows on top, then baked it at 350 until the marshmallows were browned. It was GOOD!!!

In addition to food, our Christmas consisted of gift opening, football throwing, baby holding, and much more…

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Comments

6 Responses to “Our Christmas in pictures (and words)”

  1. Shannon on December 30th, 2008 7:53 pm

    Aww it looks good! Fun fun fun with family isn’t it. :)

  2. Berneice on December 30th, 2008 8:40 pm

    Food and family go together very well. Like someone told me tonight. One without the other is like a kiss without a squeeze!

  3. Ruthie on December 31st, 2008 7:13 am

    NICE to see pictures of your family all together. The way it used to be… Happy New Year!

  4. Suzanne on December 31st, 2008 10:46 am

    Looks like you had a wonderful time. How did your husband make the ham? It looks to die for!

  5. Liz on January 2nd, 2009 9:53 pm

    Can we have a redo? Those couple of days were so MUCH fun!!!! The pictures of the ham makes me want to have some more and I would really love to have more candied sweet potatoes. At least you wrote it down so we can use the ‘recipe’ for next year. Happy New Year!

  6. Fran on January 3rd, 2009 12:48 pm

    Looks like you had a nice holiday. The ham looks really good, and I love the pretzel, rolo candy. I want to try those.

‘Tis the Season… bake some festive Meringue Candy Canes!

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Mostly when we talk about food, we think of taste. Well, not this time… the strong point of these candy canes is the looks, not the taste. Aren’t they pretty? I think they’d technically be called a candy… they have no substances like a cookie does. Speaking of substance, they might even be calorie-free because when you take a bite of one, within seconds, that bite dissolves into nothing inside your mouth, so the calories must dissolve into nothing too, right? ;) Lexi says they taste like dried out frosting.

They were fun to make… you get to make swirls with a decorating bag. I actually did something I’ve never done before in featuring cooking and took a video. It’s a very poor video, but my standards have gone from no videos to poor videos, so gradually, I’ll up my standards to good videos. Part of the problem may be that my lighting was bad or that I saved it in low resolution or that I was piping the meringue with one hand while holding the camera and videoing with the other hand. Not a good idea. Live and learn.

By the way, if someone would just out of the blue ask you, “How do you spell meringue?”, could you spell it? It has gotta be one of the weirdest-spelled words in the English language!

Meringue Candy Canesfrom the Taste of Home Christmas Cookies and Candies cookbook

Printable recipe

3 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. peppermint extract
Red paste food coloring

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar; beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time, beating on High until stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved, about 6 minutes. Beat in peppermint extract.
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Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry bag; insert star tip #21. On the inside of the bag, brush 3 evenly spaced 1/4″ strips of red food coloring from the tip to 3/4 of the way to the top of the bag. Carefully fill bag with meringue. Pipe 3″ candy canes onto parchment-lined baking sheets. I didn’t have parchment paper, so I used tin foil. Worked great and they didn’t stick to it.
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And now for the video:

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See the difference in redness here in these 2 panfuls? The top ones on the left were made first. I guess the food coloring got less concentrated as the meringue slid past.meringue4.jpg

Bake at 225 for 25 min; rotate baking sheets to a different oven rack. Bake 25 min longer or until firm to the touch. Turn oven off; leave canes in oven with door ajar for at least 1 hour or until cool. Yield: 4 dozen. I must’ve made them bigger because I got only about 2 1/2 dozen, but I did use the #21 tip.

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Put these festive candy canes on an assorted cookie plate for your mailman this Christmas! Or take a plate to your local fire dept. Or to your neighbors. Or eat all your Christmas cookies yourself.

Comments

4 Responses to “‘Tis the Season… bake some festive Meringue Candy Canes!”

  1. Shannon on December 14th, 2008 9:16 pm

    Had to come watch this video. :) Where’s the sound? Wanted to hear a step by step how-to-do on it. :)

  2. Jessica on December 14th, 2008 9:30 pm

    cool.

  3. Katrina on December 19th, 2008 7:20 pm

    Those look great!

  4. lou on November 23rd, 2011 11:08 am

    How much sugar in grams do i need?

Christmas cookie baking/candy making 2007

cookies all

Liz, Lin, Ruthie, Sandra, Lourdes, and I all got together for a cookie/candy exchange. Ah, so fun!!!! All that good stuff sitting there. And it’s fun to see what everyone is making. And you take home a nice assortment of stuff for no more effort than you put into it.

I don’t even know what everything was called, but it’s all on the picture up there. There were 2 kinds of fudge (peppermint and chocolate). The chocolate fudge didn’t last long around here.  It was my top pick of everything! I think Linda made it. There were several different kinds of cookies, some buttermints, choc covered Ritz sandwiches, caramel/chocolate candy, mice , and choc dipped pretzels.

