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Surprise Inside Gender Reveal Cake

Since gender reveal week is coming to a close, I guess it’s about time I reveal the gender. 

Some of you already know or have guessed. If you follow me on Instagram, then you may have seen my latest (and only) bump pic asking you whether you thought I was carrying high or low. A few were pretty certain you knew after I posted that picture. I guess my bump gives it away.

I also mentioned in the last post that I knew the gender of this baby before it was even born thanks to an old “wives tale” that my former boss used to preach to us anytime anyone we knew ended up pregnant. 

Here’s how it goes:

Because the gender of the baby is determined by the father (sperm), look at his family line. Is he the youngest of all girls? Is his dad one of four boys? If the male side of the family is dominated by girls, then there is a good chance you are having a girl. If it’s dominated by boys, well then you are having a boy.

I think this wives tale only really works well if there are lots of kids in the family and it heavily swings one way or the other. Otherwise, if the grandfather had an older sister, but dad has a younger sister, it may be a total crapshoot.

Luckily for me, Billy’s side of the family swings very heavily in one direction. 

It’s a boy!! 

Because Billy’s family is pretty much all boys (I don’t think he has a single girl cousin on his dad’s side of the family), we were pretty sure we were having a boy. So when the nurse called us after my 12-week blood test with the news, we were not surprised in the least to hear the results!

Of course, we would have been happy with either, but we are thrilled for a boy. If we were having a girl, I just know she would have her dad wrapped around her finger the instant she was born. At least now this child stands a slight chance of not being completely spoiled by dad. 

We’ll leave the spoiling for the grandparents. 

Okay, enough about this baby boy. Let’s get to the cake!

Recipes and Supplies

The beauty of this cake is that you can make any flavor you like! The only thing that really matters is the color of the candies in the center. 

However, I will caution you against strawberry cake if you are having a boy. That may be a little confusing. 

For my cake, I made a simple vanilla cake recipe, adapted from my favorite cupcake recipe. You can find the recipe at the end of the post. 

You could also make a boxed cake because there is no shame in that. Here are my tips for making a boxed mix taste like a homemade cake. 

You just need enough cake to make at least 3 layers of cake, so that one layer can hold the candy center. A typical cake recipe can make a 3 tiered 6″ cake, but I would double most recipes if you want to make a bigger cake, such as a 8″ or 9″ cake. 

For reference, I made a 4 tiered 6″ cake. I doubled my cake recipe and had enough batter left over to make a few cupcakes. It would have been the perfect amount of batter to make a 4 tiered 8″ or 9″ cake. 

Aside from the actual cake, you will need the following:

I would also recommend the following to make your cake assembly and decorating much easier:

How to Make It

Start with your already baked cake. Level and divide the cake into however many layers you like. 

Tip: Chill your cake before you start cutting into it. It will cut much easier and will not produce as many crumbs.

Identify your center layer or layers. Use a round cookie cutter to cut a circle in the center of the layer(s). 

To build the cake, start by placing the bottom layer on a cake board or cake stand. Afix it to the board or stand with a little buttercream. 

Then pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the cake as wide as the second layer. 

Place the second layer on repeat with the third layer.

Fill the center hole with blue or pink candies. 

Tip: Hit up your local candy store that sells candy by color. Many sell M&Ms, Jelly Beans, and other goodies separated by color. That way you don’t have to go digging through a bag of M&Ms for just the blue or pink ones. 

Top with the final layer of cake and press down to make sure all layers are secure and level.

Cover the entire cake with a very thin layer of frosting to trap in all the crumbs then place back in the fridge to set for about 20 minutes. 

Once the cake is out of the fridge, cover the entire thing with a generous amount of frosting. The frosting doesn’t have to be perfect but make sure the entire cake is covered and it’s generally pretty square and level. 

Using a large spatula will make your life a lot easier in this endeavor!

To get the pink and blue streaks, just tint a small amount of frosting pink and blue. Then add dots of frosting haphazardly around the cake. Use a spatula or bench scraper to then drag the icing around the cake in one big motion. 

If you want to add more color, add more dots of icing and repeat the process. 

There is very little technique involved with this! Just keep spreading the frosting until you are happy with the results. 

If you want to add a little something extra to the top of the cake, might I suggest these little fondant question marks!

