J@H - Homemade Snoballs

I'm a few challenges behind on my Junk at Home 2015 challenge, due to travel and work, so I thought I should get back to it with a bang! This week I was scheduled to make my own version of Hostess coconut snowballs and I decided to make it all from scratch.

Even though I had to made four different things for this recipe, it all came together pretty quickly. Aside from the shredded coconut, you probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry. Well, as long as you're a baker, if you don't bake a lot you may need to head to the grocery story for a few things (unsweetened chocolate, marshmallow creme, Greek yogurt).

While you can get Snoballs at the store once again, you should definitely try making them at home. It's so much fun! Look at these adorable little purple puffs! The colored coconut is so easy to make. Simply place a bag of sweetened, shredded coconut into a large zip top bag. Add a drop of gel food coloring and squish it around until the coconut is evenly colored. Alternatively, you can add the coconut and food coloring to a food processor and pulse until the color is even and the coconut is slightly smaller.

The big question - do they taste like the original? With the combination of marshmallow, coconut and chocolate, there is no way for these to taste like anything else! This was definitely a winner in my book.

Two Years Ago: Strawberry Bacon Pizza
Three Years Ago: Pesto-Yogurt Chicken
Four Years Ago: Baked Pasta Casserole

Celebrations

I'm wrapping up my fun with ice cream! Today it's all about bringing back childhood memories. We're doing that with sprinkles. Lots and lot of sprinkles!

I've been seeing a version of this cake around the internet and have been dying to make it in my kitchen. I mean, look at all of those sprinkles! It's so pretty! It's also seriously easy to do. No need to worry about smooth icing, piping bags or imperfections. Just cover your cake with frosting and pour on the sprinkles.

I didn't stop with just sprinkles on the outside, the cake is also filled with adorable bursts of color. This is the perfect cake for a birthday, whether the birthday person be eight or eighty! Just be sure to stock up on sprinkles, you'll need a whole bunch of them.

It isn't a birthday celebration unless there is ice cream to go along with your cake. As soon as I saw this Fireball ice cream among the flavors from Perry's escapes, I knew it would be the perfect pairing with my vanilla sprinkle cake. Nothing reminds me more of middle school than fireballs and this ice cream tastes exactly like the classic candy.

If you are in the region that sells Perry's Ice Cream, you should definitely go and try out this flavor. I was so surprised at how dead on the flavor was in this ice cream. It has a strong cinnamon and spice flavor, with little bits of fireball candy mixed throughout. You definitely don't need to eat an entire bowl of this stuff, a scoop with your cake will totally satisfy.

Feel like a kid again. For your next celebration eat lots of sprinkles and ice cream!

Two Years Ago: Spice-rubbed Chicken & Gratin Dauphinois

Three Years Ago: PB&J Mallomars

Four Years Ago: Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Ice Cream Week - Grasshopper Sandwiches

It's day two of ice cream week! Today we're enjoying ice cream sandwiches, made with the biggest, richest cookies around, filled with ice cream, which is filled with more cookies! Ice cream sandwich Inception!

Summertime is ice cream sandwich time. Who wants to be tied to a bowl and spoon? With these bad boys, you're free to leave the house, roam the world and still eat ice cream. So perfect.

These particular ice cream sandwiches might be the perfect thing to share with a friend. The cookies are enormous and putting two of them together gives you something the size of a baseball. I decided to pair Perry's Grasshopper Pie with these rich cookies. The mint flavor of the ice cream is smooth and not overpowering. There are also crushed cookie pieces and fudge swirls throughout. The combination is totally decadent.

I only made up a few sandwiches with the Grasshopper pie flavor. I'm thinking these cookies would also be amazing with the Cocoa-Nut Bliss flavor - coconut ice cream with chocolate covered almond, fudge pieces and shredded coconut. What would you sandwich between these chocolate cookies???

Disclaimer -  As a member of their Inside Scoopers team, Perry's Ice Cream supplied me with a bunch of their new Escapes flavors. All opinions are my own. I'm only so happy to support this hometown brand because I grew up eating Perry's and they make a damn delicious ice cream!

Two Years Ago: Celebration Cake
Three Years Ago: Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
Four Years Ago: Cream of Asparagus Soup

Ice Cream week - French Toast Crepes

It's unofficially summer! After a long winter here in New Jersey, I'm happy to be ringing in the warmer weather with some cool treats and bringing you a full week of ice cream!

I'm happy to be showcasing my favorite Western New York ice cream maker - Perry's Ice Cream. As a member of their Inside Scoopers group, I have had the opportunity in the past to get samples of their seasonal flavors, test some of their small batch samples and tour the factory. Over the past few months, Perry's has been introducing their newest creation online - Perry's Escapes.

Since I live in New Jersey, it's become increasingly difficult to access Perry's Ice Cream. Some Wegmans grocery stores sell the brand, but not all of them in my region. I was left to lust after these new flavors online, until Perry's offered to send me a sampling of their newest flavors. Needless to say, I was excited.

Perry's Escapes are small batch ice creams with rich flavors. Several of the flavors are ones that were previously only available at the ice cream stand (like Movie Time and Queen of Hearts). I decided to pick out three of my favorite flavors and create a tasty recipe around them.

First up this week - French Toast Ice Cream!

After tasting the French toast flavor (it takes like maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla), I knew that I had to keep a hint of breakfast with this dessert. I made up a batch of miniature crepes, cut up a banana and piped on some whipped cream. Just like that, I had a sweet and satisfying dessert, that would totally be appropriate for early morning eating.

Disclaimer: As a member of their Inside Scoopers team, Perry's Ice Cream supplied me with a bunch of their Escapes new flavors. All opinions are my own. I'm only so happy to support this hometown brand because I grew up eating Perry's and they make a damn delicious ice cream!

Two Years Ago: Banana Bread French Toast
Three Years Ago: Spring Penne Pasta

Four Years Ago: Fruit and Yogurt Jars

Raspberry-Lemonade Jellies

I was working with this recipe a few weeks ago when I was trying to make jelly beans. While the jelly beans didn't work out very well (total fail actually), this recipe was a complete winner!

The original recipe was a plain lemonade recipe, but I've been meaning to try out more of the candy oils that I bought from LorAnn Oils. If you want to go more natural, you can leave out the raspberry candy oil and use just the lemon juice to flavor the candies.

This is actually the second batch of gummies that I made. I tried coloring the first batch with two different kinds of food coloring. Rather than resulting in a pretty pink color, the food coloring pooled up and streaked through the liquid candy mixture. Both liquid and powdered food coloring did absolutely nothing. The moral of the first batch? Don't try to color these candies, it just won't work.

The flavor of these gummies is out of this world! The raspberry candy oil adds the right amount of sweetness to a very tart lemon base. This recipe would probably also work really well with a bunch of different fruit juices. I'm thinking that a watermelon candy would be amazing for the summer!

What kind of gummy candy would you like to see on WITK? This recipe was so quick and easy, I can see making it time and time again.

One Year Ago: I didn't blog at all in May or June last year! Insane!
Two Years Ago: Roquefort Potatoes
Three Years Ago: Thai Chicken Salad
Four Years Ago: 3 Musketeers Bars

Singaporean Chicken

Last year I had the privilege to visit the island nation of Singapore. I was there for a work trip, where we had to meet with some government officials, university doctors and local companies. It was a whirlwind trip that started with lost luggage, but ended with one very enjoyable day sightseeing.

The president of my company is a very kind man. He believes that if you are going to fly halfway around, you should at least have a moment to see the city. After four busy days of work, I got to walk down Orchard Road and window shop, I took in the views on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and ate some seriously tasty food at a food stall market.

During my day of being a tourist, I picked up a few cookbooks. I can't believe that it has taken me over a year to try out some of the recipes! I'm so happy that I finally made this chicken dish. The flavors are amazing and it's an easy weeknight dinner. Give it a try and enjoy a taste of Singapore!

One Year Ago: Potato, Spinach & Asparagus Quiche
Two Years Ago: Gluten Free Cookies & Cream Mallomars
Three Years Ago: Hot Dog & Hamburger Buns
Four Years Ago: Strawberry-Kiwi Pop Tarts

Thai Chicken Pizza

It's Friday, so I think that means we need some pizza.  Though let me give you some insight on my usual Friday night. It has been the same for almost three years...

Every Friday night, the boyfriend and I go to the same restaurant. Only occasionally do we stray from this restaurant, mostly because we aren't in the mood for burgers. The restaurant is a ten minute was from our place and we only drive in cases of extreme cold or rain.

Each week we order almost the same thing. It's gotten to a point that the wait staff knows us, not by name, but by order. We sit down with our food and play trivia. Specifically, Sporcle trivia on the iPad. It's so much fun. I know so many random facts now, I would probably be really useful in a trivial pursuit game.

Do you and your favorite person have any weekly or monthly traditions? The boyfriend and I have been trying to branch out and eat at different restaurants, but how many places will let you just sit there for an hour playing trivia and taking up a table?

One Year Ago: Peanut Butter Macaroon Brownies
Two Years Ago: White Chocolate - Raspberry Cheesecake
Three Years Ago: Peanut Butter Cup Blondies
Four Years Ago: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

J@H - Oreo Cookies

I'm a little behind on my Junk at Home challenge - I blame going on vacation, followed directly by a work conference. Luckily, I'm coming back with an amazing recipe! Homemade Oreos!!!

Yes, this recipe requires all of those exclamation marks.

I fed a few of these to the boyfriend and he described them as such... "they taste like Oreos, but without that stale, crumbly, crunchy part. The filling is dead on."

I can't take credit for the filling. I looked at a bunch of different recipes for Oreo fillings online and I decided to go with the one that sounded the least healthy and most unnatural. Just because these cookies are homemade, doesn't mean that they are healthy. 

At all.

There is a whole bunch of shortening in these cookies, but there is also Greek yogurt, so you know, it totally evens out. 

Seriously though, you should probably share these cookies with your friends and family. Limit yourself to one, two tops, and enjoy twisting open the cookies and eating the unnaturally white cookie filling.

One Year Ago: Quiche with Sweet Peppers and Sausage
Two Years Ago: Raspberry Macarons
Three Years Ago: Chocolate Malt Marshmallows
Four Years Ago: Maple Mousse

Homemade Easter Candy

Looking for something to do this weekend? Try your hand at some of these fun and adorable Easter treats from around the internets!

Dress up some peeps...

Tuxedo Bunnies

Treat the nutella lover in your life...  (aka, me. Please make these for me!)

Nutella Cream Eggs

Find the perfect use for sugar googly eyes...

Marshmallow Chicks

Keep it simple and use up a whole bunch of that extra Easter candy...

Bunny Tail Mix

Feeling extra ambitious? How about a fancy cake...

Easter Polka Dot Cake

I'll be making these little cookie dough treats with my boyfriend tomorrow!

Easter Egg Cookie Dough Truffles

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Jell-O Peeps Jigglers

Ready for some more Peep-shaped treats? How about the easiest of all things to make? 

Jell-O!

Honestly, I happened to have four packages of Jell-O in my cupboard (because I know someone who works at Kraft Foods) and thought this would be the perfect reason to use them! Of all the Peep-shaped treats, these came out truest to the mold form.

This was also the easiest recipe to make. Boil two cups of water, add two packages of Jell-O (any flavor), pour into the molds, put in the fridge. Done.  And look... They jiggle...

Have yourselves a fun weekend! I'll be busy trying to figure out what else I can make in peep shapes with these molds!

Chocolate Peep Cakes

We're just a few days before Easter and I really wanted to use that Peep mold again! I decided to try out a few more recipes to see just what would work. Also, I wanted everything to be peep shaped after I made those peeps last week!

Today I present... Chocolate Peep Cakes!!!

Aren't they cute!

The chocolate cake recipe that I used was a simple one. In fact I wasn't really impressed with the one I chose, so I won't be sharing the cake recipe today. You could probably even use a store bought cake mix., if you are low on time! What makes these cakes come together even faster is the frosting.

These cakes are very similar to petit fours because I used a poured fondant frosting. It took two layers of frosting to completely cover the chocolate, but it retained all the details of the peep cakes! The addition of some sprinkles and black sugar pearls and we have ourselves some cute little cakes!

They are the perfect treat to finish off your Easter holiday! These cakes were also very fun to make, I think I'll try my hand at real petit fours in the future.

Two Years Ago: Perry's Ice Cream Factory Tour
Three Years Ago: Grilled Chicken and Potatoes
Four Years Ago: Tortellini Soup

Spring Risotto

I know that it is supposed to be spring, but the weather in the Northeast isn't cooperating. The weatherman tells us lies that it will be in the 60's by the weekend. When the weekend comes, the temperatures barely rise above 40.

I'm trying to bring a little bit of that warm weather feeling into my life by wearing bright colors and florals, taking bundled-up evening walks and sourcing spring vegetables for dinner.

If you are still waiting for the warm spring days to visit your part of the world, try making something light and fresh for dinner. You can start with this spring risotto and hope that the temperatures rise soon!

Two Years Ago: Coconut Key Lime Bars
Three Years Ago: Lemon and Honey Chicken
Four Years Ago: Sponge Cupcakes with Swiss meringue chocolate frosting

Honey Marshmallow Peeps

I was supposed to be bringing you jelly beans for Easter this week. Unfortunately the jelly bean molds that I ordered a month ago haven't yet arrived. I thought giving Amazon a full month to deliver my order would be enough. Apparently I was wrong...

In order to keep up the holiday cheer and bring you all something sweet and Easter related, I picked up another mold at my local craft store. Instead of jelly beans, today we are making Peeps!!!

I've seen several recipes for homemade peeps around the internet. A bunch of people even being patient enough to hand pipe their peeps (just like how they were made at the Just Born factory in the beginning!). I gave hand piping a try...

It didn't work out. I fairly certain that the marshmallow recipe I used wasn't the right one for this particular method. The high amount of corn syrup in the marshmallow syrup lead to a softer final product. While the marshmallow batter wasn't appropriate for hand piping, it was perfect for filling molds!

Two molds, three jars of sprinkles, a box of sugar eyes and a few hours later, my own peeps were born.

And they are so adorable!

The honey flavor in this recipe is fairly mild and is seems to mellow as the peeps age.

Two Years Ago: Momofuku Confetti Cookies
Three Years Ago: Tarragon Chicken and Pesto Potatoes
Four Years Ago: Mango Lime Muffins

Vanilla-Honey Marshmallow Peeps

From Chocolates and Confections

I chose to go with the classic pink, yellow and blue colors, rather than going too crazy with orange or silver. I also used black sugar pearls instead of piping on chocolate eyes. The store bought peeps actually have eyes that are made out of carnuba, an edible wax. Rather than locating some wax and ruining my pans, I thought the sugar pearls were a good alternative!

3 tablespoons powdered gelatin (3 Knox envelopes)
1/2 cup cold water

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup (light not lite)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Variety of colored sprinkles
Small black sugar beads

Lightly spray 2 Wilton Peep molds with cooking spray. Wipe out some of the oil with a paper towel.

Whisk gelatin into cold water and set aside while you prepare the sugar syrup.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, honey and water in a 2-quart pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and clip on a candy thermometer. Allow the sugar syrup to boil undisturbed until it reaches 250 °F.

When syrup reaches 250 °F, pour into the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit until the temperature drops to 210 °F.  While the sugar cools, melt the gelatin in a hot water bath (or the microwave). Pour melted gelatin into the sugar syrup and start whipping on high with the whisk attachment.  Whip marshmallow batter for about 6 minutes, until white and fluffy. Add vanilla and whip to incorporate.

Transfer half of the mixture to a large piping bag, fit with a 1-cm round tip. Fill the peep and bunny molds to the top with marshmallow batter. Sprinkle the exposed bottoms of the marshmallows with different colors of sprinkles. Allow marshmallow to set for 3 hours.

Pop marshmallows out of the molds. Add sugar eyes. Coat marshmallows in colored sprinkles and let set for 1-2 hours before serving.

** Alternatively to using the peep molds, you can pour the marshmallow batter into a greased 9x13-inch pan. Stamp out marshmallows with these peep cookie cutters.