Reese Cup Cake

I love Reese Cups!  My jeans do not love Reese cups.  It is an unfair world. 

I try not to have snacks in the house that contain milk for a couple of reasons.  The most important reason is that I need my house to be safe for String Beane.  I don't want him to accidental eat something that has milk in it and react.  The second reason is that if I do have a snack here that has milk in it, like Reese cups, then I am the only one that can eat them.  So I eat them.  Then my jeans get really tight.  Or more tight, I should say. 

I found these mini cake pans at Michael's and I bought them not knowing what I was going to do with them.  Then one night a craving for a Reese cup hit me so I made these wonderful things.  They do not contain milk so I was not forced to eat the whole batch to keep my home safe! 

The bonus is that all the little Beanes loved them!  We got to share the goodness of these little cakes.  So these are basically diet food. 

Ingredients
One box of Duncan Hines chewy fudge brownie mix
ingredients to make the brownies
1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup butter, melted (Flieshmann's unsalted margarine is milk free0
2 cups of powdered sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate Frosting, (Duncan Hines chocolate frosting does not have milk, yea!)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the margarine, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla in a mixer until well combined. 

Follow the directions on the brownie mix to make the brownie batter. 

Spray the mini cake pans with cooking spray.

Fill the mini cake pans about 1/2 full with the brownie batter and bake for 15 - 18 minutes.  Keep an eye on these to make sure you don't over bake them. 

When you take them out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes in the pans and then pop them out on to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

When the cakes are completely cooled, grab two of them and get to filling.  You may want to level the cakes a little if they domed up on you while baking. 

Fill the cakes little cavities with the peanut butter mixture.  I used a little cookie scooper to fill mine. 

Use an offset spatula and run a thin line of frosting around the edges of the cakes.  Sort of like a little bit of chocolate glue.  Stack the two cakes together to make a filled cake. 

Then ice the whole thing with frosting.  and you get one of these.

Then slice the little cake open and revel the peanut butter surprise!

You will not be disappointed in these.  I was able to make three filled cakes with this recipe.  There was a little bit of peanut butter mixture left over, so I ate it.  You know 'waste not, want not'.  My mama taught me that. 

I am linking up with Metamorphosis Monday, Allergy Free Wednesday, and these other Awesome Parties.





Hot Chocolate Cookies and a gift exchange

These cookies are yummy and worth your time to make!

I participated in a Valentine gift exchange over at Homemaker in Heels.  I was assigned Tanya to send a gift to.  We exchanged emails and she seemed positively sweet.  So I knew I wanted to make her something yummy.

I first saw this recipe on Pinterest.  Where else? 

I thought they would be a great addition to my gift exchange basket. 

I also threw in some of my Hot Chocolate on a Stick and made a Silhouette project for her.

Here is the finished project.

I thought the metal bucket turned out so cute, I was sorry I didn't make one for myself. 

I do have to say, that I love my Silhouette Cameo.  L.O.V.E.  I am not a natural with crafts so it has been a learning thing for me.  But I really love it!

Tanya, I hope you do too!

Here is the recipe that I modified for the Hot Chocolate Cookies.  They can, of course, be made milk/dairy free. 

Ingredients

2 sticks butter (Flieshman's unsalted is milk free)

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup hot chocolate mix (I found Ghiridelli hot chocolate mix with no milk!)

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, hot chocolate mix, salt and baking soda.

Slow add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Mix until well blended.

Place by rounded teaspoon onto parchment lined baking sheets.  I used a small cookie scoop and put two scoops of cookie dough together.  I wanted "bigger" cookies.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until slightly firm.

As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, begin topping with marshmallows.

After cooling for a few minutes on the baking sheet, move to wire wrack until completely cool.

They got all packaged up and shipped to Washington.

I am linking up at Sunday Scoop, Metamorphosis Monday and these other Awesome Parties!

Cup of Love

I never have liked Valentine's Day very much. 

There was always this pressure to have a loved one send flowers to me at work. 

Now that I stay home, there is no point in having flowers delivered here since there is no one to see me get them.  Let's be honest, the big thrill in getting flowers is not getting the flowers, but having all your co workers ooh and ah over you getting the flowers. 

There, I have said it.  Cat's out of the bag.  Valentine's day is all about appearances. 

