Category Archives: baked gifts

Minty Chocolate & Peanut Butter Grahams Recipe

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Hey friends!

I have decided that chocolate and peanut butter should become their own food group.

I will add them near the bottom of the pyramid thingy so I get 10 servings a day.

No, but seriously, you must make these minty-chocolate-peanutbutter-no-bake-grahams.

Do it now.

You will need:

8 graham crackers (1 sleeve)

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate-that’s 6 squares in Bakers

3 oz white chocolate

1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon pepermint

green food coloring

First, break graham crackers in half long-ways and lay in foil lined baking sheet.

Then, combine semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave a few minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.  This burns so easily, and the chocolate will hold it’s shape for a long time, even though it’s melted. So check and stir often.  Add in vanilla and stir quickly.  Then pour over crackers, spreading the chocolate with a spatula to cover.

Now repeat with white chocolate, melting and stirring.  Then add in peppermint and green color and stir quickly to combine. Add on top of chocolate and swirl with a knife.

Refrigerate about an hour.

Remove from fridge and peel the whole thing off the foil.  Now flip it over so you see the grahams.  Now wait about 10 minutes for the chocolate to soften a little.  Then use a pizza cutter to re-cut the bars.  Trust me on this, I broke half the batch trying to work this mess out.


Now put on a lovely plate and serve to all your friends, while making your dog super jealous because her sniffer can smell an open jar of peanut butter 3 neighborhoods over.

OR…

Get a sweet St.Patty’s Day label from The Graphics Fairy and have a goodie giveaway.

You can also get the label in a Word Doc in this exact size here.

ENJOY!

I am linking too:

The Graphics Fairy

Making the World Cuter

The DIY Show off

Marvelously Messy

Coastal Charm

Someday Crafts

Tip Junkie handmade projects

DIY Gift: Biscuit Mixes

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If you thought yesterday’s homemade apple butter was killer, check out it’s partner in crime…

homemade biscuits.

yum.

Here’s what you will need:

7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup pastry or cake flour

1 cup Saco buttermilk powder

4 teaspoons salt

4 teaspoons sugar

4 tablespoons double acting baking powder

4 teaspoons baking soda (make sure it’s fresh-check the date)

1 1/2 cups (12 oz) shortening (like Crisco)

1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter

Mix together all dry ingredients. Cut in shortening and butter to form a coarse, crumbly mixture.

Kelli and I softened the butter and used a food processor to cut it and the Crisco into the dry ingredients.  You may need to do half batches unless your food processor is as big as Texas.  It was super fast.

Then we scooped 3 cups into a cello bag and tied with a simple ribbon.

The labels are made from How About Orange, and the biscuit instructions are available here in the form of a JPG.

You can print the image in any photo program, it’s best if you can fit 3 per sheet.

 

So wanna see what they are like finished? My sister made some with me last week.

To make the biscuits:

3 cups biscuit mix

3/4 to 1 cup ice water

Preheat oven to 425F.  Place three cups of biscuit mix in a medium-sized bowl.  In a well in the center, stir in most of the ice water.  Form a soft dough by briskly stirring with a fork, adding reserved ice water if required.

Gently knead on a lightly floured board about 8 times.  Do not overwork dough.

Roll or pat out to a thickness of 1/2 inch.  Cut into 2″ rounds and place on baking sheet, or pat into 8″ square baking pan, or 9″ cast iron pan.  Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.  Brush generously with melted butter. Serve hot with apple butter:)

And as Julia Child would say…bon appetit!!

 

Easy DIY gift: Homemade Apple Butter

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Homemade apple butter is a super fun gift for the holidays. I am not a canner-type person, don’t worry if you aren’t either, it is crazy easy and doesn’t require any of that fancy canning tool type stuff.

You will need about 3 bags of apples, 2 red and 1 green.  I used gala for the red.

Apple Butter:

2 to 1 mix of gala (red apples) and green apples.

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

3 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

You will also need a Crockpot, metal funnel, and pint jars

Peel, core, and chop up apples, filling up your Crockpot to the tippy top.  Add the vinegar and bake on HIGH for 8 hours, then bake on LOW for 10 hours.  Add everything else, then bake on LOW for 4 more hours.  You may want to set the timer on your Crockpot, mine shut off somewhere in the middle of the 10 hours, I guess it decided it was done.  No rest for the weary, you need all 22 hours outta this pot!  If it helps, my sister created a schedule that I follow…

In by 10pm, turn down at 6am, add stuff at 4 pm, take out at 8pm.

This is the consistency you are looking for.  It helped me to take the lid off for the last 2 hours to let the apple butter thicken.  I also used a wisk during that last 2 hours to break up any large pieces.

Depending on the size of your Crockpot, you will get about 12 pint jars from this recipe.  To prepare the jars, add water to your largest pot and boil the bands, lids and jars.  This will sanatize everything.  I could only fit 6 at a time, so each time I took one out to can, I added another.

Using tongs, pull a jar from the boiling water and place in a pot or bowl, this prevents messy overflow.

It should take about 1 ladle scoop to fill your jar.  Then add the lid and band real quick like.  It will all be hot, so use a towel.

Then place in a non-drafty area of your kitchen and cover with a towel.

In about an hour you should hear the tops start popping, meaning you have officially canned something!

If they don’t pop, you should put in the fridge and use quickly because there are no preservatives.

If they do pop, which they all should, you are all set to make pretty packaging and give away!

Kelli and I packaged these together, aren’t they sweet!!!???

We used a small dessert plate to trace a circle on the fabric.  Then we cut out and tied onto the jar.  The cutie labels are from How About Orange.  Well, the whole wrapping idea is from her, we had to copy, it was too cute.

Now if you are feeling super creative, you can add biscuit mix, I will show you that tomorrow.

YUM!!!!

UPDATED: here are the biscuits!

I am adding this to the Saturday Night Special :)

Soft Spice Biscotti

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Good morning blog friends!   I thought you all might like this Soft Spice Biscotti recipe for your winter wonderland.  It’s from a good friend in Kentucky, and it is soft and yummy!

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp water
2 large egg whites
1 large egg

Mix all, set aside

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

Mix and add into wet ingredients from above
Separate into 3 balls
Roll each into a rectangle, about 3/4″ thick
Position on greased cookie sheet
Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes, they will dry out fast, so don’t over cook.  They will turn a little brown on top, just like cookies.
Cool 10 minutes
Slice at an angle
Enjoy!

This has been added to DIY Day with Kimba
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Caramel Corn Recipe: DIY Christmas Presents

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I always love food gifts, especially for guys or families. This Caramel Corn is extra yummy, easy, and cheap. Here is what you do:

 

Puffs:
1 – 7-8oz bag of puff corn curls (see picture above)
place in a large roaster pan

Caramel Sauce:
1/2 lb butter (not margarine)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup

1. Mix all caramel sauce ingredients in a 2 quart saucepan and cook for 2 minutes
2. Add 1 tsp baking soda, it will get really foamy
3. Pour sauce over puffs and stir until mixed
4. Cook at 250 for 45 minutes, mixing every 15 minutes
5. Remove from pan and put on wax paper
6. Break apart with spatula or greased spoon

You can find cellophane bags at the craft store with the wrapping paper and packaging. This one is actually to wrap around a basket, but the size was right. Then you can make your own tag, or right click on this image, save it to your computer, and print it out on card stock.

yummy.
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