Chewy Chocolate Cookies with M&M's

I have to start by saying I accidentally published this post before it was complete.  So if you received the one without photos and the recipe in your reader or email, please disregard it. 

I have a funny story about these cookies.  If you follow along here regularly you might remember back in December I had some family and friends over to bake for the Christmas edition of Operation Baking GALS.  Everyone brought baked goodies to send to the troops overseas.  My sister brought chewy chocolate cookies with chocolate and peanut butter chips that looked amazing.   Now the point of the day was to send as many goodies to the troops as possible, but, a few cookies, including 1, and only 1, chewy chocolate cookie, didn't fit nicely into the containers.  These leftover cookies, along with several broken cookies and the cut off edges of peppermint brownies and gingerbread blondies went on a piece of parchment paper on the kitchen counter that I fondly referred to as the "cookie graveyard."  It would be a major faux pas to let perfectly good tasting cookies and cookie pieces go to waste right? 

Fast forward to the end of the day and Hubby and were cleaning up.  Hubby was in the kitchen doing dishes and I was busy gathering empty appetizer dishes from the living room.  I came into the kitchen and immediately noticed my cookie graveyard was gone!  As in NOT THERE.  What!?  I had an instant reaction where I may have screamed/screeched, "What happened to my cookies????"  To which Hubby looked at me blankly.  To clarify, I pointed to the empty spot on the counter and said, "the cookie graveyard, it was sitting right over there."  He replied, "Oh.  I just threw those out a second ago.  It looked like trash."

Nooooo!!!!  Holy moly! Cookie scraps, and in this case, a few whole cookies, is so not trash.  I don't care what it looked like!  (Okay, it did look like a heap of cookie parts).  By the way, does my excessive punctuation adequately convey my astonishment and the fact that my ears turned red in these few moments where I realized my prized cookie was gone? 

I immediately flipped open the lid to the kitchen trash can and saw the parchment paper holding the cookie graveyard staring right at me. 

You know where this is going.

Without hesitating, I scooped up that bundle of parchment and opened it up to retrieve the one prized cookie I had been dying to try all day...Katie's chewy chocolate cookie.  I pulled out my little chocolate jewel....right out of the trash.  Yep. 

I know.  It's sketchy.  But rest assured the cookie was bundled inside parchment and I'm confident that it most definitely did NOT directly touch any other trash.  That makes it okay.  Right?  :)

Anyway, the dumpster diving was worth it.  The cookie was simply delicious.  Packed full of rich chocolate with both cocoa powder and chocolate chips/chopped chocolate.  I especially loved the chewy texture.  The coolest part is how the cookie can be tweaked to fit your tastes.  Katie added peanut butter chips, which were delish.  But you could easily add white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, milk, dark chocolate or any kind of chip/chopped chocolate that suits your fancy.  I know for the holidays this year I will be making these with Trader Joe's peppermint bark baking bits--yum.  But I'm getting a little ahead of myself since it's only February...

When contemplating what to make for Baking GALS this month I knew these cookies would be on the menu.  The chewy factor makes them a good item for shipping long distances.  I wanted to dress them up a bit for the troops so I added red, white and blue M&M's (which I got from picking out white M&M's from a valentines bag and the red and blue from the normal M&M's bag).  They added a perfect little crunch and amped up the chocolate even further.  Definitely a keeper. 

Enjoy!

P.S. If you have any recipes that would be good for long distance shipping and stays fresh for at least a week, please share your links in the comments. 

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with M&M's
adapted from Cook's Illustrated Cook Book

1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa (I used regular cocoa powder because it's what I had on hand)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1-1 1/2 cups M&M's

In a medium bowl whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt until well blended.  In a small bowl whisk corn syrup, egg white and vanilla together until fully combined.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the dark brown sugar and the 1/3 cup of granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce the mixer to low speed and add the corn syrup mixture until fully combined, scraping the bowl as necessary.  With the mixer on low add in the flour mixture and chocolate slowly until just combined.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir by hand to ensure no flour remains.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, allowing the dough to firm slightly.

While the dough is chilling, place the 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl.  Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 375, positioning racks in the upper and lower middle of the oven. 

