A Very Busy Weekend

This weekend has been pretty busy so far, which is not a bad thing at all. I've received 3 orders this weekend, the first of which is out being delivered now. I'll have tomorrow to work on the next two, which is perfect. People really seem to like the hot chocolate cones, those seem to be making up the majority of the stuff people are requesting. Oddly enough, this time last year, the orders seemed to be all for fudge. I'm not complaining at all though, business is business, just something I found interesting.

The order that went out tonight was for a friend of mine. 

I hope she enjoys everything!

Tomorrow I'll be working on 15 hot chocolate cones, and 2 dozen peanut butter cups. I could probably go ahead and knock out the cones, but I need a little break.

The husband is at work and the house is quiet. I think I'm going to snuggle up on the couch with a hot cup of peppermint tea, find a nice movie, and enjoy some alone time.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels and Holiday Bark

You would never think something so simple as pretzel rods coated in chocolate and drizzled in peanut butter would be so good, but oh my god, it is. The saltiness of the pretzels and the sweetness of the chocolate and peanut butter make it something you could just gorge yourself on for hours. Although I'm fat enough, so I probably shouldn't...

They are really pretty simple to make. Melt chocolate, coat pretzel rods in chocolate...

Melt peanut butter chips....

And drizzle over the pretzel rods until your sweet tooth can't take it anymore!

 Another yummy, super easy candy is holiday bark. You can use whatever you want really, you just need some sort of chocolate for the bark, and whatever toppings you find interesting. The new (and really pretty) winter Oreos, peppermint, and Christmas Sixlets. I actually prefer Sixlets to M&M's, not sure why....

I milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and melted them. The reason I have the chocolate chips separated is because after they are melted, I added red and green food coloring to plop onto the melted chocolate and swirl into it, making pretty designs.

After the chocolate is melted, you spread in out onto a piece of wax paper in whatever shape you would like.

After that, start plopping and swirling, I use chopsticks to swirl mine. Unfortunately, it was hardening so fast, I didn't have time to take anymore pictures. Sorry....

After the swirling, you just start tossing the candy onto it and pressing it into the chocolate. That's really all there is to it. So easy, yet so yummy.

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Yuletide Bazaar

The Yuletide Bazaar went great. I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, I think I under estimated how much time I would have. Even still, there was plenty of fudge, hot chocolate cones, s'mores on a stick, holiday bark, peanut butter cups, and covered pretzels. I know...not exactly what I was planning for, but it still worked out well.

In my rush, I forgot the camera. I wanted to take a nice picture of the vending table, all set up and pretty with all the goodies on it, but that didn't happen. I still had a blast though. Sold some stuff, drummed up some business, talked to some really great people, listened to good music, I think a great time was had by all. Here are a couple pictures I managed to snap the day before.

I'll post another blog tomorrow about those yummy pretzels. Those were a pretty big hit. I know I didn't get everything I wanted to do done, and I forgot things, I even got there late, but I had an amazing time and hope I can do it again next year. Next time I'll be prepared!

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Hot Cocoa Cones

Hot chocolate, probably considered one of the most loved comfort foods during cold weather. For good reason too, there is nothing like sitting under a blanket with a nice steamy mug of cocoa. My favorite hot cocoa has crushed peppermint, cream, and lots of marshmallows. So yummy.

I decided to make some hot cocoa cones to sell at the Yuletide Bazaar next week, I figured who not, just about everyone loves hot cocoa!

They are fairly simple to make, and really fun too. To make the cocoa mix, you combine:

2 cups of powdered milk

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer

You don't have to put into cello cone bags, but I think that is part of their charm. You could put them into tins, bags, jars, whatever your heart desires. 

If you use the cello cone bags, take 3/4 cup of the cocoa mix and pour into one of the bags. Twist the bag where the cocoa is, and take a small rubber band or twist tie and tie it off. Take a pair of scissors and clip off the extra , leaving about an inch above where it is sealed off. 

Then you take the small cocoa cone, and put it inside one of the larger ones. The reason I do this is so the cocoa mix is sealed off, and is easy to get to without much fuss. You then pour in 1/4 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels, and then 3/4 cup of mini marshmallows on top of those. I then top mine off with either a red or green spiced gum drop. Each cone is about 2 servings, just divide the mix into a mug full of hot milk, (or water if you prefer), stir in the morsels, and top with marshmallows.

There are so many variations to this, you could use different flavors of creamer, you could substitute the chocolate morsels for chopped up Andes mints, crushed peppermints, toffee bits, the only limit is your imagination.

