Lemon and Cream Cheese Truffles

Truffles...

So decadent and delicious...

So easy to make...

AND something that looks amazing as far as presentation!  

I found this recipe online, (here)
but didn't like the fact that it used Vanilla OREO's and so I decided to take my Snickerdoodle cookie recipe and add in Lemon Extract to replace the OREO's and I'm happy to report it turned out absolutely delicious!    

 I was in charge of the treats for our YW in Excellence and brought these...

WOW, these were such a hit
ESPECIALLY with the men that ate them
(they kept snitching them and kept asking 
if there were extras so they could have another one)
SO, if you want a yummy recipe that men would like,
this is definitely at the TOP of the list for that!

These would also be wonderful to put in cute white boxes and give for a gourmet  gift to family and friends, or, to add to a Christmas Goodie Plate.

 Lemon Cream Cheese Truffles  

(makes 40 Truffles) 
 

(Cookie recipe)   

Cream together:
½ cup butter
¾ cup white sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 capfuls of Lemon Extract
1 tsp. Cream of tarter
½ tsp. Soda
¼ tsp. Salt
1 egg

Then add:
1-3/4 cup flour (I use UNBLEACHED flour)

Mix and roll into balls and roll in sugar
Place on cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees. (or until no longer doughy)  Let cool.

NOW to turn your cookies into Truffles:

Put cookies into a gallon Zip-loc bag and smash with a rolling pin until finely crushed.

Put in mixing bowl and add in:

(1) 8 oz. block of cream cheese

Zest from one lemon

Mix cookies, cream cheese and lemon zest together until well combined.

Roll into small 1 inch balls and put on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

Put in freezer and let chill for one to two hours

Melt WHITE chocolate chips in double boiler 

One at a time, put cookie balls into melted white chocolate until coated and put on waxed paper to cool.  

(I took some of the white chocolate and added in some yellow food coloring and then drizzled this on the top to add some color).

After they're cool, put in small white baking cups and ENJOY a delicious, yummy treat! 

 Lemon + Cream Cheese + White Chocolate =

Heaven!

Showing appreciation!

 It's that time of the year...

Time to show appreciation to teachers and people who have influenced our lives over the past year!   

This year I was going to try a variation on my Gourmet Apples as I had seen on Pinterest people that had cut apples into slices and then dipped them in caramel. However, that did NOT work at all.

 SO, I just did my usual... 

Fuji Apples were on sale for .59 a pound
and so I was able to purchase 12 apples for $2.51.

Made up a batch of my caramels,

dipped the apples...

topped them in with crushed M&M's...

and then drizzled with some melted chocolate.

 After they have cooled, 
put them in a cellophane bag...

attach a note and or bow 
 (along with a handwritten appreciation letter)

and you're ready to deliver yummyness! 

Gourmet Caramel Apples

First clean apples well....then stick a bamboo stick in the top for easy dipping)

Crush up Peanut M&M's, or whatever other treats you would like to top your apples with

(Caramel recipe)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups sugar

¼ tsp salt

1-1/2 cup Karo Syrup

1 cup butter

1-2 tsp. real vanillla

Cook first 5 ingredients to soft ball (235 degrees) stirring occasionally so as not to burn.

Stir in vanilla.

Take apples and dip in the caramel until coated well...

Sprinkle on toppings

and let cool on metal or plastic pans.

After they have cooled slightly,  

drizzle on melted chocolate
AND then pull out bamboo sticks

Let completely cool overnight

Wrap up however you would like and share with teachers, friends, or whomever you would like!

Taste of Fall...

Pumpkin Muffins!

 Autumn Time wouldn't be complete without making up a few batches of Pumpkin Muffins!
SO yummy and if you like the Pumpkin Bread that you can get a Great Harvest, these are the closest thing I have been able to make that resemble that yummy bread.

 

I'm always AMAZED at how far one large squash will stretch...

We ate it for dinner 2 times, shared a large chunk with Tracy's parents,

made up 4 batches of Pumpkin Cookies, 2 batches of Pumpkin Muffins

a batch of Pumpkin Pull Apart bread and a batch of Pumpkin Pie Bars.

I bake my muffins in TEXAS sized muffin tins 

 so they are larger and feel a little more "Gourmet"  

I usually make up a batch of muffins and put them in Cellophane Bags tied with festive ribbon and deliver these to the ladies I go Visiting Teaching to in one of the Autumn Months.

I also have a tradition of making these up along with Spiced Cider for  
Halloween Morning breakfast and you can guarantee they will be embellished with a SPIDER ring in the middle of the muffin.

Kids just LOVE this!

 These freeze well and if you have any leftovers, they are wonderful to freeze and have to pull out when you need a quick lunch, snack, or yummy treat! 

Pumpkin Muffins
½ cup REAL butter
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 cup pumpkin (OR leftover squash)
¾ cup raisins OR chocolate chips (I sometimes put 1/2 cup raisins 1/4 cup chocolate chips)
Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in comes out clean.   

