Christmas Treats 2013 - Terribly Terrific Toffee

Hello again. I have been meaning to write about these for about a week now. I have been so busy. :) So, here goes.

Terribly Terrific Toffee - This is the pin where I found this recipe on Pinterest.com.
 http://www.pinterest.com/pin/89579480059641052/

I have tasted these before but I hadn't ever made them myself. Super easy and oh so good. Here we go.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed tightly

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

40 saltine crackers

Step One:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12x17 inch cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray. Lay a flat layer of crackers out on the foil.

Step Two:

Melt sugar and butter until a boil is reached.

Step Three:

Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 5 to 6 minutes or until thickened and sugar is completely dissolved.

Step Four:

Pour mixture over crackers and spread to coat evenly. The crackers will slide around as you pour the mixture on it but it's ok. Just make sure that the crackers are still flat before you put it in the oven.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until toffee becomes bubbly. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes.

Step Five:

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the saltines and toffee. Let them soften and melt. It only takes a few minutes. Then spread the chocolate evenly on top with a rubber spatula.

Let sit until cool and set. It takes a couple hours to set completely.

Step Six:

The original pin said to break the pieces but I chose to use a knife and cut them into cracker size pieces. They resemble really thin brownies. Store in tightly sealed container and enjoy.

These are so very good that my family couldn't stay out of them while they were sitting on the stove to set. The perfect mix of sweet and salty.

That's it. Super simple just takes a little waiting for it to set. Don't forget about my contest. This post applies as well.

To find the contest rules, follow this link. http://thepinterestaddict.blogspot.com/2013/12/nikkis-christmas-contest-2013.html The winner will be chosen by 12:00 pm on December 21st. 

Christmas Treats 2013 - Pretzel Candies

Hey there. It is that time of the week again. Time for me to write on my blog. :)

Being the first week of December, Christmas is all that fills my thoughts. I love Christmas! It is my favorite time of year. This year, I will be making Christmas treats like I do most years and giving them as gifts. I made these last night to see how they turn out. It was a recipe that I found on Pinterest.com.

Here is my original pin. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/89579480061865964/

I did change a few things out of necessity and desire. :) So, here goes.

Step One:

First, preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and cut to fit. Place pretzels at least 1/2 inch apart. I was able to fit 35 on my first tray.

Note: This is the first thing that I changed from the recipe on the Pinterest post. That recipe called for pretzel rings but I couldn't find them at my local Kroger. So, I used the waffle pretzels.

Step Two:

Top each pretzel with a Hershey Kiss. I used the Candy Cane ones for this batch. Bake for about four minutes.

Step Three:

Next, remove from oven and immediately push an M&M candy in the middle of the Hershey Kiss, pressing lightly. (I changed this from the original recipe. It said to use chocolate chips but I figured M&M candies would be less messy.) Don't worry about it if the chocolate spills over the edge of the pretzel. Let cool for at least an hour. Then store in an airtight container.

I decided to do a second batch using Hershey Mint Truffle Kisses to see how they turned out. Here are the photos from those.

The candy cane ones looked more festive but both were equally good and equally addictive. :)

I will be posting several different Christmas treats in the next couple weeks as I decide which ones I will be giving to friends, family and neighbors. I have to try them out on the hubby and kids first before they can be given as gifts. :) They don't mind. So, see you soon.

Don't forget to check out the contest I'm doing. You just might score a container of these awesome treats for yourself. :) http://thepinterestaddict.blogspot.com/2013/12/nikkis-christmas-contest-2013.html

Nikki's Christmas Contest 2013

Anyone that knows me, knows that Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. Growing up, I was always the first one up on Christmas morning and that has continued to this day.

So, I am announcing my first Christmas Contest right here on The Pinterest Addict.

On each blog post throughout the month of December, one random winner will be selected from the comments and sent a special Christmas Treat from me.

The rules:

It's simple. Just post a comment on each of my blog posts (not including this one) during the month of December and you could be a winner.

I will randomly select one winner from all of the comments per blog post within 48 hours of the original post. The winner will be notified via Facebook (if you are on my friends list) and/or on the post itself.

I hope that my first contest is a success and I wish all of you good luck. :)

Tuna Fish Can Vase

This is a craft that I found on Pinterest.com. It was to make a vase from a tuna fish can. I thought it was so cute so I decided to make one for my friend, Michelle.