Remove dough from refrigerator.  Please note the dough does not get fully firm.  Don't over chill the dough. Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and roll it in the sugar and place on the baking sheets 2 inches apart, fitting 8 cookies to a sheet.  Take M&M's and gently press them into the surface of the dough (do not flatten cookies) fairly close together, but evenly spaced around the top and sides.  The M&M's will spread out when the cookie bakes. I placed about 9-10 M&M's on each cookie.

Bake about 10 - 11 minutes or until the cookies are slightly puffed and starting to crack.  The cookie may look underdone in the cracks, which is fine.  Do not overbake.  Be sure to rotate cookies from top to bottom and front to back for even baking. 

Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for 5-7 minutes on the baking sheet.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 24 cookies.

Kit Kat Ice Cream

Kit Kat's were hands down my favorite candy bar as a kid.  "Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar!"  Come on, sing it with me!   "Gimme a break, gimme a break, break me off a piece...." 

Sorry.  Had to do it. 

This was long before I took a liking to dark chocolate.  In fact, these days, I rarely eat milk chocolate.  After going to the dark side, I find milk chocolate a little too sweet.  But I still have a soft spot for my childhood favorite.  I came across this recipe on Baked Bree and it made me smile, feeling a surge of nostalgia.  Kit Kat's and ice cream sounded like the perfect way to enjoy my favorite candy bar.  Plus my cat's name is Kit Kat.  No relation to the candy bar, but sweet nonetheless.

The ice cream made it's debut over the long weekend.  Memorial Day weekend is a turning point in the year.  It marks the (unofficial) start of summer.  It's also the anniversary of when Hubby and I officially bought our current home 8 years ago and embarked on a number of heavy duty home improvement projects.   It's also the one year anniversary of the purchase of our very first ice cream maker.  So you see, the Kit Kat ice cream was meant to be this weekend.

I'm a few days late here, but still want to highlight that Memorial Day is more than a long weekend and fun ice cream.  It's a day dedicated to remembering and honoring the brave men and women who have served our country and have lost their lives.  Their bravery and sacrifice is what makes it possible for us to enjoy the freedom and civil liberties that make life great in America.  I have to be honest that I have not paid this national holiday the homage it deserves in the past.  I am embarrassed to admit that I posted last year about our Memorial Day weekend without a single mention of the meaning of the holiday.  It's too easy to get caught up in life and forget to take a moment to think about all that we have to be thankful for.  This my reminder to be mindful and my opportunity to say thank you to the soldiers that have lost their lives in service and thank you to the soldiers currently serving.

Thank you.

Okay, I have to talk a little about the ice cream.  When I told my Hubby I was making Kit Kat ice cream, he was excited.  What he didn't realize was the ice cream base is chocolate (not the vanilla he was hoping for).  The chocolate base mimics the flavor of the candy bar with cocoa powder, milk chocolate and malted milk powder.  The malted milk powder is wafer-esque in flavor, just like the crunch in the candy bar.  Once the ice cream is churned, 1/4 inch pieces of Kit Kat's are mixed in.  And to take it over the top, it's garnished with a stick or two.  I churned my ice cream for 25 minutes, but think it could have used another 5.  It was on the soft side, even after being frozen overnight.  Though it was a touch on the soft side, that certainly didn't stop me from eating it all.  Aside from a small bowl Hubby ate, I devoured the rest over 4 days.  Don't tell anyone.

If you have a soft spot for Kit Kat's, give this ice cream a try.  You won't be sorry.  Unless you (nearly) eat it all by yourself like I someone I know.

Enjoy!

Kit Kat Ice Cream
from Baked Bree

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup malted milk powder
Pinch of salt
3 egg yolks
3 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 full size Kit Kat bars

In a saucepan heat milk, sugar, cocoa powder, malted milk powder and salt over medium heat to a just a simmer until sugar and cocoa powder are dissolved.  Do not boil.

Whisk eggs in a medium bowl and very slowly stream in half of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, whisking continuously.  If you add it too quickly the eggs will scramble.   Add the egg and milk mixture back to your saucepan and heat on medium low until mixture is thickened (the mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon).  This only took a few minutes for me.

Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl.  Add chopped chocolate, heavy cream and vanilla and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.  Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and churn accordingly to the manufacturer's instructions.  While the ice cream is churning, chop the Kit Kat bars into 1/4 inch pieces (reserving 2 sticks for garnish).  Transfer ice cream into a container and stir in the Kit Kat pieces.  Cover and freeze until firm, 4 hours or overnight.

