Day 8 of 12 Days of Christmas Fun: Almond Roca Brittle

♪♫ On the 8^th day of Christmas Food, Folks, and Fun gave to me…♪♫

Almond Roca Brittle

Christmas Cookie Round-Up

Jingle All the Way Shadow Box Tutorial

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting & a GIVEAWAY!

Cranberry-Pecan Chicken Salad

CHRISTmas Subway Art Printable

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Christmas To-Do List Printables

FOUR ingredients never tasted so good! I’ve made 3 batches of this brittle so far and have given most of it away as gifts. I’m thinking of making another batch today because it to SOOOOOO good! The buttery toffee is incredibly addicting; my husband’s grandmother said it’s even better than See’s Candies, Score!

Cook’s Note: This recipe relies on 2 things to help make it so incredibly yummy: toasted almonds (really make the effort to toast the almonds and not use raw ones), and a candy thermometer—you really want to make sure you heat the butter and sugar mixture to exactly 290°F…you can’t “eye-ball” this one, I tried to on my first batch and ended up burning itL.

My 9x13 pan all buttered and ready to go!

Look at all that butter, Paula Deen would be so proud! ;)

My almonds toasting.

Chopping my toasted almonds; I like to do 1/4 cup at a time to make sure I chop all the nuts.

The toffee mixture (butter, sugar, almonds) all smooth in the pan.

The chocolate atop the toffee mixture.

Spreading the chocolate with the back of a spoon.

The almonds atop the melted chocolate--all ready to be chilled!

The finished product: Almond Roca Brittle!

Almond Roca Brittle

Ingredients:

2 ½ C toasted almonds, chopped and divided

1 ½ C tightly-packed brown sugar

1 ½ C (3 sticks) salted butter

6 Hershey’s Bars

Directions:

Butter a 9 x 13 pan and set aside.

Chop the toasted almonds and place 1 ½ cups in a small bowl, and the remaining 1 cup in another small bowl, set aside.

Unwrap the chocolate bars and set aside.

In a medium or large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter stops foaming, add in the brown sugar and stir. Once the mixture begins to bubble, place in the candy/instant-read thermometer and stir constantly until the mixture reaches 290°F.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the 1 ½ cups of toasted, chopped almonds. Pour into the buttered pan and smooth the mixture so it sits in the pan evenly.

Place the chocolate bars on top of the mixture and let it sit for about 3 minutes so the chocolate has the chance to melt so it will make spreading easier (you’ll know it’s ready to spread when it gets all nice and shiny).

Using the back of a spoon spread the chocolate in an even layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of toasted almonds over the chocolate and gently press it in.

Cover and chill the Almond Roca Brittle for at least 4 hours before breaking it apart (I personally like to chill it over night).

Use a knife to break the brittle apart.

***NOTE: After breaking apart the brittle you’ll be left with about ¼ cup of brittle shards. My family and I have found that these little shards are delicious on top of ice cream, YUM!

Source: mostly mine, but inspired from this recipe.

I’m linking this post up at:
Metamorphosis Monday, Menu Plan Monday , Skip to My Lou, Tip Me Tuesday, Today’s Creative Blog

Cookie Dough Truffles

I gave my dad one of these to eat and soon there after he said, and I quote: “Why do people do drugs when there are these on the planet?” Enough said, right? J

These truffles are super yummy; they taste just like cookie dough and they're just in time for Valentine’s Day. This recipe makes a ton, so they’re perfect for sharing. And no worries, no eggs were harmed in the making of these delectable cookie dough truffles.

Cookie Dough Truffles

Ingredients:

8 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ C light brown sugar, packed
2¼ C all-purpose flour
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 t vanilla extract
½ C mini semisweet chocolate chips
1½ lb. semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, coarsely chopped
Mini chocolate chips (for garnish)

Directions: 

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up enough to form balls.

Shape the chilled cookie dough mixture into 1-1½ inch balls.  Place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  Cover loosely, transfer the pan to the freezer and chill for 1-2 hours.

When ready to dip the truffles, melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water.  Dip each chilled truffle, one at a time, coating in chocolate and shaking gently to remove the excess.  (If at any point during dipping, the cookie dough balls become too soft, return to the freezer to chill for 30 minutes.)  Transfer to a wax-paper lined surface.  If using mini chocolate chips for garnish, sprinkle on top quickly after dipping each truffle before the chocolate sets.  Once all the truffles have been dipped, store them in the refrigerator until ready to serve.   

Depending on the size of the balls you roll the cookie dough mixture into, this recipe makes 50-70 truffles.

Source: Annie’s Eats

Day 9 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies: Starry-Eyed Christmas Cookies

Ok, so technically these aren’t cookies but I have a teething 7-month-old…so I get a pass, right? J In any event, these are super yummy; how can you go wrong with this sweet and salty combo?

Starry-Eyed Christmas Cookies

Ingredients:

1 bag waffle or star-shaped pretzels

1 bag holiday M&M’s plain or peanut butter chocolate candies (red & green)

2 – 3 bags Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses

Directions:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Open the bags of pretzels and remove all the unbroken pretzels. Place pretzels on cookie sheets in a single layer.

Unwrap Hershey’s Kisses, place one on each pretzel, repeat for an entire cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in the preheated oven and “bake” for six minutes.

Immediately upon removing from the oven, place one M & M on top of semi-melted Hershey’s Kiss. Place entire cookie sheet in refrigerator until cookies are set.

