Candy Bar Cake

 I made this darling cake for my daughter's 16th birthday. She loves chocolate AND candy so a Candy Bar Cake was the perfect choice. It was incredibly easy and since I made it in the middle of the night last night you are not getting any how to pics...sorry!

Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix, made according to directions and baked in 9 in pans

1 1/2 tubs of chocolate frosting or homemade stuff 
8 or 9 packages Kit Kat candy bars
4 packages Reeces Peanut Butter Cups
1 large bag M&M's
Ribbon


Directions
Bake cake according to directions in 9 inch pans, cool. Place frosting on the top of one of the cakes and add unwrapped Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, add second layer of cake. Liberally frost sides and top of cake. Take Kit Kat bars and break into 2 pieces increments. Gently stick them onto side of cake. (make sure cake isn't taller than kit kats, if so trim top of cake) Pour one bag of M&M's onto top of cake. Wrap ribbon around cake and tie a bow. Place in fridge until ready to serve.

Serves 12

Inside of cake

Birthday girl!

Enjoy!!

TIme to make the RUM BALLS!

Today I'm making one of my favorite holiday treats, Rum Balls. I've been making these and giving them out to friends and neighbors for years and they are always heavily requested. I posted about them last year but thought you'd like another chance to see how they are made. You can also roll them in powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar for a different look. 

Remember, these are for adults only!!

Rum Balls 

Enjoy!

Chocolate and Carmel Dipped Pretzel Rods

I've been making treats for both the football players and cheerleaders at my daughter's school. She is currently on the JV cheer squad and I love having goodies for the girls each week, and I've started making a few things for the football players as well. These chocolate covered pretzel rods are super quick and easy to make, and you are able to personalize them with your favorite teams color. I purchased some long skinny plastic bags at Wal-Mart to place them in.

Ingredients
1 Bag Pretzel Rods
1 Package Chocolate Almond Bark, melted
1 Package Kraft Caramel Bits
Various Colors Candy Melts
Sprinkles

Melt the Kraft Caramel Bits by following the packages directions. I placed mine in a small glass canning jar and it was perfect. Prepare a table top with either wax paper or parchment paper. Dip each pretzel rod into melted caramel, shake off excess and carefully place on paper.  Repeat. Let cool completely.

Melt Almond Bark by following the packages directions. Take "dried" caramel dipped pretzel rod and dip into melted almond bark, shake off excess and place on paper to dry. Repeat.

This is where you can individualize yours by taking your favorite team's color. I used red candy melts and squiggled bright red over the top of the pretzels and then placed some black sprinkles on top while the candy melts was still wet.  Let cool completely then store in an air tight container.

Melt Caramel Bits in a tallish container for easier dipping

Once caramel has set you can dip them into the chocolate

Let completely dry

Decorate anyway you'd like

Enjoy!

Popcorn to Cheer About

Another Wednesday another fun cheer treat! I got this idea from Our Best Bites and tweaked it a bit, I wasn't sure if the kids would like nuts in theirs, so I left them out and subbed Reeces Pieces instead.  This is a super fun and easy treat to make, the cheerleaders loved it and so did I. The yummy sweetness of the white almond bark mixed with the salty bite from the popcorn, so ying and yang! ( if I was making this for adults I'd add either peanuts or cashews and some pretzels)
I absolutely love candy corn and I'm sure you'll start noticing a trend here for the next month or so...candy corn used in lots of different ways! I only buy them this time of year, they are super fresh and tasty. I also love to use them as fillers in glass vases for some of my Halloween centerpieces.

Ingredients
1 pkg White Almond Bark ( I buy mine at WalMart)
3 pkgs Popped Microwave Popcorn
2 c Candy Corn
1 c M&M's
1/2 c Reeces Pieces

Prepare your work space by laying out 2 large sheets of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Pop the popcorn in your microwave and place in a large bowl. Add candies. Melt almond bark in microwave for approx a 90 seconds. Stir until smooth. Pour melted chocolate over the top of the popcorn and candy mixture and dig in with your hands and mix mix mix. Dump covered popcorn out onto parchment sheets and let cool. Once cooled break into pieces and enjoy. Store in a airtight container.  I was able to get approx 15 goodie bags out of this recipe.

