Candy Acorns

Candy Acorns

Two favorite flavors, peanut butter and chocolate, combine in these adorable little acorn-shaped candies. They are a perfect complement to any autumn holiday table and fun for everyone when paired with real or artificial oak tree leaves.

The amount of powdered sugar you need will depend on the humidity in the room and the texture of the peanut butter you use.


Candy Acorns

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Yields 48 candies

Ingredients:

3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions:

1. Blend together well, butter, peanut butter and extract. Add powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until a stiff and smooth dough forms. Refrigerate briefly (5 minutes) if dough is too soft.
2. Divide dough into 48 elongated balls and roll each between your hands, pinching at one end, to form an acorn.
3. Set pointed side up on a parchment or waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Once all acorns are formed, refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up candies.
4. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or 1 to 2 minutes in a microwave, until smooth.
5. Dip each acorn, smooth top-side down, into chocolate. Twist lightly and pull gently to form the acorn cap and stem. Set back on the cookie sheet, sides down this time, and refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm.

Nanaimo Bars

Ever since I was a child, and probably before I was born, my mother has been making a confection for Christmas that we always called "Grandma's Chocolate Squares". The recipe had come from my paternal grandmother, Ola Foster, and was passed down to just about everyone.

There wasn't a year that went by without those squares; a rich fudgy bottom studded with walnuts and coconut then slathered with a creamy, buttery center topped off with a layer of dark chocolate. They were always cut into small squares because they were so rich you couldn't eat too much ... unless you were a kid, in which case you'd finish off 5 or 6 squares and go back for more later.

My oldest brother was off at a convention where people were serving a potluck of international delights. Each table had a specialty from that country and Bobby came across a woman who had a platter full of Grandma's Chocolate Squares. He was flabbergasted, of course, and wanted to know how this woman had gotten grandma's recipe.

The woman explained that they were called "Nanaimo Bars" and were a big deal across Canada. Not surprisingly, grandma was born and raised in Ontario. Finally the "squares" had a name. No matter, we still call them "Grandma's Chocolate Squares".

Nanaimo Bars or Grandma's Chocolate Squares
Makes: One 9x9 pan

First Layer:

1/2 C Butter
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
5 T cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C graham cracker crumbs
1 C coconut
1/2 C chopped walnuts

Second Layer:

1/2 C butter, softened
3 T milk
2 T instant vanilla pudding
2 C powdered sugar

Third Layer:

1  6 oz. Pkg. choc. Chips

First layer: Mix butter, sugar, eggs, cocoa, & vanilla
over hot water until it resembles custard. Add the
crumbs, coconut & walnuts. Press into a 9 X 9-inch
square pan. Cool.

Second Layer: Cream butter, milk, & pudding together,
then blend in powdered sugar. Spread over the first
layer & let stand for 15 minutes.

Third Layer: Melt chocolate & spread over the second
layer. Cut into squares.

Yield: 36 1-1/2-inch squares

Red Velvet Truffles

Red Velvet Truffles

Red velvet cake isn't anything new and neither are red velvet truffles, but I had to make these anyway. I started out a couple weeks ago attempting to make a version that was a riff on the Cookie Dough Bites I made for Disney (see Family.com or Spoonful.com for the recipe), adding cocoa powder and red food coloring, but the result was less than desirable and too heavy.

I went back to the drawing board, read other recipes and then, as usual, did my own thing. These truffles are truly delicious. They aren't heavy and aren't too sweet. The white chocolate surrounding them is the perfect complement to the rich centers.

I first thought of doing the usual crumbled cake and icing, but I felt it would be too sweet. I went with straight up cream cheese and then tried the "dough" once it was together. I was skeptical and wrestled with myself about adding powdered sugar. I'm really glad I didn't.

I also didn't use the usual white coating or white chocolate chips that can sometimes be cloyingly sweet. I instead went with Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bars and the end result was exactly what I was looking for; a rich center that wasn't too sweet or heavy surrounded by a creamy smooth exterior. I'm not specifying a box size for the cake or a recipe for red velvet because most people have their own favorite brands and/or recipe.

I didn't add extra red food coloring, I think the usual color of red velvet is pretty enough and with the off-white of the baking bar the truffles are very classy.

Completely crumbed cake.

Cream cheese added to crumbs.

Baking chocolate bar.

Adding truffle to chocolate.

Perfectly dipped truffle.

Red Velvet Truffles
Printable Recipe
Hands-On Time: 25 minutes
Ready In: 1 hour 25 minutes
Makes: 36 truffles

Ingredients:

One 9x13 size red velvet cake - completely cooled
8 ounces cream cheese - softened to room temperature
4 bars white baking chocolate (16 ounces total)

Directions:

1. Crumble cake completely into a large bowl.
2. Add cream cheese and mix with hands until completely combined with no streaks of cheese showing.
3. Roll between palms into 1" balls and set on a cookie sheet until all are rolled.
4. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth.
5. Dip truffles in melted chocolate and set back on cookie trays.
6. Let stand until hardened or put into freezer until set. Serve at room temperature.

