Caramel and Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows

The name of this recipe tells exactly what it is, marshmallows dipped in caramel and chocolate.  It's relatively simple and easy to make, and to be quite honest, doesn't require an actual recipe or much explanation, I made these after seeing a picture.  The majority of this will be me giving little tips that can help make the process easier.

Ingredients

Caramels

Chocolate Chips or Chocolate Almond Bark

Marshmallows

Cake Pop sticks

Instructions

To make it easier on yourself, poke the marshmallows and place them on wax paper before you melt the caramel.  I started by preparing 7 marshmallows, then made more when I had more caramel.  In all, I was able to make 12 dipped marshmallows.  I probably could have made more if I had thinned the caramel out more.

Now, melt the caramels.  Like many past recipes I used the Kraft Traditional Caramels.  The only bad part about these is that you have to unwrap each individual caramel.  After putting each caramel in a bowl I microwaved them in 30 second increments until the caramel was smooth and easy to stir.

Note: You can also melt the caramels in a double boiler, I was impatient and wanted to get it done.  I probably could have made more with a double boiler because the caramel wouldn't of thickened up and would've spread to more marshmallows.

Dip the marshmallows in the caramel.  It might be easier to spoon and spread the caramel on with a knife, that way its also not as thick.  The thicker the caramel, the harder it will be to eat, so tread lightly.  Once the marshmallows have caramel on them set them on a sheet of wax paper.

The caramel in this picture is a bit too thick, it's best if it doesn't spread out much on the bottom.

Note: The marshmallow may melt a bit in the process of being dipped, to avoid this, don't leave the marshmallow in the caramel for very long and don't press it onto the wax paper very hard.

While you wait for the caramel to harden / cool, melt the chocolate.  You can use a double boiler again, or you can microwave it (which I did).  I used chocolate chips because that's what I had on hand, but it would probably be better to use almond bark, the next time I make these I know I will.  The almond bark won't melt when you eat it, and it will cool / harden without going into the fridge.

After the caramel has cooled and the chocolate chips / almond bark is melted, dip the marshmallows into it, leaving a little bit of caramel uncovered at the top.  Again, you can "paint" it on to the marshmallow, whatever works for you. Set the marshmallows on a new sheet of wax paper and allow to cool.

Also, being the cheapskate that I am, I didn't go out and buy Cake Pop Sticks.  I used skewers that I already had, they started falling because of the height of the skewers, but it worked.

Enjoy!

Some extra pictures:

This is the first one that was dipped in chocolate, I endearingly referred to it as "The Obese One."

This is the first one my sister "painted," it's one of the ugly ones.

This one is prettier, you can see "The Obese One" in the background.

Cinnamon Dippers

Just a warning, I don't like how this recipe turned out.  While it tastes fine, and my family loved it, personally I don't like the way the Cinnamon Dippers look and would definitely make them differently next time.

Now if that note didn't discourage you, I'll describe the recipe.

Just about everybody loves cinnamon rolls, they're the epitome of a delicious breakfast. Sometimes, however, you want the yummy taste of a cinnamon roll without having to actually take the time to eat them.  That's where Cinnamon Dippers come in.  It tastes like a cinnamon roll without the commitment of a cinnamon roll, you can eat it quickly and it's easy to make.

Ingredients

For the Cinnamon Sticks:

1 1/2 cups flour

4 tbsp. sugar - separated into 3 and 1

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 cup of butter plus another 1 tbsp. (softened)

3 to 6 tbsp. ice cold water

1 tsp. cinnamon

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 oz. cream cheese (softened)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

milk (added 1 tbsp. at a time)

Optional Glaze:

3 tbsp. brown sugar

3 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions

For the Cinnamon Sticks:1.  Combine the flour, three tablespoons of sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.

2.  Add 1/2 cup of butter, use two forks or a pastry cutter to cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.  I used two forks and it worked just fine.

3.  Add the water.  Begin with just three, then add more as needed in tablespoon increments.  I found that five was too little and six was too much, so after adding six I kneaded in some flour to regain the dough-like texture of the dough.

4.  Flatten the dough into a round disk and refrigerate.  Chill for a minimum of 15 minutes, the dough can be chilled overnight as well.

5.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a baking sheet.

