Showing posts with label candy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label candy. Show all posts

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Tutorials

Tutorials are one of the best things about sharing craft ideas and recipes in the blogosphere, right? T is for Tutorials.

There aren't many here at In the Loop, but here's a compilation of what I have:

Chain Link Scarf

Curly-Q or Curlicue Scarf

Iris Folding - Paper Craft

Bead Crochet Rope Step-By-Step Tutorial

Refried Beans

Chicago Style Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza

Oreo Truffles, known around here as Bloodshot Eyeballs (2nd attempt was much prettier)

I think that's all I have. Did I miss any?

Let me know if you've tried any of these things! I'd love to see pictures.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Bloodshot Eyeballs, aka Oreo Truffles

By request, here's my take on the popular Oreo Truffle recipe.

Start with a package of sandwich cookies, any flavor. Wouldn't peanut butter ones be yummy? I think I'm going to try the mint ones next time I make them.
You'll need 35 cookies.
One 8 oz. brick of cream cheese, room temperature for easy combining
Almond bark or baking chocolate
Holiday appropriate sprinkles or colored sugar

Place cookies in food processor in about 3 batches; crumble completely. You can always put them in a Ziploc bag to bash them, but I didn't want to spend the time or make the noise. The food processor gave me even crumb texture, too. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm an Even-Crumb-Texture Snob. OK, that's not true. I don't think I've ever been accused of that. But it sounds like a fun thing to be!

Let's get back to the recipe.
Mix the crumbs with the cream cheese until they are all incorporated. I'm not sure, but I might try using my mixer next time for this step. It was making my hands extremely sore using a fork since it takes quite a while to get all the crumbs incorporated.

Roll the mixture into small balls. I liked them being small enough to be bite-sized, but do whatever size you like. They are pretty rich.

Place the tray in the refrigerator to stay firm before dipping in melted chocolate.

Melt the chocolate over a double-boiler or in the microwave. The double-boiler method has always been the easiest for me since it stays soft no matter how long the dipping takes.
Dip cookie ball into chocolate and place on waxed paper.
Decorate immediately with holiday sprinkles (if desired) and return to fridge to set.
Ta da! Enjoy!

ps--I was told that I fooled the baker in the crowd because she was convinced that there was no way these were made out of Oreos because they weren't grainy. Rachel told her they were cookies, but the baker was convinced they were cake. Don't you love food that surprises you (in a good way)?

Friday, February 11, 2011

What I've been doing today

When I woke up this morning, I decided I was going to make a loaf of bread. I'm willing to admit and embrace the fact that what I am about to say makes me unfit to be called a woman. It was nice knowing you, just the same. I hope you come back to visit me sometime.

I love to use my breadmaker. *gasp!* One of our favorite recipes is Honey Oatmeal bread.

Check! Yum.

On Wednesday, I started soaking some kidney beans to make chili on Thursday. We didn't expect for sickness to sweep through, so I didn't have that extra can of tomato sauce I needed. Oh well. I decided to mostly cook them anyway, then run out to the store for medicine and tomato sauce. Started that up this morning to hang out in the Crock Pot all day.
Check! Also, very delicious.

After lunch, it was time to start putting together my Oreo Truffles for a Bridal Shower tomorrow.
Here's after the final step just before supper:
Hmmm. Not quite as pretty as I hoped. That doesn't scream "love," it screams, "Why is she feeding us bloodshot eyeballs?" Good heavens, everyone else's cutesy things end up looking so much cuter than mine! Oh well, I'll take them anyway. At this point, I'm assuming they'll be yummy, but I have to make sure I have enough before tasting one. Although, what woman in her right mind would take something to feed other people that she's never tasted herself? (Yep, that would be me...)

So that's what I've been up to today amidst valiant efforts to get hubby back to health. =( Blech.