Here is the original post that I saw on Pinterest. http://www.pinterest.com/pin/89579480061924304/

Ok... Now for mine. I forgot to take pictures for each step but this is what I have.

Attach clothespins around the edge of the tuna can. Michelle really likes butterflies so I attached one of those to the clothespins afterwards.

Take a small piece of flower foam and put it inside of the tuna can. Poke in the fake flowers that you would like to use. That's it. Super simple.

I had a cute red bag from Valentine's Day so I put the whole thing in the gift bag and took it over to her. She loved it.

The only thing that I might do a little different is to somehow secure the flower foam to the bottom of the tuna can. Either with super glue or some kind of adhesive. That way it will stay longer and not fall out so easily if the vase falls or gets knocked over.

Well everyone..... see you next week and I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay safe on the roads. :)

Cake Pops Creations

I thought I would show all of you the cake pops that I have done in the past.

The little piggies were the first ones that I did. It took a while to figure these out but I had a ton of fun doing them. I made 100 of these for a pig roast that we were invited to. Everyone loved them. A big venture for my first time but well worth it.

The nose was a Smartie. The ears were warmed and formed Starburst cut into triangles. The eyes and nostrils were done with black gel. I learned that you cannot wrap them if using gel because it won't set. For future reference, I will use candy coating or melted chocolate next time. Also, if I do them again, I will make a curly tail out of warmed and formed Starburst and attach it to the back.

These were the next ones I did. They were meant to be smiley faces with birthday hats on. I did them for my daughter, Samantha, to take to school on her birthday. I found the stand at Meijer and added scrapbook letter stickers to spell out her name and age.

The hat was a warmed and formed Starburst triangle and the eyes and mouth were just mini chocolate chips attached with candy coating.

For Samantha's party at home, I did pink coated ones, dipped the top in white candy coating and sprinkled on pink edible glitter. I reused the stand and it worked perfectly.

These ones were for my daughter, Jaime, on her birthday. I did the same thing with the cake pop stand as I did with my other daughters'. I coated them in purple, dipped them in white and sprinkled on purple edible glitter. She loved them.

These were the first ones that I made and sold. I made 50 pumpkins using orange candy coating and I added a gummy spearmint leaf for the stem. This is when I learned that Tic-tacs would work much better for the stem.

These were for Thanksgiving. They are meant to be Cornucopias. I coated them in chocolate, attached a Hershey Kiss to the back, cut a candy pumpkin in half and attached it, along with some Runts candy, to the front, then topped them with some chocolate sprinkles. They turned out very cute.

These are little snowmen. I coated them in white candy coating and added an orange Tic-Tac for the nose. The eyes and mouth were done with melted chocolate. For his hat, I took a mini Oreo and attached it to half of a regular size Oreo then, attached it with candy coating. I loved doing these ones. :)

These two different ones were done for a baby shower that my friend, Michelle, was throwing for her sister. The theme was Pink RealTree. So, the white ones were coated in white and swirled with pink. The brown ones were coated with brown and swirled with pink. The holders belonged to Michelle but they looked very good sitting among all of the treats that Michelle did. If you would like to see her creations, I will post a link to hers at the bottom of this post.

These were done for another school birthday. Very simple! Coated in chocolate and topped with a flower I made from candy coating. On wax paper, I piped a flower shape with candy coating and sprinkled it with purple edible glitter. Once dry, I attached them to the top of each cake pop. Simple but cute.

These were done for another baby shower that Michelle was throwing. This one was for her daughter. She was having a baseball theme so, I made little baseballs. I coated them in white and piped on red lines. If I do them again, I will try to pipe lines that are less thick. They turned out cute though.

The most recent cake pops that I have done were the pumpkins. I've already posted about these so I won't go into detail.

Since I am posting about my creations, I thought I would add this one. This was not made of Cake Pops but rather cupcakes. This was a lot of work but so very cute once done. I had a lot of fun making him.

So, these are my works of art. I have found several more on Pinterest.com that I really want to make and will be making in the future. Once done, I will blog about them for all of you to see. :)

If you would like to visit Michelle's blog, please click on the following link.

Fun Friday's

Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops

I love to make cake pops. I have made them for birthday parties, pig roasts, Halloween parties, and Christmas celebrations. I have even sold some.

The ones that I'm going to talk about at the moment, I made today for the Fall Fun Night at my daughters' school. They are cute little pumpkins.

Step One:

First I made the cake balls. I have a fancy little machine made by Baby Cakes. It's like a waffle maker except it makes a dozen little doughnut hole size balls of cake.

