Cute as a Button (Cookie)!

Have you ever seen something so darn cute that you've said, "Oh my God, I just want to bite it!!!"? Well, here's something so adorable that you really can bite! I made button cookies!

I used a recipe from Cake Central called No Fail Sugar Cookie (Jessifying it, of course) and cut them with a small biscuit cutter. Then I made an indent with a frosting tip and made four little holes with another frosting tip. Here they are!

Cute as a Button Cookies

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.
3. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.
4. Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Tip below).
5. Roll to desired thickness and cut into small circles. Decorate as buttons.
6. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. 

Tip: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess — Rather than wait for your cookie dough to chill, take the freshly made dough and place some between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies.

Button Cookies

I also made some with colored sugar, but I liked the plain ones better.

Sugared Button Cookies

Everything's Better With Bacon!

So, I like bacon... okay, okay, I LOVE bacon! I will find any excuse to eat bacon and I'm always looking for things to put bacon in, on, with, next to, etc. One of my favorite naughty snacks is chocolate covered bacon. So, I got to thinking, instead of covering bacon in chocolate, why couldn't I put bacon IN (something) chocolate. That's when chocolate bacon brownies were born! Chocolate bacon WHAT!??! Oh yes, my friends, chocolate bacon brownies! If you want to make your own brownies, that's cool, if not, a boxed mix will work just fine! Then just add crumbled, cooked bacon! Sometimes, I even add peanut butter chips for chocolate peanut butter bacon brownies! (Hey, if you're gonna do it wrong, do it RIGHT!) Enjoy!

Chocolate Bacon Brownies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bacon Brownies

Chocolate Dipped Ritz and Garlic Parmesan Knots

I was invited to a jewelry party today by a good friend of mine. She asked me to make something for the guests. Me, being good at both sweet and savory, offered to bring one of each. For the sweet, I had no trouble deciding on chocolate dipped Ritz crackers. It's that salty-sweet combination that everyone loves that makes me want to dip everything in chocolate! I made a few with peanut butter in between, like sandwiches, but liked just the plain crackers better, so I brought just those.

The recipe is crazy simple and you can make a ton in a short amount of time. Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Ritz


Dark and Milk Chocolate Dipped Ritz

Ingredients
2 sleeves Ritz Crackers
1/2 pound dark chocolate candy wafers
1/2 pound milk chocolate candy wafers
1 tablespoon vegetable shortning, divided

Directions
1. Place chocolate wafers (one flavor at a time) in a wide, shallow dish (I used a small corningware casserole dish) with 1 tablespoon shortning.
2. Microwave on half power for about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, checking frequently. (I know it's done when the shortning is melted).
3. Stir the chocolate to combine the shortning until smooth
4. Drop the cracker into the chocolate and use a plastic knife to swirl it around until the whole cracker is coated. Scoop up the cracker using the knife and tap it onto the side of the dish to remove excess chocolate. Place on a sheet of waxed paper.

To make peanut butter sandwiches, smiply add a dollop of peanut butter to one cracker and place a second on top to make a sandwich. Follow the same directions above to coat in chocolate.

I also made garlic parmesan knots. I found the recipe on another blog through the pinterest website. These were also so very simple and tasted wonderful! I will be making them again!  Enjoy!

Garlic Parmesan Knots

Garlic Parmesan Knots

Ingredients
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough
1/4 cup oil (I used a mix of regular vegetable oil and olive oil)
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Directions
1. Roll each biscuit into a 12 inch rope and tie into a knot and tuck ends under. Place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet (or parchment paper).
2. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
3. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Brush the warm knots with the mixture.
(I baked them at 400° for 8 minutes and found they were brown on the outside and a little gooey on the inside. Next time, I will drop the temperature and bake for 20 minutes.)

Both of these things went over really well and I will definitely be making the knots again and again. I already make the crackers often! I hope you enjoy both recipes!

Chocolate and Wine and Vinegar, Oh My!