Monster Cookies

How the month sneaks by so quickly, I don't know.  But it's already time for the latest installment of Secret Recipe Club. This month I was assigned Moms Crazy Cooking.  Tina has a really fun blog with a lot of little craziness in the mix. ;) Between cooking for her family of six, her twin girl's competitive cheer schedule and participating in several online cooking/baking groups I don't think there is a dull moment at Tina's house.  Tina even hosts a monthly themed cooking challenge online called the "Crazy Cooking Challenge" where other bloggers make their take on the assigned theme, link up their posts and then everyone votes for the "Ultimate Recipe".  The last Crazy Cooking Challenge theme was Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  There were some pretty good looking recipes in there!  Check out Tina's blog when you get a chance. 

As usual I flagged a number of recipes while perusing Moms Crazy Cooking.  In fact I even made two of her recipes this week.  The first was Au Gratin Potatoes in a crock pot.  First of all, that's a genius idea.  Second of all, it's stinkin delicious.  It was a huge hit at our Mother's Day lunch last weekend.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures because we were too busy fighting over these tasty potatoes.  Yes I said fighting.  There was a little scuffle at the table when my mom's fork suddenly nose dived into my aunt's plate to swipe the oh so coveted, browned crispy parts of the potatoes.  I guess sisters can do that.  My family takes potatoes very seriously! Needless to say, I will be making these again, and I hope have a clear enough mind to actually take a picture or two. 

Thankfully I did take photos of these Monster Cookies.  I have made dozens of different kinds of cookies through the years, but never a monster cookie.  Tina's blog had two versions, one with and without peanut butter.  I went with the non peanut butter version, but will have to try the peanut butter version at some point too. 

This monster cookie is a cross between a chocolate chip and oatmeal cookie with 3 cups of anything and everything mixed in. You can customize your monster cookie to your taste by stirring in nuts, candy, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, pretzels...whatever you can think of really. I kept mine pretty simple, mixing in pretzel M&M's and chocolate chips. The oatmeal brings a very homey texture to the cookie.  I am putting monster cookies on the baking list next time my nieces and nephews are over. 

Enjoy!

Monster Cookies
from Mom's Crazy Cooking

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine (I used all butter)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups rolled oats
3 cups of your favorite mixins - such as nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, toffee, M&M's, chopped up candy, marshmallows, pretzels, etc. (I used 2 cups of pretzel M&M's and 1 cup of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and oats and whisk to combine. 

In the bowl of stand mixer, beat butter, margarine and sugars on medium until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time and vanilla, mixing until just blended.  With mixer on low add the flour mixture in three batches until just combined.  Add your 3 cups of mixins and mix on low to combine.

For truly monster size cookies, use a full size ice cream scoop with a release mechanism and bake 6 cookies per sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on the edges (mine took 14 minutes).  Makes 24 extra large monstrous cookies!

Holiday Traditions New and Old

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  Happy 5th night of Hanukkah!

The holidays are one my favorite times of year.  Mostly because it's okay to make and eat ridiculous amounts of cookies, treats and favorite holiday foods.  Hubby and I aren't particularly religious, but we do enjoy some of the traditions of both Christmas and Hanukkah and we've made some of our own traditions.

Note I cheated in this photo placing all the candles in the Menorah even though it's only night 5

Every year on one of the eight nights of Hanukkah we celebrate the miracle of lights by eating an entire meal comprised of homemade potato latkes.  This year Hanukkah and Christmas overlap so we have to be strategic about when we will indulge in this delicious meal.  I think it will be on Monday, the 7th night of Hanukkah this year.  Here's a peek at our latke feast from last year.  The photos are not the greatest, but this recipe is amazingly delicious.  It has a squeeze of lemon juice in it (to prevent the potatoes from turning brown I believe), but the tang from the lemon is what makes these little fried bits of goodness so delicious!

Last year I also made some Hanukkah sweets....cake truffles to be exact.  They are by no means a traditional holiday treat, but they are decadent little goodies that are fun to make and decorate and definitely bring home the spirit of Hanukkah.  You can use any type of cake and coating that suit your taste.  If you have not made cake truffles (or cake pops) yet I highly recommend them!

