Easy English Toffee

English Toffee, one of those treats that seems so difficult to make yet tastes so good it makes you want to try. Well, I tried tonight and I can report that it is not the easiest thing I've attempted to bake yet not as difficult as it seems.

Here's the simple recipe...

You will need:

1 cup of butter (two sticks)
1 cup of sugar
2 Tbsp of cold water
1 tsp of vanilla extract
6 oz of semisweet chocolate (I use chocolate chips)
1 cup of nuts (I prefer walnuts but almonds seem to work too)

Foil
13 X 9 Pan

Take aluminum foil and cover your baking pan, making sure you press down on the corners. Place the pan aside. Take the nuts and cut them up into small pieces, place aside.
Place the butter, sugar and water in a medium sized pot and heat the mixture on MEDIUM heat, stirring immediately and constantly. This is very important! Do not let the mixture ever sit, keep stirring it! After about 10 minutes, the mixture should develop a marshmallow type consistency then start to turn brown. Do not worry if it does not turn brown right away, and DO NOT change the heat setting. Leave the heat at a steady medium and keep stirring. It will eventually start to brown. Once you achieve the desired caramel color, take the mixture off the heat and add the vanilla.
Stir the mixture off of the heat for about one minute and pour it into the pan.
Let the toffee sit for about 3-5 minutes to cool. Do not let it cool completely! Sprinkle the chocolate on top of the toffee evenly covering the pan. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, allowing the chocolate to melt.
Slowly spread the chocolate to cover the entire toffee bottom evenly. Sprinkle the nuts atop the chocolate and place the pan in the refrigerator for about an hour to allow everything to set.
Take the pan out and left the foil out of the pan. The toffee should separate easily from the foil.
Either break or cut the toffee into pieces and ENJOY!!!

This is a very simple and inexpensive holiday gift. Here are some packaging options...

Happy Holidays!!!

Ruloph the Red Nosed Reindeer Cake Pops

It's the holiday season and I'm feeling festive! I made these pops for my co-workers and they were a hit! I'm not going to post the ingredients because I've already explained how I make the pops in previous posts. I'm simply posting these little guys to give you any last-minute ideas you may need.

I've seen many variations of this but I decided on chocolate cake, cream cheese frosting and chocolate coating. For the nose I went with red M&Ms which I personally picked out of the bag! The eyes are a combination of white sugar confetti and black cookie icing.

The most time consuming part... the antlers! I had to break pretzels into shapes that resembled antlers. I'll say this... it's pretty difficult to make the antlers look similar.

When all is said and done, they came out pretty well. Some people told me they were almost too cute to eat!

Hope you got some good ideas!

Happy Holidays!!!

Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops

I was asked to make "fall-themed" cake pops recently so I decided to make pumpkin shaped pops for two reasons. One, I figured pumpkins would be easy to make. Two, I knew I wanted to go with a pumpkin spice flavor for the pops. I underestimated how difficult the piping would be for the pumpkins but I made it work in the end.

Here's everything I used:

Cake:

1 box of spice cake mix ( I like Duncan Hines), you will need a 13X9 cake pan, vegetable oil and eggs
1 can of pumpkin puree.
1 can of creamy cream cheese frosting

Pops:

2 bags of Wilton candy coating in orange
30-40 cake pops sticks
Green cookie icing (Wilton's makes one that comes in a jar)
1 bag of chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet chips in the regular size)
2 piping bags
Icing tips (No. 1 or No. 2 size, found at Michael's)
Cornstarch
Vegetable shortening
Cookie scooper
Cake pop stand (a block of styrofoam works best)

Process: READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU RUN THROUGH IT.

Making the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients for the cake mix first and then slowly mix in about 1 cup of pumpkin puree. You can eyeball the amount of pumpkin puree and add it as desired. I do not care for too much pumpkin flavor so I stuck with about a cup.

Pour the cake mix into the pan and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 30 minutes.

Crumble the cake into a large bowl. I don't like to use the edges of the cake because they are crunchy but you can use them if you don't mind. If you have a food processor you can use it to grind up the cake but I just crumble it by hand until it is completely crumbled.

Mix in about half a can of frosting. You will have to use your hands to mix it in. There is no way around it, it will not mix as well with a spoon or any other utensil, trust me.

