Peppermint Bark

I bring you this recipe post-Christmas because I a) made my best batch of peppermint bark four days before Christmas and b) feel the need to give you a new use for all of the candy canes you can buy on clearance right now.

I had seen peppermint bark in a magazine recently and decided I needed to conquer my fear of melting chocolate and make it this year. When I was living with my parents, we had a double boiler and would melt chocolate to make buckeyes each year. Out in the real world, I have yet to purchase a double boiler and instead use a make-shift one when I make this cheesecake for my husband and think I just closed my eyes and crossed my fingers when I made the cake batter bark earlier this year.

But the chocolate-melting-without-a-double-boiler for this bark? Sooooo easy. I used Nestle morsels and followed the directions on the back for melting them. (The directions for the semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips vary slightly from the white chocolate instructions.) This didn't take long, and aside from messing up one batch because I was distracted by an extremely chatty husband (I didn't mix the candy canes in with the white chocolate and ended up sprinkling it over the melted chocolate), I was very pleased with the results. I made three batches, and my favorite by far was a milk chocolate/white chocolate combination. All of them were well-received.

Ingredients:

12 ounces (about 2 cups) dark chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips
12 ounces (about 2 cups) white chocolate, chopped, or white chocolate chips
8 peppermint candy canes (I used 7-9)

Directions:

1. Unwrap the candy canes and place them in a food processor. Pulse on/off several times for 5-10 seconds each, until the canes have been crushed into small pieces. Alternately, place the candy canes in a large Ziploc bag and seal tightly. Use a rolling pin to roll/smash the candy canes until they are the size you desire. (I double-bagged them and experimented for each batch, using a rolling pin, hammer and stapler to smash them. The stapler was by far the most effective.)

2. Prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with smooth aluminum foil.

3. Melt or temper the dark chocolate. Pour the chocolate onto the prepared cookie sheet and use an offset spatula or knife to spread it to an even thickness, a little more than 1/8" thick. The chocolate does not have to reach all sides of the sheet, as it will be broken up later anyhow. Place the tray in the refrigerator to firm up while you prepare the white chocolate (I left it in for at least 20 minutes each time).

4. While the dark chocolate hardens, melt or temper the white chocolate. Stir in most of the candy cane bits, reserving about a quarter of the mixture to put on top. (I stir all of them in unless Chatty McHusband is around.)

5. Remove the tray from the refrigerator and spread the white chocolate in an even layer over the dark chocolate.

6. While the white chocolate is still wet, sprinkle the remaining candy cane pieces over the entire surface evenly. Press down very slightly to ensure they stick. Place the tray back in the refrigerator to firm up for 30 minutes.

7. Once the peppermint bark bark is completely set, break into small, uneven pieces by hand.

Source: about.com

Strawberries and Cream Dessert Squares

These bars taught me that I need to stop baking when I get home from work late at night. I was rushing to get the crust part done and misread the instructions, overcooking the crust by a few minutes. Alas, they were still yummy, and they were a super easy way to make a tasty dessert with one of Florida's seasonal fruits.

Layers of deliciousness.

Ingredients:

Crust
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg

Filling
1 cup white vanilla baking chips (6 oz)
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

Topping
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup water
10 to 12 drops red food color, if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom only of 15x10x1- or 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. Press evenly in bottom of pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

2. In small microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips uncovered on High 45 to 60 seconds or until chips are melted and can be stirred smooth. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Stir in melted chips until blended. Spread mixture over crust. Refrigerate while making topping.

3. In small bowl, crush 1 cup of the strawberries. In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Stir in crushed strawberries and 1/3 cup water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Stir in food color. Cool 10 minutes. Gently stir in remaining 3 cups strawberries. Spoon topping over filling. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set; serve within 4 hours. Store covered in refrigerator.

Source: Betty Crocker

Cake Batter Bark

I saw this recipe at the beginning of the year. I didn't make it until this month, though, and I'm posting it today because it's my birthday (eek, I'm 30!). What better recipe for a birthday than one involving cake batter?!

I vowed to my coworker I would make it and share with the department. I had been waiting for a special occasion, thinking it was fancy and involved. But then we had a rough patch at work last month - one of my coworkers had her gall bladder removed (she was admitted to the hospital on her birthday!), I unexpectedly missed a few days of work for the funeral of my grandmother, and our boss took a new job and moved away. This was all during our busiest month of the year, so to say we were stressed is a bit of an understatement.

This bark was just the thing to bring a little light back to our downtrodden souls. It was amazingly easy, very quick and was an absolute hit in the office. The only downsides? It's a tad expensive after you buy the bars of chocolate. It melts quickly - for our purposes at work, presentation was sacrificed for taste as we kept the bark in a bag in the fridge. And to be honest, maybe my "heaping 1.5 teaspoons of cake batter" wasn't heaping enough - the cake batter taste really didn't come through to me. But the sprinkles? Those were cute. And I'm a sucker for white chocolate, so this was a winner for me.

Ingredients:
7 ounces good dark chocolate
12 ounces good white chocolate
1.5 heaping tsp.  yellow cake mix
Colored sprinkles

Directions:
1. Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave, over a double burner, or over low flame. Spread thinly over parchment paper of a silpat. (I just used parchment paper on a cookie sheet.)