If you don't have a Baby Cakes cake ball maker, you can still make them. Just make a 13x9 cake and let it cool completely. Once cool, crumble all of the cake and mix it with frosting. After you mix it, you can form them into any shape you would like.

Once all of the cake balls are made, put them in a ziploc bag and let cool in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Step Two:

After the cake balls have been in the fridge for about an hour, it is time to put them on the sticks. Grab a bag of candy coating (I prefer Wilton's Candy Melts) and melt them in the microwave according to the directions on the bag. Now take a stick and dip it in the melted candy coating. Push it into the bottom of the cake ball to "glue" the cake to the stick. Place it on wax paper and continue "gluing" the rest of the balls to sticks.

Step Three:

Place the cake balls on sticks on a cookie sheet and put them back in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix some Crisco in with the candy coating and remelt in the microwave. (I don't measure out the Crisco so I can't give you an exact amount. Just mix and melt until it is a very smooth but not thick consistency.)

Step Four:

Dip and roll the cake balls in the candy coating and lightly tap the stick on the edge of the bowl while turning to get rid of any excess coating. That way the cake pops will coat smoothly. After you coat one ball, attach a green Tic-Tac to the top of the cake pop, holding it for a few seconds until it sets. The candy coating only takes about a minute to set so, you kind of have to be quick with any decorations that you want to add. Otherwise, you can add it later by dipping it in candy coating and holding it in place on the dry cake pop until set. Push the stick into a chunk of flower foam to keep it upright while it dries.

Step Five:

Because these cake pops were for an event and I wasn't sending all of them to the school, I decided to gift wrap them. I found these cute little bins at Dollar Tree and added some flower foam to stand the cake pops up in each bin.

Step Six:

Next, I pushed six of the cake pops into the flower foam some what evenly spaced. :)

Step Seven:

Then I took some raffia and cut it into 2-3 inch pieces. I spread the raffia around the inside of the bin to give the look of straw.

Step Eight:

Finally, I put each bin in one of those gift basket bags that you can find at the dollar store and tied some ribbon at the top to secure them.

That's it. Cake pops aren't hard to make. They are actually very fun. I will be posting soon with pictures of some of the other cake pops that I have done in the past. If you guys try them, let me know. It is a great project to do with kids too. :)

The Happy Little Ghosts

These little ghosts were so fun to make. I wanted to decorate differently for Halloween this year then I did last year. So....with a little inspiration from my Grandma, I decided to make up a bunch of ghosts to hang on my front porch. This is how I made them.

The Supplies:

I already had five t-shirts that I was going to get rid of anyway and I already had the white thread.
The rest of the supplies I bought at Wal-Mart. The bag of Raffia was $1.97 and I only used a fraction of the bundle. The Styrofoam balls were 2". I bought two bags at $4.47 each. The paint pen in black cost $1.97.

Step One:

Lay the t-shirt on a flat surface and cut all of the white off. I was able to use the entire back of the shirt but the front had a large logo in the center. I was only able to get one rectangle from the front. The back was more lucrative with three rectangles. That makes four ghosts for each of the t-shirts that I chose.

Step Two:

Take the Styrofoam ball and wrap it in the cut rectangle, centered as even as you can but it doesn't have to be perfect. :)

Step Three:

Cut a long piece of white thread and tie it around the "neck" of the ghost. I didn't measure the thread because I wanted them to hang at different lengths. Tie the ends of the thread in a knot to make a loop for hanging.

Step Four:

Cut a length of raffia and tie it in a bow around the "neck" of the ghost. Again, I didn't measure it. I just made a bow. :)

Step Five:

With the paint pen, which was a fabric paint pen, I painted two circles as eyes. I did not put on a mouth because I didn't want to. But....to each her own. paint a mouth if you would like.

Step Six:

I bought these little clips after Christmas last year. They were normally $3.99 but they were on clearance for $0.50. They are meant to hold Christmas lights from the gutters or shingles on your house but I thought they would work perfectly for my little ghosts.

The Finished Product:

With a little help from someone taller then myself, this is how the little ghosts look all together hanging on my porch. I am so happy with them. I think they go well with the ghost "kid" that I have had for years.

Even though I didn't get this idea from Pinterest, I have done many, many crafts that I have found on that very addictive website and I will be blogging about them in the near future. I hope that you enjoyed my little ghosts and, if you try them, I hope that they make you as happy as they have made me. :)