I colored several small balls of white fondant with gel food coloring. Rolled them out and cut them with a question mark cookie cutter, then attached them to a lollipop stick. 

Place one cut out question mark backwards on your work surface, spread a bit of water on the back, place the stick in the center, then add the other question mark on top. Be sure to press down the edges and wrap the top question mark around the stick.

Let these sit out flat for at least an hour so they can dry and harden.

All that’s left to do is to add some sprinkles on top and stick the question marks in!

Oh…and cut into it!

That’s the best part.

Which just slightly edges out eating it!

Vanilla Cake Recipe

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Vanilla Ckae

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tsp white vinegar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two cake pans by spraying lightly with baking spray and covering the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and airy (about 2 minutes). Mix in oil until well combined.
  4. Add in the eggs one and a time and mix until completely incorporated. Then mix in vanilla.
  5. Add vinegar to the milk and stir.
  6. To the butter and sugar mixture, mix in a third of the flour mixture. Then mix in half of the milk mixture. Repeat with half of the remaining flour and all of the remaining milk. Finally, mix in the rest of the flour until you have a smooth batter.
  7. Split the batter between the cake pans.
  8. Bake for 30-40 minutes (smaller cake pans may take longer because the cake is thicker), or until a toothpick entered into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  9. Let cool on the counter before decorating.
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Golden Champagne Gummy Bears


If there is one thing you need for your upcoming New Years Eve party it is some champagne gummy bears! Yes, you can actually make gummy bear candies with champagne! Isn’t that awesome? 

You may have seen rose, champagne, or other wine-flavored gummy candies by Sugarfina in your local gift stores or fine food stores, but they are awfully expensive. A small box of gummy bears will run you about $10. Yikes!

Why not instead make your own? They are surprisingly easy to make!

To make the gummy bears you will need a few silicone candy molds. You can find gummy bear candy molds for less than $10 on Amazon (I have linked a few below that can be shipped to your house in 2 days). But if you already have a silicone candy mold at home in another shape, that would work just fine. They don’t have to be gummy bears. 

You will also need unflavored gelatin, champagne, sugar, and water. All things you can get at your local grocery store or you already have at home. 

I also used a bit of edible gold leaf to make these champagne gummy bears extra festive, but that is totally optional. 

First, mix the gelatin into the water to coagulate. The gelatin will immediately soak up the water and form a big gelatinous ball. 

Add the gelatin, champagne, and sugar to a saucepan and turn the heat on to low. You do not want to boil this mixture, you just want to slowly dissolve the sugar and melt the gelatin. Continue stirring until the gelatin is completely melted. 

Like this!

Since not all the gelatin may have melted, it’s a good idea to run the mixture through a strainer to catch any remaining lumps of gelatin. 

If you want to add gold leaf to your gummy bears, now is the time to do it. Use a small brush, toothpick, or another small tool to push the gold leaf into the bottom of the silicone mold. Golf leaf likes to stick to things and will stick to your hands and fingers very easily, so try to keep it on whatever tool you decide to use. 

Now it’s time to pour the gelatin into the molds. You probably received a little dropper to carefully drop the liquid into the molds, but we don’t have time for that. Just pour a little bit into the center and use a spatula to spread it around to fill all the molds. 

The gummy bears will start to set up after about 60 minutes at room temperature or 30 minutes in the fridge. Once they are set, they should pop right out of their molds.

And now you have your very own homemade champagne gummy bears! Aren’t they cute!

Not a bad way to kick off the new year!

Champagne Gummy Bears
Yields 200
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
20 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 5 packets (approx 3 tbsp + 2 tsp) plain, unflavored gelatin
  2. 1/4 cup water
  3. 1 cup champagne
  4. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  5. edible golf leaf (optional)
Instructions
  1. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and mix in with a spoon. The gelatin will immediately start to set up.
  2. Add the gelatin, champagne, and sugar to a sauce pan and place over medium-low heat. Continuously stir the mixture as the sugar dissolves and gelatin melts. Once the gelatin has melted, about 5 to 10 minutes, pour the mixture through a strainer into a container with a spout.
  3. If adding golf leaf or other decoration to the candy mold, add it now before the mixture cools too much.
  4. Pour the mixture over the mold and even it out with the back of a spatula so that all the cavities are filled. Place the molds in the fridge to set for at least 30 minutes or longer.
  5. Turn each cavity inside out to release the gummy bear from the mold. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container until ready to use.
Notes
  1. The gelatin mixture will be enough to fill 4-5 50 gummy bear molds. Most packs come in a pack of 3. You can either remelt any left over gelatin mixture to refill the molds after the first batch, or buy extra molds.
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10 Treats to Make with Leftover Halloween Candy

Halloween may be over, but I would guess you still have lots of candy left over at your house. The problem becomes, what do you do with all that leftover candy?! Except eat it, of course!

