Irish Potato Candy

After making my Irish soda bread, I had St. Patrick's Day fever and wanted to make something else. I knew I wanted something sweet, so I settled on this Irish Potato Candy. This was yummy. Really, really yummy. And easy to make. I read a lot of the reviews before getting started and followed the suggestions that kept appearing again and again (my changes are reflected in the below recipe). I halved the amount of powdered sugar, using only 2 cups rather than the 4 cups called for and the consistency was perfect. I chilled between steps - before rolling and before coating - and had no problem handling or molding the treats. Finally, I rolled the candies in a mixture of cinnamon and a hot cocoa packet - the coating was delicious and not at all over powering. After eating a few too many myself I sent the remainder to school with Joe where they were a big hit! I definitely plan to make these again - I'm already thinking about how I can use food coloring in the candy to make Easter eggs!

Irish Potato Candy

1/4 cup butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 packet hot cocoa mix

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Mix in coconut. Chill mixture in refrigerator 60 minutes or until firm. Shape into potato or ball shapes. Place on cookie sheet and chill 30 minutes. Mix together cinnamon and hot cocoa mix in a shallow dish. Roll candies in cinnamon mixture.

Birthday Banana Cake

It's become a tradition for me to make my dad's birthday cake each year. Last year's German chocolate cake didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked, so I was relieved this year when he asked for something relatively simple - a banana cake. My mom requested that the cake also contain chocolate, so I hit my Google Reader in search of the perfect recipe. I found this one on Cate's blog and it looked perfect - simple and delicious.

This cake was very easy to make. My only issue came with the frosting. It was delicious (I mean, it starts with melted chocolate, how could it be bad?) but I found that it wasn't very spreadable. I got it on the cake, but it wound up getting kind of dry and sort of falling off the cake when it was cut. It did taste great though, so no one minded. Everyone enjoyed this cake - served with a scoop of fudge ripple ice cream it was the perfect birthday treat!


Banana Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting

Cake:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 ripe bananas
4 tbsp yogurt or sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.
Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer and mix well.
Mash bananas and add to butter mixture.
Stir in yogurt and eggs, mixing well.
Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the batter, stirring until blended.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Set pan on a wire rack to cool.

Frosting:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or the top of a double boiler and cool slightly.
Place butter and chocolate in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
Add powdered sugar and continue mixing.
Add the milk about 1/2 tsp at a time until the frosting is a spreadable consistency.

Happy Birthday Anne! (and piggy cookies!)

My mother-in-law's birthday is today, and what's a birthday without a cake? I asked her what type she'd like and she just said "something chocolate." Easy enough! I had a bunch of leftover Halloween candy still in my pantry so I decided to utilize that as well. Peanut butter cups...mmmm. To avoid chocolate overload (as if there was such a thing - ha!) I decided to fill the cake layers with our favorite peanut butter frosting. Seriously, this stuff is beyond amazing! I made the cake from a box (I've had some bad luck with cakes from scratch) and stuffed the layers with the peanut butter frosting and chopped up peanut butter cups.

I spread some triple chocolate frosting (courtesy of Betty Crocker) on the top and added more peanut butter cups. The result? Rich, peanut buttery and delicious!

Happy birthday, Anne!

On another note, Joe came home from school yesterday with some cookies that some of his students had made in their home ec class. Aren't they the cutest things?!?

Merry Minty Christmas

My favorite night of the year is probably Christmas Eve. Joe's aunt Linda hosts the family at her house for dinner and Santa gifts. Everything about the night is just plain fun, from the big spread of food to the ridiculous gifts that come out of Santa's grab bag. Linda asked me to bring some desserts to the party this year and I was happy to oblige. I knew right away I wanted to reprise the pumpkin gingerbread trifle that I made earlier this month - it's perfect for Christmas! But I also wanted to bring something chocolatey as well. I recalled this recipe for chocolate-mint bars that was on the cover of the March issue of Cooking Light. I've had the recipe since then but hadn't gotten around to making it, so I thought Christmas Eve would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. After all, you need a little mint at Christmas!

These bars are very easy to make, although I feel as if I may have done exactly what the recipe warns against and baked the bottom layer a tad too long - they were more cake -ike than fudgey, but in the end that was okay! The mint layer is sweet with just the right amount of mint flavor and the chocolate glaze is a great topper. Everyone enjoyed these bars and they made a sweet ending to a wonderful Christmas Eve.

