It's that time of year...

Goodie Plates!!!!  Someone commented to me that I make too many things, that they wouldn't go to all the work.  But then I thought.  If I only made a few things, but still took around the same amount of plates, there wouldn't be very many leftover's for me!!!  I'd rather make all my favorites (let's face it I was going to make them all anyway) and double the recipe (no extra time that way) and have plenty for plates AND my own enjoyment!  Plus it isn't hard, just time consuming, and OH so worth it!  So here is the set up around the island while I'm making the plates.

A sample plate.  I should have gotten bigger plates so I could have fit 3 of each thing (but that mean's less for me... hmmmm maybe these plates were the perfect size).  So we have (starting from the top and going counter clockwise) Sugar cookies, caramel brownies, candy cane marshmallows, peanut butter squares, almond brittle, sandies and chocolate pecan fudge.  I didn't get around to making truffles, but they wouldn't have fit on the plate very well.
 
And here is Tonight's round of plates.  I'm sure I'll be making some more (you always want one for that person that drops off a plate that you weren't expecting to so you can reciprocate right away) and Santa has to get one...  And since I know I'll get some request's for recipes see below.  I'll be posting each recipe for your enjoyment!  Merry Christmas!

Caramel Brownies

My ABSOLUTE favorite. I made a second pan of these just so I could eat one myself! My mom always made these, and my sister's and I love them. I can't imagine Christmas without at least one batch of these. I've made them during the year at times, but something about them just feels like Christmas too me. I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe, but it's the only thing I use a box mix for anymore. This year I couldn't find caramel squares ANYWHERE. So I used the new caramel dot things. They actually are a few ounces smaller than the old caramel square bags were but my husband liked it better with less of the caramel. I also use less chips. I just like the balance better myself, but to each his own!

Caramel Brownies
½ C evaporated milk
50 unwrapped caramels squares (about 14 oz)
½ C evaporated Milk
1 package German chocolate cake mix
¾ C butter melted
1 C walnuts chopped (I prefer pecans but I think my mom and sisters would have a heart attack if I actually changed the recipe to SAY pecans)
12 oz Chocolate chips
Mix ½ C milk, cake mix, butter, and walnuts. Press 2/3 dough in bottom of glass pan (9x13) cook at 350 for 6 mins. In sauce pan melt ½ C milk and caramels pour over cooked crust. Sprinkle chocolate and rest of dough on top cook 15-20 min at 350

Peanut Butter Cup Squares

I actually got this recipe from my Aunt Lynne years ago. I'm not really into peanut butter, but these are my husbands favorites. In fact I made a batch last week for a cookies exchange and it only lasted one day. So I made another batch and it's actually already gone too! Lucky it's so easy to make, I think I'll make him another one tomorrow. My chocolate actually tempered very well, and was cooling perfectly right up until the very end. I made these too late in the evening and the FREEZING temp's here in UT ruined my nice looking finish, but hey, they still taste great, right?

Peanut butter cup squares
1 ½ pkg graham crackers crushed
1 lbs powdered sugar
1 C melted Butter
½ C peanut butter
Mix all together and press into buttered 9x13 pan. Top with 12 oz milk chocolate chips melted. Refrigerate.

Almond Brittle

This is a family favorite. My mom always made two batches. The first never seemed to work, but the second always did. We always thought that it was weird, but couldn't figure it out. Then I moved to AZ! Dry, DRY desert, and it worked EVERY TIME. Perfectly. It also worked in UT. Then I moved to TX and it NEVER worked. Turns out candy making is affected a lot by the barometer range. SO if it's going to rain DON'T bother! In the house we're in now we actually bought and installed a whole house humidifier. While it's nice for our nose/throats/etc... It doesn't help with candy making much. This batch started to separate right before I was about to pour it out! FRUSTRATING. But I caught it JUST in time and after soaking up the separated butter it turned out almost perfect! Not at all grainy, very crunchy, really quite nice! One of the FEW nice things about dry places (I still prefer humidity, but it is nice to get to make this treat this year).

Almond Brittle
1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C chopped almonds
King size Hershey bar chopped
Mix butter and sugar in sauce pan heat till at “Cracked Stage” on candy thermometer or when caramel colored and smoking. Mix in Almonds. Pour onto cookie sheet spread chocolate on top and finely chopped almonds

Fudge!

My mom loves fudge, but we've never found a successful recipe that we could count on. Then a few years ago she found a box mix for fudge! You read that right, a box mix for fudge, AND it not only worked it tasted GREAT! So I bought a box, measured out everything (from the prepackaged baggies) and created this recipe. Easy, quick and, so far, perfect every time! I double the recipe and use a 9x13, but just so you know it's a VERY thick fudge, I might use 2 pans next time.