6.  Now this part is the one I would change the most drastically, the original recipe said to cut the dough into one and a half inch strips.  I first rolled the dough out to be a bit thinner since it was still rather thick, then followed this direction, even though I thought about just cutting it into long strips.  The next time I make this I will cut it into five or six inch strips.

7.  Spread the remaining tablespoon of butter onto the cinnamon sticks.  It would be wise soften the butter in the microwave to where it is as if it has been whipped.  I used a rubber spatula to lightly spread the butter.

8.  Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl then sprinkle it over the Cinnamon Sticks.

9.  Bake the Cinnamon Sticks for 12 - 14 minutes.  Mine only took the minimum 12 minutes to bake fully.

10.  If you so choose, drizzle on the glaze / frosting that I will explain below.

For the Frosting and Glaze:

1.  Combine the softened cream cheese and powdered sugar.  I used a rubber spatula to combine the two ingredients.

2.  Add the vanilla.

3.  Add the milk one tablespoon at a time.  For me, one was too little and two was too much.  Two would probably be fine for some, but I prefer thicker frosting so I added about a quarter of a cup more of powdered sugar until I was happy with the consistency.  To thin the frosting out, add more milk.  Like I did, add more powdered sugar to thicken it up.  Just like the glaze below, this is much more than I needed since I didn't actually dip the Cinnamon Sticks.

4.  Melt the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  This will be much more than you need to drizzle on top of the frosting, but you can always drizzle it over the Cinnamon Sticks if you would like to use it all.

5.  Drizzle the glaze over the frosting.

Notes:

~ When the Cinnamon Sticks were done I thought they looked kind of ugly, so I combined some cinnamon and sugar (with a higher ratio of sugar) and sprinkled that on top to improve the visual appeal.

~ The next time I make this I will not make the glaze.  I felt like the frosting was fine without it, and I didn't drizzle the rest over the cinnamon sticks, so it was essentially useless to me.  If you like it that's fine, but I would prefer not to have it.

Enjoy!!

S'mores Bars

As I said in the previous post, I like simple things.  When something delicious has a very simple method of preparation, I have to make it.  This time, I made S'mores Bars.  There aren't any specific measurements for this recipe, you can change it to fit how much of it you want an how dry or sticky you'd like it.  To be honest I think it tastes exactly like a s'more, so I love this recipe an awful lot.

Ingredients

1 bag (10 oz) of mini marshmallows

1 cup chocolate chips, plus more for the top

1 box (12 oz) Golden Grahams cereal

6 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

1.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan.  I used a Pyrex dish, it doesn't really matter.

2.  Melt the butter over medium heat.

3.  Add the marshmallows and stir until fully melted and creamy.

4.  Add in the vanilla extract.

5.  Stir the marshmallow into the Golden Grahams cereal.

6.  Add the chocolate chips and stir until distributed evenly.

7.  Press the bars into the greased pan, sprinkle and press chocolate chips onto the top, then refrigerate for ten minutes.

8.  Cut into bars or cut as needed after it has cooled, enjoy!

Notes:

~ To make the whole process easier, prepare the cereal before melting the marshmallow, butter, and vanilla.  This makes it easier to fold it into the cereal while the mix is still hot, rather than dealing with slightly cooled marshmallow (very sticky).

~ This is the second time I've prepared this recipe, and the first time all my chocolate chips melted!  After reading the comments on the original recipe, I found a tip that was very helpful this time around.  Before adding the chocolate chips, freeze them, then refrigerate immediately after adding to the bars.  They don't melt nearly as much this way and are much prettier.

~ Another note about the chocolate chips: I used milk chocolate chips rather than the semi-sweet the original poster used, it gives them a more authentic taste.

~ Like I said in the opening paragraph, this recipe isn't one you need to follow religiously, you can change the proportions as you wish.  I didn't follow the recipe (except for the butter and vanilla extract) and this time I used too much cereal and not enough marshmallow, so mine were drier than I would have preferred.  They still tasted right though.

~ The marshmallows don't have to be mini, that just makes it easier to melt them.  Also, when adding the marshmallows it's easier to add them in increments so you aren't overloaded all at once.

Enjoy!!