Take a cookie scooper a scoop out a small portion. Roll it around in your hands until you have a ball and place it on a cookie sheet. You don't have to use parchment paper if you don't have any handy, it will not stick to the cookie sheet. You should be able to make 30-40 balls. Place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes so they firm up.

Making the pops:

Get the sticks ready. Take a small amount of chocolate chips (about half a cup) and melt them. Place the tip of the stick about half an inch into the chocolate and immediately push it halfway into a cake ball. Be careful to push only halfway into the cake. Push too far and the stick will come through the top of the cake pop. Don't push it in enough and you will lose the cake pop into the candy coating when you try to coat it. Repeat the process until all the cake pops are on sticks on your stand.

Melt the orange candy coating in a styrofoam cup with the microwave. I do not like to use glass because it gets very hot and can burn the coating. Microwave for 1 minute, stir and put it back in the microwave 30 seconds at a time after that until melted. I use about a teaspoon of vegetable shortening to make my coating smoother. Do not over use the shortening because it will make your coating oily runny.

Dip the pop into the coating and shake off excess. Place the pop on the stand and immediately place a chocolate chip on the top before the coating dries. Repeat the process until all the pops are coated a standing up on the stands with the chocolate chip stems on top. This will be the longest part of the process so have patience!

Take the remainder of your orange coating and mix in a teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken the mixture. Place it into a piping bag fitted with your desired tip and pipe the lines up and down the sides of the pumpkin in one motion.

Mix the green cookie icing with a teaspoon of cornstarch and place it into a piping bag with the desired tip. Pipe the leaves onto the pumpkin as desired.

Place the batch into the refrigerator for about an hour to ensure the icing has dried completely if you are going to cover them.

ENJOY!!

Just a packaging option for you. Very fall-like I hope :)

Boston Terrier Cake Pops

It's been awhile since I updated this blog... my apologies. To tell the truth, I haven't made cake pops in a long time so there was nothing to update. No fear, though, I'm back at it and I even learned some new stuff I'm willing to share.

My co-worker asked me to make cake pops for his daughter's birthday and we decided on on Boston Terriers with an Oreo Cookie cake. I threw some ideas around in my head and finally came to the realization that I would HAVE to work with fondant if the pops were going to resemble a dog. I've used store-bought fondant before and absolutely hated it so, after some research, I decided to make marshmallow fondant. It was actually much easier than I anticipated but VERY messy. Here's the process from beginning to end...

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE:

1 box of vanilla/yellow cake mix (The preparation calls for eggs, vegetable oil and water so make sure you have all the ingredients listed on the box)

1/3 box of Oreo Cookies

1/2 can of prepared buttercream or vanilla frosting. I used buttercream because I prefer the taste. 

INGREDIENTS FOR THE COATING:

1 bag of Wilton white candy coating OR 1 bag of white chocolate chips (I used white chocolate)

1 bag of Wilton milk chocolate candy coating OR 1 bag of milk chocolate chips (tastes the same in my opinion)

Vegetable Shortening

Black food coloring (you will need this for the fondant too... remember, with black, a little goes a long way)

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FONDANT:

1/2 bag of marshmallows (8 oz)

1 pound of powdered/confectioner's sugar and extra for dusting

2 tablespoons of water

ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES NEEDED:

1 microwave safe bowl

13X9 baking pan

Parchment paper

Cookie scooper (not a necessity but it will make this project much easier)

Cake pop sticks (I get mine from Michael's)

Styrofoam or makeshift stand for your pops

Plastic wrap

Rubber gloves (food safe)

PREPARATION:

• Preheat your oven according to the directions on the cake mix box
• Mix your cake ingredients and pour the mixture into a 13X9 pan, pop into the oven as directed
• While your cake is baking, take 1/3 box of Oreos and scoop the filling out of the cookies. Discard the filling and crush the cookies. 
• After your cake is done baking, let it cool for about 20 minutes
• Take a large bowl and crumble your cake into it. Add the cookie crumbles and about 1/2 can of frosting.
• You will need to use your hands to mix everything together evenly. 
• Put the mixture into the fridge for about 20 minutes so it stiffens up a little. 
• Prepare a couple of trays with parchment paper
• Scoop the mixture with a medium sized cookie scooper and roll it into a perfect ball with your hands. Place the ball onto the parchment paper and repeat. The mixture should make about 30 balls. If you have a lot less, your pops will be too big. Beware of making them too large as they WILL fall off the stick. 
• Pop the rolled balls into the fridge for about an hour. 
• Get your sticks and pop stand ready. 
• Microwave a small portion of your candy coating or chocolate (you won't need more than a couple of tablespoons)
• Dip the top of the stick about 1/4 inch into the melted chocolate, slowly push the dipped end into the cake ball about halfway through. Be careful not to push too far as you will tear through the whole ball.
• Stand the pop onto your stand and repeat
• Put the pops back into the fridge for about 20-30 minutes
• Take about half of the white coating/white chocolate and microwave in a cup until smooth. Add about a teaspoon of vegetable shortening after you heat the coating and mix well until the entire mixture is smooth.
• Dip the cake into the mixture and roll off any extra coating. Return the pop back onto the stand. 
• After all of the cake pops have been covered, place them back into the fridge while you melt the darker coating. 
• Take your milk chocolate and melt it in the microwave as you did the white chocolate. Add a few drops of the black food coloring and mix. You will notice the mixture start to harden. Add vegetable shortening 1/2 a teaspoon at a time. You don't have to re-heat, just mix well and the mixture will soften again. Do not add too much shortening as this will make your mixture oily and it will not firm up properly when dry. 
• After you've reached the desired consistency, dip the pop into the mixture sideways on both sides making sure the dark chocolate does not touch in the middle. 
• Place the pops back in the fridge while you work on the fondant. 
• For the fondant, take half a bag of marshmallows (about 8oz) and drizzle 2 tablespoons of water on top before you place into the microwave. Make sure you use a big bowl as the marshmallow will rise. 
• Microwave for about a minute. Do not let the marshmallow brown on top so watch it in the microwave!
• Slowly mix in the powdered sugar with a spatula, about one cup at a time. After about 4 cups, you will notice the mixture start to stick together. Don't worry if it is lumpy, that's normal. 
• Sprinkle a smooth surface with powdered sugar as well as your hands. 
• Take the mixture out and knead it with your hands until it is smooth and no longer sticky. This part if very messy and takes a while. Don't worry, it will eventually do what you want it to.
• Separate your fondant into halves and wrap one half with plastic wrap.  
• Take the other half of the fondant and shape it into a bowl. You might want to use gloves for this next part. 
• Take a few drops of black food coloring and drop it into the middle of the bowl. Knead the fondant until the color is evenly distributed. Don't worry, this part is not as hard as you think, the color distributes pretty easily. 
• Once you have your two fondant colors, you can begin to shape the face the way you want. I will not describe this part because you can use several variations. I will remind you to use powdered sugar every time you handle the fondant because it will stick to your hands. 

Enjoy making these fun cake pops!!!

Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups

I found this recipe in a Nestle Holiday Recipes book that I picked up at a grocery store years ago. I've tweaked the recipe over the years and turned it into my most popular bake to date. It's pretty easy to make and I'm yet to find a single person who doesn't like it. Here it is...

What you'll need:

1 package of Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar Dough (breaks off into 24 squares)
2 packages (8oz each) of cream cheese at room temperature
1 can (14oz) of sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 can (about 21oz) of pie filling. I use cherry but you can use strawberry, blueberry or apple
24 cupcake liners and muffin pan

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees F.
Line 24 muffins/cupcake cups with paper cupcake liners
Take the cookie dough bar and use a chef's knife to cut the dough into squares (the dough should be pre-cut and you can break the squares off by hand but I prefer to cut them and get a cleaner cut... I'm picky that way)
Press each square into the bottom of each paper cup and pop into the oven for no more than 8 minutes
While the cookie bottoms bake, take the cream cheese, condensed milk, eggs and vanilla and mix them in a bowl until smooth.
Take the cookie cups out of the oven and immediately pour about 3-4 tablespoons of the cheesecake mixture onto the cookies. Take care not to fill the liner to the top because the cheesecake will rise.
Place back into the oven and continue to bake for 22-24 minutes.
Take out of the oven, let cool and spoon your choice of pie filling on top.
Refrigerate the cups for at least a couple of hours and...

