Christmas Treats

 Cake balls

Caramels

Sugar cookies

Caramels all wrapped up

Chocolate covered toffee

These are just the treats that I made for Christmas. My Mom made, fudge, more sugar cookies, peanut butter cup cookies and peanut brittle. We had a lot of sweets. I need to go on a diet after that holiday. All of these came out great. If you'd like any of the recipes just let me know! 

Chocolate Toffee Rice Pudding

It is week 1 of the Whipped Challenge and the 3 random ingredients I had to work with were red onions, toffee and rice. I tried really hard to figure out a way to incorporate all 3 ingredients into a recipe but I just could not think of one thing! I finally decided to just leave out the red onions and go for the toffee and rice. I was a little worried about this recipe because I've never made rice pudding and the only pudding I've ever really made was from a box. So, this was a whole new experience. I searched and searched for the perfect rice pudding recipe and I finally decided to just make my own with the guidance of a few that I had found. For being the first time I've ever made my own recipe I think I did pretty good! This is a great recipe to use if you have leftover rice from the night before.

Chocolate Toffee Rice Pudding

3/4 cup uncooked rice

1 1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. butter

2 1/2 tbsp. cocoa

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. corn starch mixed with 1 tbsp. water

1 cup toffee bits, plain or chocolate dipped, either one will work

Boil the 1 1/4 cup water and add the rice, cook until rice in tender. Or you can use leftover rice if you have some. If using leftover rice, you will need 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice.

In medium saucepan, add together rice, milk, sugar, vanilla, butter, cocoa, egg, corn starch mixture, and 1/2 cup of toffee bits. Set at a low/medium heat and bring to a boil stirring frequently to prevent a film from forming on the bottom of the saucepan. Simmer until mixture begins to thicken, this should take about 20-40 minutes. (It will thicken more as it stands once it is taken off of the heat.) Once it starts thickening, remove from heat and move to refridgerator to chill. You can press a piece of wax paper onto the top of the pudding before you put it into the refridgerator to prevent a film from forming over the top. Once chilled, serve with the rest of the toffee bits sprinkled on top.

I got inspired by the book "Cooking From Above," in case you couldn't tell.

Note: Can also be served while warm, it is just a little more thin than if you chill it.

I did change the recipe a little from the way I made it. I started out adding all my ingredients into a double boiler which did not allow the mixture to thicken correctly. Once I transferred it to a saucepan and just boiled it normally it thickened up very quickly. This is why some of my pictures are of when I was using the double boiler. Don't worry though the saucepan works so much better and is ten times easier anyway.

I really enjoyed this recipe. It reminds me of chocolate gravy that my Mom makes a lot for breakfast with biscuits. It turned out very chocolatey and yummy. The only drawback I found was the texture, the rice adds a little bit of an odd texture to the smooth and creamy pudding. I would definitely make this again though, I think I can get over my texture weirdness. My husband loved it! He ate an entire bowl before it even had a chance to chill!

I can't wait until next week's ingredients!!

-M-

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies (or Chocolate Chip)

I wanted to make some oatmeal toffee cookies yesterday and I had some leftover toffee bits and chocolate chips so I decided to make half with the chocolate chips and half with the toffee. I've been on a toffee kick lately, it's just so yummy. I got the urge to make these because I was craving one of my mother-in-law's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. She is a cookie queen! You name it, she can make it perfectly! I, on the other hand, am pretty good but no cookie queen. I should have listened to myself and gotten out her recipe and followed it but being the lazy person I am (which I am working on) I decided to just google a recipe. I ended up using the Hershey's recipe and though the cookies are tasty, they are no Mrs. B cookies. Mine came out chewy and flat while hers are always perfectly round and more fluffy than chewy. I was a little disappointed that they weren't like hers so I called her to see what I did wrong. Well, come to find out, the more brown sugar the flatter and chewier the cookie. She usually does half brown sugar, half regular sugar. Next time I'll know to follow the Queen's recipe rather than be lazy. I am still learning new things every single day about baking so bear with me while I make some yummy mistakes along the way.

Hershey's Oatmeal Toffee Cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1-1/3 cups (8 oz. pkg.) HEATH BITS 'O BRICKLE Toffee Bits
1 cup MOUNDS Sweetened Coconut Flakes(optional)

Note: I left out the coconut flakes and I halved the batter before I added my toffee and chocolate chips. In one half I used about a cup of toffee bits and a cup of chocolate chips in the other.

Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Beat butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; beat until blended.

Stir in oats, toffee bits (or chocolate chips) and coconut, if desired, with spoon. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto prepared sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove to wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

This recipe is pretty simple and quick. I'll definitely keep it in mind just in case I need some chewy cookies sometime.