Peppermint Bark

I inquired of my Twitter followers the other day what they might like to have a recipe for and @lisahanockjasie asked for peppermint bark. I'd never done it before that, but I can tell you it's so very easy that there's no need to ever buy it.

You need very few ingredients and even less time to get this one done. I made one with white coating and one with chocolate and the kids liked both equally well. Be careful when melting chocolate or coating - you need absolutely dry equipment to start with and add the room temperature extract only after the chocolate or coating is already melted and still quite hot.

The candy can be added after the extract or, as I did - after the chocolate is spread onto parchment. Adding the extra drizzle of the opposite flavor helped adhere the candy to the bark, as well.


Crushing candy canes can be a challenge. I used a hammer to gently crush mine. I originally tried the food processor, but wound up with inconsistently crushed candies - some were powder and some too large. I laid them on a baking sheet and gently hammered them until they were the size I needed.

Peppermint Bark
Makes 2 sheets (approx. 15x15) of candy
Printable Recipe

12 ounces chocolate chips or chocolate candy melts
12 ounces white chocolate chips or white candy coating
1 teaspoon peppermint extract or several drops peppermint oil
4 candy canes, crushed

1. Set aside 1/4 cup of both types of candy melts.
2. Melt each color of chocolate separately either in the microwave or in a double boiler. If using a double boiler the water in the bottom pot should NOT be boiling, but simmering. Even steam from the bottom pot can cause the chocolate to seize.
3. Once the chocolate is melted, add a teaspoon of peppermint oil to each color and stir thoroughly but very gently. Once the extract or oil has been successfully added (it doesn't seize the chocolate) stir it a bit more vigorously until it cools a bit. This will help to temper the chocolate and it will set up better than if you simply melt and pour.
4. Pour the chocolate onto the parchment and spread to desired thickness.
5. Top with chopped candies.
6. Melt reserved chips or coating and drizzle alternate colors over each. Drizzle white over chocolate and chocolate over white.
7. Let cool and dry completely before cutting with a very sharp knife or breaking into pieces.

A Little De-Mystification Please; Alice B. Toklas was NOT a Pothead

Oh, the infamy that comes from putting a word like "haschich" in your book!

Alice B. Toklas, longtime companion to Gertrude Stein, the woman who penned Alice's biography, was not a pothead. The plain truth is, she was running out of time while writing her cookbook and, still shy of recipes, rounded out things by requesting recipes from her friends, many of whom were rather ... er ... different. One of them, Brion Gysin, a painter, handed over a recipe (and the introduction for it as well) for haschisch fudge (NOT brownies!) and the unsuspecting Alice tossed it into the manuscript and away it went. It was not printed in the American edition but was included in the British one. 

*Note: All spelling and grammar is AS-IS from the book

Here it is, in it's entirety~as magicians and stuntmen say, "Don't try this at home."


HASCHICH FUDGE
(which anyone could whip up on a rainy day)
Printable Recipe

This is the food of Paradise-of Baudelaire's Artificial Paradises: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies' Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR. In Morocco it is thought to be good for warding off the common cold in damp winter weather and is, indeed, more effective if taken with large quantities of hot mint tea. Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one's personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by 'un évanouissement reveillé.'

Take 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 whole nutmeg, 4 average sticks of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon coriander. These should all be pulverised in a mortar. About a handful each of stoned dates, dried figs, shelled almonds and peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of canibus sativa can be pulverised. This along with the spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, kneaded together. About a cup of sugar dissolved in a big pat of butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or made into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient.

Obtaining the canibus may present certain difficulties, but the variety known as canibus sativa grows as a common weed, often unrecognised, everywhere in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa; besides being cultivated as a crop for the manufacture of rope. In the Americans, while often discouraged, its cousin, called canibus indica, has been observed even in city window boxes. It should be picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed and while the plant is still green.
There are many really terrific recipes in this book and I will share them someday soon.


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ATTENTION! Be prepared! On Tuesday, January 17th, we will be playing a watered-down and just-for-fun version of Ready Set Cook!~check in soon for details and BE THERE OR (dare I say it) BE SQUARE!

Cookie Dough

~UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST~

What exactly is America's fascination with cookie dough? Maybe it's the "forbidden" aspect of eating something you really shouldn't. Might it be the texture? You know, that grainy feel that takes you back to your childhood when you heaped sugar on whatever you could when mom wasn't looking?

But, not just any cookie dough; chocolate chip cookie dough. For me, there is only one real chocolate chip cookie and that is Nestle Toll House cookies. That historic figure, Ruth Wakefield, and her "accident" have been loved world-wide since 1930. Read about her here and the next time you make chocolate chip cookies, make these.

