Chocolate-Covered Cookie Butter-Stuffed Oreos

September 18, 2016September 17, 2016 / Jodi / 54 Comments

O. M. G! Have you tried the new Oreo Thins yet? If there is one store bought cookie I love, it is Nabisco’s Oreo. There’s really nothing like them.

I rarely buy them, but I have been curious about the new Oreo Thins I’ve been hearing about. Double Stufs are DIVINE, so how are the Thins?

I needn’t wonder long, because when I saw an incredible idea for Cookie Butter Stuffed Oreos from Ruthanne, the incredibly creative baker at Easybaked, I knew I had to try them.

And they are AMAZING!

But who stops at amazing, when you can make them doubly amazing by topping them with a scoop of cookie butter…

placing another on top of that…

sandwiching….

and covering with chocolate?!

I was dying to try them, but knew we didn’t need a batch of these around the house for the three of us. So when my son Nick was heading over to celebrate his future father-in-law’s birthday yesterday, I asked if I could make them for him to take over for a little birthday gift.

He offered to help, so I gave him the jobs of “hand model” and sampler to assure they were okay to send.

He approved!

I filled a little pint-sized red berry basket with a dozen, wrapped it in clear cellophane and tied with some raffia to send on it’s way.

And now we only have to worry about having eight of these decadent little buggers around to taunt us with their amazingness!

Such a fun treat! I hope you’ll give them a try. And for more cuteness, check out Ruthanne’s Emoji Oreo Pops! I’m kinda tempted!! 😉

Chocolate Covered Cookie Butter Stuffed Oreos

Servings: 20
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Ingredients:

One box of Oreo Thins Chocolate cookies
One jar of Biscof or Trader Joe’s Speculoos cookie butter
One and 1/2 bags of Wilton’s Candy melts in dark chocolate
A little bit of milk chocolate candy melts to make stripes on top (or any sort of sprinkles you’d like to add to make these for any season!)

Directions:

Place 20 Oreo Thins Cookies on a cookie sheet. Top each cookie with a teaspoon-sized scoop of cookie butter. Press a second Oreo Thin on top to make a sandwich. Freeze for approximately 30 minutes.

Melt Candy Melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each increment, until chocolate is melted and smooth. (It took mine about 3 increments.)

Take 3-4 cookies out of the freezer at a time, and carefully dip – one at a time – in the melted chocolate. Use a fork to tap excess off, and slide the bottom of the cookie along the edge of the bowl to remove excess. Set on parchment or wax paper to harden.

Add sprinkles (if desired) before chocolate hardens, or drizzle with white or contrasting chocolate after it hardens.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Twix Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

December 11, 2015December 10, 2015 / Jodi / 24 Comments

It’s Christmas cookie baking time, and I always like to try cookies that are a little different, a little more decadent, a little fancier, a bit more festive than usual for holiday baking.

I think I am on a chocolate caramel kick (Rolo Hot Chocolate Recipe Monday)!

I found a ton of different cookies with these ingredients, but ended up trying one posted by The Recipe Critic and tweaking it very slightly.

If you are a fan of Twix Candy Bars, you are going to go BONKERS over these awesome thumbprint cookies.

Twix Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

Servings: Approx. 4 dozen
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Ingredients:

Shortbread Layer:

4 sticks (1 lb) Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 Eggs (yolks only)
3 tsp vanilla
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Caramel Filling:

2 11 oz. bags Kraft Caramels
9 T. heavy cream

Chocolate Topping:

12 oz. Wilton Light Candy Cocoa Melts or your favorite milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Shortbread Cookies: With electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Add flour, and beat at low speed until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm.
After dough has chilled, shape into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets or baking stone. Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb or end of wooden spoon handle. Bake at 375 degrees F for approximately 8 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool completely.
Caramel filling: Melt the caramel and cream in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds until fully melted. Using a teaspoon fill each indentation with the caramel.
Chocolate: Melt the chocolate in the microwave stirring 30 seconds at a time until smooth. Spoon into a ziploc bag. Cut a tiny snip in the corner of the baggie to pipe the chocolate onto the cookies.

I bet these would taste wonderful with a steaming mug of Rolo Hot Chocolate! Can you even imagine!?! ‘Tis the season!

Cheers & Holiday Hugs,

Jodi

Old-Fashioned Hard Tack Christmas Candy

November 30, 2015November 29, 2015 / Jodi / 43 Comments

Making Old-Fashioned Hard Tack Christmas Candy is more than just “making candy.”

It is an opportunity to pass down family holiday traditions.

It is an opportunity to create memories.

A chance to spend time with those you love,

and a way to make a homemade Christmas gift.