Source: The Wicked Noodle

Peanut Brittle

This is my sister-in-law, Beth’s scrumptious recipe. Her brittle is addictive because of the crunch and the salty-sweet combination you get from the peanuts and the brittle.

Beth wanted me to share three musts with this recipe:

1. You must have a candy thermometer to make this recipe.
2. You must be exact with the temperatures.
3. The cookie sheet you pour the mixture onto must be buttered and not spayed with Pam.

Peanut Brittle

Ingredients:

2 C sugar

1 C corn syrup

¼ C water

1 ½ C salted peanuts

1 t vanilla

2 t baking soda

Directions:

Add the sugar, corn syrup, and water to a medium saucepan. Stir the mixture continually until it reaches 285°F.

Take the mixture off the heat and stir in the peanuts and butter. Put it back on the heat and stir the mixture continually until it reaches 295°F.

Take it off of the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.

Pour the mixture over a buttered cookie sheet and let set. Once it’s hardened, break into pieces.

Source: Beth Jankowski

Caramel Apples - A Tutorial

Caramel Apples – A Tutorial

I absolutely love, and I mean LOVE caramel apples. My favorite caramel apples are from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. My husband knew my love for caramel apples, and when I was pregnant with Mia he accomplished the most important task of a husband -- he satisfied a craving. About five weeks before I was due, Curtis spent his last spring break of law school in San Diego visiting with his grandma. I’m not going to say I was okay with this seeing as my due date was somewhat close… So, I decided to milk it for all it was worth. I knew he had a layover in Denver and I knew that there was a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store in the Denver airport so I may have dropped a few subtle hints J. I was only expecting one caramel apple, but my hubby came off the plane with FOUR of them! It totally made up for his week-long absence so close to my due date!

I’m currently living in Arizona and while there are Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory stores here, I’m not too crazy about shelling out $8+ for a caramel apple nor am I crazy about the 40 minute drive to get them. So I roped my mom and sister-in-laws, Beth and Bridgette into helping me make them. Working in a tag-team effort it took us about three and a half hours from start to finish.

Here are the steps we took to create our scrumptious treats.

Step 1: Assemble the tools.

The special tools we used (outside of bowls, spoons, etc) were: corn on the cob sticks (I like them better than popsicle sticks for this project), squeeze bottles/condiment bottles, a funnel, parchment paper, and cellophane bags.

Step 2: Assemble the ingredients.

Unwrap the caramels and gather the toppings the apples will be rolled in. We used the following for toppings to make an endless variety of apples (not all toppings are pictured below): marshmallows, mini Reece’s Pieces, crushed Butterfingers, mini M & Ms, nut topping, toffee bits, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and cinnamon sugar.

Step 3: Prep the toppings.

Place the toppings in separate bowls and cut the marshmallows in half so they will adhere better to the apples. Try and keep your toppings small, that way they won’t slide down the caramel apples as much as larger toppings would.

Step 4: Prep the apples.

You need firm, crisp apples. If possible, buy apples that aren't waxed. The wax will keep the caramel from sticking. If yours are waxed, wash them with baking soda or give them a quick dunk in boiling water to melt the wax off. Dry them thoroughly and remove the stems. Insert a stick into the stem end--about 3/4 of an inch so that they are in there firmly. You can pierce the apple with a knife first to make the sticks go in more easily. Refrigerate the apples. This will make the caramel harden faster.

Step 5: Make the caramel.

Add 2 tablespoons of water per bag of candies. Zap them in the microwave for approximately 3 minutes. Stir after each minute, and stop heating them as soon as they’re all melted.

Step 6: Dip the apples in the caramel.

You can spoon some of the caramel on, too. Lift the apple out of the caramel and let the excess drip off. I scrape the bottom with a spoon so you don’t have a ton of caramel pooling up at the bottom of your apple when you place it on your parchment-lined cookie sheet.  

Step 7: Roll the apples in toppings.

Roll the apples in the toppings. Use your hand to press the goodies in and help them stay in place. Place the apples on parchment paper that's been greased or coated with cooking spray. We found that after dipping 6 apples or so we would stop and circle back around beginning with the apples we dipped first and began rolling them in the toppings. If we waited any later than that the apples would begin to harden. If we rolled the apples too soon they would end up being a big, goopy mess.

Let the apples chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before you drizzle them with chocolate.

Sept 8: Melt the chips.

For every 12 ounces of chips you will need 2 T of vegetable oil.

Put chips in a microwave-safe bowl with 2 tablespoons canola oil. Microwave power varies, so exact times cannot be recommended.  Cook on medium power, checking at 30 second intervals, stirring each time. Stop heating when most, but not all, of the chips are melted--there should be a few chunks left. Stir until it is smooth and chips are completely melted.  Be careful not to overcook.

You can drizzle the melted chocolate onto the apples with a spoon. But, I like to pour the chocolate into a squeeze bottle using a funnel. I find there is less mess this way.

Set your bottles of chocolate in either a tall glass or jar of hot water to keep the chocolates nice and melted inside the bottles.

Step 9: Drizzle the apples with the melted chocolates.

I set my apple on an inverted glass to make decorating it easier.

When you’re happy with your decorated apple, return it to a parchment-covered baking sheet and allow the apples to chill for another 30 minutes.

Tray 1



Tray 2



Tray 3

Step 10: Wrap the apples.

I put a paper baking cup on the bottom of the apple before wrapping it in the cellophane. This makes it easier to get the apples in and out of the bags without sticking.