Also last year, I made Christmas red velvet and devil's food cake truffles.  They were a big hit and made it into this year's baking rotation.  Given the reviews, I think these will now officially be a staple in my cookie gift boxes.  Though technically not a cookie!  Don't hold it against me.  I have to give the people what they want.

The majority of holiday time in the kitchen is spent baking oodles and oodles of cookies.  I love cookies for a few reasons.

A. Cookies are delicious.
B. Cookies are fun.
C. Cookies have endless varieties, shapes, sizes and flavors to experiment with.
D. Cookies are portable.
C. Everyone loves cookies! 

If you don't love cookies, you might be an alien from another planet.  You might want to get that checked out.

I thought I would share a roundup of this year's cookie palooza as well as share some old favorites. 
The most requested and commented on cookies are my two holiday staple cookies, Ginger Snaps and Raspberry and Lemon Linzers.  In fact I can't recall a year where I didn't make these two types of cookies.  I don't want a revolt on my hands. 

And each year I like to try a few new varieties.  When I was at my Grandma's house earlier this year I spent some time going through her recipe cards.  I found a few old recipes that I remember having as kid. 

One was a recipe my Mom would make called Jam Tarts.  They are tender crescents of cream cheese based dough filled with boysenberry jam and dusted in powdered sugar.  Recipe coming soon!

I also decided to try a new version of the tarts and filled some crescents with Nutella, coated with pearl sugar and drizzled with chocolate. 

The other family recipe I tried this year is called Mint Sticks, or Mint Brownie Bars.  This festive treat has a brownie based a layer topped with mint frosting and a drizzle of chocolate on top.  Recipe coming soon!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies (pictured below left) have become a new holiday favorite as of last year.  These really are like a truffle in cookie version.  A great choice for chocolate lovers. 

All the goodies get plated to go off to my Aunt's house to celebrate Christmas Eve.  Below is a peek of the cookie plates ready to go for tonight!  And another plate will be put together tomorrow for Christmas Day at my Dad's house.  One can never have too many cookies!

Hope you all have a fabulous holiday filled with good company, good food and tasty cookies of course!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Kwanza!

Buckeyes

I totally cheated.  I not only made buckeyes back in September, I posted them.  I wasn't supposed to do that since Club: Baked was making them this week.  I know I'm bad.  But I'm going to pull the "Mom" card here.  I went in search of chocolate treats to make my Mom for her birthday and I choose two from Baked Explorations.  Marshmallow chocolate cups and buckeyes.  They made a great birthday gift and I couldn't resist posting them a little early.  Hopefully my fellow bakers will forgive me.

I really can't truly call my candies buckeyes since I didn't leave that classic exposed peanut butter eye on top.  To be honest I think that buckeyes look totally unappealing.  How do I say...they remind me of man parts...that I never imagined I would be mentioning on a food blog.  I'm totally uncomfortable that I just said that.  Maybe I'm a little prude, but I went with the fully covered up look, by dipping the entire candy in silky dark chocolate and drizzling a swirl of chocolate to pretty them up a bit. 

No matter what these candies look like, I can say they are delicious. They are like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but better.  The peanut butter filling has that sweet peanut butter flavor with a slightly gritty texture.  Gritty in a good way.  That texture comes from finely ground graham crackers which was something I didn't expect to find in this recipe.  Dip in your favorite chocolate and try to resist the urge to eat them 3 at a time. 

This recipe is most definitely a keeper and would make a great addition to your holiday goodie tray.  It's easy to make and even easier to eat. To see how what real buckeyes look like, head over to the Club: Baked site and check out posts from my fellow bakers.  To get the recipe head over to Karen's site, Cookies Cakes and More.

Enjoy!

Homemade Chocolate Candy

Whether my family likes it or not most gifts from me these days consist of homemade goodies.  I find as the years go on, it gets harder and harder to pick out gifts for adult family members.  My poor dad has gotten a book from me for every Christmas, birthday and Father's Day for the past several years.  This year I decided no more books.  Who needs to read when you can eat treats instead? 

My parents both have September birthdays and I made my Dad these Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies earlier in the month.  My Mom's birthday was a couple of weeks later and I decided to make homemade chocolate candies to satisfy her sweet tooth.