Lourdes and Liz making buttermints…
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The best part… dividing it all up. Lourdes, Liz, and Sandra.
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In the afternoon, Sandra and Ruthie made blended coffees for us all. I shared mine with Tiffany and then she didn’t want to give it up…
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I’ll feature my 3 contributions to the cookie/candy exchange…

They are all taken from Taste of Home Christmas Cookies and Candies.

Envelopes of Fudge
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 pkg (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups flour
FILLING:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Gradually add the flour. On a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth, about 3 minutes. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until easy to handle. For filling, combine the sugar, cocoa, butter, vanilla and salt. Stir in walnuts, set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12 1/2″ square; cut into 2 1/2″ squares.
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Place a rounded teaspoonful of filling in center of each square (I piped the filling on). Bring 2 opposite corners to center. Moisten the edges with water and pinch together.
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Place 1″ apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 25 cookies.
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Yeah, there were a few flops! It works better to pinch the corners together, then fold them down and pinch again.

Christmas Eve Mice
24 Oreos
1 cup choc chips
1 tsp shortening
24 maraschino cherries with stems, well drained
24 chocolate kisses
48 sliced almonds
green decorating gel
red decorating gel

Everyone else was done, so they helped me do these. They were kinda fun to do and we got some laughs out of the deformities, but it does look easier than it is! Here are Lin and Ruthie working on them…
cookie miceCarefully twist cookies apart; set aside the halves with cream filling. Save plain halves for another use. In a microwave, melt choc chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Holding each cherry by the stem, dip in melted chocolate, then press onto the bottom of a kiss. Place on the cream filling of cookie, with cherry stem extending beyond cookie edge. For ears, place slivered almonds between the cherry and kiss. Refrigerate until set. With green gel, pipe holly leaves on the cream. With red gel, pipe berries between leaves and pipe eyes on each chocolate kiss.
cookie mice2Store in an airtight container at room temp. Yield: 2 dozen.

Ice Cream Sundae Caramels
2 cups sugar
2 cups (16 oz) dark corn syrup
2 cups (1 pint) vanilla ice cream, melted, divided
1 cup butter
8 oz choc candy coating
1/2 cup peanuts, finely chopped

In a heavy 4-qt saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, 1 cup ice cream and butter. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture boils. Increase heat to medium; cook and stir until candy thermometer reads 242 (nearly firm-ball stage).
cookie caramel1Remove from heat; gradually stir in remaining ice cream. Return to heat; cook without stirring to 244 (firm-ball stage). Immediately pour, without stirring, into a buttered 9×13 pan. Let cool until firm. Invert candy onto a baking sheet. Melt candy coating; spread over candy. Sprinkle with nuts. Cut into 1″ squares. Yield: About 3 1/2 pounds.
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Bake sale!

My contribution to it…
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I want to open a bakery! I’m only half kidding. I would do the night shift of baking, then sleep during the day while someone else sells the stuff. Anyone want to fill out a job application? …Either for baking with me during the night or selling stuff during the day.  Ah, would be so fun! Everyone was in bed by 11:00 last night and I started in the kitchen. The house was quiet (well, quiet except when I’d accidently BOING!BONG! a pan and cringe for the sleeping people!) and I had no interruptions and I dumped the ingredients in the mixing bowl by myself and there was nobody standing beside me hollering, “Up! Up!”. I could just bake to my heart’s content! It was very therapeudic!  At 4:30, the birds started singing. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen the crack of dawn! At 5:30, I went to bed for a couple hours. Then, took the stuff to the garage sale/bake sale, then came home and took a 2-hr nap. I might do that more often because I’d like to put out some baked stuff at the end of the driveway this summer. Some of it, I’ll bake ahead and put in the freezer, but being able to tag stuff with “Fresh-baked this morning” has its advantages!

The 4 different things pictured above are:

Monster cookies… featured here


Apple pie… featured here


Rice crispie roll… featured here
And last, but not least, FUDGE     …recipe invented by yours truly
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Melt 4 T. butter, 2 12 oz bags milk chocolate chips, and 1/2 c. peanut butter.
fudge1You could use the microwave, too.
fudge2Stir in half a 16 oz bag of marshmallows until melted, then stir in some walnuts (I used a little over a cup). If you want a swirled effect, stir in the mmallows and nuts at the same time, but stop stirring when the mmallows are melting and streaked through, but not totally mixed in. Lightly grease a 9×13 pan and pour in.
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Refrigerate until firm. Cut into squares.
fudge5It’s easy, creamy, and delicious!!!

