Football Chocolate Covered Strawberries

 It has been a very long time since I posted something on my blog and a lot has happened during that time.

Right after my last post I was promoted to Assistant Manager and then transferred to Bakersfield. With the promotion I was sent to Stockton for about a month, then it was off to Bakersfield. I did not move there so I was commuting sometimes from Fresno and sometimes from Visalia. I spent a lot of time on the road and pretty much had no personal life, until now because I was just transferred to Clovis. Yay!!! I will have a life again. Also during that time Tomas passed the Bar and just got a job. Yay!!! for Tomas. So now that I have my life back I thought it would be nice to start posting some of my creations again.

With today being the Super Bowl I thought I would make a nice treat to celebrate. So far there are no plans for celebrating. There are a couple of options that we were given so I thought I would be prepared just in case we go somewhere. I figured since everyone loves chocolate covered strawberries how about I make them look like footballs. Not only are they cute but they were super easy to make. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Football Chocolate Covered Strawberries

1 lb Strawberries 

1 bag dipping chocolate

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Wash and dry strawberries. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Melt dipping chocolate according to package directions. Dip strawberries in chocolate and place on lined baking sheet to dry. Place white chocolate chips in a ziploc bag and melt in microwave, kneading the bag every 30 seconds. Cut a corner of the bag off and squeeze onto dipped strawberries. Make a line across the top and the bottom, and another line going up the strawberry. Make a few little lines crossing over the line going up. It should resemble a football when done. Move the finished strawberries to a plate and serve.

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Cookie Dough Truffles On A Stick

When I first started browsing on pinterest, one of the first things I saw were cookie dough truffles. After seeing those delicious looking treats I told myself I will have to make them real soon especially since I love cookie dough. I decided that they would be the perfect thing for me to make for Valentine's Day for my coworkers. I was going to make them as the recipe showed but I decided to put sticks in them instead. That way it will make it a little easier for me to dip as well as for everyone to grab them off of the plate. I have a feeling that stick or no stick these tasty treats will not last long at all. They taste exactly like cookie dough and the best thing is there is no egg in them so they are safe to eat, just not safe for the waist line. :) I hope you enjoy these as much as I did and as much as my coworkers will tomorrow :)

Cookie Dough Truffles On A Stick

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup milk

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

14 oz dark chocolate candy coating

Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle, form dough into 1" balls and arrange on a baking sheet. Place sticks into each ball and place in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in microwave according to package directions. Holding on to the tip of the stick, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover and return to baking sheets. Chill until set.

Recipe from Love And Olive Oil

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Golden Snitch Peanut Butter Ball Candies.

On Thursday, Tomas and I were finally able to go see the new Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows movie. I was happy to finally go see it, but I was also sad that it was the last. I loved watching those movies over the years and I especially loved reading the books. Well since I had the day off yesterday I also watched the first three movies again. I would have loved to watch the others again, but I only have the first three. I am waiting for a boxed set to come out before I buy the movies again. With all this Harry Potter I have been watching, I decided that I should make a Harry Potter themed snack. That is why I decided to make Golden Snitch Peanut Butter Ball Candies. I found the peanut butter ball recipe on various websites, which were pretty much all the same recipe. The one I ended up following in the end was from joyofbaking.com. To make the wings I decided to melt some white chocolate in a piping bag and pipe out wing shapes on to a piece of parchment paper. In the end I thought the Golden Snitches came out cute and went perfect with my Harry Potter movie marathon. I think these will be especially great for a Harry Potter themed party. Enjoy :) And if you have not gone to see the movie yet you must go.

