Tag Archives: chocolate

Apple Oreo Pops!

Posted on August 26, 2016 by Ruthanne

These adorable Oreo pops are a perfect back-to-school treat. Add hearts to send a little love in the lunchbox- or some worms to get a few giggles!

I hate to even say the words….but fall is coming. I love summer so much, that when I start to see school busses out on the roads I just cringe. Fall has some pretty fun foods though….! One of our family-favorites is apples. I grew up in Michigan, and we have the best fall apples. I loved trips to the orchard to get cider and doughnuts- and these little Oreo pops are perfect to kick off the fall season.

You can make them with hearts and tie them up in cello bags to send a little love…

Or you can add a few caramel worms to your apples to give them an extra “Ewwww” feel- maybe for Halloween?? 🙂

Either way, these are an easy and fun fall treat that keeps for weeks when wrapped up in a cello bag.

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 pops)

One box of Double Stuf Oreos
24 lollipop sticks
2 bags of Wilton’s Candy Melts in red, yellow or green
About 5 tootsie rolls
About 1/4 cup of fondant, colored green (you can make a small batch of this or just purchase a box of Wilton’s)
A leaf cookie or fondant cutter
Heart sprinkles (as desired to decorate)
5-10 Kraft caramels to make worms if desired.

DIRECTIONS:

(if you have never made an Oreo Pop before, our how-to is here)

Twist apart all of your Oreos.
Melt a small amount of candy melts (<1/4 cup) in the microwave in 3o second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melts, and press into white filling of Oreo. Place other half of cookie back on top and press together.
Place Oreo and stick on a cookie sheet. Repeat this process with remaining Oreos, and then freeze all Oreos until firm (10-15 minutes).
While Oreos chill, make stems, leaves and decorations.
Make stems by rolling tootsie rolls out and cutting into short pieces.
Take colored fondant and roll it out. Use leaf-shaped cutter to cut out 24 leaves.

If you want wormy apples, simply unwrap a caramel, roll it out into a thin rope using clean hands, and press little lines in it using a small knife or toothpick. Cut them into little pieces to add as if they are crawling out of each apple.

Melt one bag of Candy Melts using method from above.
Once Oreos are chilled, hold with stick and dip into Candy Melts until completely coated.
Tap on side of bowl to get excess off, and drag across lip of bowl to scrape excess off back of cookie.
Set on parchment paper to harden.
Immediately set a tootsie roll stem on the top, along with a leaf.
Add any other decorations (hearts? worms…?)
Melt and use second bag of Candy Melts when you are finished with the first one.
Allow Oreos to harden up (at least an hour) before tying each one up in a bag (or putting them in an air-tight container for storage).
Enjoy!

My thoughts: You just can’t go wrong with Oreo Pops. They are one of my favorite things to make because you have fun treats handy for awhile afterward! These are pretty easy- you might hesitate a little with using fondant if you have never used it before- but you should just give it a try! I don’t cover cakes in it or anything crazy- but I like it for little decorations here and there. My recipe and some tips are here. Otherwise just buy a box of the white fondant! It doesn’t taste as good, but for the little bit you are adding here, it doesn’t matter. I really hope you get a chance to try these! Happy almost-fall to you! ~r

More apple-y ideas here on Easybaked: (click on the photo to see the recipe)

6 Comments

Marshmallow-filled Chocolate Cookies

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Ruthanne

Chocolate “Oreo Thins” cookies, stuffed with a marshmallow and covered in dark chocolate- such a delicious combination!

I haven’t given up making Oreo Thins less healthy! Just a few weeks ago, I posted a recipe using the vanilla Oreo Thins- stuffed with key lime pie (see it here). Today, I bring you chocolate Oreo Thins stuffed with marshmallows and covered in chocolate. They remind me of those yummy pinwheel cookies- the kind with cookie and marshmallow all swirled together!

Yep. You will want to try these- promise! They are even better tasting than they look!