ENJOY

Puppy Cake Pops

I made these pops for the Southern Nevada Beagle Rescue Foundation the other day. It was my first experience with fondant. I must admit, I cheated and did NOT make the fondant from scratch. I simply bought chocolate fondant from Michael's (I should own stock in that place) and rolled it straight out of the box. All I needed was some confectioner's sugar to keep the stuff from sticking to every surface in my kitchen. I rolled it really thin and used small leaf cut outs, also purchased from Michael's. One bit of advise for anyone reading this who has not worked with fondant before... work fast cause it dries up at a remarkable rate. Once the leaves were cut out, I used icing to stick them to the pops. The eyes are black confetti icing and the rest of the face is dark chocolate that I piped on.

I included chocolate pops with paw prints on the top just to mix it up but rumor has it that the puppy pops were much more popular.

Tinkerbell themed party cake pops

My cousin's little girl had a Tinkerbell themed party this last weekend for her 5th birthday and I decided to make some treats for the kids. I kept it simple with pastel colored pops with flower shaped icing.

I arranged the pops in a stand I made out of two sheets of round styrofoam that can be purchased at Michael's. I glued the two sheets together to make the stand thick enough to hold up the pops. Then I glued yellow construction paper around the edge and wrapped it up with a ribbon. It's easy and cheaper than buying a stand.

Finished Product. Happy Birthday Brianna!

French Macaron with Black Cherry Chocolate Glaze

I've always wondered how hard it is to make macarons... turns out it's not that bad. I'm not going to lie, it's a bit of a delicate process but not a lost cause for us novice bakers. I started my little project by googling macaron recipes and found that there are countless variations. I chose a French Macaron with a black cherry chocolate glaze. First things first, lets list the ingredients:


Cookie:


1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 4.5 oz
3/4 cup almond flour, 2.5 oz (I know you're thinking what the heck is almond flour... it's basically ground up blanched almond slivers. You can either throw the almonds in the food processor or do what I did because you don't have a food processor and pound them out with a mallet until you get a fine powder. It's a bit of a process).
2 large egg whites, room temperature 
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar


Black Cherry Chocolate Glaze:


1/2 cup heavy cream, 4 oz
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp.
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon cherry extract (I used McCormick's).


Take the confectioner's sugar and whisk it well with the almond flower, set aside. 


With an electric mixer, mix the egg whites on medium speed until you get a nice foamy consistency. It should take a good 5-8 minutes. Add the cream of tartar and continue to mix on medium for another 5 minutes. The mixture should start to get thicker. Slowly add the sugar and turn up the mixer to med-high. Mix for about 8 minutes or until you get stiff peaks. This is the part where you add the food coloring. I used a water based red and added 4 drops to get a nice pink color. I would recommend water based food coloring because it will mix easily. Once you add the drops, continue to mix for another minute or until you have an even color. Do not over mix your egg white mixture... stop once you get the stiff peaks by dipping a spoon and taking it out of the mixture. It should look like the top of a Hershey's Kiss. 


Take the almond flour mixture and slowly fold it into the egg white mixture. Fold it about 20-30 times or until it is evenly dispersed. Don't worry, it is normal for the egg white mixture to deflate slightly. 


Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a piping bag, or ziplock sandwich bag ready. Spoon your cookie mix into the piping bag and snip the bottom for an opening that is about a quarter of an inch wide. Pipe 3/4 to 1 inch rounds about an inch apart on the parchment paper and set aside at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Do not skip this process, it is crucial when striving to achieve that perfect macaron shape. 


While you're waiting for the cookies to set, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees and get ready to make the glaze. 


In a saucepan, melt the butter and heavy cream together. Bring them to a boil and take them off the heat. Mix in the chocolate chips until you get a nice thick mixture. Add the cherry extract and mix well. Set the chocolate glaze aside and when it is time, pop the cookie mixes into the oven one baking sheet at a time. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Be careful not to brown the bottoms because the cookies will stick to the parchment paper. If you smell something that is similar to burnt popcorn, you've over-baked them. Take the baking sheet out repeat the process with the second sheet. 


Let the cookies cool for about 20 minutes and carefully take them off the parchment paper. Fill another piping bag with the chocolate mixture and pipe the chocolate onto the bottom side of half the cookies. Let the chocolate sit on the cookies for 5 minutes before you take the other halves and make sandwiches. This will keep the chocolate from running because it starts to set. 


There you have it! Easy, fast and YUMMY... Enjoy! 

Iguana Cake Pops

My co-worker's daughter was celebrating her birthday at school today (Happy Birthday Maya!) and my co-worker needed something to take to school. Well, what kid doesn't like cake pops??? I decided to do the honors for the birthday girl but when she decided she wanted cake pops in the shape of iguanas I'll admit I was a bit apprehensive... This is what I came up with.