So when my daughter-in-law, Colleen asked if we could make hard tack candy this year, I was so excited!

It has been quite a few years since the days when I was about her age and my mother-in-law taught me.

My sister-in-laws and I got together every year with my mother-in-law to make hard tack candy around this time (Thanksgiving weekend), so that the guys could take a bagful in their pockets for their annual deer-hunting trip, which always opens the Monday after Thanksgiving in our neck of the woods, and we would have plenty to enjoy and share as a special homemade gift.

The recipe is quite simple, but also a bit messy, so we were very fortunate to have an extra helper this year in Charlie, who kept the floor lickety-split clean from any powdered sugar, butter or flying candy that hit it!

Colleen and her sweet sister, Katie, caught on amazingly quick, and we ended up making 10 batches to split between the three of us.

hard tack jodi colleen katie 2015 christmas candy

We were happy with our results, and now the tradition has been started for the next generation.

I hope you will give it a try!

There is still plenty of time to make this sweet treat and create some memories with a new family tradition.

Here’s our recipe:

Old-Fashioned Hard Tack Christmas Candy

Servings: approx. 2 cups
Print

Ingredients:

1 cup water
3 3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cup Karo Corn Syrup
Food Coloring
1 dram (tsp) LorAnn Oil & Candy Flavoring of your choice (we used Cherry, Lemon, Strawberry, Raspberry, Watermelon, Orange, Butterscotch, Spearmint, Peppermint, and Cinnamon)
2 cups powdered sugar
Butter (room temperature)

Mix water, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Heat to boiling and boil until it reaches 300 degrees F (hard tack) on a candy thermometer (takes about 20 mins).

While that is cooking, prepare your cutting station. Cover counter or table with an old tablecloth. Pour powdered sugar directly onto the tablecloth and spread around. Amply butter three dinner plates and place on table amidst the powdered sugar. Sterilize scissors or kitchen shears in a pot of boiling water.

When the mixture reaches 300 degrees F, remove from heat and add food coloring and oil flavoring. Stir until combined.

Pour onto prepared buttered dishes, dividing evenly between the three. Let it cool for up to a minute, then begin gently pulling with scissors to edge of plate. With buttered hands, begin to pull and cut it off into the powdered sugar. You can snip a little at a time, or pour off large dollops into the powdered sugar. Let cool slightly and turn over to assure both sides have powdered sugar on them, but do not allow the powdered sugar to mix INTO the candy. Snip with shears into bite-sized pieces. Place in a colander and shake off excess powdered sugar. Spread out on a platter to cool completely. Store in air-tight containers, mason jars, or Ziploc baggies.

A couple of pointers:

I can’t even imagine making this by myself. I think a minimum of three people are needed to keep it moving as you need to work fast once you pour it as it cools quickly. Plus – it is so much more fun doing it together!
It is HOT! Be prepared! Butter your hands and plate liberally to be able to deal with it, and work quickly.
Be careful when pouring in the oil flavorings as some are very potent – cinnamon and the mints especially. Be sure not to breathe in directly over the pot, and have the room well ventilated – open the door or window if necessary and have your exhaust fan on.
Some people pour the hot liquid into a pan, let it cool, and then crack it by banging the pan on the counter or table or using a gentle small hammer or tool to pound and crack. I think that makes it very sharp, but you can do that if you prefer.
If you make cinnamon and mint along with fruit flavors – store separately until you put together to gift or serve as the cinnamon and mint flavors can overpower all others.

I hope this was helpful. Any questions, let me know.

What is your favorite flavor?

Do you have a favorite holiday cooking or baking or crafting tradition?

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Reese’s Peanut Butter Thanksgiving Turkey Treats

November 24, 2015November 23, 2015 / Jodi / 40 Comments

Whether you are a white turkey breast lover or a dark turkey leg, thigh or wing lover, you have to love these adorable Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Thanksgiving Turkeys!

When I saw these cute little treats on Pinterest made by MomonTimeOut, I knew I had to make these for a couple of little sweeties we will be spending Thanksgiving with. (And I’m guessing even a few of the big “sweeties” might love them too!)

A Reese’s lover’s dream come true using full size, miniature size, and Reese’s pieces all in one amazing treat!

I had some colorful candy-coated chocolate sunflower seeds I picked up at Trader Joe’s that I used for the noses, but you could use a Reese’s Piece turned sideways too. I melted some Wilton’s Light Cocoa Candy Melts for the “glue,” but you could use chocolate chips if that is what you have on hand. For me, it’s all about improvising and using what you have on hand or can get locally. And these go together super quick! (Believe it or not, I keep a few sizes of candy eyes on hand! I know – I have issues! But I’m betting you can find them at your local craft store like Michael’s or Joann’s or a candy or bake shop – and of course there is always Amazon!)

