White chocolate peppermint fudge brownies

This title seems wildly inappropriate for a January 3rd post, but I forgot to post it during the holiday season and don't want to forget about these!

A friend posted a picture of her holiday treat plate on facebook and I had to know what these little beauties were. She shared the source with me and we put them on our holiday baking list. I am sure glad we did because I really enjoyed these and I finally have a homemade brownie recipe that I really like! 

In the past, I've tried homemade brownies and they just never quite did it, but these are it: fudgy, rich, decadent...all the qualities of a perfect brownie. I definitely won't wait until next holiday season to make these brownies again, but I'll try out some new toppings...the caramel/pretzel topping I've seen floating around sounds pretty spectacular!

The parchment overhang is a really handy technique for taking the brownies out without butchering them. But if you're like me and want to pretend you didn't eat any because you just ate the ones that didn't come out very well, forget the overhang and just spray that pan!

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge Brownies

from Real Simple

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/3 cup chopped peppermint candies (about 15 candies)
• 
  
• Heat oven to 350° F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with 2 crisscrossed pieces of parchment, buttering in between and leaving an overhang on all sides; butter the parchment.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
• In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and semisweet chocolate. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk in the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
• Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined (do not overmix).
• Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan.
• In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave the white chocolate and oil in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Spread on top of the cooled brownies. Sprinkle with the candies and let set.
• Holding the paper overhang, lift the brownies out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares (4 rows by 4 rows).

By Dawn Perry,  December 2011

Fruitcake Fudge

Another Gram and Granddad special! I think Granddad would eat fudge every day if he could:)
When I was little (actually, I was never really "little" since I was 5'2" in 4th grade,, so let's say "younger":), my uncle Steve owned a store called the Fudge Factory. Gram and Granddad would let me help work the cash register, which I remember thinking was so cool. They would pour the fudge out on those giant marble tables and it was a thing of wonder as a kid. I'm sure now somebody would complain about child labor if they saw me back there, but I'm so glad I have those memories!
Here is a new fudge flavor. I love the idea of dried cherries, pistachios, and apricots all in one place. Gram says the sour cream adds just enough balance to the sweetness of the fudge and has just enough of a taste to make someone wonder what it is, but definitely not taste the sour cream. Plus, it's pretty colors! This would look beautiful on a holiday sweets tray. Grandma, maybe we should add this to our holiday treats list????

White Fruitcake Fudge

(from a magazine or newspaper...we were looking at it over Thanksgiving break!)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pistachios 

3/4 cup finely chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup raisins (used dried cherries)

2  cups sugar

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter

12 oz. white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

!.  In a bowl combine walnuts, apricots, cherries. Reserve 1/4 cup.  

   Line a 9 X 13 baking pan with foil; extend foil over edges of pan. 

  Butter the foil.

2.  Butter sides of a heavy 3 quart pan.  In pan combine sugar, sour cream

  and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils.

  Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan.  Reduce heat to medium - low; 

  Continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate, stirring occasionally, until

  thermometer registers 236 degreesF  (18 to 20 minutes)

  Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil.

3. Remove pan from heat.  Stir in chocolate and marshmallow creme. 

   Continue stirring until chocolate is melted and mixture is combined. 

   Stir in fruit  and nut mixture.  Immediately spread fudge evenly in prepared pan.  

   Top with the reserved 1/4 cup fruit and nut mixture.  Chill fudge until firm. 

   Use foil to lift fudge out of pan.  Cut fudge into squares.  Store in refrigerator. 

   Makes. about 3 pounds or 117 one-inch pieces.

Happy Thanksgiving!... food crafting

We made a different kind of "turkey dinner" in class today. The kids had a great time making them and they turned out so cute!!

I got the idea from the internet and changed up some of the suggestions. What we used:
sliced almonds for the turkey
caramel ice cream topping for gravy
white icing for mashed potatoes
yellow food coloring gel tube for butter
round sprinkles for peas/corn/cranberries (cranberries not on this one)
the sprinkles that come on the top of the funfetti icing canister are multi colored and shaped, so they picked the orange discs out of there to make sliced carrots
yellow cupcake with a little icing "glue" to glue one of those super cheap cookies on (which worked perfectly size and structure-wise!), then icing for the plate to get the food to stick.


These were a hit! They would be fun at the kids' or adults' table:)
Happy Thanksgiving!

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn

It's been long enough since I posted that my internet history didn't even recognize my site when I was typing it in! Oops! We've been eating the basics like tacos, pizza, and pancakes, and going to some basketball games. Trying to keep the budget low and rope in the calories a little, also! (tacos with ground turkey, WW pizza, WW pancakes, you know...)
This recipe definitely does not fit under calorie control. Each Christmas, we have a faculty lunch and "snack day". Every teacher (over 100 of us!) is supposed to bring a snack to put in the library and there are snacks all day and then a catered fajita bar. I am most looking forward to the fajita bar, but liked the excuse to make a new snack:)
Every year, I make just plain popcorn coated with melted white chocolate, so I was pretty excited to see this recipe on The Rookie Chef! I was so surprised with how great popcorn and mint taste together, too! This is quick and easy to make, but hard not to snack on as you go!
any picture taken after about 5:30 PM is officially even crappier than my pictures normally are...sorry!!

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn

2 bags microwave butter popcorn, popped (with unpopped kernels picked out!)

6 oz (1 box) candy canes, crushed
16 oz. white chocolate/white almond bark coating

2 tsp mint extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips



Stir together popcorn and crushed mints.

Melt white chocolate and stir in mint extract.

Pour melted white chocolate over popcorn and mint mixture. Stir (your hands are the best tool here!) until popcorn is coated. Lay out in single layer on parchment or waxed paper.