After pulling out of the oven, I always put them in a Rubber-Maid type of container to keep them moist).

These are really good and freeze well and are great for breakfast, lunch or snacks! 

Enjoy! 

 Make up some Autumn Goodness and

go and spread a little JOY and sunshine 

to someone in need today!

(whether it be bringing smiles to the faces of your family members,

elderly women/men in your area that need a little cheer, 

OR, friends/family that could use some yummy-ness 
added to their day).

Fun with recycling!

dryer lint

old candle wax

egg cartons

What could you possibly make 

with those three items that could be useful?!?

 These three items make 

these awesome fire starters!! 

My sweet hubby is the scout master
and so he has to take his scouts on a camp-out each month.  
We had seen this idea a few years ago at a Preparedness Fair that we attended.  This past January, Tracy and I decided to spend a Saturday afternoon after one of his camp-outs making these, so starting fires on his camp-outs would be easier.
These are amazing and burn 10-15 minutes, 
which is plenty of time to get a good fire going.

This is a FUN project for everyone 
in your family from kids to grand-kids!

So, if you love to go camping and enjoy a good camp fire, or enjoy a camp-fire for ambiance in your back yard, this is a great thing to make using things we all having lying around our homes!

Also, great to use for getting coals started for Dutch Ovens  
and these would make great gifts for the men in your life

 Also, would be great to have some of these in your 72 hour kits,
OR, to give your married kids as part of a Christmas, Birthday or Mother's/Father's Day Gift.

Things needed

 ...egg cartons

 ...dryer lint 

(save all of your dryer lint for a week or two each time you clean your lint screen
...old candle wax 

(we melted down wax from old scented candles we don’t burn anymore)

(BTW...when I decided to start saving lint, I couldn't find any containers I wanted to donate to the cause and we had just rinsed out this container and so that is why I used this...I mean this is a recycling project, so this fit the job perfectly)

What to do:

Fill egg carton containers with dryer lint

Pour melted wax coating dryer lint/egg containers well

When cooled, cut individual egg cartons apart and put in a container and enjoy recycled fire starters all throughout the year.

We just took an Epson Salt container that had a nice lid and Tracy made a sturdy rope handle and he painted it red and every time we head on a camp out, we grab our container of fire starters.

Have fun being 

resourceful and recycling...

it feels good to re-purpose things in a useful way! 

For the Love of Chocolate!

"In the cookies of life,
friends are the chocolate chips".

Yes, my home finally had some transformation this past week and it is starting to look a lot like VALENTINES...
hearts, kisses and romance!

I love
Hot Fudge Sundaes with LOTS of nuts!
That is such a treat to me.

12 years ago

we were at some friends house and they served
Hot Fudge Sundaes with
HOMEMADE hot fudge topping.
It was SO good
I had to get the recipe. I adjusted it as it was a little sweet for our liking and boy is it ever yummy. It is great to put on anything where you want a little bit of chocolate.
It also uses "food storage" ingredients as well!

It's also a yummy dip for fruit and pretzels.
Great to put in a fondue pot and dip your goodies in.
OR, great to just open the fridge and grab a spoonful every now and then!
(SMILE)

The awesome thing about this recipe,

is it makes 2 pints and so you can put it into 4 half pint jars and give it as a gift to friends and neighbors.

Very Good Chocolate Sauce

1 cube REAL butter
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet)
Melt these 2 together .

Add 1-2/3 cups powdered sugar
1 can evaporated milk

Boil for 8 minutes—Let stand—(will thicken as it cools)
Store in the refrigerator if not using immediately.

To reheat...put in microwave and cook on high for 20 seconds and then check. Keep on heating in intervals of 20 seconds so as not to break the glass or get it too hot. I have found that three 20 second intervals is enough to get it hot enough to put on your ice cream.

YUMMY!

Enjoy this on ice cream, OR, make Cookie or Brownie sundaes with it.

This is also a fun thing to make at Christmas and put it in ½ pint jars with material tied with jute on the top and give to neighbors for gifts.

Only 4 more days until
Valentine's Day!

I LOVE
Romance, Love and Hearts!

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds & Caramels!

'Tis the season for one of my favorite activities...making my home smell delicious by making Cinnamon Roasted Almonds and Caramels.

I bet this year my neighbors are worried that they won't get Kimmie's Holiday Treats! I am running VERY behind this year. We usually have our holiday treats made and delivered by the second week in December.
(Date Night December 2009
taken with Tracy's iPhone)
I just LOVE going to the mall during the holidays and smelling the aroma of the Cinnamon Roasted Almonds. It is heavenly and something that I never tire of.
9 years ago we had a family event and Mrs. Taylor brought a bowl of homemade cinnamon almonds and I loved and ranted and raved so much about them that a week later I got a sweet letter in the mail from her with the recipe.