When I was a kid, my parents would ration my candy and let me have a few pieces here or there. Funny thing, though, somehow the candy stash didn’t last as long as I thought it would. I wonder where all that candy ended up, mom?

Now as an adult, I try to find ways to get rid of the candy as fast as possible because I know if it’s left around long enough, I will just eat it. For the past couple Halloweens I have tried to find ways to make other treats using the leftover Halloween candy. One year I made a Halloween candy bark, which was as easy as melting chocolate and tossing chopped up candy on top. Another year I mixed them into some cookie dough. 

Surprisingly, there are lots of things you can do with leftover Halloween candy other than eating it. I found 10 that look really delicious and quite easy in case you are like me and trying to get rid of all your candy.

1. Loaded Brownies (above) by yours truly.

2. Loaded Peanut Butter Cookie Bars by Pass the Cookies

3. Candy Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars by Joy, Food, Sunshine

4. Candy Bar Trifle by Lil Luna

5. Candy Corn Soft Batch Cookies by Averie Cooks

6. No Churn Snickers Cheesecake Ice Cream by Cook with Manali

7. Halloween Candy Cookie Cake by Baker by Nature

8. Butterfinger Pie by Life in the Lofthouse

9. Reece’s Marshmallow Peanut Butter Chip Cookies by Oh Sweet Basil

10. Trick or Treat Pretzels by 30 Handmade DaysAnd if you still have leftover candy, just send a little bit my way! Please and thank you. 

Candy Agate Cupcake Toppers

Afer making these agate slice cookies not too long ago, I became a bit obsessed with geodes and agates. I watched countless videos of people making beautiful geode cakes. I even watched people paint agate slices on all sorts of things. Since geode cakes have sort of been perfected (I mean, come on, this is just ridiculously amazing), I set out on trying to make agate cupcake toppers. These are the things I think about, guys. Not about world peace or solving the debt crisis…how to make a candy agate to put on top of a cupcake.  

It took several attempts and quite a few burned fingers, but I finally found a method that worked the best.

In my first attempt, I tried crushing candies like I have seen other people do online. That worked out okay, but they didn’t seem all that realistic. For my second attempt, I used isomalt, which is a fancy form of sugar that a lot of bakers use. Again, it worked okay, but it still wasn’t the effect I was looking for. I also ran out of isomalt, so it may have eventually worked for me, but I couldn’t keep experimenting.

In the end, it was plain old sugar that worked best for me! I boiled water, corn syrup, and sugar until it reached that “hard crack” temperature, then I dyed it a bunch of different colors and layered the colors together. 

Here, I’ll just show you!

The very first thing I did was to make molds for my agates out of tin foil. I made them all different shapes with rough, uneven edges. I sprayed each mold down with a bit of baking spray so that the sugar wouldn’t stick to the foil.

Next, I worked on the sugar. I boiled together the sugar, corn syrup, and water until it reached 300 degrees. Then I poured it into individual silicon muffin cups (which came in super handy!) and tinted each one a different color. Some I made a dark shade, others I made a very light shade. I also left a couple plain.

Keep in mind, if you decide to make these yourself, that the sugar does start to cool and harden relatively quickly. Each time I made an agate, I reheated the colors I was working with in the microwave until they were easily pourable. If they are too hard, not only will they not pour very easily but they won’t create those concentric rings of color. 

To make the agate slice, I poured one of the colors into the center of the foil mold. The candy should be hot enough that it starts to fill the surface. Then I poured a darker shade of the color into the center. I followed that with either the clear or light shade of the same color and alternated a couple of times until candy filled the mold. 

While the candy was still hot, I sprinkled some very coarse clear sanding sugar right into the middle and used a toothpick to press them into the candy. 

