Candy Cane Oreo Fudge

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I have been craving something chocolatey.  Like that luscious, smooth, melt in your mouth heavenly chocolatey.  After seeing a run of wonderful looking fudge recipes, I decided to venture into uncharted territories for me, and try my hand at fudge.  I did lots of research, called my mom and asked about her fudge recipe she has been using for as long as I can remember, and took to my favorite bloggers' sites.  What has resulted is kind of a mish-mash of parts of each of the recipes I saw, inspiration, if you will, for this recipe.

It turned out better than I could have ever hoped.  It was silky smooth fudge, studded with lovely little bits of oreo and candy cane pieces, and not overwhelming on the peppermint either.  Super easy to make, and just down right addictive.  

CANDY CANE OREO FUDGE
(Inspired by Something Swanky's Peppermint Oreo Fudge and highly adapted from Chocolate, Chocolate, and More's Milk Chocolate Fudge)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Oreo layer:

• 3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups broken up oreo cookies (left in reasonably large chunks)
• 1/2 of a 7 oz. jar marshmallow fluff

White Chocolate Candy Cane Layer:

• 3 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 cup crushed peppermint candy canes
• 1/2 of a 7 oz. jar marshmallow fluff

Topping (optional):

• crushed oreo cookies
• crushed candy canes

Directions:

1. Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium sauce pan over LOW heat, melt the semi sweet chocolate chips with the can of sweetened condensed milk.
3. Once this is smooth and completely melted, remove from heat, add the vanilla extract and the marshmallow fluff and stir until completely combined.
4. Add the oreo cookie pieces and stir until evenly distributed.  Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly over the bottom.
5. In another sauce pan melt the white chocolate chips with the condensed milk until smooth and completely melted.
6. Remove from heat and mix in the peppermint extract and the marshmallow fluff until well combined.
7. Add in the candy cane pieces and mix until evenly distributed.
8. Pour this mix over the chocolate oreo layer in the baking dish, and spread in an even layer.
9. If desired, sprinkle with crushed oreo cookies or candy cane pieces, or both.
10. Place in fridge until set, about 4 hours or over night.
11. Cut in to pieces and enjoy.  Keep refrigerated.

Honey Butter Pull Apart Rolls

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I was browsing Pinterest's Food and Drink category as I often do when I want to get a good drool on, and I came across a pin for Honey Butter Pull Apart Rolls from High Heels and Grills.   I wanted to make some bread today, and after reading the recipe, I was sold!  Within 15 minutes of finding the recipe, I was already making the dough.  This recipe is easy to do, doesn't take too long, and the rolls are unbelievably light, soft, tender, tasty, and slightly sweet.  I am addicted.  I will make these for family gatherings, snacks, breakfasts, midnight munching, Christmas dinner...there is no event I wouldn't make these for.  I modified this recipe very, very little, I mean, how do you mess with perfection?

Make these.  Seriously.  Make them.

Lovely, super soft, light layers.

One more picture, because they are truly drool-worthy.

 HONEY BUTTER PULL APART ROLLS
(Slightly Adapted from High Heels and Grill's Honey Butter Pull Apart Rolls)

Makes 18 rolls

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups warm water
• 1 Tbsp. instant yeast
• 1 tsp. diastatic malt powder (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1-1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 3/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together water, yeast, diastatic malt powder (optional), sugar, oil, salt, and 3-1/2 cups of flour.  Using a spoon, your hands, or a stand mixer, mix until well combined (I just did this and the kneading by hand, worked great).
2. Stir in more flour as need (1/4 cup at a time), until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl, is no longer sticky, and you are able to work with it to knead it.
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until fairly smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding a tablespoon of flour or two if needed, to keep it from sticking.
4. Place the dough back in the large bowl it was mixed in, spraying some non stick spray or lightly oiling the bowl before returning the dough to it.  Cover with a damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
5. After doubled, punch down dough and lay on floured surface. 
6. Preheat oven to 375°F.
7. Roll dough out until about 20 inches by 12 inches.
8. In a small bowl, combine butter, honey, and salt.  Brush dough with half of the butter mixture.
9. With a pizza cutter, cut dough lengthwise into sixths and crosswise into twelfths.  Make stacks of 4 dough squares and place each stack into a greased muffin tin cup.
10. Brush with the remaining butter mixture.
11. Let these rise until they are visibly puffier, about 20 minutes.
12. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown. 
13. Serve warm.