This year, I like the idea of Valentine's day better.  I am having a good time showing off my baked goods to String Beane's school.  It is a similar thrill as getting the flowers in front of all your co workers, friend and foe alike. 

I have altered a Christmas gift that I made last year to suit my new found Valentine's spirit.  The original recipe can be found here.

I made some homemade, pink, heart shaped marshmallows and some hot chocolate on a stick!  They are adorable, if I do say so myself. 

Look at how cute and fluffy they turned out. 

I stuck a marshmallow on a hot chocolate square and stuck a cookie stick in them.

Then I put them in a baggie with a tag and tied on a ribbon.

And there you have it.  A cup of love!

To make these precious things follow this recipe.

Marshmallows

Ingredients:

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 cup ice cold water, divided in halves

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Nonstick spray

Pink food gel

Pour gelatin into the bowl of a  mixer set up with the whisk attachment along with 1/2 cup of the water!!!!

In a small saucepan combine 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook  4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, this takes a while!!! 

Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes! Add the vanilla and pink food gel during the last minute of whipping.

Prepare the baking pan!!!

Combine the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later!!!

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan.  It is EXTREMELY STICKY!!!!  Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover!!!  I spread the sugar/cornstarch mixture smoothly with a spoon!! Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours!!!

Dump the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into little hearts using a small heart cookie cutter dusted in the powdered sugar mixture.  Lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary.  These can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream

 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

3 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

One 4-oz bar unsweetened chocolate broken into small pieces

Cookie sticks

8″x8″ pan, lined with wax paper

Heat the cream and sweetened condensed milk over medium-low heat until it starts steaming, stirring periodically. Remove from heat and add chocolate! Stir and let sit for 10 minutes, then put back on medium-low heat and stir with a whisk until chocolate is completely melted and shiny! I added a couple of teaspoons of vanilla!

Pour chocolate into prepared pan and spread chocolate as level as you possibly can. Let it sit FOR AT LEAST 12 HOURS!!!!

Remove chocolate from pan and cut, top side face down, into squares. Using a long knife that has been dipped in warm watter, slice the block into sixths each direction, so your squares will be a bit larger than 1″ x 1″.  

One stick is good for a regular coffee cup full of milk!!

This is not a milk free recipe in it's entirety.  The marshmallows will work for all the children in String Beane's class since they are top 8 free.  I will tie up the Valentine Hot Chocolate on a Stick for his teacher and the office staff.  

I am linking up at Metamorphosis Monday, Allergy Friendly Friday and These other Awesome Parties!

Chocolate Covered Fluffernutter Hearts

Do you ever have one of those days where you just need a little pick me up? 

Well, this is one of those days for me. 

I don't know what exactly I need a pick me up from, but I have just been a little in the dumps today.

Some of my current issues that might be to blame for my mood are:

String beane has lost two teeth and looks totally more grown up than usual.  I don't know why that depresses me, but it does. 

Butter beane talks non stop about nothing.  I feel partly responsible for this because I think non stop, pointless talking is hereditary.  Sorry Butter beane.

My little Jelly beane has just picked up the habit of doing a blood curdling screech when she doesn't get her way or is frustrated about something.  Nice. 

So, to help my mood, I made a chocolate covered fluffernutter treat.  You heard me.  It did make me feel better.  More loving.  Sweeter even.  You should make you some.

These are so simple to make.  Here is the low down.

Fluffernutter Ingredients
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tablespoons softened margarine (I used Fleishman's Unsalted because it is milk free)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Marshmallow Fluff

Directions

In a bowl mix all the ingredients with an electric mixer until it comes together into a yummy, fluffy, mixture of love. 

Use a small cookie scoop and scoop out some of the Fluffernutter mixture onto a pretzel twist.  Top with another pretzel twist to make a sandwich.  Press down slightly so you are sure it will stick together.  Wipe away any squished out Fluffernutter mixture.

Continue until you have used up all your Fluffernutter.  I got about 60 pretzel sandwiches.

Melt 2 cups of chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli Semi Sweet since they are milk free) with about a tablespoon of Vegetable Shortening in the microwave.  Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until the chocolate chips are melted.

Dip each Fluffernutter pretzel sandwich in the chocolate and tap off the excess.  Lay on wax paper to set up.

Sprinkle with Valentine sprinkles if you want.  They are precious either way.

Eat six one and feel better. 



I am linking up with Metamorphosis Monday and these other Awesome Parties!