Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day.  For more about the little candy cane heart sussies, click here. 

Rolo Pretzel Bites

I had quite a few people tell me they loved the pretzel bites and many told me of other sweet and salty treats using the same square pretzel.  Many of you mentioned the Rolo Pretzel Bites and I just couldn't wait to try them!  I have to say my heart still belongs to the Pretzel Bites with peanut butter M&M's but if you are looking to change it up a bit you should try these too! 

From my little kitchen to yours... Enjoy.

Rolo Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
Square Pretzels (I used Snyder's brand)
Rolo's (one per bite)
Parchment Paper
Step by Step
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
2.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
3.  Place a single layer of pretzels at least an inch apart.
4.  Place a Rolo on top of each pretzel.
5.  Bake in oven for about two minutes.  When Rolo's are slightly melty, remove from oven.
6.  Place a pretzel on top of each and push down slightly.
7.  Allow to cool in refrigerator until completely hard, about 30 minutes.
8.  Before serving, bring pretzel bites back to room temperature.  Make sure and do this or the center of the Rolo's will be quite chewy.
9.  Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

A Lovely Ladies Luncheon

I find it quite ironic that the busier the little kitchen is, the quieter this site is.  But that's just the way it goes when the cook, photographer and writer is yours truly (who also has a little thing called a full time job).  And when I say busy, I mean real busy... I catered a luncheon for eighty women on Friday and three hundred finger sandwiches later, I lived to post about it.  I thought I would give you a little sneak peak with the pictures and promise the recipes to follow.  This doesn't really give you an idea of how much food there was because there were two servers that were refilling the trays, but this was the menu...

Herbed Goat Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Feta & Pesto

Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches

Pimento Cheese Tea Sandwiches

Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches

Fresh Berries and Melon

Oh yeah, and these aren't the greatest pics, but I tried to snap a few shots with my phone when I went to the party.  Another problem, the busier with the cooking, the less time I have to document with photographs... my apologies.  So instead, I creeped around the party trying to get a few quick photos.  The women at the party who did not know I made the food probably thought I had a weird obsession with tea sandwiches as I shot them from all angles. 

I also have to give a very big thank you to my wonderful mother and sweet friend allison for helping me with all those teeny little sandwiches!

Pretzel Bites

In the land of taste, the combination of sweet and salty is the bee's knees as far as I'm concerned.  Sometimes, you taste the salty first, and just when you've had enough, you get the perfect balance as the sweet kicks in.  Sometimes the sweet comes first, but no matter which way it comes, you end up with the perfect satisfying treat.

These little nuggets are my new favorite in the salty and sweet combo.  And the best news is they couldn't be easier.  The largest time commitment is unwrapping the Hugs and if you have a Mr. Hungry of your own or maybe a few kids, you can give them this task while they watch TV.  And once Mr. Hungry had a couple of the finished product, he is always more than willing to do the unwrapping. 

I have to thank my friend Rachel for passing on this wonderful recipe.  They make a great snack or dessert for any group.  I would also dare you to try and find a treat that is so adaptable to any holiday.  Valentine's Day?  Only use red M&M's... Christmas? Use red and green M&M's... St Patrick's Day?  Use green M&M's... okay, hopefully you get the point.  And the combinations are endless... At certain holidays,

{read the recipe note below if you want to know why I didn't use a bunch of these little guys}

Pretzel Bites
Recipe Notes
You might be wondering why I don't suggest the obvious Hershy Kisses for this recipe.  They will work, but I find them to be not as pretty if you are making them for company (or in my case, a catering job I did over Christmas).  The white chocolate Hugs melt really well and the chocolate Kisses tend to crack and not melt down quite as well.  I have also decided that I definitely prefer peanut butter M&Ms over the regular, but you will have to find out for yourself which one you like better.
Ingredients
Square pretzels (Snyder's makes a great square pretzel)
Hershey Hugs, unwrapped
M&M's or Peanut Butter M&M's
Parchment Paper
Step by Step
1.  Preheat oven to 200 degrees f
2.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3.  Spread pretzels in a single layer about an inch a part.
4.  Place a Hug on the center of each pretzel.
5.  Place in the oven and watch carefully.
6.  Remove from oven after 4 to 5 minutes of being heated.  To test pretzels to see if they are ready to come out of the oven, place an M&M on top of one Hug.  If it melts down, they are ready.  If just the tip melts down, continue to bake.
7.  Place one M&M on top of each Hug.  Place baking sheet in the refrigerator and allow to cool and harden completely; at least 30 minutes.

Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Cranberry Apple Bread

The more I test new recipes, the more I rely on taking the ones I have and tweaking them.  When I made this apple bread a couple of months ago, I thought it would be great with some cranberries and maybe even some walnuts.  Well, I took a leap of faith and made this Apple Cranberry & Walnut Torta for my Thanksgiving dinner and I was very disappointed.  I know I shouldn't have tried it out for company, but it was from Giada and had hundreds of good reviews.  I found it to be not sweet enough at all for a dessert and there sure were a lot... including soaking the cranberries in Gran Marnier, which is not a cheap ingredient.  I will go to quite a bit of trouble for something amazing, but for extra steps like this to get sub par results just was not working for me.  I decided to take my tried and true apple bread recipe and simply add cranberries.  It turned out great.  Next on the list is to add some walnuts, but all that to say, you should add some of your favorite ingredients in here to spice it up.

Cranberry Apple Bread
Recipe Notes
We were joined with a new coworker in our office last week so I made this for everyone.  Because the cranberries were an experiment, I only made one loaf with cranberries.  I simply added them in after I had split the batter.  
Recipe
Apple Bread recipe here
1 cup of dried cranberries (if adding to the whole recipe)
1/2 cup of dried cranberries (if adding to only half of the recipe)

Make the regular apple bread according to instructions.  Add cranberries at the end of the recipe and stir just to combine.

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

If you would like to experience a party in your mouth, drop everything you are doing and make these cupcakes.  You have no idea... I had to give them away at a rapid rate before I ate the whole batch (and with 20 cupcakes in a batch, I wouldn't have fit through my "hallway" kitchen after that).
Well, let me start at the beginning.  It was my friend Kate's birthday last week and since we have shared a common obsession with Nutella, I wanted to incorporate (what I call) the most delicious spread on earth, into a yummy treat.  I did some googling of desserts with Nutella and found a version of these cupcakes.  They had gotten rave reviews so I took my chances and made them right before we were going to meet the birthday girl.  I have to admit I was very sad with the outcome.  While the Nutella was delicious, the cupcake was really, really dry.  And who knows, maybe I messed up the recipe, but I was bound and determined to come up with a better cupcake batter for the delicious Nutella swirl.
And now, I have to pat myself on the back for doing something I never do, especially in the baking world.  I decided to tweak a recipe that I have for a very moist and delicious chocolate chip pound cake in order to make these work.  I'm just always too chicken to change anything up when it comes to baking because it is such a science.  Miraculously, the results were absolutely delicious and I am very excited to share them with you.

Now I know what you are saying, this is not a cupcake... there is no icing on top.  No need for icing on top because of the delicious swirl of Nutella.  Because of the no icing top, these aren't the prettiest cupcakes you will make, but probably the most delicious.

From my little kitchen to yours... Enjoy.

Nutella Swirl Cupcakes

Recipe Notes

Nutella is a delicious chocolate- hazelnut spread that can be found in most grocery stores, and usually with the peanut butter.  When you swirl in the Nutella, you can either keep it central for a little pocket of Nutella in the middle, or you can swirl it in more evenly throughout the cupcake... either way, scrumptious.  Another thing about Nutella... I had an older jar of it and tried to use the last bit of that before opening my fresh jar.  It did not spread nearly as well, so make sure your Nutella is fresh.

Ingredients

1 yellow cake mix

2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding mixes

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

30 teaspoons of Nutella

20 muffin tin liners

Step by Step

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix yellow cake mix with boxes of pudding mix.  Add eggs, water, and oil.  Beat well.  Line a  muffin pan with liners.  Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, fill each muffin tin 2/3 full.  Do not overfill.  

Place a 1 1/2 teaspoon dollop of Nutella on each cupcake.  Using a toothpick, swirl Nutella into the cupcake batter, making sure to fold a bit of batter over the Nutella.

Bake cupcakes for 18 to 22 minutes, until centers are firm and tops are golden brown.  Allow to cool completely in cupcake pans. 

Cupcakes are best served completely cooled and can be stored in an airtight container.  

Makes 20 cupcakes.