The candy itself cools in just a matter of minutes. Once they were completely hardened and cool to the touch, I peeled the foil away from the candy to reveal one beautiful agate cupcake topper!

For the cupcake itself, I kept it pretty simple. I didn’t want to take anything away from the candy agate. I spread on a bit of buttercream frosting, then dunked it into a bowl of the coarse sanding sugar and stuck the agate right on top.

Maybe I had lowered my expectations after my previous two failed attempts, but I was actually a bit blown away by how cool they turned out. I love how the colors flow together and the light can shine right through them. 

While they don’t look exactly like agate slices, they definitely look like some sort of really awesome gem or geode. I could definitely see these topping cupcakes for lots of different occasions. I made my favorite vanilla cupcakes with my favorite buttercream frosting for these to keep it simple. But you could make any flavor you like. I think people will be so impressed with the cupcake toppers, they won’t even care what kind of cake is underneath!

Candy Agate Cupcake Toppers
A beautiful candy cupcake topper made to look like an agate slice.
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Ingredients
  1. 2 cups granulated sugar
  2. 2/3 cup light corn syrup
  3. 1 cup water
  4. various shades of gel food coloring
Instructions
  1. In a stock pot over high heat, bring sugar, corn syrup, and water to a boil. Stir the mixture to make sure that it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Let the mixture continue to boil until it reaches 300 degrees.
  2. Remove the pan from the heat and divide the sugar syrup into small heat proof dishes (or silicon muffin molds). Color each one a different color, alternating dark and light shades.
  3. Form small molds using tin foil to form the shape of your desired agate slice. Spray each one down with a bit of baking spray.
  4. Make sure the sugar mixture is still hot and pourable. If not, place in the microwave and reheat for 30 seconds at a time until it hot enough to pour.
  5. Pour one color into the center of the foil mold. Immediately pour another shade (either much darker or lighter than the first) into the center of the first color. Alternate with different shades until you have filled the entire mold.
  6. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before removing the candy from the foil.
  7. Place on top of the cupcake as desired.
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Easter Egg Popcorn Balls

Did you make popcorn balls as a kid? Sadly my childhood was void of popcorn balls, which is a shame because they are so much fun to make! They are the perfect thing to make with kids, or for kids, because they require just a few basic ingredients  and absolutely no baking.

I didn’t even have a popcorn ball until I was an adult. I have a friend that makes them every year for the holidays to hand out for friends and family. I look forward to her popcorn ball delivery every year! But these puffy, sweet popcorn confections shouldn’t be reserved for Christmas. They seemed perfectly suited for Easter, too!

You may already have everything you need to make these popcorn balls in your pantry. All I needed to pick up from the store were the marshmallows.  We always seem to have a monster, Costco-sized bag of SkinnyPop in our pantry, so I used that instead of making popcorn from scratch. So much easier, plus I have something to snack on while I make the popcorn balls!

Just find the biggest bowl you have and pour in your popcorn. I like this one because it has the measurements on the side so I don’t have to individually measure out 8 cups of popcorn. 

Set your popcorn aside and get to work on the sweet marshmallowy goodness to pour on top. Melt together the butter, corn syrup, and sugar. If you want to tint your marshmallow mixture, this would be the time to add your food coloring. Then add in the marshmallows and watch them dissolve into a creamy sauce. 

Once all the marshmallows are all melted, pour them right over the popcorn and use your biggest spatula to stir everything together until all the popcorn pieces are covered. If you feel like getting a little crazy, you can also add some sprinkles.

Now, to form them in to Easter eggs, you could just form them with your hands into a slightly uneven oval shape. Make sure you grease them up with a little cooking spray or else to you will have sticky popcorn all over your hands.

OR…

You could add a little something extra by stuffing some M&Ms into the center!

To make your surprise inside Easter Eggs, use the largest plastic egg you can find and press the popcorn mixture into one half. Then use your finger to form a little hole and fill it with the candies. Do the same thing with the other half then press the two sides of the Easter egg together. When you pull the plastic egg apart, you should have one while popcorn ball Easter egg. 

How adorable are these? Wouldn’t they be a fun addition to an Easter basket? I wrapped them up in plastic wrap once they had set a bit and you could barely tell they were wrapped. 

