Tag Archives: easy

Spider Egg Cupcakes

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Ruthanne

These delicious little chocolate cupcakes are topped with terrifyingly cute little spiders, webs and egg sacs. A perfect Halloween treat!

There is nothing worse than finding spiders hatching somewhere in or around your house. Spiders are bad. Baby hatching spiders? Way worse. That’s what makes these fun little cupcakes so terrifying! That little egg sac? A Lindt white chocolate truffle. The spiders? Drizzled chocolate and mini M&Ms. Easy, fun and so cute that you almost start liking spiders! Almost.

Aren’t they fun??? All by themselves, on cookies, on cupcakes… so many ways you could use these.

Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS:

One boxed cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package)
One tub of white frosting
1/4 cup of Wilton’s candy melts in dark chocolate
1 cup of Wilton’s candy melts in white chocolate
One bag of mini M&M’s (usually found by the chocolate chips)
Orange food coloring
Purple food coloring
24 Lindt white chocolate truffles

DIRECTIONS:

Make spiders and egg sacs 1st, to give them time to harden up.
Melt the Wiltons dark chocolate candy melts in the microwave in 3o second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Clip a corner off a small zip top bag, and place a small round decorating tip in the corner.
Spoon melted chocolate into bag, and pipe spider “legs” onto parchment paper, topping each set with a brown mini M&M. Pipe spider legs directly on each Lindt Chocolate and add the M&M on top. You’ll need 24 Lindt truffles and 24 extra spiders. I made about 40, and I was glad I did because some of their legs fell off as I pulled them off the parchment paper.
Allow these to harden completely (you can put this in the fridge to speed this process up if needed)

Make cake mix according to package and bake in 24 cupcake liners placed in muffin tins. Cool completely.
Divide the frosting into two parts. Soften it a little bit (10 seconds or so) in the microwave, and color it with purple and orange food coloring.
(Optional) Cut a small, (the size of the Lindt Truffle) and shallow hole into the top of each cupcake. I did this so that the truffle would settle a little “into” the cupcake rather than just perching on top. It makes frosting these a little messy with crumbs, but I liked the way it looked a little better.
Dip the top of each cupcake into frosting, covering the top (and inside the little “dent” on top) completely.
Place a spider “egg sac” on top of each cupcake.
Melt Wiltons White Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Place in a zip-top bag, clip a corner and drizzle liberally over the top of each cupcake in a web-like pattern.
Before the Candy melts firm up, place a couple of spiders on top.
Allow frosting and candy melts to firm up.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: These are fun, easy and just a tiny bit creepy. A perfect October treat. The spiders take a little time and patience, but they can be made ahead of time and won’t hold you up when you go to make the cupcakes. I hope you have as much fun as I did with these! Enjoy!! ~r

Other creepy and fun October treats you might enjoy: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

8 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cupcakes and tagged best, chocolate, cupcakes, dessert, easy, fall, Halloween, halloween cupcakes, kids, lindt chocolate, October, recipe, spider cupcakes, spider dessert, spider egg. Bookmark the permalink.

Homemade Mallo Cups

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Ruthanne

Dark chocolate and toasted coconut cups filled with creamy sweet marshmallow- YUM!

Last week we featured one use for silicone baking cups, and even gave two sets of them away! This week is another idea for these cups. If you missed the story last week, I was sent a set of these silicone cups to try out as an apology for a designer that stole one of my photos and used it in the product packaging of these cups. The cups I am using are Baketown Girls Silicone Baking Cups, and can be found on Amazon.com.

I was a little doubtful about the practicality of these cups (especially when I thought of doing cupcakes in them), but I’m having fun experimenting with the possibilities! I’m sure this won’t be the last recipe on Easybaked using these silicone cups.

Have you ever had Mallo Cups?

Dear me, they are amazing. They are considered the very 1st candy cup created, and they were one of my favorite childhood treats. They are a little hard to find these days, so I thought I’d re-create them. They are actually not very hard to make.

Here’s how we put them together. (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 12 cups)

2 bags of Wilton’s Candy Melts (if you want a little better chocolate, try Country Kitchen chocolate. It’s a touch more expensive, but truly better in flavor (click here). )
1 cup of toasted coconut (to toast refer to instructions here)
One large jar (13 oz) of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme

DIRECTIONS:

Set 12 silicone liners on a cookie sheet with edges.
Melt one bag of candy melts in a bowl in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Spoon carefully into a large zip-top bag and seal well.
Clip a corner off the bag of chocolate and pipe a little chocolate (about 1 tablespoon) into each cup.
Tip and/or tap each cup until chocolate covers the entire bottom of the cup.
Refrigerate for about 5 minutes until hard.
Carefully spoon marshmallow into a second zip-top bag and seal well.
Clip a corner off this bag and pipe a dollop of marshmallow into the center of each cup- do not let it touch the sides.
Use bag of melted chocolate to carefully pipe chocolate all the way around each dollop of marshmallow- this seals it into the center and keeps it from leaking out. Melt more chocolate, as needed.
Refrigerate for about 5 minutes until chocolate is hardened.
Melt remaining chocolate and add finely crushed toasted coconut to it (save a bit out to sprinkle on top later if desired)
Spoon this mixture into a zip top bag and seal well.
Clip a corner and pipe chocolate/coconut evenly over each cup.
Sprinkle with toasted coconut, or any decorative topping you desire.
Chill until cup is hardened and then peel away silicone cup and enjoy!

Not too difficult- and the end result is so much fun (and delicious!)

My thoughts: These are just fun little treats to put together and they really are so yummy with the crunchy coconut and creamy marshmallow. I even made an Easter batch of them!!! I hope you get a chance to try them! Enjoy!! ~r

We love to celebrate spring! Here are some other fun springtime recipes: (click on photo to see recipe)

2 Comments

Posted in Candy and tagged candy coating, candy cups, chocolate, classic candy, coconut, dessert, easy, easy candy, fun, mallo cups, marshmallow, recipe, silicone cups, toasted coconut. Bookmark the permalink.

Lucky Charms Truffles

Posted on March 6, 2015 by Ruthanne

If you like Lucky Charms Cereal, you will love these chocolate-covered treats!

I was walking down the cereal aisle and a box of Chocolate Lucky Charms jumped into my cart and begged me to make a dessert with it.

That’s almost how it happened…! I love Lucky Charms and I adore the chocolate version. Did you know that just before St. Patrick’s Day they have a limited time version full of shamrocks and pots of gold. Too cute!

I had actually been wondering if the oft-used technique of Oreos + Cream Cheese, rolled into a ball and covered in chocolate would work with cereal. Perfect opportunity to try!

These are yummy little chocolate-y and marshmallow-y treats that are SO cute for the month of March!

Here’s how we put them together: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 24-36 truffles, depending on how big you make them)

4 cups of Lucky Charms Chocolate cereal (marshmallows and all)
1 bar of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (at room temp)
1 bag of Wilton’s candy melts (in any color you like- I used up some leftover bags in a variety of colors)

DIRECTIONS:

Finely crush cereal into crumbs (I used a food-chopper).
Combine with cream cheese until it forms a soft ball of dough.
Roll dough into small balls.
Melt candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between, until melted and smooth.
Use a fork to dip balls of cereal into the melted candy. Tap the fork on the side of the bowl to drain off excess melted candy, and slide fork along edge of bowl to remove excess.
Place each truffle on parchment paper to harden. Top with marshmallow bits from the cereal, or sprinkles.
Allow them to harden completely.

My thoughts: Aren’t they cute? They are pretty yummy too. I thought the consistency was a little weird, but once they are covered in chocolate it’s not as noticeable. I got a thumbs up from friends who tried them and kids LOVED them. Just a fun little St. Patricks Day project! Enjoy! ~r

Other yummy St. Patrick’s Day treats here on Easybaked: (click on image to see recipe)

5 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged best, candy, chocolate, Cream Cheese, dessert, easy, fun, Lucky Charms, Lucky Charms Cereal, melted chocolate, party, philadelphia cream cheese, shamrocks, St. Patrick Day, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Turtle Bundt Cake

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Ruthanne

Swirls of caramel and chocolate cake, topped with caramel sauce and pecans, make this a beautiful and decadent dessert!

I love bundt cakes. They are just so pretty and fun to serve. This one is a combination of caramel and chocolate in a memorably beautiful and tasty display of yumminess!

This uses cake mixes and Kraft caramels, so it is a quick and easy dessert to put together, and it serves a ton of people, 14-16 at least.

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

INGREDIENTS:

One box of chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)
One box of caramel cake mix- I use Duncan Hines- (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to box)
32 Kraft Caramels (unwrapped)
1 can (14 oz.) of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
Whole Pecans (as many as you want to sprinkle on top)
Mini chocolate chips (as many as you want to sprinkle on top)
I also added some Kraft caramel bits as sprinkles because I had them and they sounded fun- those are the little round caramel bits you see in my photos.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Make up both cake mixes according to package.
Alternate pouring them into a well-greased bundt pan. Fill the pan only 3/4 full. You will have a little cake mix left at the end, since both mixes don’t fully fit in the pan.
Place on a cookie sheet (just in case of overflow) and bake for 40-50 minutes. A cake tester or skewer should come out clean when cake is fully baked.
Allow cake to cool for 5-10 minutes in pan, and then tip onto a wire cake rack to finish cooling.
While cake cools, make caramel.
Place unwrapped caramels into a medium saucepan with sweetened condensed milk and butter.
Heat on medium/high, stirring constantly, until caramels are completely melted and smooth.
Place cake on serving plate.
Pour caramel sauce over the bundt cake, allowing it to run down the sides.
Immediately sprinkle with nuts and chocolate chips. If you wait these will not stick to the caramel as it hardens.
Allow topping to cool and firm up before cutting.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: This is such a moist cake, and if you aren’t a big fan of frosting this is perfect- no frosting at all- just a soft caramel. It’s a perfect fancy dessert that is so quick to make, and fun to serve!

One more…

Other yummy caramel desserts you’ll love (just click on photo to be taken to recipe):

14 Comments

Posted in Cakes and tagged best, bundt cake, cake, caramel, caramel bundt cake, caramel cake, caramel sauce, chocolate cake, chocolate cake mix, chocolate chips, dessert, easy, elegant dessert, Kraft caramels, pecans. chocolate, recipe, turtle bundt cake. Bookmark the permalink.

Learning to make Scones

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Ruthanne

These dense, rich scones can be made with a variety of flavors, and they are SO good!

One month ago I could say that I had never even tasted a scone before, much less made one. Today I made nearly 80 of them and they are one of my new favorite treats!

About a month ago, I offered to help with a baby shower for my friend Heather. I asked if they needed help with food, thinking cake or cupcakes or fancy cookies- typical shower requests. Heather’s mom Sharla explained that they were having an English tea for Heather and could I please make scones?

Scones…? I agreed and started to read up on scones. They sounded difficult. They sounded dry and crumbly and b-o-o-o-ring…. yawn.

I started with a basic recipe for chocolate chip scones. I won’t tell you where I got it, because it wasn’t very good. At the time, I thought it must just be how scones are supposed to be (since I’d never tasted one before). Yuck.

I was explaining my dislike for scones in a group of friends one night, and one family started protesting that they make the best scones ever. The mom (my friend Beth), got the recipe from her mother-in-law, who sold them in a tea shop she ran years ago.

It sounded promising, and Beth sent me home armed with the recipe, tips and two scone pans (I didn’t even know those existed, but I LOVE them!).

I started with Apricot White Chocolate Scones, and the rest is history. I love them. They are easier than cookies and so much yummier!

Here is how to make them: (printable recipe)

You really need to have a pastry cutter (you can cut cold butter in with a knife, but it is SO much harder). You might also want to consider a scone pan. Those links will take you to products on Amazon, and if you get them I will get like 6% of what you spend. And then I will buy a scone pan for myself. *smile* If you want, you can cut the scones and bake them on a cookie sheet too- but they aren’t quite as moist and amazing that way.

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
4 teaspoons of baking powder (fresh!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, or any combination of those three
1 stick (1/2 cup) of cold butter
2 eggs (beaten)
3/4 cup of whipping cream
Milk (as needed)
Sugar/ Cinnamon to sprinkle on top.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, and spray pan (or sheet) liberally with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
Add stick of butter and cut into crumb-like pieces using the pastry cutter.
Add nuts or chips (if using) and toss together with dry mixture until coated.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together whipping cream and eggs until well combined.
Add dried fruit (if using) and toss together with wet mixture until coated.
Make a “well” in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.
Combine and then gently knead with hands until it holds together in a ball. Add milk if mixture is too dry (this is most often the case when no fruit is added). Don’t over-knead this dough (you’ll melt all those little pieces of butter with the heat of your hands!)

If using a scone pan, set aside about 1/4 of the dough to bake in a second batch. I overfilled my pan and they rose too high (as you can see in my pictures). When I made them for the shower, I used less dough and it was perfect!
Press remaining dough into a square on a floured counter and cut into triangles as shown (I used a pizza cutter and a knife- both worked fine).
Set into pan (or on cookie sheet) and brush tops with milk. Sprinkle with sugar (I used cinnamon and sugar).
Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.

Allow them to cool in pan for about 5 minutes and pop out with forks.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: Goodness…this sounds complicated, doesn’t it? I thought so too, but now that I’ve made a bunch of them I really do think they are easier than cookies! Today for the shower I made 4 kinds. I added white chocolate chips and apricots to the first (I cut the dried apricots into smaller pieces using kitchen scissors). I added dried berried (cherries, blueberries and cranberries) to the second. I added mini chocolate chips to the third, and I added Hershey’s cinnamon chips to the fourth.

Here’s Heather, the beautiful mom-to-be at her English tea baby shower- SO much fun! Enjoy!!~r

Other fun shower desserts here at Easybaked (click on a photo to see the recipe):

16 Comments

Posted in Pastry and tagged best, bridal shower, chocolate, chocolate chip scone, chocolate chips, dessert, easy, fruit, party, pastry, recipe, scones, white chocolate scone. Bookmark the permalink.

Caramel Crisp Cookies

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Ruthanne

These crisp, caramel- filled cookies are absolutely delicious, can be decorated for any season and are SO easy!

These cookies have made a bigger impression on people than almost any dessert I’ve made. Everyone LOVES these! I love them too and they really are one of the easiest cookie ideas I’ve ever posted. Plus they are cute, and cute always gets bonus points in my book!

These are made by pressing melted Rolos between Ritz crackers and then dipping them in chocolate… as easy as that! You almost don’t need a recipe, but for those of you who like having one, here you go: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 50 cookies)

One box of Ritz Crackers
One bag of Rolo caramel candies
Two bags of Wilton’s Candy Melts in dark chocolate

DIRECTIONS:

Unwrap all those little Rolos…this is the hardest part of this recipe….booooring!
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Place Ritz Crackers, bottom side up, on a cookie sheet and set one unwrapped Rolo on each one.
Put these into the oven and leave them for one to two minutes until the Rolo is soft enough to press flat with another cracker- I actually just kept checking until they were soft enough.
Remove them from the oven and use another Ritz cracker to make a little sandwich of that soft Rolo.
Allow these to cool completely- I put mine in the fridge for 20 minutes or so until they were nice and firm
Melt Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until they are completely melted and smooth.
Cover each cookie with melted chocolate and use a fork to lift the cookie up. Tap the fork against the side of the bowl to allow excess chocolate to drain off, slide bottom of cookie along edge of bowl to remove extra off bottom, and tip gently off fork and allow cookie to slide onto parchment or wax paper. Sprinkle/ decorate as desired and allow cookie to harden completely.

If you want to skip the chocolate-dipped part, these are still a fun and yummy treat:

My thoughts: As I said earlier, these are really yummy. I like that you can decorate them any way you want for any season- they are like Oreo pops- and you ALL know how much fun I have decorating those here! Use any color of Candy Melt, use sprinkles or drizzles….sky is the limit! My dad tried them and said, “When you put these on your blog, tell people they are the best cookies I’ve ever had.” So there you go. The best ever. Thanks dad!

Other Christmas cookie recipes you’ll have fun trying~ just click on the photo to see the recipe:

Need a fun and unique gift idea? Easybaked has adorable boxed sets of notecards. They have an Easybaked dessert photo on the front and a recipe on the back! The come in a cute box and the best part? They are ON SALE for Christmas, include free shipping and the site that is hosting them offers $10 off a $50 purchase! Enjoy!!! (Click on photo for more information)

9 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged best, candy melts, caramel, chocolate, Christmas cookies, cookies, cookies dipped in chocolate, creative, dipped cookies, easy, holidays, kids, melted chocolate, recipe, ritz crackers, Rolo candy, salty and sweet, sprinkles. Bookmark the permalink.

Jelly Bean Cookies

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Ruthanne

These cookies deliver a big Easter surprise~ jelly beans in the middle! Pretty on the outside and sweet surprises on the inside? These are a must-try Easter treat!

These really are just the cutest thing…but fair warning: I brought these to church and overheard the following conversation between an 8 year old and a 6 year old:

“There’s jelly beans in the middle!”
“And the cookie tastes like Play-Doh!!”
“I want another one!”

So…maybe this is a bigger hit with the under 12 set…?

I thought they tasted ok. The cookies are very dense and full of white chocolate, but colored like Play-Doh…I can see the connection. I really don’t like jelly beans either…so I wasn’t a very objective taste-tester. But they are super cute…

In any case, if you are up for an adventure and you have lots of kids to entertain with something new….here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 36 cookies)

One bag of Nestle white chocolate morsels.
One can (14oz.) of sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla
2 cups of flour
Food coloring gels
One bag of large jelly beans (I used Brach’s Classic Jelly Bird Eggs)
One bag of Wilton’s white chocolate candy melts
Sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

Carefully melt Nestle morsels in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until completely melted and smooth.
Add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, mixing until well combined.
Add flour and mix, eventually using clean hands to knead dough into a ball.
Divide dough into parts and knead in food color gels until you get the colors you want.
*Note* This dough is very oily, because of all that white chocolate. This is ok. Just keep a paper towel handy to wipe your hands on during this process.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Take about a tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Then press it flat, lay two jelly beans on it and pull dough up around the jelly beans to cover them. Pinch cracks and seams closed and then roll into a ball again to make it smooth.

Place on a cookie sheet that has been covered in parchment paper. These don’t spread, so you can place cookies very close together.
Bake at 350F degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and slide parchment paper (cookies and all!) off the sheet and onto a counter to cool. There will be oil from the white chocolate on the paper- this is ok.
After cookies have cooled completely, melt white candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until completely melted and smooth.
Lay a fresh sheet of parchment paper on the counter, and get a clean paper towel.
If needed, dab the bottom of each cookie on the paper towel to remove any excess oils. Then, dip the top of the cookie into the candy melts, set on the clean parchment paper and sprinkle with decorations before the chocolate hardens.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: I’m not sure what to say about these…I asked for honest opinions from the adults that tried them and they all said they loved them. Then I caught one person chucking his out the back door….so much for honesty…! If you like jelly beans (and apparently Play-Doh…) you should give these a try. They are a little time consuming, but not difficult at all. Who knows? It might be a new family Easter favorite? Or maybe just a good laugh…? Enjoy!!!! ~r

Other Easter treats I would wholeheartedly recommend:

11 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged bake, best, candy, colorful, Cookie, dessert, easter, easy, filled cookie, Jelly Bean, kids recipe, spring, surprise, sweet, white chocolate. Bookmark the permalink.

Hamburger Cookies!

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Ruthanne

These cute little burgers are a fun April Fools treat. They look like a little burger, but they taste like a yummy peppermint cookie!

I’ve been making these since I was a little girl. They are so easy to put together and so fun to share with people! Both kids and adults will smile when they see these on the table or tucked into a lunch box!

Want to know how to make these cute little treats? Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of Nilla Wafers
1 bag of York Peppermint Patties
1/3 cup each of red, green and yellow Wilton’s candy melts.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees
Unwrap all of your peppermint patties. (Usually there are 24-26 of them per bag)
Count out twice that many Nilla Wafers (choose the pretty and unbroken ones!)
Place half of the Nilla Wafers, flat side up, on a cookie sheet.
Set one peppermint patty on each Nilla wafer.
Carefully place the cookie sheet in the oven for 1 to 2 minutes, just long enough to melt the chocolate coating on the peppermint patty. (This will melt the bottom of the peppermint to the Nilla wafer).
In 3 small bowls, melt the Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between until completely melted and smooth.
Place each of the 3 melted colors in separate zip-top bags.
Clip one corner and drizzle one color across tops of each peppermint. Repeat this with other two colors.

Gently press a Nilla wafer, flat side down, on top of the drizzled candy melts. Press to gently squeeze the “ketchup, lettuce and cheese” colors out at the edge of the cookie “bun”.
Allow cookies to harden completely.

I like to serve them with those little mini potato sticks. I wanted to take some pictures with some, but I couldn’t find any at the grocery store here. Trust me, the salty and sweet is a yummy combination.

My thoughts: My mom was downright mischievous on April Fools Day. I had green milk and no meat on my sandwich and holes poked in my apple. This is a fun “eating hamburgers for dessert” prank that will make your family smile. Plus they are SO yummy! Enjoy!!! ~r

Other fun treats you might like:

Ladybug Oreo Pops!

18 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies, Easy recipes and tagged April Fools, candy, chocolate, Cookie, dessert, easy, easy recipe, fun, hamburger cookies, holiday, kids recipe, make with kids, nilla wafers, recipe, sweets, Wiltons candy Melts, york peppermint patties. Bookmark the permalink.

Frog Prince Oreos

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Ruthanne

These adorable edible frogs are made with Oreo cookies and pretzels- cute and soooo yummy!

“You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you meet your prince…..!”

Someone posted a picture of frogs made with Oreos on Facebook last week and I came across it just after spending time on the phone with a friend who’s just been “dumped” by her boyfriend. When I saw the picture I immediately thought of all the “frogs” I’ve dated and knew I had to make us some frogs for Valentine’s Day!

I’ve only occasionally been in love on Valentine’s Day, and usually I watch horror movies with my other single friends to celebrate the day. Can you relate? If so, these frogs are for you!!

I am 2 1/2 hours from a Hobby Lobby. It is (as far as I know) the only place I can get candy melts and other fun decorative things for food blogging. When I packed up my car to move here for 8 months I remember packing the candy eyes. I can see myself thinking, “Well, I’m sure the Navajo will not have a store that sells candy eyes…I better bring those!”

I didn’t bring them. Or I lost them….?

So today I found myself standing in the kitchen with every ingredient I needed for these…except eyes.

I melted white and black candy melts and piped little eyes. Don’t do that. Go and buy the Candy Eyes. They are super cheap and really cute. My eyes are a little crazy looking….but then again, they remind me a little of some guys I’ve dated, so I guess it all worked out in the long run for me.

Ready for this recipe? Here you go! (Printable Recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

One package of Oreo cookies
One bag of small pretzels
Two bags of Wilton candy melts in green
Candy Eyes
Mini M&Ms (you’ll only need the red, so you can eat the rest!!)
Green jimmies (for the warts!)
Candy hearts (I piped mine with red candy melts, but I’d have used candy hearts if I’d had them!)

DIRECTIONS:

Melt the green candy melts in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Spread a sheet of parchment paper over the counter you will be working on.
Dip Oreos, one at a time, in the green candy melts, spooning the candy over the top and sides and then lifting with a fork and tapping excess away.
Gently slide the covered Oreo against the edge of the bowl to remove excess candy melt from the bottom, and then slide off fork on to parchment paper.
Place two eyes on the top, an M&M in the front for a tongue, sprinkle with jimmies and place a heart candy on top.
Allow Oreos to completely harden.
Reheat candy melts if needed (they might harden up while the Oreos cool).
Dip pretzels into candy melts, using the same technique as the Oreos.
Place two pretzels bottom to bottom on a clean sheet of parchment paper and while they are still melted, set a decorated Oreo on top and allow this to harden together.

My thoughts: If you’ve never dipped things in chocolate or candy melts before, it will take you a little while to get the technique down. The biggest tip I have is to tap off as much as you can before you set it on the parchment paper. If you leave too much of the candy melts on the Oreo or pretzel it will drain off into a big puddle around it when you set it on the parchment paper. It is also nice to have a clean set of tweezers handy to place the eyes and M&M with. I had so much fun decorating mine…I think they got more cross-eyed and dumb looking the longer I thought about some of the guys my friends and I have dated. I actually laughed out loud a few times. I’m easily entertained!! 🙂

If you are celebrating the holiday because you have found your prince, here are some ideas for YOU 😉

Editorial note: I stopped at the local grocery to get milk today and wandered through the baking aisle. They have candy eyes! I underestimated the Navajo Nation. All of my new friends here are asking where to get the supplies to make these. Lavina and Kathy: they have candy eyes at Basha’s 🙂 Yay for us!!!

15 Comments

Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged anti-Valentines day party, best, candy, candy eyes, candy hearts, Cookie, dessert, easy, frog, frog prince, fun, kids recipe, M&Ms, oreo, Oreos, pretzel, sprinkles, sweets, toad, unique, valentines day, Wilton candy melts. Bookmark the permalink.

Andes Mint Layer Cake

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Ruthanne

This rich chocolate cake has a huge layer of Andes Mint whipped filling and is drizzled with fudge topping. The perfect chocolate dessert!

Tah Dah!!! One last melted frosting recipe…for now…This one has yummy melted chocolate frosting inside and poured all over the top. YUM!!!!!!

I love making this cake in various forms. It is SO quick and easy to put together and everyone loves it! This time I added Andes mint candies for a refreshing mint twist to this recipe. I think you will love it!!

Here’s the recipe: (printable version)

INGREDIENTS:

1 boxed chocolate cake mix (with oil/eggs/water to make according to directions)
2 packets of Dream Whip (found near the jello/pudding boxes at the grocery)
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Andes Baking Chips 10 oz
One container of pre-made chocolate frosting

DIRECTIONS:

Make cake mix according to box and bake in 2 – 8 or 9 inch round pans (I cut parchment paper to fit, spray the pan with non-stick spray, and place it in the bottom of each pan so that the cake comes out easier).
Cool cakes completely on a wire rack and while they are cooling make your whipped filling:
Put Dream Whip, milk, vanilla, cocoa powder and powdered sugar into a mixing bowl and blend together.
Using a mixer, beat until stiff peaks form (3-4 minutes)
Fold in Andes mint baking chips, saving aside a few for topping.
Scoop chocolate frosting into a microwave safe bowl and heat for only about 20-30 seconds in the microwave. Heat until frosting is melted into a hot fudge consistency.
Use a large serrated knife to level your two cakes.
Place 1st cake on serving plate, leveled edge up.
Pour about 1/4 of melted frosting on top of cake and spread to cover (I put this layer in the fridge for about a minute just to cool the warm frosting down before adding the mousse layer)
Spoon all of the mousse on top of the cake and spread it ALMOST to the edges.
Top with second cake– put the leveled edge against the mousse…this keeps all the crumbs in the middle and leaves a nice flat surface on the top of your cake. Gently press top layer down to squeeze the mousse all the way to the edges.
Pour the rest of the melted frosting over the entire cake and let it drip over the edges.
Sprinkle the remaining Andes Mint bits on top.
Refrigerate until serving, this will make the middle layer firm and easy to cut.