Here is how we put these together: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 20 cookies)

1 box of Oreo Thins in chocolate
20 marshmallows (regular size)
2 bags of Wilton’s candy melts in dark chocolate
1/4 cup of Wilton’s candy melts in white chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees
Set half of the Oreo Thins cookies on a cookie sheet that will fit in your freezer, set aside.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a second small cookie sheet.
Set 20 marshmallows out on paper and place in oven for 3 to 4 minutes. Until they become soft- but not toasted.
Remove from oven and allow marshmallows to cool to a point where you can pick them up.
Gently use a knife or a skewer to pierce the bottom of the marshmallow (allowing some of the melted part to come out), and set this on top of an Oreo on the 1st cookie sheet.
Gently pierce the top of the marshmallow and set a second Oreo on it, gently pushing the melted marshmallow out to the edges (it will go a little beyond the edges and this is ok!

Continue with this process until all cookies have a marshmallow sandwiched between them.
Freeze for about 30 minutes- until marshmallow is hard.
Melt Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until melted and smooth.
Taking only 2-3 cookies out of the freezer at a time, dip them into the melted chocolate, covering top and sides.
Quickly remove on a fork, and tap on edge of bowl to remove excess chocolate.
Gently slide off fork onto parchment paper to harden.
Melt white Candy Melts in the same manner as the chocolate ones. Place in a small zip-top bag, clip a corner, and drizzle over finished cookies.
Allow these to harden up before serving.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: I was originally going to do these with graham crackers- like a s’mores cookie- but when I realized how well those Oreo Thins work for dipping, I went with those instead- and I’m glad I did! These are absolutely delicious. I really, really loved them! A unique addition to any cookie tray! In fact, I made cookie plates with my last 3 recipes here on Easybaked. I baked them all over one weekend and brought these to my neighbors and friends. Who says you can only do this at Christmas??? 🙂

I hope you get a chance to try some of these fun summer cookie recipes before August disappears into fall! Enjoy!!! ~r

One last shout-out to summer desserts! Click on a photo to see the recipe 🙂

1 Comment

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged chocolate, chocolate cookies, chocolate dipped cookies, chocolate marshmallows, chocolate oreo dessert, Christmas cookies, dipped marshmallows, dipped oreos, fun oreo idea, marshmallow, marshmallow cookies, oreo dessert idea, oreo ideas, oreo marshmallow cookies, oreo recipe, Oreos, pinwheel cookies, smores cookies, stuffed oreos, summer cookie ideas. Bookmark the permalink.

Iced Mocha Pops!

Posted on August 6, 2016 by Ruthanne

Stir this delicious frozen pop into your coffee, and you have an instant, creamy iced peppermint mocha!

The heat of summer is here, and I find myself craving iced coffee drinks in yummy flavors. These easy-to-make frozen pops can be stored in your freezer and pulled out any time you have a craving for something a little more fun than just plain coffee!

I made mine with peppermint syrup- but you could certainly make yours with your favorite flavor! Don’t skimp on the chocolate- I used Torani Dark Chocolate Sauce and it is to die for!! Seriously. Use it.

Aren’t they so fun?!? And the smiles when you serve these….. love it!

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS (makes 10 pops)

3 cups of whole milk (if you can get it in your part of the world, Fairlife ultra-filtered milk is SO worth trying. It is unbelievably creamy. I’ve never had milk this good…)
2/3 cup Torani Dark Chocolate Sauce (plus a little to drizzle on top, if desired)
3/4 cup Torani Peppermint Syrup (or whatever flavor you love!)
Pink food coloring (if desired- match the color to the flavor you use– you can have several flavors in your freezer and know which is which!)
Whipped Cream (to top, if desired)
8 oz. of brewed coffee for each serving
Crushed ice

DIRECTIONS:

Heat 2 cups of milk in the microwave or on the stove until warm (not hot).
Add Dark Chocolate Sauce and mix until well-combined.
Set 10 (3 oz.) paper cups on a small baking sheet and pour Dark Chocolate milk mixture into each cup. Fill them about 2/3 full.
Freeze for 3-4 hours. Press a wooden dowel into each one (the pointed end helps with this) and re-freeze.
Mix peppermint syrup with remaining 1 cup of milk and pour all but about 1/3 cup into each cup, leaving a little room on the top of each pop to add some PINK peppermint milk.
Freeze for 3-4 hours (keep unused peppermint milk covered in fridge until you need it).
Add pink food coloring to remaining peppermint milk, and pour a little on top of each pop.
Freeze overnight.
The next day, clip the top of the cup with a scissors and tear away the paper cup. Place uncovered pop on a paper plate or parchment paper in the freezer.

To serve immediately, in a 12-14 oz. cup, brew 8 oz. of strong coffee. I used my Keurig with a dark blend.
Place pop into coffee and stir until dissolved. Add a little crushed ice to chill completely and top with whipped cream and chocolate drizzles if desired.

To have a mocha-on-demand, place these little pops into cake-pop cello bags and tie them shut. Keep these frozen for up to a month. When you are craving an iced mocha, simply make coffee and add a pop!
Enjoy!!!!

My thoughts: Ah….these are so yummy! I love the deep chocolate taste and how it blends with the coffee. I made some with caramel syrup too, and I can’t wait to try others! Give yourself a day to make them, since they have to freeze in stages. I started my first batch in the afternoon and finally put them in to freeze overnight at 10pm! So plan ahead and start them early.

These are so cute in little cello bags with ties- a perfect addition to a coffee bar- just be sure to keep them on ice! Enjoy!! ~r

Other coffee themed desserts here on Easybaked: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

Hot Fudge Sauce

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Ruthanne

The dark cocoa flavor of this hot fudge is the perfect topping to any dessert. Never use store-bought sauce again!

This hot fudge is a preview to my next recipe. You will need hot fudge sauce for what is coming this weekend on Easybaked! Whenever I have a dessert that needs a spoonful of hot fudge on top, this is my go-to recipe. It has hardly any ingredients, and it is easy to make, store, and reheat.

Here’s how to make it: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: makes about 2 cups of sauce.

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (use dark chocolate chips for less sweet sauce, and milk chocolate chips for more)
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 can (14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons of water
1 teaspoon of vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

In a small saucepan, melt chips, butter, condensed milk and water together. Stir until completely smooth.
Add vanilla and mix well.
Serve warm, or place in an airtight container (or one of these cute jars) -in the fridge for 2-3 days, reheating as needed.
ENJOY!!!

My thoughts: This is my stand-by recipe for hot fudge. I got it from my friend Monica about 20 years ago, and it has stood the test of time – and topped a lot of yummy things over the years! Stay tuned for a deliciously fun treat to serve with this— coming this weekend! ~r

Things that need hot fudge on top: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

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Posted in Sauce, Topping and tagged chocolate, chocolate sauce, dessert, fudge sauce, homemade chocolate sauce, homemade hot fudge sauce, hot fudge sauce, ice cream topping, recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Peppermint “Smoke Bomb” Brownies!

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Ruthanne

Celebrate July 4th with these fun peppermint brownie cups! Fun to make and sooooo yummy to eat!

I got a little chocolate bomb mold a few months ago and I love it. I have used it for so many creative things! This time, I am using it to make actual bombs- edible smoke bombs that is! The inside of this red candy shell is packed with sweet mint filling that mixes with the dark chocolate of these brownies perfectly!

Yes, these are a little fussy. It seems like anything super fun in the food realm takes some effort. If you want to make these SUPER easy, they are simply an adaptation from my Candy Cane Brownies from last Christmas. You could certainly add a little blue to the mint filling and just sprinkle stars on top for a fun (and equally delicious) patriotic alternative. OR you could be an over-achiever and make mint smoke bombs. Your choice! 🙂

Here is how we put these fun treats together: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

Brownie:

1cup butter
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Chocolate Glaze:

6oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons butter (do not substitute margarine here!)