I saw two chocolate candy recipes in Baked Explorations that I knew would be right up my mom's alley.  Buckeyes (a.k.a Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls) and Marshmallow Chocolate Cups.   (If any of my fellow Club: Baked bakers are reading this, yes, I'm cheating and posting recipes before the group makes them.  Sorry! I will plan to post again when each of these recipes comes up on the baking schedule). 

I normally use chocolate such as Lindt or Ghiradelli when I want to use "good" chocolate for a recipe.  However there are even higher quality chocolates out there, such as Scharffen Berger, Guittard and Vahlrona.  These are usually a bit out of my price range for everyday baking but I wanted to use a high quality chocolate for these candies.  So I splurged on the good stuff!  (You're worth it Mom!)

Both candies tasted great and were fairly easy to make.  I had some execution issues with the Marshmallow Chocolate Cups and didn't quite get the chocolate to marshmallow ratio that I was looking for.  But now that I have a run under my belt, next time will be a piece of cake!  The airy homemade marshmallow was surrounded by a blend of dark and milk chocolate.  Yum.  And the chocolate peanut butter balls were amazing!  The peanut butter filling is very similar to the filling in a Reese's peanut butter cup.  (I think the secret is the graham cracker crumbs...never would have guessed that ingredient)  Except this is a peanut butter cup elevated with a coating silky decadent dark chocolate.  If the peanut butter ball went head to head in a taste off with the marshmallow cup, I would have to pick the peanut butter ball.  Love the salty and sweet! 

Happy birthday Mom!

Both recipes are going into my keeper file.  These chocolate candies would be great to share at a holiday party or would make a nice gift.  The authors recommend storing both candies in the refrigerator so be sure to take that into account if you plan to give them away. 

Speaking of the holidays, the talented Jamie of My Baking Addiction and Katie of GoodLife Eats have organized a Holiday Recipe Exchange which begins the week of 10/3/2011 and goes for 12 weeks.  Each week has a different theme hosted by a different sponsor.  You can check out all the holiday recipes and have a chance to win some great prizes.  Come join the fun at My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe swap sponsored by Scharffen Berger.

Buckeyes (a.k.a Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls)
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields: 36 to 42 candies

Ingredients

1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (I used Skippy)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 cups confectioners' sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
12 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped

Make the filling:
Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until well combined in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the graham cracker crumbs and beat on medium speed for 10 seconds.  Add the confectioners' sugar and melted butter and beat on low until combined and then gradually increase the speed to medium and beat until fully combined.  The mixture will feel a bit dry.  Set aside.

Melt the chocolate:
Fill a small pot with an inch of water and bring to a simmer.  Place the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over the simmering water (be sure water does not touch the bottom of the bowl).  Stir regularly until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Pour the chocolate into a small, deep bowl and allow it to cool to tepid (about 100 degrees F).  I poured the chocolate into a 2 cup glass measuring cup.

Assemble the candies:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Form peanut butter mixture into just over a tablespoon sized ball.  I used a small scoop with a release mechanism.  Roll the dough in your hand to form a ball and set on the baking sheet.  Repeat until all the balls have been formed.

Coat each ball in the melted chocolate one at a time.  A traditional buckeye has a round spot on the top that is exposed peanut butter, however I dipped mine fully.  Use a fork to toss the ball in the chocolate on all sides and the remove the ball with the fork, allowing excess chocolate to fall through the tines of the fork.  Gently place on the parchment lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate the sheet pan to allow the candies to fully set up before serving. 

Store in the refrigerator.  Candies are best eaten within 3 days.


Chocolate Marshmallow Cups
from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Yields 30 candies

60 miniature candy cup papers (about 1 inch in diameter)
16 ounces good quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped
8 ounces good quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 envelope (about 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water plus 1/4 cup of water separated
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Prepare candy cups and chocolate:

Double the candy cup liners to create a more stable cup and help the candy hold its shape.  Arrange 30 double cups on a baking sheet.