Sunday's Sweet Confessions Link Party #17

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Sunday's Sweet Confessions Link Party #17

Welcome everyone to this weeks link party! I am so happy you all were able to stop by and party with me.  This week, I am posting the Sweet Links Spotlight Featured Posts from last, last week's link party at the beginning of the party, so you don't need to go search for a separate post. Make sure to check out all the features, link up your posts, and visit some other links.  

 Last week's most clicked link: Crafty Journal's Easy Pocket Pies

Poised Perfection's Making Cloudy Glasses Sparkle

 

 Couponing and Cooking's Butterfinger Cake

 Ground Beef Budget's Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 

Hun, What's For Dinner's Mexican Nutella Hot Chocolate

 

Thanks everyone for partying and entering your links, they were incredible!  All the featured links will be mentioned on Facebook, Twitter, and pinned on Pinterest!

If you were featured, grab yourself a button and post it proudly :)

<a href="http://www.mommyssweetconfession.com" target="_self"><img src="http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums


/u427/Lindsay_Stotts/mommybutton_featured1.jpg" alt="Mommy's Sweet Confessions" width="150" height="150" /></a>

Reindeer Cupcakes and Mastrad Inc. Product Review

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All right, I will be the first to admit these cupcake reindeers look a little disturbed, and lack a huge amount of artistic talent, but hey, I had fun, and they at least give a good laugh, right?  Maybe these are reindeer after they got in to a bunch of Santa's eggnog.

Mastrad, Inc., a French company specializing in culinary accessories, was kind enough to send me a pack of  six silicon heart shaped baking cups for me to try out and review.  At first, I was a bit perplexed as to what I could do with them, since it wasn't Valentine's Day, but then I started thinking, and thought that maybe, just maybe, I could make some reindeer cupcakes out of them.  If you squint your eyes a little, you can see how one could get a face in the center of the heart, and then the rounded parts kind of the antler section.  I have used silicon bakeware before, and sadly was not very impressed, so I was a little skeptical of how silicon baking cups would work, but I was still very excited, and within a few hours of receiving them, I was ready to put them to the test!

Here is what they look like when they arrive.  A cute little box of pretty red cups, about the size of the palm of my hand.  They are made of thin, silicon material, and the sides can be folded down in half to make a tart sized cup (which I will be giving a try next with something chocolate related).  The line to fold them also marks where to fill them too as well.

I put them on a baking sheet, and filled them to the line marked on the cups, no guess work here!   I filled them with an eggnog cake batter (which will be my next post).  They didn't bend or spill, or anything.  I also did not spray the cups with any non stick spray.

I baked them along side a traditional cupcake pan to compare baking times (I am a chemist, so I have to take a scientific approach to this).  They baked at 350 degrees F.  (they are oven safe up to 480 degrees F.)  Below is what they looked like when they came out of the oven.  They rose perfect, did not over flow, but were plenty big.  they cooked in the same amount of time as the traditional pan as well.

When I took them out of the cups, all I had to do was peel the sides away, turn it over, and tap it a few times on the bottom and it came right out.  Not a single one stuck to the cup, and they came out beautifully. 

Here is how I decorated them.  I colored a bit of the buttercream frosting with some black food coloring to outline the face, and put pretzel pieces for the antlers, mini marshmallows for the eyes, and a chocolate chip nose.  All in all, I thought they were a great use of the heart shaped cups.  The best part is, they fit perfectly in a regular cupcake liner after you take them out, so you can just pop them in the paper liners and store them that way. 

Overall I was very impressed with these, despite being skeptical at first.  I will be using these again for sure.  The only drawback to them is that there are only 6 in a package, so it will take several batches of baking to get through one batch of batter.  Otherwise, they performed as described.