Mint “Smoke Bombs”:

5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) melted butter
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
Food color in red and blue
One bag of Wilton’s Candy melts in red
One bag of Twizzler’s Red, White and Blue licorice (I found them at Target)
Large Star Sprinkles
Mini Star Sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

Brownie:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Spoon evenly into 24 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (don’t over bake- they will start to pull away from the liner)
Cool.

Chocolate Glaze:

Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Set aside until bombs are made

Mint Smoke Bombs:

Melt red candy melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Use a pastry brush to brush melts into a chocolate bomb mold and freeze for a couple minutes until hard. Do two coats- freezing in between.
Make mint filling by adding melted butter to sugar and extract.
Mix well, using water to bring it to a thick but spreadable consistency.
Divide into 3 parts and color 2 of them red and blue using food coloring.
Place all three colors into a large zip-top bag and swirl together with a knife before sealing bag.
Cut a corner off bag and pipe mint filling into each red bomb shell- filling them about 3/4 full.
Refreeze these for a few minutes before gently popping them out and setting them on a plate. (I took pictures of this process in an earlier recipe here– but I didn’t fill these shells all the way full like I did there).
Repeat this process until you have 24 mint bombs ready.
Assemble brownies by spooning a little glaze on top of a brownie cup and then setting a bomb on top. Sprinkle edges with small star decorations and freeze to harden the glaze.
Once all your brownies are in the freezer, make the wicks by pulling apart the licorice and cutting into 1 to 2 inch pieces of blue.
Dip one end into the leftover red candy melts (you might need to remelt these) and set it on top of a large red star sprinkle to harden.

Once these have hardened, and your brownies are nice and cold, take a few brownies out of the freezer, dip the end of a “wick” in red candy melts and hold it to the top of a cold peppermint bomb. It should immediately set and hold the wick in place.
Then- simply enjoy the smiles as people bite into your yummy (and very patriotic!) peppermint brownies!!!

My thoughts: Ah…I loved making these. I always wonder if the idea in my mind will come across the way I pictured it, and these did—-makes me smile! I loved sharing these with friends and family too. Makes me wish I had a 4th of July party to go to this year!!! 🙂 I hope you get a chance to try these and that you love them as much as I do! ~r

Other fun desserts to make for the Fourth of July!!! (click on a photo to see the recipe):

6 Comments

Posted in Brownies, Candy, Cupcakes and tagged american dessert, brownie cups, brownies, candy melts, candy smoke bomb, cherry bomb dessert, chocolate, chocolate bomb, creative brownie recipe, creative holiday recipe, fireworks dessert, fireworks recipe, fun summer dessert, holiday recipe, July Fourth dessert, licorice, patriotic dessert, peppermint brownies, red white and blue dessert, smoke bomb brownies, stars. Bookmark the permalink.

10 Fun Dessert Recipes for Father’s Day!

Posted on June 14, 2016 by Ruthanne

Father’s Day is upon us! I love this day. I have such a great dad- he is adventurous, wise, funny and so much fun to spend time with. I’ve created many recipes here at Easybaked on his behalf, and thought I would gather them all into one little post for you!

Dads come in all varieties with all sorts of interests and hobbies. If your dad is a golfer, try the Hole-in-one Cupcakes pictured above. They use a Lindt chocolate truffle as a golf ball- which is cute and SO yummy eaten with that cupcake!

If your dad is the grill-master of your family, you might make him BBQ Cupcakes– or Hamburger Cookies– or maybe both!

He loves football??? Hopefully he loves the Green Bay Packers… the only team truly worth cheering for….!

Make him delicious dark chocolate Football Cookies, fun little First Down Oreo Pops, OR Cheesehead Cupcakes (Go Packers!) At the very least you can entertain him with stories of how you use your tire pressure gauge with that last recipe…

Maybe your dad is a foodie. He loves his bacon and doughnuts! We’ve got both of those covered! Our Pancake and Bacon Cupcakes are actually incredibly delicious! I was skeptical- and I made them- but they got five stars in my book! We also have some pretty amazing Doughnut Cupcakes– that actually taste like doughnuts!