Fill a small pot with an inch of water and bring to a simmer. Place all the chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl and set over the simmering water (be sure water does not touch the bottom of the bowl).  Stir regularly until chocolate is melted and smooth.   Remove the bowl from the heat and stir to release some of the heat.  Using a small spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a small round decorating tip (or a zip top bag with a small hole cut in the corner) fill each candy cup with just under 1/4 full.  Using a small pastry brush, brush the chocolate from the bottom of the cup up the sides.  (I recommend stopping at least 1/8 inch from the top of the cup making it easier to peel off the cups after the candy sets).  Make sure the sides of the cup are completely covered in chocolate.  Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator while you make the marshmallow filling and set the remaining melted chocolate aside.

Make the marshmallow filling:

Prepare a pastry bag with a small round decorating tip (or take a large zip top bag and snip off a small bit on the corner) and set aside.

In the bowl of stand mixer sprinkle the gelatin over 1/3 cup cold water.  Meanwhile, place a small saucepan over medium heat and stir together the sugar and 1/4 cup water until combined.  Stop stirring and place a candy thermometer in the saucepan.  Bring the sugar to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, still without stirring, until it reaches soft ball stage on the candy thermometer (235 degrees F).

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly stream it into the gelatin.  Whisk quickly for 30 seconds to release excess heat and then place the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Mix on medium-high speed for 5 minutes.  Add in the vanilla and salt and continue to mix for about 2 additional minutes.  Do not mix until if forms soft peaks, you want it to be slightly looser than that. Pour the mixture into your pastry bag (or zip top bag) and set aside.

Assemble the marshmallow cups:
Remove candy cups from the refrigerator.  Pipe the marshmallow mixture into the candy cups filling about 3/4 full or about 1/8 below the top of the chocolate.  Using a small spoon, or your pastry bag, top marshmallow filling with reserved chocolate until just covered.  (I recommend not making this layer too thick so you can retain a nice chocolate to marshmallow ratio.)
 
Store candy in airtight container in the refrigerator.  Serve the cups directly from the refrigerator or take out a few minutes before serving.  If candy is left at room temperature it will being to melt or bloom. 

Sweet Meslissa Sundays: Peanut Praline

Redemption!  I successfully made brittle.  Last time I attempted Melissa Murphy's brittle recipe it was a failure.  Many of the other SMS bakers have struggled with her recipe too which resulted in seeking out alternative recipes.  Hanaa has a brittle recipe that has worked really well for her and Margot tried a similar recipe that was also a success.  Like Tess of Cookin' Chemist, I decided to use Margot's recipe (minus the cayenne pepper) and low and behold, the product was a tasty, perfectly edible and delicious brittle.

So what does brittle have to do with Peanut Praline?  Melissa Murphy suggests grinding up homemade brittle to use as a praline topping for ice cream.  It's a brilliant idea.  I took half the brittle and broke into large pieces and placed it inside a large ziploc bag.  I zipped the bag, placed it on top of a cutting board and used my meat mallet to pulverize the brittle, leaving a few small pieces for extra crunch.  It's a wonderful ice cream topping.  My only regret is I didn't have chocolate ice cream at home, so I had to go with vanilla.  The praline adds a caramel, salty, cinnamon flavor with crunchy texture that takes plain ice cream to another level.   Luckily I have lots of left over praline so I can try it with other ice cream flavors.
    

Thanks to Ruby of I Dream of Baking for hosting this week's recipe. To see how other SMS bakers did this week click here.

Peanut Brittle
by Margot at Effort to Deliciousness adapted from Allrecipes.com and About.com
1 cup sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup water
1 ½ cup peanuts
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the baking soda, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper together in a small bowl and set aside. Also set aside the two tablespoons of butter.

Combine the sugar, salt, corn syrup, and water in a medium saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to cook the candy mixture, stirring frequently, until the thermometer reads 275 degrees, then add the peanuts and stir to combine. Keep cooking, still stirring frequently, until the thermometer reads 300 degrees.

Once the thermometer reaches 300 degrees, remove the pan from heat; immediately stir in butter and the baking soda/spice mixture. Pour the candy onto the prepared sheet and spread with a greased spatula. Cool the brittle completely and then break into pieces, either by hand or with a knife on a cutting board.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Honey Cream Caramels

My Kitchen Aid stand mixer and I are best friends.  We hang out together often and know each other well.  We've been together for 9 years now, so we have had a lot of time to learn all the little intricacies of one another.  I can whip up a batch of cookies in no time at all with my trusty friend and sometimes I feel like I could do it with my eyes closed.   We are pretty tight. 