If you want to check out their products, you can find them at Mastrad, Inc., on Facebook at Mastrad US, and on twitter at Mastrad.  If you would like to check this product out, it can be found here.

Disclosure:  This product was furnished by the manufacturer to review.  All comments and opinions of the product are my own.

Garlic Cheese Twists and Easy Puff Pastry Dough

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I haven't made many appetizer kind of items, and I don't usually make decadent savory items, because we try to be on a calorie conscious diet here, but sometimes, we just want something rich, cheesy, and sinful. I thought I would surprise my husband with these garlic cheese twists since her loves Italian bread sticks, and cheese straws.  I am not ambitious enough, nor do I have the time to try and do puff pastry the traditional way, so I thought I would give King Arthur Flour's Fast and Easy Puff Pastry Dough a try.  It did not disappoint. It was fast, and easy, and baked up flaky, butter and tender.  Definitely worked great, and I can't wait to make something sweet like apple turnovers with the dough next.  I made a double batch of pastry dough, and now I have one batch in the freezer just waiting to be used.  What could be easier??

Enjoy these lovely Garlic Cheese Twists for a nice party appetizer at a holiday party, or just to snack on at home.  Can't go wrong!

GARLIC CHEESE TWISTS
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Flaky Cheese Twists)

Makes about 34 cheese straws

 Ingredients:

• 1 recipe Easy Puff Pastry, see below (or about a 16-18 ounces of puff pastry dough)
• 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese or pecorino romano
• Garlic Salt  
• paprika
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water 

Directions: 

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Ready a baking sheet by lining with parchment, if you have it; otherwise, just get out a baking sheet, no need to grease it
   2. Place the pastry on a well-floured work surface, and roll it into a 12" x 24" rectangle, about 1/8" thick.
   3. Brush some of the beaten egg/water over the dough, saving the remainder for later. 
   4. Sprinkle cheese over half of the dough, and then sprinkle the garlic salt over the same half, to taste (I like a hint of garlic, so I go light, but go heavier if you like it more).
   5. Fold the dough half without filling on top of the piece with filling, making a 12" square.
   6. Gently roll till the two halves stick together; you'll now have a rectangle about 12" x 13".
   7. Cut the rectangle in half lengthwise to make two rectangles, each 6" x 13". 
   8. Cut each rectangle crosswise into 3/4"-wide strips; you'll cut about 17 strips from each piece of dough, about 34 strips total. 
   9. Pick up a dough strip and twist each end in opposite directions until the dough is a spiraled cylinder. Place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough strips, leaving about 3/4" between them.  
   10. Brush with remaining egg wash.  Sprinkle with more garlic salt and then add a light dusting of paprika if desired, for color.
   11. Bake the twists for 12 to 15 minutes, until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool slightly on a rack before serving. 

Rolled out puff pastry dough

Dough after it has been brushed with egg mixture, sprinkled with parmesan cheese, and sprinkled with garlic salt.

Dough after folding over, rolling, and cutting into strips.

Twisted, brushed with more egg wash, sprinkled with garlic salt and paprika.

 EASY PUFF PASTRY
(Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Fast and Easy Puff Pastry)

Ingredients:

•  2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt*
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter,* cut in pats 
• 1/2 cup fat free Greek Yogurt  
• 1-2 tablespoons milk (if the dough just won't come together enough)

*If you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt to 1/4 teaspoon

 Directions:

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
2. Add the butter, working it in to make a coarse/crumbly mixture. Leave most of the butter in large, pea-sized pieces.
3. Stir in the yogurt; the dough won't be cohesive. Turn it out onto a floured work surface, and bring it together with a few quick kneads (if it still doesn't come together, add a little bit of milk).
4. Pat the dough into a rough log, and roll it into an 8" x 10" rectangle.  
5. Dust both sides of the dough with flour, and starting with a shorter end, fold it in three like a business letter.
6. Flip the dough over, give it a 90° turn on your work surface, and roll it into an 8" x 10" rectangle. Fold it in three again.
7. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes before using. To make pastry, roll into desired size. 
8. Freeze dough for prolonged storage, up to 2 months. To use, thaw in the refrigerator overnight.