And of course they look like a plain Easter Egg Popcorn Ball, but you and I both know that there is a little somethin somethin inside. 

Because every Easter Egg should be filled with candy! Even the popcorn variety!

 

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Easter Egg Popcorn Balls

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 6 popcorn balls

Ingredients

  • 8 cups popcorn, popped
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup
  • 5 oz. (half a bag) marshmallows
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • food coloring (optional)
  • sprinkles (optional)
  • 1 cup chocolate candies

Instructions

  1. Add popcorn to a large heat-safe bowl. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter, corn syrup, and sugar. Once sugar has completely dissolved, add in vanilla and food coloring (if using) then pour in marshmallow. Stir marshmallows until they have completely melted.
  2. Pour marshmallow mixture over popcorn and stir to coat each kernel of popcorn. Sprinkle in sprinkles and fold to distribute through the popcorn.
  3. Line the inside of a large plastic Easter Egg with a small piece of plastic wrap. Press the popcorn mixture into half off the Easter egg. Use your finger to press a small indentation into the center of the egg. Fill with chocolate candies. Repeat the step on the other half of the Easter egg, then press the two halves together, firmly. Remove the popcorn balls from the Easter eggs, and wrap the plastic around them to keep their shape.
  4. Make 4-5 more Easter eggs with the remaining popcorn. Allow the eggs to set in the plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes before setting out.
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Popcorn

Peanut Butter Chocolate Popcorn

Do you need a last minute treat to make for Halloween? I’ve got you covered! 

This peanut butter chocolate popcorn mix was something I mixed up at the last minute for a pumpkin carving party last night. I has just spend the weekend baking cookies for a baby shower and my cookie decorating class, so the last thing I wanted to do was bake something. Since one of my favorite holiday treats involves popcorn and melted chocolate, I figured I could adapt that to make it more suitable for Halloween. 

I started by popping 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels over the stove (which will make approx. 6 cups of popcorn). You could always pop the popcorn with an air popper, or use the microwave popcorn, but I think stove-popped popcorn tasted a little bit better. 

To pop the popcorn on the stove, I start by putting the oil and a couple kernels in the bottom of a stock pot and place it over medium heat. Once the kernels have popped, I know the oil had heated up enough to pop the rest of the kernels. I add the rest of them in, put the top on the pot, give it a good shake, and let them pop away. When I don’t hear any more popping, I remove the pot from the heat.

For the toppings, I used white chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, and peanut butter chips. I wanted it to look white, orange, and black, so I added a bit of orange food coloring to the peanut butter to brighten it up a bit. I also ended up mixing in some white chocolate because it was looking a little too dark. 

Once all the popcorn was coated in chocolate or peanut butter, I dumped it all out on a sheet of parchment to harden. I also too the opportunity, while the chocolate was still wet, to add in some sprinkles and candies. I used orange and black sprinkles, candy corns, and M&Ms. Reese’s piece would have also have been good in this (But, I didn’t want to buy the giant bag of them, knowing I would only use a handful. I would just send up eating the rest…probably in one sitting. I certainly didn’t need that.)

After the chocolate was hardened, I tossed all the popcorn together. That way each bit contains a bit of chocolate and peanut butter! 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Popcorn

The popcorn mix came out just as I had hoped. It was perfectly festive, and most importantly, very tasty! It made a great little treat to snack on while we carved pumpkins. If you want to make this in the last remaining hours of Halloween, you could serve it in a bowl or in little treat bags, which would be very cute. 

If you happen to read this after Halloween, you can still make this recipe! Just skip the food coloring in the peanut butter chips and swap out the Halloween-themed candy! Peanut butter chocolate popcorn is good all year long!

PIN NOW, MAKE LATER

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients

  • 6 cups of popcorn, popped
  • 3/4 cup white chocolate, melted
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter chips, melted
  • 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate melted
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup candy of choice (M&Ms, Reese's Pieces, Candy Corn, etc)

Instructions

  1. Separate the popcorn into 3 separate bowls. In one bowl, drizzle over the white chocolate then toss to coat the popcorn. Repeat with the peanut butter chips and semi sweet chocolate.
  2. Dump the popcorn out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread out into an even layer. Sprinkle sea salt over top and then add your candy of choice (optional). Once chocolate has hardened, toss all the popcorn together, breaking up the larger clumps.
  3. Store in an air-tight bag until ready to serve.
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Pretzel Christmas Crack

Pretzel-Christmas-Crack-4

I am going to be so sad when Christmas is over because I won’t have a good excuse to make cookies, candies, and other sweet treats. Clearly, they are my favorite things to make. Especially when they are so easy and require only and handful of ingredients! Like this pretzel Christmas crack!