Finally, for the fisherman fathers out there….. Fishing Bobber Cupcakes– that use Lindt Truffles as an adorable bobber on waves of blue icing- and Fishing Pond Cupcakes– stocked with little goldfish crackers!

That makes 10 incredibly fun, unique and delicious recipes! But I need to add one more… in honor of my dad, who spent his life working in a medical laboratory and literally spent an hour this morning over breakfast telling me all the horrible things they used to have to mouth-pipette back when he started in the profession in the 1960’s… (like formaldehyde… as one of the less nasty things…)

For you dad…(and all scientist dads out there!) Toxic Sludge Cupcakes! These are unbelievable delicious… that green goo is white chocolate pudding and it is SO good inside these cupcakes… makes me smile 🙂

Happy Father’s Day! I hope you have a chance to bake some sweet treats to celebrate your dad this weekend! ~r

Dad and my sweet puppy this morning **smile**

Some of my dad’s other favorites through the years:

Caramel Oatmeal Bars

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Ruthanne

What could be better than oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips? This. This could be better, because we baked them in bars and added caramel. And we all know that caramel makes everything better.

Think “gooey”. Think “rich”. Think “this has oatmeal in it which makes it almost healthy”. Emphasis on almost.

Healthy these are not. But delicious? Yes!

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. margarine
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
3 cups uncooked old-fashioned oatmeal (plain, and not instant!)
2 cups of chocolate chips
32 Kraft caramels (unwrapped)
1 can (14oz) of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non-stick spray
Beat margarine and sugars together in a large mixing bowl until creamy- and yes, I use margarine here- not butter.
Blend in eggs and vanilla
Add flour, soda and salt to cream mixture and beat well
Stir in oats and chocolate chips
Mix until well combined and press a little less than 1/2 of batter into pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
While this bakes, combine caramels, condensed milk and butter in a saucepan and heat (stirring constantly) until caramels are completely melted.
Remove cake from oven and pour caramel over the top. Try to keep it away from the edges of the pan. You won’t be able to do this perfectly, but it is the caramel that sticks to the pan when you go to cut it later.
Spoon remaining batter over the top of the caramel and bake for an additional 25- 30 minutes- until browned on the top and not “jiggly” in the middle when the pan is moved.
Cool completely before cutting. It is easiest to cut after it is even chilled a little bit, and I kept these refrigerated until serving.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: These are RICH, gooey, happy cookie bars. Cut them small, as they will fill you up fast! I hope you get a chance to try them! ~r

Other cookie and brownie bars here on easybaked:

5 Comments

Posted in Bar cookies, Candy, Cookies and tagged caramel cookie bar, caramel cookies, chocolate, cookie bar recipe, cookie recipe, cookies, oatmeal, oatmeal cookie bar, oatmeal cookies. Bookmark the permalink.

Andes Mint Cookies

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Ruthanne

Creamy mint filling sandwiched between delicious dark chocolate cookies. Add a dip of chocolate on one end and you have the most delicious minty treat ever!!

Sometimes I just crave mint and chocolate. Mint and dark, not-too-sweet, chocolate. I have a favorite chocolate cut-out cookie and for this recipe I changed it around a bit to make it dark and less sweet. I love (love!!) how these turned out. My mom made wonderful mint brownies, and I grabbed the mint filling from those to add as a filling to these.

