One can argue that it's cliche and even cheesy to give a loved one a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day and to some degree, I'll agree, HOMEMADE.....anything really...let alone, assorted chocolates isa game changer. Unless they're not into chocol...........let's be serious lol. All I know is if I got some of this any day of the week, I'd be one happy gal.
In this assortment of goodies, I've included MY version of the Hershey's White Chocolate Symphony Bar, but instead of using toffee, I made caramel brittle instead. And you can't go wrong with chocolate covered nuts & dried fruit. It all really is kinda simple to make, but the final result is fabulous.
AssortedChocolateTreats
Ingredients
1 barksemi-sweet chocolate
1 barkalmond bark or white chocolate
1 cuppeanut brittle
1 cuppeanuts
1 cupdried cranberries
Cooking Directions
Melt the chocolate (white or semi-sweet).
Coat nuts, brittle, and dried fruit.
Place on a sheet tray lined with wax or parchment paper.
Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or until chocolate coating has set properly.
And here's a little something I created in the spirit of love. I drew the tree, sunset, and shadows with markers. For overall color as well as the title text, I used photoshop :)
Hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day! To me it's not only a day for lovers alone, but for love in general. So may you enjoy this day with the people or person you love the most whether it's your husband, wife, family, best friends, pets, etc!
Let's be honest, any type of dessert/snack right out of the oven is muy perfecto during these cold winter months. Apple crisp, just happens to be a personal favorite. Speaking of cold months, it seems the snow has been actively trying to avoid the Chicago area, but like a lost puppy or kitten, eventually finds its way back home at least for little bits at a time. I'm not complaining. As much as I LOVE the snow, I have to say, it's quite a nice change of pace actually being able to enjoy it instead of trying to survive it :)
The Apple Crisp (or any crisp) really is the ultimate idealist's dessert, in that it tastes like a sinful act of gluttony, but feels like a light sweet harmless snack and with more or less only about 200 calories per serving, I'd say the latter rings most true :)
I make my apple crisp with a thicker oat topping. If you want this even more healthy, then just lessen the topping.
Apple Crisp
Ingredients
2 or 3medium sized Granny Smith apples sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 cupoats
1/2 cupall purpose flour
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 stick butter or margarine chilled and cubed
1 teaspoonbaking powder
1 teaspoonbaking soda
juice of onelemon
1 teaspooncinnamon
pinch ofnutmeg
pinchsalt
1 teaspooncorn starch
Cooking Directions
In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, start to cook apples, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and corn starch. Stir until sauce starts to thicken. Pour into baking dish. Set aside.
For topping: Whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, rest of brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and add a pinch of salt. Cut in cubed butter (using fork or fingers). Make sure butter is well incorporated in the dry mixture.
Using a tablespoon at a time, add hot water while mixing until doughy paste is formed.
Place dollops of the dough over the apples. Make sure apples are evenly topped.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until apples are bubbly and topping is a nice golden brown.
^_^
For the sake of being random, I present to you, "La Fway"
hahahahahahaha, thank you inter-webs for this majestic piece of art.
So much Christmas spirit this year....well, every year but this year in particular. We rummaged every inch of our storage unit aka the basement and managed to put out 99% of our Christmas/Holiday decorations. So far, it's looking good :)
The first time I ever tried Peppermint Bark was at a holiday party at work several years ago. I'm not a huge fan of mint-chocolate anything, so naturally this didn't sound appetizing at all. Surprisingly, I enjoyed every bite. I'm so happy I tried it. It's decadent, but refreshing at the same time and has become my favorite holiday nosh. I'm pretty sure this is a popular treat in general, but in case you're not sure how to make it yourself, I included a quick and straight-forward recipe.
White Chocolate VS Almond Bark?
Now this is something I've always wondered. Does anyone else out there prefer to use almond bark over white chocolate or vice versa? I've always used almond bark in place of white chocolate and I don't really taste the difference, but I'm sure I'm wrong. I know that white chocolate dries a little bit more yellow whereas almond bark dries completely white, which I usually prefer because it's aesthetically more appealing to me and for this time of year it's just wintery and gorgeous. Oh and white chocolate tends to be a little bit more expensive, but I've always wondered, other than the color, what the difference is between the two.
If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments!
Candy Cane Bark
Ingredients
1/2 Cupalmond bark melted
1 (about 1/4 Cup)crushed candy cane
Cooking Directions
In 10 second intervals, microwave almond bark until it's melted (be careful not to burn it!)
Crush candy cane and sprinkle into white chocolate. Mix thoroughly until candy cane is well incorporated.
On a cookie-sheet lined with wax/parchment paper, spread mixture evenly and thinly OR create cookie sized dollops.
Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or until completely solidified.
Yay! More pumpkin! This time I incorporated it into some yummy bread pudding. I made sure to put A LOT of pumpkin because I really love the taste of it. Instead of the traditional caramel or maple syrup that I usually enjoy with this dessert/snack, I topped it off with some Pumpkin Butter that my sister got for the family. Although it's more of a jam, then butter--so good!
With Halloween quickly approaching, here's a fun and easy last minute treat you can prepare for any Halloween festivity. I used already made muffins, but you can certainly make your own cake if you prefer.
Thank you to Food Network for the inspiration!
Halloween Cake Eyeballs
Ingredients
3 cupsred velvet muffin or cake crumbles
1/2 containercream cheese frosting
1/2 cupwhite chocolate
severalchocolate chips
a fewmarshmallows
red and bluefood coloring
Cooking Directions
In a large bowl or food processor, combine cake crumbs and frosting until can easily be formed into balls.