I caught the Golden Snitch :)

Golden Snitch Peanut Butter Ball Candies

2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 - 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

About 1/4 cup White dipping chocolate

Place the peanut butter, unsalted butter, and salt in a microwaveable bowl, and heat in the microwave for about one minute or until just soft (check and stir the ingredients every 20 seconds). Stir in the vanilla extract and confectioners sugar and mix until it has the consistency of a dough (add more sugar if necessary). Roll into balls and refrigerate for about an hour. Melt some white chocolate in a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and make some wings with the chocolate. Let harden. once the peanut butter balls are cool, stick two wings into the balls and repeat for the others. You now have yourself a Golden Snitch. :)

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Chocolate Almond Toffee

Today is a special day because it is national English toffee day. I am so excited because I love English toffee and I especially love making it; as well as eating it. It never last long at our house because everyone else loves eating it as much as I do. It is a good thing that it is easy to make because if it were hard I would not be making it as much especially on how it doesn't last long here. Well I hope you get to enjoy national English toffee day as well. :)

Chocolate Almond Toffee

1 cup butter

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped almonds

Line a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with foil; butter the foil. In a heavy saucepan combine the butter, corn syrup, water, and sugar. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture boils, stirring constantly. Using a candy thermometer, continue cooking to 200*F (soft crack stage) stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Quickly stir in almonds. Pour mixture onto the butter foil lined pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot toffee and spread out until smooth. Sprinkle 1/4 chopped almonds on top of the melted chocolate . Refrigerate until chocolate is set. Break into serving sized pieces. Enjoy

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Chocolate Covered Pretzel Peanut Butter Sandwiches

Since the marshmallow pretzel sandwiches were such a hit, I just had to make other variations of them. Therefore I decided that I should try using peanut butter this time. I am so glad I did because these too came out very good. I have to say the peanut butter are my favorite, but that may be because I love peanut butter. Tomas is the opposite because he prefers the marshmallow ones over the peanut butter ones. So it is up to you to decide which ones taste better. Either way I hope you enjoy them as much as we have been. :)

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Peanut Butter Sandwiches

1 bag of pretzels

Jar of peanut butter

1 package of dipping chocolate

Take two pretzels and place a decent amount of peanut butter between the two pretzels. wipe off any excess peanut butter that comes out or push back in. Melt the chocolate in the microwave according to package directions. Take the pretzel sandwiches and dip, using a fork. and cover the entire pretzel sandwich. Transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet and let set. Swirl with melted peanut butter over tops if you desire (it doesn't ever fully dry though, unless kept in the fridge). Transfer to a plate. Serve and enjoy.

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Chocolate Covered Pretzel Marshmallow Sandwiches

A while back, while shopping at the grocery store, I came across the chocolate covered pretzel sandwiches with a york peppermint patty center. So I decided why don't I try to do something similar at home. I looked at in my pantry and I saw that I had a jar of marshmallow cream (sad thing is I couldn't remember why I had it and what I intended on using it for). But anyways I decided that I will put some of the marshmallow cream between two pretzels and dip that in chocolate. They were such a hit everyone devoured them up. Since they were so good that Tomas sister Monika made a batch as well and of course those were gone in no time as well. Well I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Also there wasn't a exact amount made in each batch. WE just made them until we ran of chocolate. Therefore the results will vary. Enjoy :)

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Marshmallow Sandwiches

Bag of pretzel twist or checker squares

1 jar of marshmallow cream

1 bag of dipping milk chocolate

2 tablespoons white chocolate chips melted, optional

Take two pretzels and place a decent amount of marshmallow cream between the two pretzels. wipe off any excess cream that comes out or push back in. Melt the chocolate in the microwave according to package directions. Take the pretzel sandwiches and dip, using a fork. and cover the entire pretzel sandwich. Transfer to a parchment lined cookie sheet and let set. Swirl white chocolate over tops if you desire. Transfer to a plate. Serve and enjoy.