Now, back to the bake sale… Everything sold very well!!!!! Didn’t have anything to bring home. :)  …on second thought… :(

Comments

One Response to “Bake sale!”

  1. Melissa K on June 7th, 2008 6:12 am

    Oh, Kay, I just had to tell you that I go through these same feelings of wanting to open a bakery!!! My daughter has been begging me to do it too. For now, I’m content to just be the official baker for all of the family functions. I just don’t like the idea of HAVING to bake every day a whole lot, even if I don’t feel like it. I’m thinking that eventually I would lose my love of baking and it would become a chore!!
    I don’t know about in Wisconsin, but could you make desserts to sell to diners/shops or something? I think that would be ideal, but I can’t do it in NY because of health department regulations (would have to have a whole separate kitchen that passes inspection.) I’m always looking for ways to share my baking. It always makes me feel good!

Christmas cookie baking/candy making day 2006

We made cookies and candy, then divided it all out between us. This is the rich assortment I brought home.
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baking asst2 Same assortment. Different angle.
If you wonder what a specific kind is or what it’s made of or want the recipe, just ask. I don’t know the names of everything, but I’ll find out if you want to know.          So far, Shannon’s favorites are the snickerdoodles and peanut butter balls, my favorites are the turtles and those pretzel chocolate pecan things, and Lexi’s favorites are the choc covered Ritz & peanut butter sandwiches and the frosted sugar cookies. We didn’t all taste everything yet.

Cooking, baking, melting, coating, measuring, stirring, cutting, icing, snitching …
baking lin Linda stirring away at something. She had to cook that stuff for 5 min and when Izzy cried, the deal was that one of us either had to take care of the baby or keep stirring her stuff while she took the baby… going by the picture, guess which was picked.

baking cooks  There’s Linda again, front and center… sorry, didn’t try that! Looks like Sandra is dying laughing about something at the sink… can tell it even more on my bigger original picture.

baking tableful Getting things done and we’ve got something to show for it!

baking ruthiesue  Ruthie Sue making frosting… her own special wouldn’t-want-to-eat-it-anymore recipe. She is 7 (right, Rufusannie? it’s her dau) and looked for work in the kitchen several times throughout the day… a budding cook!

I think I got warped because on my way home, I glanced at the clock in my car and did a double-take and it took me a couple seconds to clear my head and realize that no, an oven wasn’t on… the clock said 3:50.

  ——————————————————————————

Now, I’m going to feature the 3 things I made that day…

Candy Cane Cookies
Peanut Butter Balls
Rice Crispy Roll

Candy Cane Cookies     …recipe from the 2006 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes cookbook

1/2 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough, softened
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cookie dough, flour, and extract until smooth. Divide dough in half; mix food coloring into one portion. Shape one teaspoon of white dough into a 6″ rope. Shape 1 teaspoon of red dough into a 6″ rope. I rolled them with my hands. Next time, I want to try piping them with a cake decorating bag… I think that would be easier and they’d get more even. Place ropes side by side; press together lightly and twist.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet; curve one end of cookie to form handle of cane. Repeat with remaining dough, placing 2″ apart on baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 min before carefully removing to wire racks. Yield: 3 dozen.

baking candy canes  I forgot to take progress pictures of these. I’ll make a batch every year and maybe get better with time! Mine didn’t get very even and I got so tired of making those crazy little ropes!!! But they are very festive-looking and they taste great too!

The next 2 recipes I found on vernam06’s site. You’ll love her site… she posts LOTS of pictures… in my opinion, that makes the best kind of site! There are pics of their Christmas baking day, of her sweet funny busy grandchildren, and more pics of this and that. Always interesting!

Peanut Butter Balls

1 1/2 lbs powered sugar
1 lb peanut butter
1/2 lb butter

Mix all together and dip in chocolate.

baking pb balls  Here’s kind of a progress all-in-one picture. The light balls are ready to be dipped, the dark ones are done. This recipe was easy and fun and so good! I think I’ll make more before Christmas! They’re not sticking around here too well!

Rice Crispy Roll

1 bag of lg marshmallows
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. peanut butter
5 1/2 c. rice crispy cereal

Melt together first 3 ingredients,
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mix in rice crispies. Press in jelly roll pan. Melt together 1 1/3 c. chocolate chips and 3/4 c. butterscotch chips. Spread on rice crispie mixture.
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Roll up as jelly roll and cool at least 1 hour.
baking rc3  These are just tops! I still enjoy rice crispie candy every bit as much as I did as a kid. This roll adds a different twist to them, esp with the filling! YUM!!!