2. Cool in the freezer for 20 minutes.

3. Melt the white chocolate. Add the cake mix, stir well. Spread over the dark. (Do a little bit at a time because it will melt the chocolate and it won't look as pretty.)

4. Top with rainbow sprinkles. Freeze for 20 more minutes.

5. Break into pieces and keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat it.

P.S. I'll share what I did with the remainder of my cake mix in an upcoming post!

Source: Stephanie Cooks

M&M pretzels

After my oven debacle on Super Bowl Sunday, I had to come up with a recipe on the fly that I could make quickly and easily (and without the use of an oven) for the Super Bowl party we were headed to.

Mike offered to run up to the grocery store to get me whatever I needed, bless his heart. Three ingredients are all this old standby requires. They are fast, easy, and they are always a huge crowd pleaser. One former co-worker once nicknamed them "crack." And although I like to tell people that they're great because they're small (therefore not too sinful), I also know it's hard, if not impossible, to eat just one.

Ingredients

Mini pretzel knots
White chocolate (I use the same baking bark coating stuff when I make the mini chocolate covered pretzel sticks)
Plain M&Ms

Directions

Melt the chocolate in a microwave (one bar at a time), being careful not to overheat it and burn it. Lay the pretzels out flat on wax paper. Drizzle a spoonful of chocolate onto each pretzel. Before the chocolate sets, push 2 M&Ms into each pretzel.


These are great because you can do them with regular colored M&Ms for a birthday or "just because," and it's a colorful treat. Or you can get the holiday M&Ms at Christmas time for a quick, festive addition to your snack platters. I've even been known to buy a bag or two of regular M&Ms and pick out the red and blue ones for the fourth of July and orange and brown for Halloween.

Since Valentine's Day was fast approaching, I opted for the fun pink and red bag.

Aren't they adorable?


And Mike wasn't just running around, helping me. He was also whipping up his own awesome treat for the game: jalapeno poppers. Uh, yum!

Tiger Butter Candy

Tiger Butter Candy is a recipe that has been in my family for quite some time. My grandmother made it, then my mother, now my siblings. It was a hit at our cookie table, and I decided to make it again for Christmas parties and gifts.

The only thing I would do differently next time I make it is to not spread the milk chocolate layer all the way out. I think it lessened the marble effect, and if the white chocolate was able to fill in the areas around the milk chocolate, it would marble even further.

My brother told me that when he's made this family treat, he's added a tiny bit of peanut butter when melting the milk chocolate wafers - he said it's helped him avoid burning the chocolate. And I used light cocoa wafers instead of "milk chocolate," although I'm not sure if there's much difference beyond the name.

Ingredients:
2 cups (or 1 lb. bag) of milk chocolate wafers*
2 cups (or 1 lb. bag) of white chocolate wafers*
1 cup of peanut butter (creamy works best, although chunky is okay, same flavor but different texture)

*The wafers can be found in some craft stores or stores carrying Wilton cake decorating/candy making supplies, like Pat Catans, WalMart, Michaels. etc., but if you don't have access to the wafers, Hershey or Nestle chips will also work.

Directions:

Gently melt milk chocolate wafers (or chips) in microwave following instructions on bag.


Pour melted milk chocolate into a 13 x 9 inch pan, no need to spread it end to end (oops. Like I did.).


Immediately melt the white chocolate wafers in the microwave per instructions on the bag. Once melted, add the peanut butter to the bowl and throughly mix this into the melted white chocolate.


Pour over the milk chocolate puddle in the 13x 9 pan and stir/swirl the two chocolates, making sure that the mix goes from end to end and mixes in a swirling marble fashion. Cool at room temp., cut into pieces (small squares or rectangles) once set... usually takes an hour or two, unless it's warm and/or humid.


Source: Family recipe :)

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

I made this amazing white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for Tim's birthday in December, but I thought it might be a nice break in the pumpkin-ness to share it now. I have made it a few times since his birthday, will likely make it again for his birthday and basically just love how easy it is but how fancy it looks and tastes. It also provided the perfect reason to purchase a springform pan :)

Tim and I love the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake at Olive Garden, and Tim said this was almost as good as it :) I'm not a big cheesecake person, but this. dessert. was. good. And Tim actually finished it, which is rare - who would have known that I would marry the one man who could care less if I baked as much as I do?! Tim noted the cheesecake's especially fruity taste, as opposed to the alternative, which I suppose would be a white chocolate taste.

The only thing I did differently from the recipe was use crushed graham crackers instead of cookie crumbs, although I'm sure they would be equally yummy and would add to the chocolate flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream
• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

2. In a saucepan, combine raspberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, and water. Bring to boil, and continue boiling 5 minutes, or until sauce is thick. Strain sauce through a mesh strainer to remove seeds.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt white chocolate chips with half-and-half, stirring occasionally until smooth.

4. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and melted white chocolate. Pour half of batter over crust. Spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over batter. Pour remaining cheesecake batter into pan, and again spoon 3 tablespoons raspberry sauce over the top. Swirl batter with the tip of a knife to create a marbled effect.

5. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until filling is set. Cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours before removing from pan. Serve with remaining raspberry sauce.

Source: allrecipes.com