After several requests, I've decided to share the secret cake pop recipe... DON'T laugh at how easy it is. I've realized that making cake pops are not difficult, the process is just really time consuming and takes a little creativity.

Here's what you need...
1 box of cake mix (flavor of choice)
1 can of frosting (flavor of choice... my two favorites are cream cheese and chocolate)
A couple baking sheets or trays that will fit in the fridge and parchment paper.
Some candy sticks that you can get from Michael's or any cake decorating store.
Your choice of candy coating, again, something that can be found at Michael's.
A really creative way to get the cake pops to stand straight up in the refrigerator ( I use styrofoam wrapped in plastic).

Steps...

1. Bake the cake according to the instructions on the box. I use a 13 X 9 pan and make one cake because there's less clean up with one pan. Let the cake cool for 30-45 minutes or until it is completely cooled.

2. Crumple up the cake and place it into a large bowl.

3. Take half a standard can of frosting and mix it into the cake. You will need to use your hand and mush the mixture together until the frosting is evenly incorporated.

4. Take a standard tablespoon or small ice-cream scooper and scoop out some cake and roll it around into the shape of a ball. I would recommend no bigger than an overflowing tablespoon because the pops become harder to dip the bigger they get. I've had many cake pops go into the dipping coating and never come out :(

5. Once you've rolled up the perfect ball, place it onto parchment paper. Continue until you've rolled up the entire mixture. One boxed cake should make about 30-35 pops.

6. Place the balls into the refrigerator for about an hour.

7. Melt some chocolate or candy coating in the microwave and have your dipping sticks and balls ready. Take the stick, dip it about a quarter inch into the coating and push it into the cake ball making sure you don't go too far into the ball. You want to get about halfway into the ball. Repeat this process and stick them straight into the styrofoam. Pop them back in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes or until the coating has dried.

8. Melt your desired coating in the microwave about 30 seconds at a time until nice and smooth. Dip the pops into the coating making sure all the excess is off and stand them back up on the stand. Once dipped, place them back in the refrigerator to dry the coating.

9. Design as desired and ENJOY :)

Vanilla Spritz Sandwiches

My husband LOVES those Milano Cookies from Pepperidge Farms... naturally, who doesn't? When I came across a cookie recipe book at William Sonoma that offered a similar style cookie recipe I thought... SCORE... I can make those. Don't fret, I know you're thinking William Sonoma is pricey but I'm going to share the recipe with you. These are called Vanilla Spritz Sandwiches and they are just as good, if not better than the Milano Cookie (not to mention I happen to think they're cuter).

In a bowl, whisk together 2 1/4 cups of flour and half a teaspoon of salt.

In another bowl mix two sticks of butter and 1 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar together. If you're using an electric mixer, use medium speed until the mixture becomes fluffy (about 2-3 mins).

Add 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and continue to mix until the egg becomes fully incorporated into the mixture.

Reduce the mixer to low (if you don't want a face full of flour) and SLOWLY add the flour-salt mixture.

When you're done, place the dough in a piping bag with the desired tip ( I used a plastic Wilton disposable bag with a star tip but you can use different tips for specific shapes).

The dough is going to take some firm pressure to come out of the tip so don't worry if your first couple of tries don't look perfect. Use parchment paper on dark non-stick baking pans and make 1-1 1/2 inch rosettes. You don't have to space them too far apart because the dough won't expand too much in the oven.

Place the baking sheets with the rosettes in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees F and bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the size. Watch these carefully while they bake because you don't want the edges to brown too much. 12 minutes were enough for mine.

Take them out and let them cool while you make your chocolate glaze...

For the glaze you will need 6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate ( I used Ghirardelli baking chips), 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, and a pinch of salt

Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan on MED heat and bring the mixture to a boil.

Remove it from the heat and add the chocolate and salt. Mix the chips until the mixture is smooth. You don't need to put the mixture back on the heat. Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes.

Take the cookies and match the undersides up so you have two cookies that are close enough in size. Put your glaze in a piping bag without a tip. Snip the tip of the bag and pipe the glaze on one cookie bottom, take the matching cookie and press down making a sandwich.

The recipe made about 20 sandwiches, with a few casualties here and there.

Cool them in the refrigerator for an hour or until the glaze is firm and ENJOY!