I think you will love these!!! Here is how I made them (printable recipe):

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter)

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of dark cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons mint extract
green food coloring
1/2 bag of Wiltons candy melts in dark chocolate
1/4 bag of Wiltons candy melts in green

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine 2 sticks of softened butter, and both sugars in a large mixing bowl, and beat on low until creamed together.
Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth and creamy.
Add cocoa powder and beat until combined.
Gradually add flour until able to remove beaters and knead by hand. Add flour until a smooth ball of dough is formed.
Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut into whatever shape you want. I used a rectangle.
Place cookies on parchment paper covered cookie sheets, and bake for 12-16 minutes until firm.
Cool completely.
While cooling, mix 1 stick of melted butter with powdered sugar and mint extract. Add water until mixture is a thick but smooth icing.
Add green food coloring to desired shade.
Spread mint icing between two cooled cookies.
Melt chocolate and green candy melts in two separate bowls in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Place green melts in a small zip top bag, zip it tightly shut and clip a small corner off.
Spoon chocolate over 1/2 of a cookie, tap on side of bowl to remove excess chocolate and set on parchment paper.
Make lines of green on the melted chocolate and use a toothpick to pull through the green chocolate one way and then back the other to make design.

Allow cookie to harden
Enjoy!!

My thoughts: These are delicious. I love the dark chocolate cookies so much. They are almost like a not-too-sweet brownie. The mint adds so much and while I really like the look of the dipped end, you could totally skip it and serve the cookies plain. They are a touch less sweet when not half-dipped in chocolate. I hope you get a chance to try these!! Enjoy!!! ~r

Other not-too-sweet desserts here on Easybaked: (click on photo to see recipe)

Caramel Armadillos

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Ruthanne

Caramel Armadillos1

Caramel Armadillos. Because Caramel Turtles are soooooo yesterday.

I have this great, really easy, caramel filling. It’s great on ice cream, in brownies, in cupcakes and even by the spoonful. I love it. I decided this week that I wanted to make turtle cookies with it, and I was struck by how boring and predictable caramel turtles are. Why turtles? Who started this trend? I turned to Wikipedia for answers. I was still bored.

I decided to make caramel armadillos instead. Not only are they WAY cuter than turtles, but it’s really fun to say “caramel armadillos”.

Try it… five times fast!

You know you want to… 🙂

Caramel Armadillo A couple weeks ago I was waiting for a friend to meet me for coffee and I stumbled upon these cute little chocolate molds on Amazon. They are supposedly Easter eggs, but when I decided to make Armadillos they came to mind as the perfect thing to use! All I needed was a tail and ears… and a tootsie roll would suffice!

SO caramel armadillos were born- and they are neither boring nor predictable!

Armadillo3 Here’s how I made them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 20 armadillos)

32 Kraft Caramels (unwrapped)
1 can (14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
Whole pecans- about 3 per armadillo
1 bag (32 oz/2lbs) of Merckens Milk chocolate wafers.
about 40 candy eyes
20 pink candy balls for noses
at least 25 tootsie rolls, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS:

Make caramel in a large saucepan over the stove by heating together the caramels, condensed milk and butter. Stir constantly until melted and smooth.
Pour into a small bowl and allow mixture to cool a bit (so it doesn’t melt chocolate when poured in).
Melt chocolate wafers in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until melted and smooth.
Use a food-grade brush, or pastry brush to “paint” the inside of the egg mold with chocolate. Paint two layers to make it nice and thick- you should not be able to see any of the mold showing through.
Freeze until hard (5 minutes or so)
Place cooled caramel into a large zip-top bag, zip tightly closed and clip a corner off the bag using a pair of kitchen scissors.
Squeeze a little bit of caramel in each cup, set three pecans on the caramel, pushing them gently into it, then fill the remainder of the cup up with caramel.

**Note: If you are making just armadillos, don’t fill to the top because you will add a layer of chocolate on top once the caramel is hard. If you are placing these on cookies, you can fill to the top and spread flat with a knife.

Place these in the freezer to harden (5-10 minutes) and then paint a layer of chocolate on the top of the hardened caramel and freeze again until hard.
Gently peel silicone mold away from chocolate and set on a plate to be decorated!
Unwrap 20 tootsie rolls and place for just a few seconds in the microwave to soften a little.
Pull and roll these into tails and use the side of a knife to press grooves along the length. Keep these on parchment paper until they harden up.
Unwrap 4 to 5 tootsie rolls and cut them into little circles. Shape these into ears and keep with tails on parchment paper.

To assemble, use dabs of melted chocolate to attach ears, candy eyes, nose and tails.

I made cookies for them to sit on. My original idea was for caramel turtle cookies, so I went ahead with the cookie plan and it does add stability to that tail (otherwise they are a little awkward to pick up!)

I used my favorite chocolate cookie cut-out recipe from here, and it made a few more cookies than I had armadillos for, but they are yummy cookies all alone!!
I used an egg-shaped cookie cutter a bit larger than the armadillo.
I added melted green candy wafers to the top- just spooned some on and spread it near the edges- and set a “open” caramel armadillo on top. The green wafers seal up the bottom and keep caramel from leaking out!
I set the tail on the melted green wafers and added flower sprinkles! Once everything hardened up I added the eyes, ears and nose.

So….cookies??? Candies???? It’s up to you! I think they would be fun on a cake.

How awkwardly wonderful would a caramel armadillo cake be???

My thoughts: These are delicious. They are also a lot of work (being honest!). It would help to have your tails and ears shaped ahead of time and I was wishing SO hard for an additional mold. That would save time too. That said- I will totally make these again!!!! They were well- loved by adults and kids alike! If this recipe seems like too much craziness for you, just make the caramel. Put it on ice cream and be happy! Enjoy!! ~r

Other recipes kids will love (click on a photo to see the recipe!):

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Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged Armadillo candy, Armadillo dessert, Armadillos, best, caramel, caramel candy, Caramel turtles, chocolate, creative, creative candy, creative cookies, dessert, fun cookies, Kids party dessert, pecans, recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Monster Oreos!!!!!

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Ruthanne

Turn your cookies into Cookie Monsters with these adorable Oreo treats!

So, Valentine’s Day happened last month, and I have started a tradition of making my Oreo Prince Charming Frogs as little Valentines for friends and family. As I was popping little red M&Ms into like 100 little frog “mouths”, it suddenly occurred to me that they looked a little like Cookie Monster. I brainstormed for a cute little cookie, got myself some blue candy melts, and had so much fun making these little guys this week!!!!!

Ah….so cute and fun! I gave them as gifts to as many kids as I could… and the smiles…. 🙂 You need to try these…!!!!!!

Here’s how we put them together (I took pictures as I went!)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 24-28 cookies)

One package of Double Stuff Oreos (you need that wide opening to fit a mini-cookie!)
One bag of Wilton’s Candy Melts in royal blue
Candy eyes
Royal Blue decorating sugar (I had such a time finding this- I wanted blue jimmies, but settled on these sugar crystals from CK Products.)
A box of Cookie Crisp cereal.
Several drinking straws.

DIRECTIONS:

Place Candy eyes, and about 24-28 pieces of cookie cereal into two small bowls.
Place parchment paper over flat working surface.
Melt Candy Melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until melted and smooth.
Dip Oreo in melts and use a fork to lift out. Tap firmly against side of bowl to remove excess candy and slide along bowl edge as you remove it.
Gently slide covered Oreo onto parchment paper. Immediately sprinkle with sugar, and place eyes (a tweezer helps with this).

Place a piece of cookie cereal in “mouth”. You may need to wait a little bit until the melts harden up a bit and get sticky. I found that a drinking straw placed in front of each one helped hold the cookie in place until it hardened.

Allow little monsters to harden and then share them with anyone who needs a smile 🙂

My thoughts: SO. FUN. I really loved making these and sharing them. I packaged them up in little cello bags that I got at Michaels, and I made stickers for the back using Avery square labels (#22806). I will attach the pdf for these here. Be sure when you print them on these labels to print them as “actual size”. Sometimes printers will automatically shrink an image to fit a page better, and if you let it do that they won’t line up with the stickers. I also tied up a few bags of just cookie cereal to go along with them. It was really fun.