truffles, truffles, truffles?

Blogging goal for today -blog about Christmas.  Yea!  For the food blog that means I get to post all of the goodies we made to put on goodie plates this year.  They need blogging before I forget all of the tips I had.  Many of them came from came from the little 50 Edible Gifts insert in my Food Network magazine.  They came with the simplest of instructions - the entire recipe usually consisting of 2 lines.  Hint...  They needed more than that.  Here are the recipes with some helpful hints.  Going to start with the truffles.  The first 2 are actually truffles, the third is a ball because it is crunchy.  All 3 are good.  I'd give the chocolate truffles a 5, coconut almond 3.5-4, and hazelnut crunch 4.5 (only because they were a pain to make - helpful hints I've added ought to make them more like a 5 star next time.)

balls left to right are chocolate-hazelnut crunch,
coconut-almond truffle, and chocolate truffles.

Chocolate truffles

Ingredients

• 1 cup cream
• 1/2 stick butter (4 Tablespoons)
• 1 pound finely chopped chocolate.  (I used semisweet.  I think I used 8 oz of box and 8 oz of chocolate chips to tell the truth.)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (optional)
• (original recipe called for these to be rolled in crushed peppermint candies, chopped nuts or cocoa powder - I used the cocoa powder/powdered sugar mix above, but any of these would be good.)

Directions

1. Bring cream and butter to a boil in a saucepan.  Place chocolate in a boil and pour hot cream mixture over chocolate.  Stir until melted.  Add vanilla and stir until smooth.
2. Refrigerated until firm.
3. Mix powdered sugar and cocoa powder on a plate.  Scoop chilled truffle mixture with a spoon (or handy cookie dough scoop) and roll into balls.  Roll the balls in the cocoa/sugar mixture.  Chill.

Coconut-Almond truffles

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut (original called for unsweetened, and I think that nice fine shred would have worked better than the sweet stuff, but I used what I had in my pantry.  It worked, but I think the other would be better.)
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• additional coconut for rolling

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together until they form a dough.  Chill until firm.  (original recipe doesn't do this, and maybe if you have some stiffer almond butter than mine, you won't find it necessary, but I did.)
2. When firm, roll into balls, then roll in shredded coconut.  Chill

Chocolate-Hazelnut Crunch Balls

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts.  (I just toasted mine in a pan on the stovetop.)
• 1 cut crisp rice cereal
• 1/2 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (Nutella)
• powdered sugar for rolling

Directions

1. These need the most help when it comes to directions - according to the book you just mix the stuff together and roll into balls, and roll in the sugar.  I've got news for you, they don't stick together like that.  Even once refrigerated they don't stick together well like that, so here is what I learned.
1. Mix ingredients together.
2. Refrigerate until a bit more firm (still won't be very firm)
3. Make something that resembles a ball, but don't try too hard ....yet anyway.  
4. Toss that ball-like blob in the plate of powdered sugar to give it a good dusting.  
5. Then, when it isn't going to stick to you like crazy, shape it into a nice ball.
6. Chill.

Following my directions, these actually became easy to make.  Although I have to tell you the first 2/3 of the batch drove me absolutely batty.  When super cool, they would sort of stick, but not really.  Tossing them in the powdered sugar before trying to form them all the way was totally the key.  I suppose I could have just added powdered sugar to the mix, but I was worried about them being too sweet. This way they were wonderful.

Gingerbread Nativities

Although I haven't blogged in almost a month.  (Shame on me) I have done some fun kitchen activities.  I'm going to try to attempt to get the best ones on the blog before DH heads out of the country again next week, and life goes back to crazy with wrestling and basketball everyday after school.  :)  At least all of the Holiday baking and shopping is done.  Honestly I thought I'd get caught up a bit more quickly but I'm enjoying spending time with my kids too much.  Right now they are headed fishing though, so I'm taking advantage of the free time and playing catch up.
This wins as my first post because it was sooo cute.  I found it over at recipe shoebox.  I'm not going to write out all of the directions, but I will post my pictures and do mini directions.  Go check out recipe shoebox for step-by-step directions.  Loved these.  If I am less busy next year (ha, ha!) then I would love to try these with actual gingerbread.

This is the one I made with the 3 year old.  

