chocolate, monkey's and Chili pepper oh my!

ALL MOOOOVED! No internet yet. The place is a mess BUT the kitchen has already been chrisened(sp?). Over the weekend I made the following:

-chocolate mint thins
-chocolate mint fudge
-chili pepper chocoalte bark
-Monkey Bread via The Pioneer Woman (the woman is a goddess!)

I know that seems like a lot but it wasn't really.

Chili pepper Bark

Wax paper
1 baking sheet pan
1-2 bags of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 to 1 tsps of cayanne pepper
sea salt

Cover baking sheet in wax paper and set aside. In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips stirring frequently. Once Completely melted, add pepper. Stir to combine. Pour chocolate onto wax paper and spread out evenly. Lightly sprinkle with sea salt. Allow to set either at room temp or in fridge. Once set break into pieces. Voila!

The contrast of salt, sweet and spicy is strangly delicious! I don't like spicy a lot but I like this chocolate! Yum. Give it a whirl and see peoples faces go WHOA!

Adapted from ifood.tv

Mint chocoalte thins

1 bag of dark chocolate mint chips (yes the do exist)
1 squeeze bottle (for like hot fudge or sauces, etc)
wax paper
1(or 2) baking sheets

Lay wax paper on baking sheet and set aside. Melt chocolate in a double boiler, stirring frequently. Once melted, CAREFULLY pour chocolate into squeeze bottle. On your wax paper, squeeze about a nickle to quarter size (depending on how big you want your thins to be) of the chocolate out. Continue doing so until there is no chocolate left. This will make a TON of mints. Allow to set either in Fridge or on your counter until solid. Store in a airtight container in freezer or fridge. I like the freezer.

Use them as dessert toppers, snacks, little gifts, etc. They are so easy and beat the store bought mints.

Moneky Bread

4 mini cans of buttermilk biscuts
1/2 c. Brown Sugar (or more, yeah baby)
1 C. (2 sticks) of butter (sweet nectar of life)
1 Bundt Cake Pan
1 C. sugar
2-3 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350. Open up all 4 cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit in half (they tiny biscuits).

Next, combine the white sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon in a zip lock bag. Gallon size. The more cinnamon flavor you like the more you add. I think I O.D.'d on cinnamon but who cares? Drop all of the biscuit pieces into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Seal bag and shake it like a polarid picture! That is shake the bag to break up the stuck together nuggets and get them allll nice and covered. Once coated, spread the nuggets in bundt pan evenly.

Now you have two choices here. You can A) let it sit over night like I did or B) bake it now. Either choice you make, DO NOT skip the following step!

On a side note, can any one say the word bundt pan and NOT think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding?

Melt the two sticks of butter together with ½ cup of brown sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the brown sugar butter has become one color, you can pour it over the biscuits.

Pop it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is a deep dark brown. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Place plate on top of pan (using protective gear to save your poor patties!) Flip the pan and plate over and remove pan. and Voila! Yum yum Time! Because of the hot sugar please use a fork at first. Once the bread is cool enough, USE THOSE FINGERS! WOO!

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Now because I suck (and my hungry coworkers) I haven't been able to get a good picture of ANYTHING i've baked! But I promiss i will be better! Now that there is light in my kitchen I will be able to get good pics! That is all for now! TATA!

Turtle Turtle!!

The Kitchen Store is...amazing....A friend and I went in there and spent a good 30 minutes looking around. I left with a cookie scoop(AT LAST), a citrus squeezer, three spatulas and..a two foot extending fork. Why the fork you ask? because I wanted it and it's fun to poke people with!!!

THEN I went to walmart and spent a little money on baking goods....I know I know I said I wasn't going to but hey! I had three new spatuals to break in!

So what do you do when its about midnight, you aren't tired and you just purchased candy making ingredients for no reason? You make....Turtles.

Ok so I don't know what possessed me but I made Turtles or pecan danties. I have no reason to make them except for the fact...I wanted to make them and I could. I think the caramel came out a liiiittle to hard for them but oh well. My dad loves pecan danties. *shrug* we shall see if he likes mine.

I also played a bit and made them with white chocolate instead of semi sweet and also butterscotch (melted chips) instead of caramel. They came out really good!!! Thank you Annie's Eats yet again for providing the caramel recipe!!! You rock!!! The rest..well yeah

Pecan Danties or Turtles

( I apologize for the crappy pictures but they're from my phone)

4 squares of almond bark (white or regular), melted

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

½ cup light corn syrup
2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 bag of pecans, chopped OR pecan pieces (which is what I had)

Step 1: Make the Caramel

Caramel Recipe Thank you Annie!

Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan set over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, mix in the corn syrup, brown sugar and salt. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. When mixture reaches a boil, let the mixture continue to boil for 5 more minutes without stirring. Remove the mixture from the heat, stir in the baking soda and vanilla extract. (And I just discovered where my caramel went hard......*feels like a moron*)

To assemble danties:

Place pecan pieces in little piles on parchment paper. Slowly pour some caramel over the pecans until mostly covered. Allow to set for about 10 minutes.

While you wait, melt the chocolate. Using a double boiler (best invention ever) or your microwave, melt the chocolate with low heat so as not to burn it and or harden it. If it gets hard and siezes up, remove from heat and add a tablespoon of warm water at a time and whisk until smooth again (William Sonoma is a genius!!).

Once melted, use a spoon and poor some of the melted chocolate over the caramel pecans. You can then either put them in the refrigerator to set or just leave them on your counter to set.

Now you can make the chocolate a fudgey chocolate or just melted chocolate like I did. Fudge tends to melt on your fingers faster.

Oh what would a post from me be without the mess?

PS Those oatmeal balls I made last night- HUGE success. THEY LOOOOOVED THEM! So I knwo what I will be making again. I mean I over heard this from a coworker: "Yeah she made them. That girl can cook!" *blushes* hehe I try.