*******************
I have been making them ever since
and Christmas wouldn't be the same if family and friends didn't receive this yummyness from our family. I don't know how many people tell me that this is what they look forward to all Christmas more than anything else is these boxes of goodies. Some parents have been known to take the boxes from the kids and then eat them after the kids have gone to bed.
A few years ago almonds were double the normal price and I didn't want to let people down and so I gave smaller amounts of almonds and also filled the boxes with some caramels as well, to make up for the small amount of almonds we were giving.
We had just seen the GRINCH movie a few days before... I was making up licorice caramels and didn't have any black food coloring and so I started adding in blue and green hoping that the brown color of the caramels and these colors would turn it a blackish/grey color. However, it just turned an ugly green color. Jade commented that it looks like the color of the GRINCH and so we nicknamed them GRINCH caramels and it has become a Christmas tradition to give
Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
Vanilla AND Grinch Caramels
for our neighborhood goodie boxes.

As long as you have a candy thermometer, almonds, cinnamon, sugar, water, salt and vanilla...
it's as easy as 1, 2, 3...
ANYONE can make up this yummy treat and the aroma that will fill your house will make you feel like you are out Christmas Shopping at the mall!
(only you don't have to deal with the hassle of large crowds of people)

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

Roast 3 cups of whole almonds in a 350* oven for 15 minutes,
stirring every 5 minutes (so they don’t burn).

Mix together:
1-cup sugar
½ cup water
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
Bring to a boil and stir occasionally until soft ball stage.
Remove from heat and add in 2 teaspoons of vanilla.
Pour mixture on the roasted almonds and stir until set and starts to turn white.
Put on wax paper to cool. Break apart. Enjoy!!


Chewy Caramels (vanilla or licorice)

1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups sugar
¼ tsp salt
1-1/2 cup Karo Syrup
1 cup butter

1-2 Tbsp anise flavoring (depending upon how much licorice flavor you want)
Black food coloring (if you don’t have black add in a few drops of green
that will make the Taffy a licorice green color).

Cook first 5 ingredients to firm ball (235*) stirring occasionally so as not to burn.
Stir in anise flavoring—add food coloring.
Pour in dripper pan and cool.
Cut into squares and wrap in wax paper.

VANILLA caramels
After you have brought ingredients to firm ball stage remove from heat
and add in 1-2 tsp vanilla (instead of anise extract)
Pour in dripper pan and cool. Cut into squares and wrap in wax paper Enjoy!

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other"

I'm feeling SO grateful for Traditions and for having a family that brings true JOY to each and every day of my life!

Life is Wonderful.... Life is Good!

The Joy of Creativity!

I have always LOVED packaging things with lots of ribbon or curly ribbon. To me the way a gift or goodie is wrapped is just as important to me as the gift or goodie inside. I drive Tracy crazy with this little quirk of mine. He is always commenting when people bring over a plate of cookies on a paper plate with Saran Wrap and a stick on Christmas tag, how NICE that looks and YES, that does look nice.

I just have this little weirdness about me that I have to give a cellophane bag of cookies, or a cute little box with treats in it, tied with ribbon and always with a cute little tag. I can't just bring cookies or a treat on a plate. Whatever I give I like it to look like a little present.

I remember being 12 and buying my best friend a gift and I bought a 10 pack of gum, opened it up and put lots of curly ribbon tied around each pack of gum to accessorize the gift. I know, sometimes I go a little overboard. Tracy has even said that I could wrap up a piece of "crap" (didn't use that word) and people would love it just because of the way it was wrapped up!

So, I have a box of ribbons in every color imaginable, curling ribbon, plain and designer cellophane bags and some plain boxes that anytime I make a treat and take it to someone it gets delivered in a nice little package of some kind.

I also love to take giant Hershey candy bars and take off the printed wrapper (leaving the foil wrapper) and put a wrapper of some cute craft paper wrapped around it instead and then tie some ribbon around it with a cute little tag so it is a little mini present to give someone.

Here is a fun idea
to do for something out of the ordinary for little kids you know, OR, for a package topper, OR, for kids to make to give to a teacher.
These are great for Christmas, OR, for anyone who has a birthday in Winter Time
Snowman wrappers for an ordinary candy bar.

The BODY is either a 3 Musketeers, Milky Way or Snickers candy bar
The HAT is made by cutting the fingers of Stretchy gloves. You can make 5 hats out of 1 glove. (tie the top of the hat with Jute)

The WRAPPER is a piece of typing paper cut in half and then wrapped around and taped with clear tape on the back
The SCARF is a piece of scrap fabric ripped and tied around the neck.
The NOSE is just a piece of orange foam cut into a triangle shape
The BUTTONS are just black beads
and the EYES and MOUTH are just black dots drawn with a Sharpie marker.

Put them all together
and you end up with these darling little guys!!

Happy Gift Wrapping!