Santa Bread

I am about to get all fancy on you.  Super fancy for Christmas.

BAM!

Santa Bread!

Are you impressed yet? Ok, so I realize that Santa looks a bit creepy. What do you expect from someone who asks you to sit on his lap and whisper what you want in his ear so he can sneak into your house in the middle of the night.  Oh and is made of bread dough.  I think you'd look a bit creepy too if you were a giant floating head made of bread dough.

The Santa bread recipe and assembly instructions can be found over at Taste of Home. The directions are waaaay too long for me to copy here.  Plus you really need the pictures on the website to understand how to place the dough bits in the right spot.

If you are one of those people who buys yeast in the jar, not in the packets, it will be helpful for you to know that 2 1/4 tsp equals .25 oz yeast.

Blockette thought Santa Bread was super cool.  She examined him silently with amazement and then said, "I think we should eat his beard first."

So we did.  Santa bread tastes slightly sweet, sort of like a Hawaiian roll.  The texture stayed very soft and springy for 3 days.  The fourth day Santa got a bit crummy.  So I put him out of his misery...in mah belly!

Thank you Santa for the yummy delicious goodness that was your head.  See you soon!!!!!

P.S. I made another Santa bread and this is how he turned out:

Doesn't he look like he's winking?  Santa's so cheeky!

Peanut Butter Ritz Fudge

One of the Christmas cookies I would always convince my mom to make at the last minute were Peanut butter Ritz sandwiches. If you haven't ever had this, get yourself some peanut butter, Ritz crackers and some white chocolate. What you do is make little sandwiches with the peanut butter and the crackers, and then dip them into white chocolate.

Salty and sweet can't be beat. (Just so you know, I'm doing that raise the roof thing with my arms when I say that.  You should too.)

Why didn't we ever make them any other time of the year? Oh yeah. Cause my mom was mean. (Hi mom!) That's where I learned it from. Tradition!

Anyhow that awesomely crazy cool lady over at Cookies and Cups found a way to make this treat faster, easier and more betterer. Yeah! I know. You are saying that's impossible. She is a kitchen genius. She made it into Fudge. NGAAAAAAA!!!

Ok. I can year you inside your head. (Did you know?) I can hear you saying, lady, how can fudge be easier than dipping little sandwiches in chocolate? She makes cheater fudge. CHEATER FUDGE. What?

You haven't heard of that either? (Do we live next door to each other under adjacent rocks or something?)

Cheater fudge is when you take a bag of chips, melt it, and stir in a can of frosting. This is fudge even I can make without messing up.

To make the pb ritz white chocolate fudge all you have to do is the above and then stir in peanut butter Ritz Bitz. Yeah!

Look at those layers!  So much goodness, I can't even stand it.

Blockette can't stand it either.
Why yes. She is trying to kiss her cookies. Sometimes it's just better not to ask.


Peanut Butter Ritz White Chocolate Fudge from Cookies and Cups
1 (16 oz) can vanilla frosting
1 (12 oz) bag white chocolate chips
2 cups Peanut Butter Ritz Bits

Grease or spray lightly a 9×9 or 8×8 pan. Melt chips in a double boiler or the microwave. As soon as they are melted, stir in entire can of frosting. Fold in Ritz Bits. Spread into prepared pan and chill for 30 minutes. When firm, cut into squares.

One Year to Go

Oh those crazy Mayans!

Hawaiian Smoothie

I was in the mood for a smoothie. Yeah. I realize it's December. Not exactly smoothie weather. It's not like it's been super cold or anything. I mean according to my Crocuses (Croci?) it's early spring. Sigh.

Anyhow, this is the Hawaiian smoothie from alla Poppy.

I made this version with 12 frozen canned mandarin oranges and 12 frozen pineapple chunks, also from a can. I omitted the coconut and marshmellows because I thought the smoothie was going to be sweet enough without them. I was right.

For me, this is a great way to get some fruit into my diet. I really don't eat enough fruit.  Yeah Mom, I know the canned stuff is loaded with sugar, but it's better than no fruit at all. 

Hawaiian Smoothie from alla Poppy
9-12 cubes of frozen canned pineapple
9-12 segments of frozen canned mandarin orange
about a half cup of yogurt
milk
flaked coconut
marshmellows

Put pineapple and orange in blender, add yogurt, and pour in a good amount of milk.(My blender needed about a cup.) Blend until smooth. Top with flaked coconut and marshmellows if you're feeling super fancy.

Pepperoni Roll Ups

These were so good we ate the entire batch before I could snap a picture. These babies have taken the internet by storm.  If you've been under a rock, and have no idea what I'm talking about, head over to Dinner with the Donnels for a great picture of the pepperoni roll ups .

You really don't need a picture to figure out how to make them. These guys are easier than hot dog roll ups to assemble!

1.) Separate crescent roll dough into triangles.
2.) place 4-5 pepperoni slices on the side of the triangle opposite the point.
3.)Cut a stick of string cheese in half and place it on top of the pepperoni.
4.)Roll the dough up around the cheese and pepperoni.
5.)Bake for 12-15 minutes. 
6.)Serve with marinara (I just used sauce from a jar) or ranch dressing.

 Blockette told me she likes this even better than regular pizza!  Woah.  Is that even possible???? 

Cake Batter Truffles

Back in September I made Cake batter Ice cream. It was oh so very tasty, but it left me with a LOT of leftover cake batter.

I used some of it up making cake batter pancakes. The pancakes used only 2/3 cup of the cake mix. I still had loads more.There was no way I was going to toss all that cake-y goodness out. I was certain I could find more tasty treats that would use up my pretty pink cake mix.  Then I was browsing the blog Chef in Training and I came across two recipes for cake batter truffles.

One recipe had sweetened condensed milk in it. This seemed very similar to the Snickerdoodle truffles I made last year for Christmas. Those snickerdoodle truffles were amazing, but I wanted to try something a little bit different.  The recipe I chose seemed like it would hold up a little bit better out of the fridge.  The condensed milk versions got almost too soft when they got to room temp.

These are a big hit with Blockette. Pink cake is her favorite.  Plus anything with sprinkles is a winner.  Hmmm, maybe I should put rainbow sprinkles on her mushrooms and black beans!!!

Cake Batter Truffles from Chef in Training
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup white sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup yellow cake mix (I used pink strawberry)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-4 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons sprinkles (I forgot to add this)

Truffle Coating:
16 ounces (8 squares) almond bark (or white candy melts)
4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix (I left this out as I wanted the coating to be white, not pink)
sprinkles

Beat together butter and sugar using an electric mixer until combined. Blend in vanilla. Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.

While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl. Place truffle back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining balls until finished. Chill cake batter truffles in the refrigerator until serving. Makes around 24-30 truffles.

Toothless

Can you tell she's proud to have lost that front tooth?  She says she looks like a real First Grader now.