Classic Spritz Cookies

I'm a very simple person, with simple taste, that's probably while I absolutely love this recipe while others enjoy it.  This cookie is a plainer one, but I love it all the same.  It's a butter cookie (it has 3 sticks of butter!) and the other ingredients are relatively basic.  My mom ordered the Pampered Chef Cookie Press and multiple recipe variations for Spritz Cookies came with it.  I'm just going to share the classic recipe as that's the one the others derive from, and it's the easiest to change to your tastes.  It is very important to have the cookie press for this recipe, it's kind of the key to it all.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Colored sugar or sprinkles are optional (I used them)

Instructions

1. Preheat 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed in a large bowl until creamy, or about three minutes.  Don't forget to scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

3. Add egg and vanilla, beat well.

4. Add flour in increments.  Blend on low speed until fully mixed.  Again, do not forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Do not refrigerate the dough, even though the dough is very soft.

5. Put your first disc into the Cookie Press. I used the snowflake, Christmas tree, and pinwheel discs.  Fill the press with dough.

Snowflake Disc

An 'ugly' pinwheel cookie

6. Press the dough onto the cookie sheet (ungreased) by turning the handle of the cookie press.  The first couple of cookies will be, for lack of a better word, ugly, but that's because of the initial pressure in the press.  After the first few they should turn out fine.  Space the cookies one inch apart, they don't expand while cooking but they should still be spaced.  If you choose to do so, now is the time to add sprinkle to the cookies.  For the pinwheels I used red sprinkles, green sprinkles for the Christmas trees, and white or clear sprinkles for the snowflakes.

A 'pretty' pinwheel cookie

7. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes.  Watch the first batch carefully to make any adjustments to the temperature of the oven or the time the cookies are in the oven.  I had to take the cookies out early to prevent burning with my oven.  The bottoms of the cookies will be slightly golden, but they shouldn't be too dark.  The top of the cookies won't change much in color, so what you see when you put them in is essentially what you see when you take them out.

8.  Let the cookies cool for two minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Peppermint Almond Bark

This is a simple twist that is extremely easy.  Despite the name, no almond bark is used, rather, white chocolate chips are the best for this recipe.  This is another recipe my family makes around the holidays.

All you need is a bag of white chocolate chips and a bag of peppermint hard candy.

First you need to crush the peppermints, it's best to wrap them in something for this part so the pieces don't go all over the place.  In the pictures they were put into aluminum foil because that's what was on hand.  A plastic zip-lock bag or wax paper could also be used.  Crush them how you will, my family uses to a roller to hit and roll over the candies.  You won't be able to crush every single piece, but that's okay because you don't need to.  Just sort out the larger pieces so they don't dominate the candy.

Next, melt the chocolate chips.  This can be done multiple ways, but it's easiest to use the microwave.  Microwave the white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in thirty second increments, stirring between each until the chocolate is smooth.

While the chips are in the microwave, lay out wax paper about the size of a baking sheet.  When the chocolate is smooth, add in the crushed candies.  Stir until they are completely mixed in, then pour the chips onto the wax.  Allow the peppermint candy to set until hard, this usually takes about two to three hours, but can vary.  After it has hardened, break it into pieces, and enjoy!

Hopefully you enjoy this recipe!!

Peanut Butter Balls

If you like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, then you'll like these Peanut Butter Balls.  It's a spherical shaped peanut butter cup that is richer in taste and easy to make at home.  My family makes these around the Holidays, we like to have a steady supply of sugar on hand.

Ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup chunky peanut butter

2 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Chocolate Almond Bark (usually 1/2 a package)

Instructions

1. Cream together the melted butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar until smooth.

2. Form the mixture into small balls and set on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  They should be about an inch across.

3. Chill for about an hour.

4. Melt the almond bark.  We use a double boiler so the chocolate remains melted throughout the preparation.  You can also melt the almond bark in the microwave if you'd like to shorten the preparation time of this recipe.

5. Dip the chilled peanut butter balls into the chocolate, and set on wax paper to set.

In this picture, the duller peanut butter balls are ones that have been sitting out longer, and have therefore had time to cool.  That is what they should look like when done.

Also, my family will use Rice Krispies in the peanut butter mixture to give the recipe an added crunch.  If you'd like to do the same, it only takes about a cup of cereal to achieve the intended effect.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!!