My candy thermometer and I on the hand, are just getting to know each other.  We've only been together less than a year and I'm still a little leery of this guy.  I'm not quite ready to go steady yet, but I look forward to an occasional date.  The dates are usually fun (but sometimes are a flop) and always involve something new and exciting!  This week we had an awesome date making Honey Cream Caramels. 

The date got off to a slow start.  Boiling sugar is always a little scary and it involves an incredible amount of patience and attention.  Sounds like like a typical man, right?  Anyway, the ingredients are simple.  Sugar, honey, heavy cream, salt, corn syrup and a tiny bit of butter come to a ferocious boil in medium to large heavy bottomed saucepan.  Make sure your pan is big enough because you don't want this magma like sugar to boil over.  My, gurgling, bubbling, sometimes sputtering, caramel lava took about 25 minutes to come up to "firm ball" temperature (250 degrees) on the candy thermometer.  All the while you have to stir the mixture continuously.  I was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to make it.  I'm not very patient.  Plus I always think my candy thermometer is playing hard to get by laying low.  But then our date took an exciting turn and finally my guy came through and delivered those last 15 degrees!  The minute the caramel hit 250 degrees I removed the pan from the heat, stirred in some vanilla extract and poured the delicious golden magic into a prepared 8x8 ceramic baking dish.  Wow!  We did it! 

Okay candy thermometer...I'll think about taking our relationship to the next level.    

Meanwhile I had to exercise more patience as the caramel cooled and set up.  I decided the best thing to do was wrap it up and let it sit overnight because I didn't have good lighting to take photos anyway.  My giant caramel took a little coaxing to release from the buttered pan.  I also buttered my cutting board and my knife and got to work cutting it into bite size pieces.

I found it easiest to pull a very sharp chefs knife through the caramel (instead of using a chopping motion).  Once it was in strips, it was easy to cut into about 1 inch pieces.  I used the width of my thumb as a general guide to cut each piece.

8 strips of caramel quickly multiplied into about 82 pieces of caramel!

I cut 4 1/2 by 4 inch pieces of wax paper to wrap each caramel in.  It was a bit time consuming wrapping 80+ pieces of candy, but I also found it therapeutic and satisfying to hand wrap each treat.  There's something nice about it that I can't quite find the right words for, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

So the most important question has finally arrived....how did the honey cream caramels turn out?  Pretty fabulous.  The caramel is soft, but not too sticky, and it practically melts in your mouth.  The honey flavor comes through and blends beautifully with the creamy caramel.  You could easily turn this into a salted caramel with a sprinkle of fleur de sel before the caramel fully sets. 

What's nice about these is you can make about 7 dozen in one batch and package them up in little cellophane bags and give them away as gifts.  They keep up to 2 weeks wrapped and stored in an airtight container.  This recipe is a winner and will be making it into my holiday treat rotation. 

Thanks to Carmen of Baking is My Zen for this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe pick.  You can get the recipe over on her site.  To see how my fellow SMS bakers did with their caramels click here.

Christmas Cake Truffles - Step by Step

Have you had a cake truffle before? Yes? No? No???? Oh my God! You have to make these now just so you can have one. Or 10. Well maybe not 10 at once. My friend did a rough calculation and estimates these little babies to be at least 100 calories each. I haven't checked her math, but WOW! And yes, they are that good. But if you eat 10 you might go into sugar shock. So just eat 1 or 2. Then give the rest away to your friends and family and they will express their undying love to you forever and ever.

They are easy to make and I will take you on my step by step journey of making Christmas themed cake truffles last weekend. Even though there are quite a few pictures (ok, 21 to be exact)...I still wish I had snapped a few more throughout the process. But you will get the gist. I made red velvet and devil's food cake truffles, but you can make any flavor cake you like. Start with your favorite box of cake mix. Yes, I said box. If you are feeling really ambitious you can make your cake from scratch. But I used a box...

of red velvet cake mix and baked according to the instructions.


Let the cake cool completely.


Finely crumble cake with your hands.


Or for a much much faster approach, use a food processor. (I didn't take as many photos of the red velvet process so now we're switching over to chocolate.) Just place hunks of the baked and cooled cake into the food processor in batches.


Once the first batch is crumbled, dump it into a big bowl and then repeat until your whole cake is finely crumbled.