If you haven’t had Christmas crack before, it is essentially a sweet toffee poured over a salty cracker, and topped with chocolate. Once it cools and hardens, you crack it into pieces, like you would with bark or brittle. The result is a salty, sweet, and chocolatey treat that is as addicting as….well….crack (I assume). 

The original Christmas crack (or at least the first version I have made) uses saltine crackers. But I wanted to mix it up (as usual) and instead made it with flat pretzel chips. 

Pretzel Christmas Crack-1

I laid the pretzel chips out in a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Meanwhile, I boiled together butter and sugar until it formed a caramel like substance. Then I poured the caramel all over the pretzels and baked it in the oven for a few minutes. 

Pretzel Crack

Immediately after I took the pretzels out of the oven, I sprinkled on a bag of dark chocolate chips and let them soften enough so that I could spread the chocolate evenly across the top. While the chocolate was still wet, I sprinkled on some Christmas sprinkles, just because. Then I just sat back and let it cool.

Pretzel-Christmas-Crack-6

After breaking into pieces, I couldn’t wait to dig in! I really like the pretzels in this recipe because they make it extra crunch and give it a little bit more salt. The caramel surrounds them and flows into all the nooks and crannies. After the caramel bakes and cools, it hardens, too, so it is closer to a toffee consistency. Then the chocolate just puts this over the top!

Pretzel-Christmas-Crack-8

It really is one of the easiest candies/treats that I have made. And you can’t really mess it up. If you under cook the caramel, then your resulting Christmas crack will be more caramely. If you over bake it, it will be more like toffee! Either one is delicious!

I will definitely be making a version of this recipe again soon! I have like a dozen ideas bouncing around in my head. 

Pretzel Christmas Crack
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
20 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 large bag of pretzel chips (may not use the whole bag)
  2. 1 cup butter
  3. 1 cup brown sugar
  4. 1/2 tsp vanilla
  5. 1 10 oz bag dark chocolate chips
  6. sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper sprayed with baking spray.
  2. Lay out pretzels evenly across the baking sheet so that very little of the parchment paper shows.
  3. In a sauce pan, melt together butter and sugar. Bring to a boil, and let boil for 5 minutes, or until the sugar and butter turn an amber color. Stir in vanilla.
  4. Pour caramel over the pretzels. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes.
  5. Remove from the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and let sit for about a minute to soften. Use a knife or spatula to spread across the top of the pretzels. Sprinkle top with sprinkles.
  6. Let cool for 10 minutes at room temperature, then move to the fridge or freezer to cool and harden.
  7. Break into small pieces and store in an air tight container.
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Bourbon Pecan Brittle

Pecan-Brittle-9

Do you like pecans? What about candied pecans? Pecan pie? Pralines? Bourbon? Sugar? I am just going to assume you said yes to at least one of those things. And if you did, you MUST make this pecan brittle for the holidays! 

Brittle is a pretty easy candy to make for as a holiday gift, dessert, or party favor. For the past couple years I have made a huge batch of peanut brittle and handed it out as a gift or brought it into work during the holiday season. This year I wanted to try something a little bit different. And now that I have been in the true South for a few years, pecans and Bourbon seemed totally appropriate!

Pecan-Brittle-1

If you have never made brittle before, it might seem a little daunting, but its about as easy as making caramel. You start by boiling sugar, corn syrup, and water for a few minutes until it starts to turn a light brown. Then you mix in the nuts and keep boiling until the sugar turns a deep amber color (or reaches 300 degrees). At that point you mix in the vanilla, bourbon, salt, baking soda, and butter. Then you pour it out onto a baking sheet and let harden.

Pecan-Brittle-3

Oh yeah, I also sprinkled a little sea salt on top because it just felt like it needed that extra depth of flavor. 