I think I did it! I made two more chocolates that are AMAZING!!! The first one is a strawberry balsamic filled and the second is a red wine ganache. The balsamic reduction is amazing! It's sweet and tangy and a little fruity. I might try it with raspberries or blueberries too. The red wine is subtle, but really good with a dark chocolate. I might have to try these with different flavored wines. Maybe champagne? Beer? I think the possibilities are endless!

So now, in addition to the two new ones, I have I have cayenne spiced truffles, pumpkin pie spiced truffles, and chocolate marshmallows covered in white chocolate. I'll make the chocolate covered strawberries next week.

Please ignore the condensation on the chocolates. It's really warm in my kitchen and they just came out of the freezer.


Cayenne Spiced Truffles

White Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Marshmallows

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Truffles

Huckleberry Honey Filleds

Strawberry Balsamic Filleds

Red Wine Ganache Truffles

Chocolate Covered Heaven

Next Tuesday might just be a huge day for me. I have a meeting with a woman who owns a local specialty shop and is looking to add to her inventory. I will meet with her next week, with a sampling of my chocolates. So, I had to get into the kitchen and come up with some awesome creations!

Right now, I have cayenne spiced truffles, pumpkin pie spiced truffles, chocolate marshmallows covered in white chocolate, and dark chocolate huckleberry honey filleds. I also made a maple black walnut cream, but after a taste-test, I didn't think it was good enough. And I made my own honey peanut butter, but it didn't taste good with the chocolate.

I will be making some chocolate dipped strawberries as well, but won't make those until the last minute.

I need to come up with one or two more chocolates that will dazzle this woman! I was thinking some kind of cheesecake truffle? But that's not original. Bark? Boring. Cake truffles? Good, but not 'slap your mama' good! I need something awesome! Something new, something different, something... amazing!

I've been scouring the internet, wracking my brain, and so far, have come up empty. There has to be some kind of chocolate out there that no one has done before and that will amaze people. I'll just have to invent it...

It's a Marshmallow World.... Part 2 - UPDATE!!!

UPDATE! I was thinking about this, but didn't follow through, then a checkered friend asked me about it too, so I tried it. I sprinkled a little bit of kosher salt on the lime marshmallows and totally made chocolate covered margarita marshmallows!! The angels, they are a-singing!

So, I made my first batch of homemade marshmallows last week. They were awesome! But then I covered them in chocolate! They were even awesomer! (Don't care it's not a word, stay with me).

So, I decided to try them in flavors. First up - key lime. I don't know what I did different, but the corn syrup/sugar mixture exploded all over the stove top and wouldn't stop bubbling over (even though I lowered the burner temp as far as I could and still get it to boil). I think that might be the reason this batch was a little squishier than the first. But still just as darn tasty!

I just finished dipping these in chocolate (both dark and milk) and will be taste-testing them amongst coworkers and sending them to work with the checkered husband to get some more opinions. Below is the recipe for the lime variety. I will be making more flavors as soon as I can get more corn syrup soon. So, be on the lookout for more marshmallow madness!

Homemade Key Lime Marshmallows

Ingredients
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

1 cup ice cold key lime juice, divided

12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups zest from 4 limes

Directions

1. Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
2. In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
3. Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla and lime zest during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.
4. Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.
5. When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
6. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks, or cover in chocolate and they won't last even that long!
(Adapted from Alton Brown's Recipe)

To Cover in Chocolate

Ingredients

1 pound Milk or Dark Chocolate Wafers

1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

Directions

1. Heat chocolate wafers and shortening in the microwave at half power until the shortening is melted and the wafers start to melt.

2. Mix chocolate thoroughly.
3. Place marshmallows, one at a time, in the chocolate and fish out out a chocolate dipping tool or fork. Tap the fork against the dish to get excess chocolate off and place marshmallow on waxed paper.
4. Place marshmallows in refrigerator until chocolate is set.