Chocolate-Mint Bars

Bottom layer:
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, beaten
1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup
Cooking spray

Mint layer:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring

Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare bottom layer, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and salt; stir with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar, egg substitute, 1/4 cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons water, vanilla, eggs, and chocolate syrup in a medium bowl; stir until smooth. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture, stirring until blended. Pour batter into a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
To prepare mint layer, combine powdered sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, and next 3 ingredients (through food coloring) in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer until smooth. Spread mint mixture over cooled cake.
To prepare the glaze, combine the chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Let stand 2 minutes. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over top. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Cut into 20 pieces.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you a fantastic new year! Happy Holidays!

A Gingerbread Tree for Christmas

Last Christmas Eve my cousin Adam came over in the afternoon and we decorated a gingerbread house. He must have enjoyed it because he asked if we would be doing it again this year. I told him sure, but that we should mix things up a little and do something besides a house. I picked up a gingerbread tree kit instead - it came with pre-baked gingerbread stars, icing mix, candy presents and a candy star and some little candies for decorating. I also bought a tube of sparkly red icing gel that I thought would make good garland.

The tree was fun to assemble if not a little messy. I blame the foggy headed-ness of my nasty cold on the fact that I did not assemble the little pastry bags correctly and ended up having to Scotch tape the nozzles onto the bags. Whoops. Still, in the hands of a 9-year-old boy it was bound to get a little messy anyway. With Tucker's help, Adam and I make a pretty nice looking gingerbread tree to kick off Christmas!

Pumpkin Pie Dip

After my whirlwind weekend of cookie baking and candy making, I wasn't really in the mood to bake yet another treat for the pre-holiday get together being held at Joe's aunt's house. However, I didn't want to show up empty handed so I started thinking of alternatives to baked goods. I remembered my friend Lauren mentioning a pumpkin pie dip when she was getting ready for her son's birthday party last month and I thought that sounded like a great idea, especially since I had two big cans of pumpkin in my pantry. I hit Google and came up with this recipe on RecipeZaar. This mixes up in no time at all, and let me tell you, it is good! It tastes just like the center of a pumpkin pie - I could have eaten it with a spoon! Instead, I did the civilized thing and served it with gingersnaps and graham cracker sticks for dipping. This was a hit for sure - I definitely plan on making this again. It's a great dessert alternative to the usual cakes and brownies.

Pumpkin Pie Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar
15 ounces canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth.
Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and ginger, beating well.
Cover and chill up to 5 days.

Hazelnut Fudge

I never really thought about making fudge. It always seemed like quite the effort, plus I don't own a candy thermometer. However a few weeks ago while I was watching Food Network on the elliptical at the gym (yes, I watch food while I exercise) I saw Nigella make this super easy fudge and decided to give it a go for my holiday treat bags. This could not be easier. It literally took about 3 minutes to make from start to finish. And it SO good! Creamy and chocolatey - yum! Nigella used pistachios in her fudge but I chose hazelnuts for mine - any nut would work fine. This is a wonderful simple treat and makes a great gift. I packaged mine with Oreo truffles - that says "Happy Holidays" to me!

Hazelnut Fudge

12 ounces 70 percent dark chocolate, chopped or 12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 (14-ounce) can condensed milk
Pinch salt

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

Melt the chopped chocolate, condensed milk and salt in a heavy based pan on a low heat.
Add the nuts to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.
Pour this mixture into a 9-inch square foil tray, smoothing the top.
Let the fudge cool and then refrigerate until set. You can then cut into small pieces approximately 3/4 by 1 3/4 inches or cutting 8 by 8 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces.
Once cut you can keep it in the freezer, no need to thaw just eat straight away. (I stored mine in the fridge.)

Oreo Truffles

So by now, almost everyone has either heard of, tasted or made Oreo truffles. Still, they seem to be a big favorite so I decided to make them this year for my holiday treat bags. I had it in my head that these were going to be messy and time consuming, so I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out to be neither! I made the filling on Friday afternoon, rolled it into balls and put them in the fridge on cookie trays to set. I left them in there for about 24 hours so they were nice and firm by the time I got to dipping them in the chocolate. Joe helped me with this part, and I'm glad I did. We made a good team and the whole process went more quickly with two people. Joe stuck toothpicks in each truffle and then we dipped them in the chocolate. Joe then went to work drizzling chocolate over the little toothpick holes to make sure they were completely enrobed in chocolate. Tucker helped too!