There’s still plenty of time to throw these together for your Thanksgiving festivities.

I made 12, and it only took about a half hour.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Thanksgiving Turkeys

Servings: 12
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Ingredients:

12 Full Size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped
12 Miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped
60 Reese’s Pieces (orange and yellow) (you can eat the brown ones!)
24 candy eyes
12 orange candy coated chocolate sunflower seeds or orange Reese’s pieces)
1 cup Wilton’s Light Cocoa Chocolate Candy Melts or Chocolate Chips, melted

Directions

Melt Candy Melts or Chocolate Chips by heating in microwave for 1 minute, stir, then heat 30 more seconds, and stir again.
Spoon into a zipper sandwich baggie, push to one corner, seal, and then snip a tiny corner to allow you to squeeze chocolate out for “gluing” chocolate pieces together.
“Glue” Miniature Reese’s Cup to Full-Size Reese’s Cup with a dab of chocolate.
“Glue” on Reese’s Pieces Feathers using a strip of chocolate squeezed across top of full-size Reese’s Cup.
“Glue” on eyes and nose.

Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Milk Chocolate Toffee Chip Cookies

October 16, 2015October 14, 2015 / Jodi / 26 Comments

Looking for a milk chocolately, toffee, chewy, yummy cookie recipe to treat your family or friends with? Of course you are – right?! (Or you can come to my house where there are always cookies!)

Look no further. Your search has ended. Bells are ringing. Angels singing. These blissful cookies will become a family favorite. I dare you to each just one.

Milk Chocolate Toffee Chip Cookies

Servings: 4-5 dozen
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Ingredients:

4 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
1 11.5 oz bag Nestle Milk Chocolate Chips
2 8-oz bags Hershey’s Heath English Toffee Bits’O Brickle Toffee Bits

Directions:

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until completely incorporated. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda and salt, and mix another minute. Gradually add flour and beat until well incorporated, but do not overbeat.

Fold in Milk Chocolate Chip morsels and Toffee Bits. Refrigerate dough for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, form a cookie dough ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Place on baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on baking stone for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

How old would YOU be?

August 27, 2015August 26, 2015 / Jodi / 24 Comments

How old
would you be

if you didn’t know

how old
you are?

-Satchel Paige

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Buttermints and Besties

May 31, 2015May 30, 2015 / Jodi / 22 Comments

How to Identify a True “Bestie”

When you are in about the sixth hour of and on the twelfth pound of powdered sugar making a couple thousand homemade butter mints for a friend’s wedding, and you have sugar sticking to awkward parts of your body and every square inch of your kitchen…

a true “Bestie” (who you haven’t seen for three months) shows up, washes her hands, washes the dishes in the sink, cleans your Kitchen Aid Mixer cleaner than it has been in years, and then starts rolling butter and sugar with you…

even when you insist she just sits and keeps you company……

That, my friends, is what you call a “Bestie!”

Jodi & Janet – Sanibel Island, FL – February, 2015

I am blessed with a few of the best besties ever, including my sweet Janet, who has put up with me since we were 12 years old. Her parents have adopted me as their daughter, her sisters have made me their sister. My hubby and boys love her as much as I do.

What more could I ask for?!

Yep – Buttermints and Besties – that sums up my Saturday – doesn’t get any better…

Love you, Janet! Thank you!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Old-Fashioned Homemade Butter Mints

April 21, 2015April 21, 2015 / Jodi / 22 Comments

I have always loved these soft smooth buttery mints. Not those hard so-called “party” mints that crack your teeth (and like Grandma sometimes had in her candy dish), but the butter mints in soft yellow or pastel shades that were often put out as “after dinner” mints at special occasions or for parties when I was growing up.

I had pinned a recipe for homemade butter mints some time ago on my Pinterest page, not knowing when I’d get around to making them, and/or deciding on an occasion to make them so I wouldn’t eat them ALL myself! Then a friend recently asked me about them for a special party she is working on, and it was the perfect opportunity to give the recipe a whirl.

And whirl I did indeed! Woohoo! Are these ever EASY peasy and even better than I remember.

Did your Grandma always have a candy dish full of these little treats at her house like mine?

Grandma kept hers in a special candy dish atop the server in her dining room.

I can still picture it vividly. It sat on the far left back corner of the server, and it was amber glass with a pointed dome lid on a pedestal. We always tried to carefully lift the lid when we were ~~sneaking~~ taking a piece so as not to “clink” the glass and make it ring throughout the entire house (at least that is what it felt like!) Because if you did happen to just tap it ever so lightly to make a tiny tingy noise, Grandma’s little dog, Felix, would come a running! Felix loved those mints, and you always had to throw him one if you wanted to prevent the entire house from knowing you were in the candy jar again!