Ingredients

• Gingerbread or graham crackers (1 package was plenty for 4 scenes)
• tootsie rolls
• soft fun size candy bar like milky way or 3 musketeers (we used milky ways)
• 2 packages large gumdrops (I only found small packages so I needed 2)
• 1 package small gumdrops
• fruit roll ups
• icing (I used a store bought can that came with tips that screwed on - could not have been easier)
• Black licorice (I used nibs and didn't have to cut them as much as she did.)
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• yellow food coloring
• large marshmallows
• mini candy canes
• Although not listed at recipe shoebox, she used a white jelly wreath for the angels.  I liked that but had not bought them because they weren't on the list, so here they are for next year
• round toothpicks
• kitchen scissors
• cardboard pieces (1 for each stable to use as a base)
• foil

Directions

The 12 year old's.  He got fancy and added a star, but then left
hay??  Looks like someone has some yellow hair though.  :)

1. Cover the cardboard with foil.  (Optional, I just wanted them covered.)
2. Mix coconut in a bowl with 5 drops food coloring.
3. Using picture as a guide make stable with graham crackers (or gingerbread.)  Start with walls and roof, then add the back.  
4. Make the manger by using 3 quarter pieces or graham cracker.  Frost 2 into a v, then stick them on the third piece as a base.  Add some yellow coconut to the bottom of the manger to look like hay.
5. Make remaining figures by
1. Donkey - Cut 2 tootsie rolls in half to make 4 legs.  Attach to the candy bar using toothpicks (you will have to cut the toothpicks smaller)  Add 2 more tootsie rolls as a neck and head, and yet another as a tail.  Again, attaching with toothpicks.
2. Baby Jesus - stick 3 white gumdrops together using a toothpick (you will need to cut it)  Wrap in a small strip of fruit roll up and lay in the manger.
3. Mary, Joseph, shepherds, and angel - stick 2 large gumdrops together with 1 matching small gumdrop as the head.  Use fruit roll up strips as hair or headdress for Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds.  Use a jelly roll cut in half for arms/wings of the angel - or candy canes if in a pinch.  :)
4. Sheep -  Make 4 slits in the bottom of a marshmallow (with a knife or scissors.)  insert the licorice nibs in the slits as legs.  Make another slit in the front and add a licorice nib head.  

Here is the 5 year old busy at work.  He did have help from Dad.

Caramels

This is the one candy I make every year at Christmas.  I'm actually very surprised it didn't get blogged last year.  I love them.  The recipe is from my old plaid betty crocker cookbook.  They really are not difficult to make (unless you over-follow directions like DH tried to this year.   I will make them more clear when I write them here today so he will be able to follow them. :)  The time consuming part of these is the cutting and wrapping.  I usually cut them with a knife and wrap them in plastic wrap.  This year I cut all the rows with a knife and then a few columns with the knife, but then I switched to my kitchen scissors.  That was way easy - loved it for snipping the individual squares off the row of candy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 16 oz. brown sugar (2 1/4 cups packed)
• 1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (1 1/4 cups)
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Generously butter a 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan (I used a silicon pan this year and they came out of the pan so nicely.)  In a heavy 3 quart saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.  Add sugar, condensed milk, and corn syrup;  mix well.  (I usually just toss everything but the vanilla in the pan and stir it over medium heat until it comes together.)  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it reaches 248 on a candy thermometer.  (This will take about 15 minutes - give or take 5 minutes)  
2. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.  Pour into buttered pan.  Let cool
3. When cool, cut into squares with a wet, sharp knife.  Wrap each piece in plastic wrap. 

Chocolate peanut butter truffles

I made 1 types of truffles yesterday.  A chocolate cream cheese and a chocolate peanut butter.  Both recipes came from old Kraft food and family magazines.  This one from the holiday 2006 edition.  I went searching there because I remember making truffles in the past that were very simple and I thought they had come from one of the Kraft magazines.  Neither of these were as simple as I remembered.  This one is tasty, but ended up being very sticky.  The original had you roll them in powdered sugar or crushed nuts or coconut, or crushed oreos.  However, I dipped them in melted semi-sweet chocolate.  They were very good that way.  The semi-sweet shell is nice and hard, then the center is nice and creamy with a nice light peanut butter flavor.

Ingredients

• 2 -2 1/2 packages (8 oz) Semi-sweet baking chocolate squares
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 8 oz. tub cool whip, thawed

Directions

1. Microwave 1 package (8 oz, 8 squares)  chocolate on high for 2 minutes or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 minutes.  stir until chocolate is completely melted.  
2. Stir in peanut butter until well blended.  Cool to room temperature.  Gently stir in whipped topping.  refrigerate 1 hour.
3. Melt remaining package of chocolate in microwave as before (I started with 1 package and had to do 2 more squares to finish, but with the 2 additional squares I also had enough to cover some of the other truffles I had made)
4. Scoop peanut butter mixture with melon baller or teaspoon (I don't recommend the melon baller.  I used my cookie scoop for these and made them a bit bigger than my other truffles.  It worked well.)  Shape into 1 inch balls.  Dip the balls in the melted chocolate and place on a lined baking sheet (I lined mine with non-stick aluminum foil)  