Form balls delicately into desired size.
In a separate bowl, melt white chocolate and let cool slightly (be careful not to burn yourself!).
Roll/dip balls into white chocolate until fully coated.
Let sit on parchment paper or greased surface in the refrigerator until coating has solidified.
Using a bit of blue food coloring, mold into the marshmallow chunks until pale blue & sticky. Form small circular shape for the iris, should be bigger than chocolate chip. Place chocolate chip in center as pupil to complete eyes.
Using a toothpick and red food coloring, draw on red zig-zags for "blood-shot" look.
This is by far my favorite Filipino dessert EVER. Even though it's called a "cake", texturally it's nothing like a cakel. It's more starchy and comparable to eating sticky rice type dessert. Cassava or Yuca (different from Yucca) is a root crop native to South America, but very widely used in the Philippines and other tropical regions. This dessert is very popular in my culture and for good reason! It's so delicious and quite easy to make.
As exotic as this dessert is, all the ingredients I used can be found at the grocery store. The grated cassava and young coconut are probably the 2 that will be harder to find. An Asian Supermarket or Filipino Store are your best bets, BUT they also sell them at Garden Fresh here in Illinois, if you have one nearby.
Cassava Cake
Cake
2 packagesgrated cassava
1 package shredded coconut drained
3 eggs
1 cansweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut milk
1 1/2 cupssugar
1 stick butter melted
1 teaspoonvanilla
Topping
2 egg yolks
1/4 cupsweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoonssugar
Cooking Directions
Thaw grated cassava and young shredded coconut.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, whisk in eggs and condensed milk with the cassava.
Add coconut milk,sugar, and shredded coconut. Whisk.
Add butter and vanilla extract. Mix well. Final batter will be thin and liquidy.
Line baking dish with parchment paper or grease with butter.
Whisk together topping ingredients until smooth and light in color. Set aside.
Bake for 40 minutes or until top has just start to set. Cake will still be pale. Brush thick layer of topping mixture, then continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until top is golden or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
This is probably my favorite green smoothie so far! One of my favorite snacks of all time is a grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich. I decided to turn it into a smoothie haha. Why not! After using the spinach for Day 1 I realized that you don't really taste it all, so I wasn't worried about using it here. I used fresh peanut butter, but if you want to make this for after your workouts you can totally use peanut butter flavored protein powder.
This definitely has eliminated my dessert cravings for today. Best part? It's pretty much guilt free.
These cookies are SO easy and simple to make. You can find my original eggless cookie recipe HERE. I omitted the orange zest, so they're more like traditional vanilla wafer/shortbread cookies--perfect to dip in milk or coffee. This is a great last minute idea to bring to any 4th of July festivity or to make for the kids! :)
Red, White, & Blue Marble Cookies
- 1 stick butter softened - 1/2 C powdered sugar - 1 C flour - 1/4 tsp baking powder - pinch of salt - 1 tsp vanilla extract - red & blue food coloring
In medium sized mixing bowl whisk the butter and powdered sugar until light and creamy. Add vanilla extract. Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt.
Keep stiring until dough forms. Knead until flour is no longer visible. Separate into 2 discs. Add 5 drops each of blue and red food coloring. Using a fork, stir it into the batter creating marble effect.
Wrap each disc with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F, then bake for 30 minutes.
Cookies will be pale. When outer edges start to to turn golden, you'll know they're done.
It's sooooo hot today and I've already begun to feel nauseous from the heat....I know I know. I'm a vampire lol. BUT, that's alright.
To those celebrating the holiday, have lots of fun, stay safe, and most importantly STAY HYDRATED and COOL!
The cake definitely lives up to its name :) I tried to get as clear of a picture as my little point-and-shoot camera will allow me of the actual recipe on the Hershey's Cocoa Powder container.
If you'd like a bigger more legible version, go ahead and
In a bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (you can also sift if you like)
In
another bowl, beat or whisk together butter and sugar until fluffy and light, combine eggs one at a time.
Add
dry ingredients in 3 batches mixing in between. After adding first batch, mix, then add milk. Add
next 2 batches, mixing in between. DO NOT OVER MIX or else cupcakes
won't be as fluffy!
Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, then bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Topping: Set aside dessicated coconut into a medium sized bowl.
Combine powdered sugar, coconut milk, and vanilla extract to form glaze. Using pastry brush, glaze tops of cupcakes.
Dip tops of cupcake into bowl of dessicated coconut
My family wanted pie, so I gave it to them.......in cute little pastry packages. I've always thought of an empanada or turnover as being the petite portable version of a pie. These little bundles of joy are perfect for those like myself who favor a great crust to filling ratio in a pie hehe.
The following recipe asks for mostly store-bought items. You can certainly make the crust and/or filling from scratch if you've got an hour or more of your time to spare. This version, however, only took me no longer than 20 minutes. So if time isn't on your side, then give this a try!
It's as easy as 1 2 3!! And....... less dishes to wash! :p
yields 2 dozen
- 1 package of 2 pie-dough crusts - 1 can cherry filling - 1 tbsp sugar - 1 egg beaten
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Gently unroll pie crust dough.
Using a circular cookie cutter or small bowl, cut out circles from the dough. You can also cut out squares using a knife. Fill each circle or square with a tbsp of filling.
Fold over creating a crescent shape or triangle if using square pieces and crease the edges with water or egg wash. Brush empanadas with egg wash and sprinkle sugar on top.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve alone or a la mode with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
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