Tomorrow I'll be making some chocolate dipped plastic spoons in little bags, and attach them to the cones with some decorative ribbon and a nice little tag. I usually sell these for $3 dollars each, or 2 for $5. I think I will probably keep that the same.

With how chilly it is outside, I'm tempted to tear into one, make me a mug full, and find something nice on the television!

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Getting Ready For Yule

I've started to get ready for Dec 10th, when I will be setting up a vending table to sell goodies at a local Christmas event. I'm very excited, but also quite nervous because I'm afraid I won't get everything done.

As you can see, I've bought a few things to get started, but I still have loads of stuff to go.

Fudge is going to be my main selling point, as always. I'm also planning to sell jar mixes, hot cocoa cones, dipped pretzels, peanut butter cups, s'more cups, brittle, toffee, caramel, divinity, truffles, ganache, and an interesting chocolate dipped cookie called a Brandy Snap. I have a few other things planned as well, see why I'm nervous! Also, if I have the time and resources left, I would like to sell some whole baked goods like bread loaves and pies for people to take home.

I'm trying to stay away from individual baked items. I really would like to focus more on the candy aspect of this sale, and also, the group that is hosting the event will be selling individual baked items to help fund their cold weather care packages for the homeless in the area. I would hate to infringe on that, it really is a great group of people hosting the event and I wish them the best of luck.

In the next two weeks, I plan to update a good bit with my progress. I would love to do a step-by-step for the Ganache and Brandy Snaps as well.

I hope all goes as planned!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is here again. This has to be my hubby's favorite holiday, he gorges himself so much, he falls asleep for at least 12 hours, no joke. There is one thing he always looks forward to above all else, well, except for the turkey. That is the Pumpkin cheesecake that I've made for him every year.

I have two versions, one is no bake, the other is a traditional cheesecake, pumpkin style. I alternate which I make, and this year in the no bake. Which suits me just fine, less work! I am doing 95% of the cooking, so doing the no bake this year was actually a tiny blessing. Anyway, on to the food!

All you need to make this super easy, super yummy treat is a graham cracker crust, 1 package of cream cheese (room temperature), 1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix), half a small tub of whipped topping, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1/2 a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. I also add a little bit of extra cinnamon and clove.

You combine your pumpkin, cream cheese, and sugar/spice mixture in a mixing bowl.

Then you beat it with a mixer on medium to high speed, until all of the lumps are gone, and it has a creamy texture. I usually do this for about 5 minutes with my hand mixer, it may take less depending on the mixer and how thawed the cream cheese is.

After you have blended the mixture to it's desired creaminess, you add in about half the tub of whipped topping, which is around 2 cups...but you can most certainly just eyeball it. You can even reduce it if you want, or even add more. The more whipped topping you add, the more the pumpkin flavor is diluted. I've found that around half is a good balance. It makes it creamy and fluffy, and the pumpkin flavor is still strong, but not over powering.

When the whipped topping is blended in to it's desired consistency, it's ready to be spooned into the crust!

And that's all there is to it!

You can top with whatever you like, or go topless! See what I did there....

I top mine with a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Just a little sprinkle to give it something extra and to garnish it a bit.

And there you have it, a very simple, 5 minute dessert that is worthy of kings! Ok maybe not kings, but at least for a hubby with a very particular palette. I even had time to make a second to drop off at his work for his coworkers that didn't have the day off!

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First Entry!

This is my second attempt at blogging. I've wanted to start blogging for a while about my baking, but I either never had the time, or didn't have the motivation, it seems to always be something. But not anymore, I'm really going to try to do at least one or two entries per week, and see how that goes. My original blog went pretty well for a while, but it turned into more of a personal, in general blog...I want to keep this one strictly food related.

Baking, and cooking in general, has always been a huge passion. It makes me smile and makes others smile, it's something I've always done for the people I care about. I've also done it to make money, usually during the fall and winter when shipping baked goods and candy is easier because of not having to worry about the heat. My big selling point has always been fudge. I can make so many different varieties of fudge I can't even list them all. Last year around Christmas, I think I sold over 30 batches, which was quite a load for my little kitchen. Surprisingly, the regular chocolate fudge was the number one seller, I guess sometimes the most simple thing is best. 

I still have a couple pictures from my fudge sales last year. One is the regular chocolate, the other is cookies and cream.

Hopefully I will be making another post very soon. And to anyone who stumbles across my humble blog, thank you for taking the time to read and check it out, I will try not to let you down! :)

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