Makes about 3 dozen (I actually made more like 30)

Chocolate Spritz Reindeer

Well, these cookies looked cute, but there were some issues with them that I wish would have been written in the directions.  I guess that is why it is sometimes better to find recipes online - better info than from a magazine. They make everything sound nice and simple.  I actually didn't make this batter.  DH did while I was out with the kids this morning, but he couldn't figure out how to get the cookie press to work, so I did the tedious part.  I took pictures of many of the reindeer I made.  The original recipe had you put these over a whole pretzel like the ones on the left hand side of the photo.  However I only had so many whole pretzels, so after that, I just used random parts to make lots of fun shaped antlers.  I really liked them with the broken pretzels - gave them personality.  The original recipe also had you use chocolate chips for the nose.  I have a few done like that in the photo, but I liked the mini m & m better, so I stuck with that for most of them.
As far as flavor, these are only OK.  However, they are super cute.

Tips:
Don't use the cookie press right over the pretzel (like the recipe told me to)  It will either break the pretzel or it won't stick to the pan and come off of the press.  I messed with the first dozen like that before I started making them in my hand.  That worked a lot better, but better still were the ones made with fragments of pretzels because I made the cookie right on the cookie sheet and then stuck the antlers in the top of the already pressed cookie.  I've written directions using pieces.  To use whole, just place the cookie over the top of the bottom curve of the pretzel.  The picture has both type - whole pretzel and pieces.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 bag large pretzel twists
• 1 bag semi-sweet mini baking M & M's  (green and blue for eyes, brown or red for noses)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375.  In large bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in sugars and cocoa until well blended.  Beat in milk, vanilla and egg yolk.  On low speed, slowly beat in flour until well blended, scraping the bowl as necessary.
2. Fill heart template in cookie press; fill cookie press with dough.  Using cookie press, press 12 hearts onto a cookie sheet leaving plenty of room above them for antlers.  Press pretzel pieces into the top of the heart shape, trying to almost put them under the cookie.  Place green or blue M&M's for eyes and brown or red for a nose.  (I liked using the eyes to help shape the cookie and push it down on top of the pretzel that was under it.)
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookes are firm, but not browned.  Remove from pans to cooling rack.

candy cane cookies

My goodness, 6 days since I've posted here.  That is how I know life is busy, but then again, it always is at the holidays.  Not to mention DH was out of town last week, 2 of my boys were sick, and we were very over scheduled for some reason.  Anywho, I'm starting with what I made today because it is fresh on my mind, and I still have the tab up on my computer.  It was my turn to teach pre-school and we are doing letter J for Jesus - going with a Christmas theme.  So I decided to read the book the Legend of the Candy Cane and have candy cane shaped cookies for a snack.  (I so have to buy that book - I had to borrow it today.)
I found a recipe on allrecipes.com.  I ended up adding a 1/2 cup flour, but I'm not sure I'd do it again.  (This is a very unsure.  I felt the dough could stand to be a bit stickier so that it wouldn't crack, but I also wouldn't want it to stick to the counter.  Also, I loved the texture of these, kind of a cross between a sugar cookie and one of those Mexican Wedding cookies.  I really liked the texture.  BUT, I also added a few drops of water to my white half.  The red half was just about perfect with the red food coloring I added because I used the liquid kind. -part of the reason I went with the extra flour in the first place.)  Soo, that all being said, next time, I'll have a personal toss up with whether or not to add the extra flour.  I may try it once without, or I may be chicken and want and exact repeat.  Time will tell.  OK, on to how I made them before kids get home from school and I have to get meat in a marinade before I teach piano lessons...

Note on pictures - see the difference between twisting individual cords(top cookie) and rolling the to cords into 1 2 colored cord and twisting the 1 cord (the rest of the cookies.)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup butter flavor crisco
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour (see note above to decide whether to go with less or not.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (I didn't measure, original had more, but I just poured an amount in my hand that looked good and tossed it in.)
• red food coloring

Directions

1. Mix butter and crisco together until smooth.  Add powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Add egg and extracts and mix until smooth. (Or just add it all at once and beat.  I just like to do it separately for some reason.)
2. Add flour and salt and mix until a dough forms.
3. Divide dough in half.  Set 1/2 of of dough aside.  Add red food coloring to desired shade in 1/2 of the dough and mix until combined.  
4. Roll out dough into 4" "snakes" (so said my 2 year old - he thought we were playing with playdough this morning.)  (I actually rolled 2 really long snakes set them side by side and cut them in 4 inch lengths.)  Take your 2 4 inch snakes and roll together into 1 fat snake that is 1/2 red and 1/2 white.  Twist the snake and curve the top over to make a candy cane shape.
5. Bake at 375 for 9-10 minutes.  (Mine took 10.)