Since eating cookie dough isn't so safe nowadays, these little bon-bons meet that need in a truly wonderful way:

Cookie Dough Truffles
From Taste of Home

Printable Recipe

1/2 c butter-softened
3/4 c packed brown sugar
2 c all purpose flour
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c mini chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped walnuts-optional
1 -1/2 lbs chocolate candy coating

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Add flour, condensed milk and vanilla-mix well.
Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.
Shape into 1" balls and place on waxed paper lined cookie sheets.
Cover loosely and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours until firm.
Melt candy coating in microwave or double boiler until smooth.
Do NOT overheat!
Dip balls in chocolate and set back on waxed paper.
Refrigerate until hardened, about 15 minutes.

Makes about 5 1/2 dozen
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I just made the following version and gave a piece to the 2 kids at home. Ian, who is 17 months old, took his piece and as I turned to walk back the kitchen, he RAN in there, grabbed my leg and pulled me over to the counter saying "I some, I some!"

So ... they're good-but they don't call to be dipped in chocolate like the others. I'm dipping mine anyway.

Cookie Dough Truffles II
Printable Recipe

1 cup soft butter
1½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon water
6 ounces miniature chocolate chips.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add remaining ingredients and mix well by hand. Roll into bite size balls. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Store in a plastic zippered bag in the freezer. Makes 4 dozen. Let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before eating.

Fudge!

What would the world be without fudge? Boring, for one. There are so many types of fudge out there it's nearly impossible to name them all. My favorite, along with the majority of fudge lovers, is chocolate fudge. Here are several recipes, variations on a theme if you will. If you give any a try, let me know how it turned out-I haven't tried all of these myself.

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Delicious Fudge
Printable Recipe

1 c Brown Sugar
1 c Sugar
2/3 c Milk, Condensed
2 oz Unsweetened Chocolate
2 tb Butter
2 tb Corn Syrup
1 ts Vanilla
1 c Nuts, Chopped

Cut the chocolate in small pieces and cook with the brown and
granulated sugar, the condensed milk and the corn syrup. Stir until
the sugar is dissolved. Then cook, stirring occasionally, until the
fudge forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water. Remove from the
fire, add the butter and let stand until it is cool. Then beat until
it begins to lose its glossy appearance. Add the vanilla and the
nuts, pour on a greased pan and allow to cool. Cut in squares.

Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book -
Fine Old Recipes, Culinary Arts Press, 1936.
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Candy Bar FudgePrintable Recipe

1/2 c butter or margarine
1/3 c cocoa powder
1/4 c brown sugar-packed
1/4 c milk
3 1/2 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
30 caramel candy-unwrapped
1 T water
2 c peanuts-salted
1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c milk chocolate chips

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter, cocoa, brown sugar and
milk. Microwave on high until mixture boils, about 3 minutes. Stir in
confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Pour into a greased 8-in. square
baking pan. In another microwave-safe bowl, heat caramels and water on
high for 2 minutes or until melted. Stir in peanuts-spread over
chocolate layer. Microwave chocolate chips on high for 1 minute or
until melted-spread over caramel layer. Chill until firm.

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No Cook Fudge
Great one for kids!
Printable Recipe

1/2 gallon ziplock bag
1/2 cups cocoa
3 ounces cream cheese
1 pound powdered sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place all ingredients in the ziplock bag.
Work out the air. Knead 25-30 min.
Nuts or peanut butter may be added at the end.

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One Bowl Chocolate Fudge
My personal favorite, and the one I always make.
Printable Recipe

1 pk 8 squares semisweet chocolate
2/3 c Sweetened condensed milk
1 t Vanilla
1/8 t Salt
1 c Chopped walnuts

Microwave chocolate and milk in 1 1/2 quart microwavable bowl on
high for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate
is completely melted and smooth.
Stir in vanilla, salt and walnuts. Spread in greased 8 x 4 or
9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours;
cut into small squares.

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Creamy Chocolate Fudge
Printable Recipe

1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line an 8x8 inch pan with aluminum foil. Set aside. In a large saucepan over
medium heat, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and
salt. Bring to a full boil, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and pour in semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate
chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts
and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or
until firm.

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I haven't the conscience to try this one. Fudge is so bad for you already and Velveeta...
pseudo cheese to start with and some of the ingredients I just can't pronounce.
Well, it IS the Holiday Season, if you do make this one PLEASE let me know!

Velveeta Cheese FudgePrintable Recipe

1 lb Margarine or Butter
1 lb Velveeta Cheese
1 c Cocoa
4 lb Powdered Sugar
2 c Nuts, Chopped
2 ts Vanilla

Melt margarine and cheese together. Mix in remaining ingredients. Spread
in greased pan. Cool. Cut in squares. Keep in refrigerator. Makes enough
for a big party.

By Request: Easiest Candy Ever

Buckeyes
Printable Recipe

2 lbs peanut butter
3 lbs powdered sugar
1 lb butter
3 T vanilla

Mix together - Form balls - Refrigerate 1 hour

Melt together:

2 bags chocolate chips (or use melting chocolate)
1/2 paraffin bar melted

Dip Balls in Chocolate Chill! Eat and Enjoy!

Christina dear, if you mean something different let me know and I'll see what I can do.