Once it was hard, I broke it into small pieces. This brittle is pretty thick, so it was hard to break with my hands. That’s when I broke out the hammer. I took another piece of parchment paper and laid it on top of the brittle and whacked it with they hammer. After that, it was easy to break into pieces! 

Pecan-Brittle-5

I will definitely be handing this pecan brittle out to just about everyone as a Christmas gift. I have already given it as a hostess gift to several people, and I will be bringing a huge bag in for my coworkers this week. It is just a little bit unique and not your average peanut brittle, but it combines flavors that most people already love!

Pecan-Brittle-4

Bourbon Pecan Brittle
A salty sweet pecan brittle flavored with vanilla and bourbon.
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
20 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 cup light corn syrup
  2. 3 cups granulated sugar
  3. 1/2 cup water
  4. 3 cup raw pecans, roughly chopped
  5. 1 tbsp vanilla
  6. 2 tbsp (1 oz) Bourbon
  7. 2 tsp baking soda
  8. 1 tsp salt
  9. 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
  10. coarse sea salt
Instructions
  1. Line a large rimmed baking sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spray parchment with baking spray.
  2. In a large sauce pan, corn syrup, sugar, and water to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes without stirring until the sugar starts to slightly brown, or it reaches 240-260 degrees.
  3. Stir in pecan pieces. Allow mixture to boil for another 5 to 10 minutes until the sugar mixture turns a dark amber color, or reaches 300 degrees.
  4. Once sugar mixture gets to 300 degrees, immediately take off of heat and stir in vanilla, Bourbon, baking soda, salt, and butter. Stir until butter is completely melted and sugar mixture has turned a light honey color.
  5. Poor sugar mixture onto prepared baking sheet and spread out so that it is evenly coating the pan. Sprinkle the top with a couple pinches of coarse sea salt. Allow to cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
  6. Once hardened, break into pieces. Store in an air tight bag until ready to serve.
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The Loaded Brownie

Loaded Brownie-7

Have you guys heard of the slutty brownie (variations here, here, and here)? If you haven’t, you need to acquaint yourselves quickly! It has been called, by some, the best brownie ever. Well, that may be true, but I would like to throw my brownie into the competition. This is my version of the slutty brownie. Instead of a cookie dough base, this is 100% brownie loaded with whole Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Oreos. So I will lovingly refer to it as the Loaded Brownie. 

Loaded Brownie-2

To make these brownies, all you need is your favorite brownie recipe or mix (confession: I used a brownie mix) and some leftover candy and Oreo’s. I used peanut butter cups because…well, just because. Who doesn’t like chocolate and peanut butter? 

Loaded Brownie-3

I cut each peanut butter cup and Oreo in half and placed them on top of half of the brownie mix. I wanted to ensure that each brownie would have both pieces of Reese’s and Oreos. I topped them with the rest of the brownie mix and baked according to package directions. 

Loaded Brownie-5

I found that these took a little bit longer to bake because they are thicker than normal, but if you like fudgey, gooey brownies, then don’t worry about the extra time. 
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It took every patient fiber of my being not to cut into these brownies immediately out of the oven. And I clearly didn’t wait long enough because the chocolate was still melted inside….but OH MY GOSH…how could I resist?! This brownie is simply amazing! Don’t believe me? Well, don’t take my word for it, but take my sweet coworkers word for it. A little old man on my floor who I rarely see, let alone talk to sent me an email to tell me this was the best brownie he’s ever had. Proof!

Loaded Brownie-8

And he’s not wrong. It’s the best brownie I’ve ever had! So if you have any leftover Halloween candy (wait, whats that?), make these brownies. Load them up with Reese’s, Oreos, Snickers, Rolos, Twix, or whatever chocolaty candy you like best. 

The Loaded Brownie
Yields 16
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 box brownie mix
  2. *ingredients needed for brownie mix
  3. 5 Reese's peanut butter cups, halved
  4. 5 Oreo cookies, halved
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line a 8"x8" baking dish with parchment papers.
  3. Prepare the brownie mix according to package directions.
  4. Pour half the brownie batter into the pan, place halved peanut butter cups and Oreos on top, alternating between the two. Pour remaining batter on top.
  5. Bake according to package directions, adding 2-5 minutes to bake time.
  6. Allow to cool completely before cutting.
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Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted Caramel Sauce-4

Sometimes I forget how easy it is to make homemade caramel. Caramel sauce to caramel candies, the process of making any form of caramel is so easy and so delicious. This salted caramel sauce was a happy byproduct of a recipe I will be sharing with you later, but has proven to be a handy addition to everything from vanilla ice cream to apple slices. 

