home made peppermint patties

Yes, these are what you think they are! Homemade peppermint patties, ahhhhh my life is complete. A few years back I went through a major Yorke phase where I would buy the large patties and break off a little piece like every hour, just to make sure that I could enjoy a little taste of heaven all day long! Wow, that kind of sounds crazy looking back? Oh well. When I came across this recipe I knew I had to try it! Pretty simple and incredibly successful, you will blow people's minds with these. . .

 

Make sure to grab a little helper if you have one :)

Delicious peppermint filling is inside of this cute little package!

Don's place your patties on a cooling rack like I did! I don't know what I was thinking?! When I went to pick them up their bottoms stuck to the rack. No good! I ended up re-dunking them in chocolate to cover up that little mistake. . .

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
8 ounces 70% cacao bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup peppermint candies, crushed

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 2 1/4 cups of confectioners sugar together with corn syrup, water, peppermint extract and vegetable shortening until just combined.  The mixture will be very crumbly.  Dust a work surface with remaining 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar.  Empty contents of bowl onto work surface and knead until smooth (this will take a few minutes).  Shape dough into a log, about 2 inches by 8 inches long.  Wrap tightly in parchment paper and freeze until very firm, about 20 minutes.

Remove dough and slice into rounds using a sharp knife.  Place rounds onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze again until firm, for at least 15 minutes.

While dough is chilling, melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals.  Cool slightly.  Chocolate should be warm but not so hot that you cannot put your finger into it. 

Cover another baking sheet with parchment paper.  Remove patties from freezer one at a time and submerge into melted chocolate (we just used our hands).  Coat quickly and allow excess chocolate to drip off.  Place on parchment paper lined pan and sprinkle with crushed candies. Repeat, covering all patties with chocolate and candy.

Let patties stand until chocolate is set, about 1 hour.  Store in fridge, between wax paper in an airtight container.  Bring to room temperature before serving.

recipe by: blue eyed bakers

bunny bark

We love holidays and birthdays because they give us a reason to go all out with sugar and candy!! Who doesn't love easter candy in those amazing pastel colors and cute bunny and chick shapes? Pick your favorite candies and get to work. . . bunny bark is super easy and makes a fun project for the kiddos. Package it up for your easter baskets or place it on a cute plate for your easter gathering, who wouldn't love an explosion of candy smothered on top of chocolate? 

step 1: pick your poison

Choose your favorite easter candies and chop them up into tiny pieces. We chose reese's peanut butter cups, mini marshmallows, easter sprinkles, and m+ms of course. If you buy the bags from the grocery store you will have left overs for your candy bowl or jar!

 step 2: create your foundation

Melt a bag of chocolates and a bag of pink chocolates in separate bowls according to the instructions on the package. Layout a piece of wax paper and pour the chocolate in a 1/4 inch thick layer. Add drops of the pink on top. Take a knife and draw a line straight through the pink to create "heart" shaped swirls in the chocolate. We had left over pink chocolate so we made a mini batch of pink bark on another piece of wax paper. . . we wouldn't want any to go to waste!!

step 3: sprinkle time

Sprinkle your toppings onto the chocolate until you are satisfied with your bark coverage.

Allow your bark to set for 3 hours before cutting into it.

step 4: break time 

When the bark is completely cooled start breaking it apart- get crazy with it!

That's it!! Enjoy this little bunny treat with your friends and family. 

Watch out- this can lead to a serious sugar buzz!!

homemade snickers recipe

Road trips mean. . . quality family time, listening to inspiring playlists, and stuffing your face full of crazy snacks without feeling guilty! This year, our annual trip to the mountains meant me bringing the "treats" to a whole new level. So I hit up the never ending world of discovery that is Pinterest and got my baking juices flowing. When I stumbled upon the recipe for homemade snickers bars, I knew that I had found the motherload. The ingredients were simple and the recipe seemed easy. . . 2 hours later, I had in my hand the world's most gooey, chocolate-y, and caramel-icous insanity that we call SNICKERS. The natural ingredients made these irresistibly fresh goodies even better than the Mars brand in the wrapper. Make these for your next trip, dinner party, or holiday get together! Even that "i am not really a chocolate person" will be begging you for more. . .

*makes one 9×13 pan ( i used 2 smaller pans so that I could cut one pan and save the other for the next day)

bottom chocolate layer

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

Thoroughly grease you baking pan. Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into the baking dish and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.

nougat layer

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped, roughly chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add in sugar and milk, stirring until dissolved and bring to a boil. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in fluff, peanut butter and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Turn off heat and fold in peanuts, then pour over bottom chocolate layer. Let cool completely.

caramel layer

1 14-ounce bag of caramels

1/4 cup whipping cream

Combine ingredients in a saucepan over low heat. Let melt, stirring occasionally, until smooth – this took about 10 minutes for me. Pour over nougat layer and let cool completely.

Top chocolate layer

1 1/4 cups milk chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

Melt ingredients together in a saucepan or microwave, then pour over caramel and spread until even. Let cool and harden completely.

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, then cut as desired. These can stay at room temperature, but they do get gooey. I like them refrigerated best!

Note: for best results, buy one of the half-sheet aluminum cake pans at the grocery store. That way, you can pop the entire square out and cut from there! 

credits: how sweet treats . hippie gypsy