Melt chocolate chips and put in sandwich baggie with edge clipped off. Drizzle over popcorn. Allow to cool.

Luck of the Irish: Blarney Stones

Blarney Stones:
Gram and Granddad always make Blarney Stones for St. Patty's day and they are something to look forward to all year long! They are basically a cake square dipped in a warm icing and rolled in crushed peanuts, but there is a lot of love and tradition that go into them:)

According to legend, kissing the Blarney Stone is good luck and gives the kisser the gift of gab (which, strangely, doesn't mean to talk a lot!) We have always kissed our Blarney stones before we've eaten them, even when we eat five in one sitting:)

I can't remember Gram ever not making these things...I have childhood friends who still ask around this time about the blarney stones. They turn them into a production in their dining room and crank out sheet after sheet of these things. They are so great, and I plan to always have these around St. Patty's day--they are a great tradition to continue! Thanks for that Gram and Granddad!!

Happy 2009!

Welcome to 2009!
My resolution/ "areas to change/improve":
-carry a smaller purse! (mine is more like a suitcase that makes my back hurt!)
-hang shirts back up after trying them on in the mornings rather than having a whole pile at the end of the week to hang up. this will also keep the guest room much cleaner
-take good care of my doggy!! Take him on frequent walks and play with him a lot!

Pretty simple stuff, huh? I think these are better for me than really broad areas of improvement--one year, my resolution was to start washing my face at least once a day (had not done it before and never had a problem with pimples, etc., but I was a jr. in college and figured I better start!!), and I still do it. So, as long as my "resolution" is small and specific, I will hopefully be successful!

NYE party..oh my goodness. It was a lot of fun and we had a ton of food and drinks and people! Perfect way to start out the year. These obviously aren't full yet, but we had to have a makeshift extra food area on cardtable because we ran out of space in the kitchen. We wound up having two more giant crockpots full of dip stuff that a friend brought.
My buffet server in action:) That buffalo chicken dip is just a hit. This time I made it layered, so that the color was a little more appealing (not that people didn't eat it before...I just wanted to make it look prettier) and I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 22 minutes. Then I let it stand and kept it warm in the serving trays on the top of the buffet server. I didn't really take pictures of the food or really even of the people..I'm going to have to request those from my awesome co-host, Laine!

Aaand...ta-dah! Another new source of entertainment in our basement! We picked up Norris' old Ms. Pacman and got it down in our basement! I definitely do NOT have the high score...I will have to work on that.

And another Bruno photo..he went to his first vet appt. today and was, as always, very friendly. He even still liked me after he got a shot (distracted by a treat, I suppose). We went for a walk and then he played outside and got all kinds of muddy, like a little kid. When Norris went to get him from outside, he was really muddy, and when I got home, after he had had all afternoon to lick himself clean, he still had mud on the top of his head (??), all over his paws and his mouth. I gave him a shower (Suave is a dog product, right?!?) and he was so irresistably cute after coming out of the shower that I had to snap a picture of him. He even posed! He likes showers so much that he runs into the bathroom and sits on the rug outside of the shower to wait for us to come wash him. Hopefully this trait sticks! Vet said he's healthy and happy..have to go back in 3 weeks for another shot...I am hoping the treat trick will work again!

Bakeathon! And home for the holidays...

Look what we did Saturday! We all brought the ingredients to make our favorite Christmas treat, so we had a TON of goodies. You can't even see the full second table. We had peppermint bark, Payday bars (I will have to get the recipe, they're great!), candy cane cookies (more of an experiment, right sis? see pic below...), almond dipped pretzels, Oreo truffles, peanut butter balls, nutty dipped marshmallows, choco PB sandwiches, raisin cinnamon chip cookies, peanut brittle, and I hope I didn't miss any others! It was fun, and we made treat plates to share with everybody we know, since we had plenty:)

a sugar experiment gone wrong.

Norris showed us his "technique" for white chocolate pretzels. Yummy! Oreo truffles and PB balls. So easy, so sinful.

The ultimate Texas AND North Carolina fan himself. According to his stack of new UT and NC gear, anyway!

I'm not sure I've seen my grandpa cook before this moment, and it was great!!

I am in Topeka for Christmas and so glad to be here a couple days just to hang out before the true holiday festivities get underway. We celebrated this weekend with my mom's side and Norris' parents, and we'll be celebrating this week with my family, my dad's side, and Norris' dad. Rather than thinking of it as a lot of driving, I like to think of how blessed we are to have so much family to celebrate with!! Lots of pictures of the family so far...I don't have my computer to put my pictures on so I am just taking my mom's she's uploaded to their computer!

Merry Christmas!!!! Enjoy your time with your loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a great day with family and friends! Some of my family is coming tonight, so I am running around today trying to get everything together. This is our pretty table:) (pretty to me anyway!)

Tomorrow we are headed to the in-laws, then Saturday I will go home to see my family and Steven will be here from Florida!!

Lots of great things have been made at school and at home since last recipe posting...I have the pictures but the recipes are mostly at school, so I will update soon! I did make Paula Deen's gingerbread pumpkin trifle for tonight, and I am excited about it--I like the looks of it and I know I'll love the taste. I guess my trifle dish isn't quite big enough, because I only used one of the two gingerbread cakes it calls for and about 2/3 of the pudding/pumpkin mixture and cool whip. I will make another small one to bring to my kids on Monday, I guess! Otherwise, we're keeping it pretty simple tonight and my aunt and grandma are bringing some yummy stuff to go with our stand by of the most simple pork chops ever!

Enjoy your holiday and travel safely!