We finished them off with some red and green sprinkles then stuck them back in the fridge to harden. I was thrilled with how nice they looked, and of course they tasted fantastic! If you're one of the few people who have not tried these awesome treats, you better get in the kitchen! You don't know what you're missing!

Easy Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) Oreo Cookies, finely crushed, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 pkg. (8 squares each) Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Mix the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 42 (1-inch) balls.
Dip balls in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover melted chocolate can be stored in tightly covered container at room temperature and saved for another use.) Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Store any leftover truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Chocolate Chubbies

Chocolate and nuts - it's one of the greatest taste combinations, so you know these cookies have to be good. They are so loaded with goodies - chocolate chips, pecans and walnuts - that there are more mix-ins than dough. And that's okay! Speaking of dough, the dough for these cookies seemed awfully thin when I was done mixing it - it looked more like cake batter than cookie dough. So I added about 1/4 cup more flour and that seemed to help a bit. Plus I froze the dough and defrosted it about 2 weeks later to bake these, so that may have helped firm it up a bit.

These came out great - chewy and dense and full of all those delicious extras. I made them on the small side so they are like little brownie bites. They'll make a great chocolatey addition to your Christmas baking!

Chocolate Chubbies

6 (1-ounce) semisweet chocolate squares, chopped
2 (1-ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares, chopped
1/3 cup butter
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Combine first 3 ingredients in a heavy saucepan; cook, stirring often, over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
Beat eggs and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth; add chocolate mixture, beating well.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to chocolate mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in chocolate morsels, pecans, and walnuts.
Drop batter by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets.
Bake at 325° for 12 to 15 minutes or until done. Cool cookies on baking sheet 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool.

Butterscotch Gingerbread

I posted about these last Christmas, but I decided to feature them again because they are a unique addition to a cookie tray - something different from all the chocolate, mint and peanut butter that often dominates. These cookies are soft and spicy with the perfect balance of sweetness from the butterscotch chips. And they fill your kitchen with the most wonderful holiday-ish smell while baking. Give them a try!

Butterscotch Gingerbread

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup light molasses
1 (11 ounce) package butterscotch morsels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, egg and molasses in large mixer bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended. Stir in morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Mint Chippers

It seems as if year after year I make the same cookies come Christmas time (see last year's Christmas cookie post for the usual suspects). They are all great cookies and I will be making some of them again this year, but I decided to give few new types a try as well. These mint chippers came to me by way of the My Recipes Cookie Countdown emails. Who doesn't like mint at Christmas time? Unfortunately, these didn't really live up to my expectations. They're okay, but definitely not minty enough. I would recommend upping the peppermint extract to at least a full teaspoon. The mint flavor is there, but it's a subtle background flavor. Definitely not what I was going for. These are okay, but not as exciting as I'd hoped. I used regular chocolate chips instead of the minis, but otherwise I stuck to the recipe. Aside from wishing there was more mint flavor, I also wish I had used some green food coloring - I feel like these are so plain looking! I guess I like my cookies with more pizazz.

Mint Chippers

1 cup (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 large egg whites
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup miniature chocolate chips or 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

In a bowl, with a mixer on high speed, beat butter, powdered sugar, peppermint extract, and vanilla until well blended. Beat in egg whites until incorporated. Reduce speed and mix in flour, salt, and chocolate chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill until dough is firm but pliable, about 30 minutes.
With powdered sugar-dusted hands, shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, flattening each slightly between your palms to about 2 1/2 inches wide. Place 1 inch apart on buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets.
Bake in a 300° regular or convection oven until cookies feel firm to touch and are barely beginning to turn golden on the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. If baking more than one sheet at a time in one oven, switch positions halfway through baking. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

Happy Halloween!

Boo! When my aunt told me that she was having a Halloween party for my 9 year-old cousin Adam and his friends I knew I had to be involved. So I volunteered to help her execute the party, and also to bring a treat. I wanted to bake something cute and festive, so when I spotted these pumpkin bars from Taste of Home I knew I had to make them. For all the pumpkin treats I've baked in the last few years, I've never made any that called for pumpkin pie filling as these did. The moist filling makes these sweet and very tender. I followed the recipe exactly, except I just used decorating gel for the faces instead of melted chocolate as the recipe suggests. I also left out the nuts because I was worried that some of the kids might have allergies.