Other notes:  If making J's, make sure to make them face the right direction.  My instinct is to make a candycane go the other way.  Also, I did a bit of trial and error on the rolling.  Originally I started just twisting the 2 strands together, but then I remembered reading a post on Allrecipes.com that said to roll them together.  I tried that and it was way better.  The cookies didn't crack as much.  (see picture for difference in appearance.)

A final note - if you want to add  peppermint flavor, either exchange the almond extract for peppermint or add crushed peppermint candies to the top of the cookies by brushing with heated corn syrup (10-20 seconds in the microwave) and sprinkling on top.  I loved them the way they were, but I'm not a peppermint fan.

sugar cookies and buttercream frosting

This cookie recipe is from an old ward cookbook. It is my favorite for sugar cookies because it is easy, makes a lot, doesn't need to be refrigerated, and rolls out quite easily. It isn't the most flavorful sugar cookie, but it is good. I have another one I love for the flavor, but it is so hard to roll out and cut and it needs refrigeration, so I never use it. This is the one I always go back to. A bad thing about this recipe for my waistline is that they aren't overly sweet, so I can eat way too many of them. :) The buttercream icing is a recipe I made up and wrote at the bottom of this recipe. It makes just about the perfect amount for frosting the amount of cookies this recipe makes.
You have to enjoy the decorations. My 3 year old helped.



Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter flavored shortening
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (I doubled it from 1 this time around)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7 cups flour

Directions:
(The directions I have say you can use lard in place of shortening for easy handling of dough. I never have, and I've never had trouble with this dough. In fact, its ease of handling is why I like it.)
Cream the shortening and the sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; mix. Mix dry ingredients in a separate container. Add half of the milk and flower mix. Beat well. Add the rest of the milk and mix. Add the rest of the flour and mix If the dough is a bit soft, add a bit more flour. (I want to say that with the extra vanilla this time I added just a Tablespoon or 2 more flour, but I wouldn't swear to it. I know I thought about it, but can't remember if I actually did.) Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.


Buttercream icing

Cream together

• 2 cubes butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

separate and color as desired.

Chocolate swirl almond toffee

This was yet another recipe from the Pillsbury magazine from December 07. It was good, but not great. Mine turned out a lot lighter than the picture in the book. The recipe didn't call for vanilla, but I think if I made it again, I would add either a teaspoon of vanilla at the end, or a teaspoon of almond extract.


Ingredients

Toffee

• 1 cup butter
• 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup chopped almonds

Topping

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate ships
• 1/2 cup white vanilla baking ships

Directions

1. Line 15 X 10 X 1 inch pan with foil. Butter foil.
2. In a 2 quart saucepan, mix butter, corn syrup, water and sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture boils, stirring constantly. Cook until candy thermometer reaches soft-crack stage (290). Remove saucepan from ehat. Quickly stir in almonds. Pour mixture into buttered, foil-lined pan. Let stand 2 to 3 minutes to harden.
3. Sprinkle chips over hot toffee; let stand 1 to 1 1/2 minutes to soften. With knife, swirl softened chips over toffee. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until chocolate is ste. Break toffee into serving sized pieces.

I couldn't find my white chocolate chips all of a sudden, so they got on the toffee a bit late and then had a hard time melting enough to swirl. I also got mine a little past soft crack for trying to do too much at once, but it still turned out.

Cream cheese mint brownies

I love to bake candy and goodies for Christmas. I rarely make the same thing from year to year although I think I have made these before and the Pillsbury magazine they are from is only 2 years old. They sure are tasty, and I had no problems with the recipe.



Ingredients

• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon mint extract
• 4 drops green food color
• 1 cup butter
• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup flour

Frosting

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons corn syrup
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate cunt into pieces
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9 X13 inch pan. In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth. Add egg, mint extract and food color; mix well. Set aside.
2. In a 3 to 4 quart saucepan, melt 1 cup butter and 4 oz chocolate over very low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add eggs q at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in flour; mix well. Spread in pan. Carefully spoon cheese filling over brownie mixture. (I poured it carefully in a ribbon to try and cover the brownie.) Gently cut through layers with knife to marble.
3. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Cool completely.
4. In heavy saucepan, heat 2 Tablespoons butter, corn syrup and water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat. Add 2 oz chocolate; stir until melted.
5. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Frost cooled brownies. Cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Cover and refrigerate any remaining brownies. (I thought the frosting seemed like it wasn't stuck to the brownie, but it was fine.