Break up Almond Bark and place in a microwave bowl

Pop popcorn and place in large bowl

Candy, mmmm

Put candy into same bowl as popcorn

Pour chocolate over the top of the mixture

Combine and lay on parchment paper to dry

I bagged mine in plastic bags with curling ribbon

Enjoy!

Homemade Candy Bar (Twix)

What is your favorite candy bar? I go through phases; as a kid I loved 3 Musketeers, my teen self was in love with Snickers, I then went through my 100,000 Grand obsession, Butterfinger craze, PeanutButter Cup love and have finally settled on Milky Way as being my 'go to' candy bar. Kit Kat, and  Twix rank pretty high up there as well and so when I came across this recipe for homemade Twix bars I had to give them a try. Personally they taste nothing like a Twix, but that doesn't stop them from being utterly delicious and decadent!

Ingredients for Cookie

1 c Flour

1/4 c Sugar

1/2 c Butter, room temp

Mix three ingredients until they make up a soft dough. Press into a parchment lined 8x8 pan. Bake at 325 for 22-25 minutes.

Ingredients for Caramel

2 TBSP Corn Syrup

1/2 c Butter

1/2 c Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 c Brown Sugar

While cookie is baking combine all caramel ingredients into a small sauce pan and while stirring constantly bring to a boil. Turn down heat and continue to stir for 5 minutes. Pour over hot cookie (once it's out of the oven :) )  Place in fridge and let cool for an hour.

I used 1 1/2 bars (99g) of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Bars for the chocolate topping. I melted the broken up chocolate in a microwave bowl for 30 seconds in the microwave and then poured it over the cooled caramel and cookie base. Let sit for an hour and then lift parchment out of pan, place on counter a and cut into pieces with a large knife.

Ingredients for crust

Ready for the oven

Ingredients for the caramel

Continually stir

Nice and smooth

Pour over baked cookie crust

Place in fridge for an hour

Ready for the chocolate

Smooth it out

Let sit for another hour before cutting

Slice into smaller pieces

Enjoy!

Deep Fried Candy Bars

When I first mentioned this idea of deep frying candy bars to my son's girlfriend she immediately turned to him and said, "This is why I date you." :) We had so much fun making these and they turned out great. It's amazing when you bite into one of them and your teeth sink through the crispy outer shell and into the melted chocolate and caramel, so decadent. I encourage you to try these with your family, it makes for a really fun evening.

Ingredients 
Up to 8 full-sized candy bars
We used, Snickers, Milky Way, 
3 Musketeers and Reeces Peanutbutter cups
2 quarts vegetable oil 
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c milk
2 TBSP vinegar
Candy thermometer or deep fry thermometer
1/2 c powdered sugar

Prep Candy Bars
Unwrap candy bars and place in freezer for at least 3 hours.

Prep the oil for frying
Pour oil into a dutch oven type of pan on med high heat and insert candy thermometer. You will need the oil to reach 375, this takes about 20 minutes.

Mix ingredients for the batter
Place 1/2 c of flour on a plate and set aside. Place the remaining flour in a med bowl and stir in baking soda and salt.
Combine the milk, vinegar and 1 TBSP vegetable oil and mix together. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until smooth.

Dip Candy Bars
Once the oil is at 375 it's time to cook! I suggest you try to fry no more than 2 candy bars at the same time. Dip the candy bar into the flour and heavily coat it, don't forget the sides of the bar. Next dip the flour drenched bar into the wet mixture and coat thoroughly. Carefully transport the wet candy bar into the hot oil, do not drop it in!!! It will start cooking immediately and will be ready faster than you think. As soon as one side turns light brown turn the candy bar to the other side and let cook for a few seconds and pull out of oil. Place on a prepared plate that has been covered in paper towels.  Let cool slightly then sprinkle with powdered sugar and eat!

Ingredients

I used a Dutch oven

Making the batter

Nice and smooth

Ready to dip!

The oil is ready

Dip the candy bar into flour, coat heavily

Next, dip it into batter

Make sure all sides are covered, see our missing spot?

Shake off extra

Place in oil

Careful

Flip as soon as it starts to turn brown

Remove quickly

Place on paper towel

A reminder, coat the chocolate heavily!!

In the batter too!!

Sprinkle with powdered sugar

MMMM melted Snickers bar

All gone....

Enjoy!