Chocolate pecan fudge
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or a mixture of semisweet and milk chocolate)
1/4 cup butter
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional- you can also use walnuts)
Place chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter or margarine in large microwaveable bowl. Zap in microwave on medium until chips are melted, about 3-5 minute, stirring once or twice during cooking. Stir in nuts, if desired. Pour into well-greased 8x8-inch glass baking dish. Refrigerate until set.

Sandies

You might also know these as Mexican Wedding Cookies. I've heard a few other names for them too. Everywhere I move I have to learn new names for recipes and ingredients I use often. But these are also from my Grandmother. She grew up in Mexico and has a lot of wonderful recipes. These are very delicate when they come out of the oven so be careful when you cover them with the powdered sugar. Of course if some break feel free to eat them!

Sandies
1 C butter
¼ powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs water
2 C sifted flour
1 C chopped pecans
Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and water, mix. Add flour, mix. Add pecans, mix. Form balls bake at 300 for 20 min, while hot roll in powdered sugar

Chocolate Hazelnut... Homemade Nutella

This was from our July Chocolate Therapy Challenge. I've finally got around to posting it. We found 2 different recipes for homemade nutella. I tried one and Duff ABC's tried the other. They were both short and easy, using whole Hazelnuts that you grind yourself. And there is the issue I had with the recipe. Not the grinding, that was easy, but my at home food processor just couldn't get the nuts ground enough! The end product was just a bit too grainy. By other than the texture (a big deal for me, but not my Husband) the taste was amazing. If I could find a way to grind it better, and create a smoother finish I'd never buy Nutella at the store again.

Homemade Nutella
3/4 C (90 grams) powdered sugar
2/3 C (100 grams) ground hazelnuts
1/3 C (70 grams) butter
3.5 oz (100 grams) dark chocolate
1/2 C (1 deciliter) milk

Combine sugar and hazelnuts.
Melt chopped chocolate with butter in double broiler. Add hazelnuts with sugar in it and stir it.
Pour milk in the hot chocolate mix and stir it, until it becomes smooth (it takes about one minute).
Pour into a container and refrigerate it.

Using weight works more accurately than C's. But I did my best to get the measurement accurate. I included the original grams just in case...)

Cheesecake Pops

So last month My friend at Duff ABC's and I were so busy that neither of us had time for a Chocolate Therapy challenge. We talked about it a lot, but not only didn't have a lot of time, but couldn't decide on what we wanted to make next! Then we saw the monthly Daring Baker's round up and knew we had a winner! It was perfect... So we got started. She finished hers the first week of the month, but I waited until this week, perfect for Mothers day.
Cheesecake Pops
makes 30-60 depending on size
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature (2 1/2 lbs)
2 C sugar
¼ C flour
¼ tsp salt
5 lrg eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ C heavy cream
lollipop sticks or anything else you want (I used bamboo skewers)
1 pound chocolate or candy coating chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
Assorted decorations (such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, etc..)
Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth on low. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the vanilla and cream. Scrape the sides. Then add the whole eggs and the egg yolks one at a time, just incorporating and scraping the sides after each addition.
Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a spring form pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 45 to 60 minutes.
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 - 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionery chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve

Okay a few notes on the recipe. For cheesecakes: I used to hear that over mixing the batter is what caused cheesecakes to crack. But then I heard that it isn't the batter that you don't want to over beat but the eggs. So now I make sure everything else is mixed and smooth and always add the eggs last, and just stir them in without a mixer. It has something to do with the bubbles that develop if you over beat the egg whites. I learned the trick from my sister who learned it from a Martha Stewart recipe or show or something. Anyway, so I took the original recipe and changed it to fit this rule. The cheesecake was nice, not amazing and will definitely make these again using my favorite cheesecake recipe instead of this one. For coating I used Ghiradellis semi sweet chocolate chips, and for the dipping I used: crushed Graham crackers, chopped almonds, chopped pistachios, coconut, colored jimmies (for the kids), melted Reese's peanut butter chips and then a mixture of melted peanut butter chips then a dip in the chocolate. Our favorites were the peanut butter chocolate, the peanut butter, and the chocolate Graham crackers. The rest were fine, but those three were really good. Also, I have more freezer space than fridge space so I kept mine in the freezer, so you can see the condensation on them... But they were still great! And I didn't have to worry about eating them all in a week (although they were gone in that time anyway)