My brother was often known for purposely rattling the jar just to get Felix all worked up. The poor little thing did practically have a heart attack when he heard that dish a ringing!

When I was trying to describe the candy dish, I thought I’d google it using the descriptive words I came up with, and to my surprise, I found what I believe would be the EXACT match (at least as far as my memory serves)! It is actually for sale on Etsy. I saw several. I guess they are considered somewhat prized antiques at this point. I’m kinda tempted to get it, but I think I’ll just keep the memory.

Here is the recipe I found on Barefeet in the Kitchen. (Mary even made a cocoa mint version if you want to check that out too, and her recipe is slightly adapted from Averie Cooks)

Homemade Old-Fashioned Butter Mints

Servings: Approx. 200 mints or 3 cups
Print

Ingredients:

1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 1/4 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Optional: Food coloring for the desired shade you would like

Using an electric stand mixer, combine the soft butter and salt, and beat to combine. Add the condensed milk and beat again to combine. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating to combine thoroughly. Add the peppermint extract and food coloring if you are adding. The dough will be mostly crumbs, but should stick together when squeezed into a ball. If it is sticky, add a little more powdered sugar.

Remove the dough from the mixer and pull off golf ball size pieces. Roll each ball with the palm of your hand into a long skinny log about 1/2″ in diameter – just as if you were making a snake with play dough. Slice the strips into tiny mint-size pieces. A pizza cutter works great for this, and you can cut several strips at a time quick and easily.

Spread the soft pieces across a baking sheet and allow them to sit at room temperature overnight. You could speed up the process and put them in the refrigerator uncovered. When they have hardened enough to store, transfer the mints to an airtight container. Enjoy!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Enjoy an EGGcellent Easter!

April 5, 2015April 4, 2015 / Jodi / 12 Comments

The anticipation is over – time to dive in.

To brightly colored eggs…

and yummy sweet treats!

And could anything make me smile more than receiving this photo texted to me yesterday of these two cuties making “Jodi’s” Candbury Mini Egg Blondies and decorating it with my name?!??!!

I am truly blessed! Thank you Mason and Ella! ❤

Wishing you all blessings and joy and the anticipation of Easter Eggs YOUR favorite way!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Cinnamon Popcorn & How I Flunked out of Poetry School

February 18, 2015February 17, 2015 / Jodi / 5 Comments

So just yesterday I announced how I was taking on a two-week poetry challenge for the WordPress Daily Post… Right?

Today’s assignment was the topic of Trust using an Acrostic Poem and using Internal Rhyme…….. YIKES!

It is 10 pm.

I’ve worked all day, spent the evening at a fun card class with Colleen (and Katie :)).

I’m sipping a G&T, and… WTH!

Too much to deal with… too many rules…

I like poetry and all, but….

Can I just share a recipe instead? 🙂

How about some yummy and SUPER easy Cinnamon Popcorn?!

At first try, I was so-so on this, but after my G&T (and skipping dinner), I think I might have to throw the rest of this stuff away before I eat it all!!

Some of you may recall my super-addictive, super-delicious, super-amazing Homemade Caramel Corn. It is so crazy delish – seriously! A MUST Make recipe. DO NOT HESITATE!

Well – when I saw recipes circulating for cinnamon popcorn, like Rachael Ray’s, I envisioned a kicked up version using Hulless Butter Popcorn.

I happened to have a bag of Cinnamon Red Hot Imperials on hand. Isn’t this an item in everyone’s pantry?!?! 🙂

I also happened to have a bag of Snyder’s of Berlin Hulless Butter Popcorn.

So I adapted and created this Kicked-Up Version of Cinnamon Popcorn that I think you will like.

Give it a go…. or NOT if you are on a DIET! 🙂

This is how simple this stuff is:

Jodi’s Kicked Up Cinnamon Popcorn

1 bag (approximately 8 cups) Snyder’s Hulless Butter Popcorn (or you can pop 8 cups of popcorn)
1 cup Cinnamon Red Hot Imperials (or any other type of cinnamon candy)
1/2 cup water

Spread popcorn out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
Melt cinnamon candy and water in a saucepan until completely melted.
Pour cinnamon candy over popcorn.
Bake in 250 degree F oven for approximately 20 minutes.
Let cool completely.

DEVOUR! 🙂

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

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the creative life in between

cherishing the moments and exploring my passion for creativity… through art, photography, food, and writing

Candy

Twix Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

Twix Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies