Homemade Marshmallows!!!

Once you try these delicious homemade marshmallows, you'll never go back to the store-bought ones! They're easier than you think!
 3 envelopes of unflavored Knox gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar for dredging

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for several minutes. In the meantime, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute.

Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. Add vanilla (or another flavor) and incorporate into mixture. Scrape into a 9 x 9-inch pan lined with oiled plastic wrap and spread evenly.
(Lightly oil hands and spatula or bowl scraper). After pouring marshmallow mixture into the pan, take another piece of plastic wrap and press mixture into the pan.

Let the marshmallow sit for a few hours, preferably overnight. Remove from pan, dredge the marshmallow slab with confectioners' sugar and cut into squares with a greased Knife or scissors.Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners' sugar.

I dipped some in Fudge!

(The fudge was just equal parts Melted Semi-Sweet Chocolate & Chocolate Frosting)

Good Luck!

Want S'more? Cupcakes that is!

These S'mores cupcakes really do taste like s'mores! For the frosting I whipped up some homemade Marshmallows (Recipe coming soon!) and spread them on the cupcakes.

S'more Cupcakes

Makes 24

1 "Family Size" box Pillsbury Fudge Brownies

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

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20 graham crackers

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 sugar

1 bag mini chocolate chips

2 Hershey Bars

Start by preheating you oven to 350 degrees, & line your muffin pans with 24 cupcake wrappers. making the brownie mix according to package instructions, but use 3 eggs instead of 2 for cake-like brownies. Set aside.

For the Grahm Cracker "Crust", combine graham crackers and sugar in food processor, pulse until crackers are crushed into small even crumbs. Slowly add melted butter a little at a time, pulsing after each addition until you get a mixture that's still crumbly, but firm when pressed. Drop a Tablespoon of the crumbs into each cupcake liner & press them down with a small glass. I used a Mini-Tart Shaper from Pampered Chef. On top of that, sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of mini chocolate chips. Pop that into the oven for 5 minutes to firm the crust & start melting the chocolate chips.

Remove the pans from the oven & fill them 3/4 full with the brownie batter. Then, sprinkle another teaspoon of mini chocolate chips & another Tablespoon of the Graham Cracker mixture. Place pans back in the oven & bake for about 20 minutes.

 When they come out they'll look like this! Now you have to decide what you want to do for the frosting.

You can whip up some of Martha Stewart's Marshmallow Frosting.

Or you can spread on a little Marshmallow Fluff & stick a big marshmallow on top like Rebecca from Homemaker's Habitat did.

Or spread on some homemade marshmallow like I did, then stick on a Hershey's piece & Your done!

Happy Baking!

Oreo Truffles

I absolutely love all things Oreo. So  when I first saw these I had to make them right away!

You Need:

1 package of softened Cream Cheese

44 Oreo Cookies
White Almond bark for dipping.

Crush the Oreos in a food processor (filling and all) until they are fine crumbs.

Add your cream cheese to the cookie cumbs and mash them together with the back of a spoon (or your hands).

Shape them into 1 inch balls with a mini ice-cream scooper and refrigerate for a couple hours before you dip them into Almond Bark. Store them in the refrigerator.
These won't last long!

Chocolate Overload Cupcakes & Breast Cancer Awareness

These fabulous looking cupcakes are made with homemade Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache AND Chocolate Mousse Frosting. I've been meaning to share the recipe for my Chocolate Mousse Frosting since I featured it on my Chocolate Candy Bar Surprise Cupcakes. The recipe is super easy!

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Milk

1 box of Chocolate Pudding Mix

1 Container of Cool Whip

All you need to do is Whisk together the milk and pudding mix, and then add the Cool Whip (make sure that the Cool Whip is room temperature). You could also use different flavors of pudding mix if you like.

As you also may know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So bake some Pink cupcakes to show your Support!

Happy Baking!

Cookie Dough Pie

If you like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (and I'm sure you all do), you'll love this!

This is the easiest thing you'll ever make!

I know this isn't baking, but I just have to share this recipe because it's super easy! I stumbled onto this recipe from Leisl's Confection Dissection (a really great blog), and I knew I had to make it! The recipe is originally from Big Red Kitchen. If you have 5 minutes, you can easily throw this together & pop it in the fridge!

You will need*:

Cool Whip

Store bought Chocolate Chip Cookies

(I used Keebler because they're thicker than Chip's Ahoy.)

Several cups of Milk

(enough for dipping the cookies)

Optional: Chocolate Syrup or Chocolate Chips

*The amounts of the ingredients vary, so have extra on hand

Quickly dip cookies in milk, shake off the excess milk and layer them in a 9 inch pie plate, or another glass dish. Break up the cookies to fill any gaps. Once the first layer is complete, top with a thin layer of Cool Whip. Repeat twice more making last layer of Cool Whip a bit thicker.

Garnish with Chocolate Syrup, Chocolate Chips, or some Cookie Crumbs if desired. Place in the fridge several hours before serving.

Here is an image of Robin Sue's Cookie Dough Pie

(From Big Red Kitchen)

Good Luck!