I can't get over how adorable these are! I can't wait to share them with the kiddies at the party tonight! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin Bars

1-1/2 cups pumpkin pie filling
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted)
1 can (16 ounces) cream cheese frosting
Yellow and red food coloring
Candy corn
Decorating gel

In a large mixing bowl, beat the pumpkin, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Pour into a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Tint frosting orange with yellow and red food coloring. Frost bars; cut into 35 squares. For eyes, place two pieces of candy corn on each bar. Decorate faces as desired with gel.

Fourth of Ju-Fry!

Several years ago Joe and I gave my dad a turkey fryer for Father's Day. I think it may be the best gift I've ever given anyone - my dad has gotten endless enjoyment from it. Each year my parents host several holiday cookouts, one of which is always a turkey fry. This year we fried on the fourth and it was a lot of fun! An 18 lb turkey was on the menu this year. My dad injected it with a Cajun marinade to give it some extra flavor and keep it juicy, then the bird went into the fryer for about 45 minutes. As always, it came out perfect - moist and juicy and soooo tasty! If you've never had fried turkey, you may be surprised to learn that it's not at all greasy - in fact, it hardly soaks up any oil at all. That means you can eat twice as much of it! Along with the turkey we enjoyed corn muffins and some classic picnic sides like tortellini salad, potato salad and deviled eggs. We worked off the food with some quoits - my teammate Jamie and I showed mad skills...even if we lost. Only one year until the next turkey fry - I can't wait!

Into the fryer

And it's done!

Mmmmmm...meat

Rockin' the quoits

Joe and I :)

Accepting my limitations

The more I bake, the more I come to learn my strengths and weaknesses. I make fantastic brownies and muffins. My cookies are usually delicious. And I have a few serious kick-ass cupcake recipes. However, making cakes from scratch is apparently not my thing. The first cake from scratch I ever attempted turned into quite the ordeal. Then there was the German chocolate cake debacle, and most recently the Mother's Day mess. From these experiences I've determined that from now on the majority of my cakes shall come from a box. I never seem to have a problem with those. The icing, however, I'll make from scratch. I seem to be pretty talented at beating together butter and sugar ;) I made this cake for a Father's Day celebration at my parent's house. I used a boxed carrot cake mix and added in golden raisins and walnuts. For the frosting, I utilized this recipe from All Recipes. I love cream cheese frosting (just ask my uncle, who makes carrot cake every Easter and often hands me an extra sidecar cup of frosting with my slice) and this one is tasty. It's not as sweet as some other cream cheese frostings but it's a nice compliment to the rich cake. And it went off without a hitch!

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

When I saw that Blake and Bridget at Blake Makes were giving away Amano artisan chocolate, I knew I needed to snag some - not for myself, but to share with my mom and Nana, who adore dark chocolate. I was lucky enough to win three bars (thanks, Blake and Bridget!) and they arrived a few days before Mother's Day. I already decided that for our Mother's Day dessert I was going to make the Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake from Jill O'Connor's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey cookbook and realized that some delicious dark chocolate would be a wonderful addition to the cake. So I put aside two bars, one for Nana and one for my mom, and chopped up the third to add to my cake.

This cake was delicious! It was dense and moist with a rich banana flavor and the sweet, rum-infused glaze is the perfect compliment to the crunchy pecans on top. And the dark chocolate was the perfect addition. The only problem I had was getting the cake out of the pan. When I inverted it onto my serving platter only half the cake came out. I ended up shaking the other half out and sort of smooshing it back together with the first. A bit of the topping ended up lost so it wasn't a pretty cake, but I served it anyway. After all, moms and grandmothers love you even when you make mistakes, and both my mom and Nana adored the cake - and their Amano chocolate.

Happy Mother's Day!

Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

For the Dark Rum Glaze:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark rum

For the Cake:
1 ½ cups chopped pecans, toasted
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark rum
3 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup sour cream

To make the glaze: Combine the butter, water, and sugars in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Set aside and keep warm.

To make the cake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. Spray a 10-cup tube pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the pecans in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat together the butter and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the mashed bananas, vanilla and rum. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over the batter and fold in using a rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the sour cream. Spoon the batter over the nuts in the pan and spread to the edge of the pan using the back of a rubber spatula.

Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs clinging to it, 60 to 80 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to poke holes all over the cake and pour ¼ cup of the warm glaze over the cake. Let the cake cool 5 more minutes. Place a serving platter over the pan and invert to release the cake onto the platter. Spoon the remaining glaze over the cake, a little at a time, until the glaze is completely absorbed into the cake.

Let the cake cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving. This cake will last two to three days if covered well.

The best kind of eggs

are filled with peanut butter! Who doesn't love a nice big chocolate peanut butter egg? I decided to make up a batch to bring to Easter dinner - if ever there is a holiday that demands chocolate it's Easter. I used this recipe from Gale Gand of the Food Network and just shaped the peanut butter mixture into eggs instead of balls. I topped the finished eggs with some Easter sprinkles. They were delicious and tasted almost exactly like Reese's eggs. I did find the peanut butter mixture to be rather dry and added about 1/3 cup extra peanut butter to make it easier to work with. Aside from that, this recipe is a winner. Happy Easter!

Peanut Butter Eggs

1 jar (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar
1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 packages dark cocoa candy melts, melted

In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, confectioners' sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and butter. Mash together until combined. Form the mixture into balls. Transfer to the refrigerator until hardened, about 30 minutes. Dip the peanut butter balls into the melted chocolate and set inside mini paper cupcake forms. Decorate as desired. Let the chocolate set before serving.

Pineapple Cake

As soon as I saw this recipe for pineapple cake on Anna's blog, I knew it was the dessert that I wanted to bring to my aunt's house for Easter. In order to make it a little fancier I chose to do a two-layer cake and put the pineapple mixture between the layers and on top of the cake. This was a tasty cake! I used a butter recipe yellow cake mix and the result was a nice, dense, pound cake-like cake. The pineapple filling is quite sweet but it goes nicely with the cake. This was the perfect compliment to our yummy ham dinner.

Pineapple Cake

1 box butter recipe yellow cake mix
1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple
4 ounces butter (1 stick) – regular salted type
5 oz can evaporated milk
1 ½ cups sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with cooking spray.
Drain crushed pineapple and reserve juice.
Prepare cake as directed on box, substituting the reserved pineapple juice for half of the water.
Set a large (3 quart) saucepan over medium heat and add butter. When butter is about halfway melted, add evaporated milk and sugar. Continue cooking over medium heat, whisking often, until butter is completely melted mixture is hot and just beginning to simmer around the edges. Add egg yolks and continue cooking over medium, whisking constantly, until mixture boils and thickens. Cook and whisk for a little over a minute, then remove from heat and let cool for about 5 minutes. Add vanilla extract and drained pineapple. Leave pineapple mixture at room temperature (still in pan) while cake continues to bake and cools.
When cake is cool, pour room-temperature pineapple mixture over cake. Place in refrigerator and chill until pineapple topping sets.

Snap, Krackle, Pop

My sister Jill was invited to Easter dinner with her new boyfriend's family and she offered to bring a dessert. She then called me and asked me to make said dessert. I had lots of things in mind, but Jill wanted Rice Krispie treats. So Rice Krispie treats it was. Naturally, I used the recipe on the Rice Krispies website. We made one batch of regular and one batch of chocolate - I just added some cocoa powder and vanilla to the marshmallow and pressed chocolate chips on top. Unfortunately, gossiping with your sister and cooking aren't always the best combo and I added two few cups of Rice Krispies to the original treats, so they were slightly thin and greasy, but Jill insisted I didn't need to remake them. I paid more attention when mixing the chocolate ones and they came out much better! Hopefully Jill's boyfriend's family enjoyed them. And if they hated them, Jill promised to claim that she made them herself ;)

Rice Krispie Treats

3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1(10 oz.) package regular marshmallows
- or -
4 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies®

Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated. Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into 2-inch squares when cool. Best if served the same day.

MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:In a large microwave safe bowl, heat margarine and marshmallows at HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 and 3 above.

The eating of the green

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Being that I'm not Irish I don't typically celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I had a can of green Christmas-themed funfetti frosting in my pantry and I felt St. Patty's Day was the perfect chance to use it up. I whipped up some cupcakes from a yellow cake mix and added food coloring to turn them green. I frosted them with my green frosting and decorated with green sugar sprinkles and green M&Ms.