Oooooohhhh, crumbly!


Then grab your canister of store bought frosting, such as cream cheese....yes, store bought. Or you can make your own. Anyway, spoon about 2/3 of the container of frosting into your big bowl of cake crumble.


And work it into the cake. I like to use a rubber spatula.


Until it all disappears and you have a fudgy dough like consistency.


Get out your medium sized cookie scoop (I use a number 60--the number can be seen on the swipy thingy that ejects the dough from the scoop) and scoop away.



Place your cake balls onto a tin foil or parchment lined cookie sheet.


Make sure to use a cookie sheet that will fit into your freezer (I use a jelly roll sized sheet and it's a perfect fit for my side by side fridge/freezer).


Once all your balls are scooped out, place a ball in your impeccably clean hand.


And roll it around between both hands until it forms a solid smooth ball like this one.


Place the balls back on your cookie sheet and freeze for 1 hour. The freezing helps the balls to hold better shape when you dip them in the chocolate. By the way, one box of cake mix makes about 60 truffles.


Here's where I skipped a few photos. Now it's time to melt the chocolate. Place about a half inch to inch of water in a small to medium sauce pan. Meanwhile, place the melting candies (dark cocoa is my preference) in a medium to large deep bowl. 1 and 1/2 bags of candy is usually enough to coat 1 batch of cake balls. Once the water is simmering, turn heat to low and place the bowl on top of the pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the candies melt into a smooth, silky, consistency. Don't let too much steam build up on the outside of your bowl. If this happens turn your water down (or use a deeper bowl). Water and melted chocolate don't mix well and any extra moisture can cause your chocolate to seize. Note that if you use white or other colored melting candies, they do not melt as nicely or have the silky dippable consistency of dark chocolate. But I have heard adding a bit of shortening helps thin it out, but I haven't tried it myself.

Once the chocolate is melted I like to remove my pot and bowl from the stove and let the chocolate cool down for about 5 minutes. But leave the bowl on top of the pot...you can place the pot on a potholder. This keeps the chocolate warm. During this 5 minutes you can prepare another cookie sheet (I like to use the half sheet pan size) by lining it with parchment paper. You can also assemble all your decorative toppings. I pour small amounts in little bowls so that not too much goes to waste.

The next step is dipping and decorating. You need think about this BEFORE you start dipping your balls. If you want little sprinkles or jimmies you need to sprinkle them on just after the ball is dipped. If you want to use a colored melting candy to pipe on decorative designs then you would wait until the dipped balls are set up or dried. I did a little of both.

Now to the dipping. Have a standard dinner fork ready and drop your cake ball into the melted chocolate. Gently toss the ball around in the chocolate with the fork until it is well coated. Then scoop up the chocolate covered ball with the fork and lightly tap, tap, tap it on the side of your bowl allowing some of the excess chocolate to drip off back into the bowl.


When you are ready, hold the fork at a 45 degree angle pointing downward and carefully dump or roll the ball off your fork onto the parchment lined cookie sheet you prepared earlier. Do this slowly and be patient. You can coax the chocolate dipped ball off the fork by tapping it a little on the cookie sheet until it rolls off. If your dough is too soft you may see "fork marks" in your cake truffle...don't worry! Keep a small rubber spatula nearby to smooth over any holes. Your want your cake to be completely coated. Another trick I learned is to keep the sheet of balls in the freezer and just pull out about 6 at a time.


If you are using sprinkles you have to decorate each ball as it is placed on your cookie sheet. These babies dry incredibly fast so don't dilly dally! You can also decorate by piping on other colored candy melts or frosting. This type of decoration can and should be done after your chocolate dipped balls have dried.


The decorating possibilities are endless! If you can, seek out a local cake decorating store. They will likely have a much greater selection of decorating goodies then a craft super store like Michaels. They carry things like pretty sanding sugars, lustre dust and sprinkles of all shapes, colors and sizes...super fun stuff!!!


Next place your beautiful cake truffle creations in little candy cups and package them up. These cool boxes are made by Wilton and can be found at Michael's. They hold 9 cake truffles perfectly and make for a nice presentation with the preview window. You want to show off all your hard work! Tie with a decorative ribbon and even put on a label and you have a wonderful homemade treat to share.


Happy cake truffle making!