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Sugar Coated Pecans

About a couple of weeks ago my mom came to Fresno with her friend Susan to do a little shopping. While here they came by my job to pay me a visit and I got to hang out with them during my lunch break. Well while my mom found a can of burnt sugared pecans I have never had them before so I tried them. It was love at first bite. I have been thinking about them ever since. When I went home for Christmas I actually finished up the can we bought and I still can't stop thinking about them. Well as I was at the grocery store tonight I thought to myself that I should make some burnt sugared pecans of my own. Well I wasn't quite able to do that one reason being I didn't know how and two I could not find a recipe online or in my cookbooks. I did however find a recipe for sugar coated pecans on allrecipes.com and they came out amazing. They were so good that I have been munching on them as I write this post. So if you love pecans, you will love these. So I hope you enjoy them ax much as I have. :)

Sugar Coated Pecans

1 egg white

1 tablespoon sugar

4 cups pecan halves

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 250*F. Grease one baking sheet. Mix the sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl whip together the egg white and water until frothy. Add the pecans to the egg mixture, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Place the nuts in the sugar mixture and toss until evenly coated. Spread the nuts on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes. Enjoy. :)

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Peanut Brittle

About a year ago I made some peanut brittle and brought it to work. Ever since my co-worker Anthony has been asking when will I make it again. I told him about a month ago that I was going to make it, but I didn't get the chance until now. So after I made some I placed some in a bag and brought it to work. A couple of days later I asked if he enjoyed it and turns out he didn't even get a piece. He placed it on the table at his house and his dad got to it. Therefore Anthony got none of the peanut brittle, but his dad absolutely enjoyed it. The peanut brittle recipe I am going to share with you is one I have been using for about 10 years now. I got it from my Foods and Nutrition teacher and my family and I have been enjoying it ever since. I hope you enjoy it too. :)

Peanut Brittle

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup light corn syrup

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup peanuts
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons butter

Combine sugar, water, and corn syrup in a 3 quart saucepan. Boil to a hard ball stage (250*F-268*F). Remove from heat. Add peanuts. Mixture will be thick. Return to heat and boil until syrup is golden brown. Stir in butter, baking soda, and vanilla. Pour onto a buttered 10x15 cookie sheet. When cool crack into pieces. :)

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Chocolate Covered Blueberries

I have always made chocolate covered strawberries and I have even done bananas however for some reason it never occurred to me to make chocolate covered blueberries. Maybe it had something to do with the size, but after eating one I don't understand why I haven't thought of making them sooner. Usually I don't even eat fresh blueberries because I prefer them cooked but these were actually pretty good. Maybe it was the chocolate, who knows :) but whatever it was I know I will make these again. :)

Chocolate Covered Blueberries

1-2 6oz packages fresh blueberries

1 package milk or semi-sweet dipping chocolate

1/4 package of white dipping chocolate (optional)

Wash and dry the fresh blueberries, set aside. In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate, stirring every thirty seconds. Melt until smooth making sure you do not over cook the chocolate. Remove the chocolate from the microwave and dump your desired amount of blueberries into the chocolate. Gently stir, making sure you don't break the blueberries. Drop by spoonfuls onto a wax papered lined cookie sheet. Let sit until chocolate sets. You can put it in the fridge to speed up the process. Enjoy :)

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Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I just love chocolate covered strawberries, but I hate how much they cost when you buy them at a candy store or amusement parks. For the same price it cost to buy one chocolate covered strawberry you can make a whole bunch. Not only are they cheaper to make they are also extremely easy to make. Just recently my boyfriend asked me to make him some so he can take them to class. I was more than happy to help him out, plus I got to eat a few while I was at it. And I was happy to hear that his class loved them. Yay :)

Chocolate Covered Strawberries
Strawberries
Melting chocolates (I use the bag of cocoa flavored melting chocolates that you can buy at Michael’s)

Wash the strawberries and pat dry, set aside. Line a baking pan with waxed paper and set aside. Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe dish for 1 minute, stirring after every 30 seconds. If needed melt additional 30 seconds until chocolate is melted. Dip the strawberries one at a time in the chocolate then place on baking pan to harden. Repeat until you have no chocolate or strawberries left. If you like melt some white chocolate and drizzle with a spoon over the tops of the strawberries. Let harden and enjoy. :)

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