If you are planning any sort of gathering this Fall, this would be an excellent addition to your dessert. Making brownies? Add salted caramel sauce. Cheesecake? Add salted caramel sauce. Have a clean spoon you don’t know what to do with? Use it to eat this stuff out of the jar. Yeah….its pretty freaking delicious. 

Salted Caramel Sauce-1

Salted Caramel Sauce-2

Salted Caramel Sauce-3

Also, this exact same recipe would make some wonderful salted caramel candies you could give away as a party favor of holiday treat. All you have to do is let the sugar boil a little bit longer until it gets to a soft ball stage. Here is a handy chart to figure out how long to cook sugar to get it to different stages of caramel. 

What would you put salted caramel sauce on?

Salted Caramel Sauce
A salty sweet sauce to add to any treat!
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
20 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  2. 2 tbsp water
  3. 3/4 cup heavy cream
  4. 1 tsp vanilla
  5. 4 tbsp butter, softened
  6. 1 tsp coarse sea salt (or more to taste)
Instructions
  1. In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, add sugar and water and stir until sugar is desolved. Bring to a boil. If sugar builds up on the side of the pan, remove with a damp pastry brush.
  2. Allow sugar to boil and brown, stirring only once or twice, until sugar turns an amber color, about 7 to 10 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, heat cream in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute, or until it starts to bubble. If a film forms on the top, remove it before adding to the sugar.
  4. Once sugar is an amber color, reduce heat to low and pour in the cream. Stir until there are no more lumps and sugar is completely incorporated into the cream.
  5. Stir in butter and vanilla until butter is completely melted. Set aside to cool. Once cool, stir in sea salt.
Notes
  1. Store in an air tight container in the fridge up to 2 weeks.
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Ferrero Rocher Cookies

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies1Ferrero Rochers are possibly my favorite candy. Ever. My husband knows that if he needs to cheer me up or apologize he can buy me a Costco sized package of these chocolate-hazelnut confections and all will be forgiven. And because he buys be the large box, I had a few extra to toss into a batch of cookies.

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies3I started by unwrapping and chopping up about 10 Ferrero Rochers. It probably ended up being 8 because I kept stealing pieces. The Ferrero Rochers don’t need to be all that finely chopped, because once they get mixed in, they will break up a bit more.

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies5I added the candy pieces to my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. I did tweak it a little bit by adding in some hazelnut extract (totally optional), reducing the granulate sugar by 2 tablespoons (these candies are a lot sweeter than normal chocolate chips), and halving the amount of chocolate chips.

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies6When it gets all mixed together, the Neutella filling is swirled into the dough, the chocolate-nut coating is broken up into smaller pieces, and the wafer cookie adds an extra bit of crunch.

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies7But every once and a while, a piece of the Ferrero Rocher stays pretty much in tact. And those are my favorite cookies.

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies8But really, all the cookies are wonderful. I am happy that I put chocolate chips in with the candies. My original idea was to use only FRs, but I would need a lot of them and they are really expensive! But the semi sweet chocolate cups helped balance out the super sweetness of the candy.

Ferrero-Rocher-Cookies2What is your favorite candy to add to cookies?

Ferrero Rocher Cookies
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Ingredients
  1. 2 eggs
  2. 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
  3. 1 cup butter, softened
  4. 1/2 cup brown sugar
  5. 1 tsp vanilla extract
  6. 2 tsp hazelnut extract (optional)
  7. 2 cups flour
  8. 2 tsp espresso powder
  9. 3/4 tsp baking soda
  10. 1 tsp salt
  11. 4 oz chocolate chips
  12. 8-10 chopped Ferrero Rocher candy, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Whip together the eggs and granulated sugar until foamy. Add in butter, brown sugar, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
  3. In a separate bowl mix together flour, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour slowly into the butter mixture and mix until almost combined. Fold in chocolate chips and chopped candy.
  4. Spoon about 1 tbsp of dough onto a prepared baking sheet, 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
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