Welcome to Candyland

You know what's super easy to make?  Those gorgeous candy covered pretzels above.  So easy, that I can show you how to make them in one collaged picture.

Ingredients: 
Pretzels (either rods or bows will do)
Colored Candy Melts
Optional:  Sprinkles  (Because who doesn't like some added pretty?)

Directions:
1. Melt candy melts in microwave in a glass bowl.
2. Dip pretzels in bowl, tap off excess candy and place on parchment paper.
3. Optional: Toss some sprinkles on top for good measure.
4. Pop in freezer or fridge for 5 minutes to harden.
5. Done!

What are these good for?  For EVERYTHING.  True story.  The salt and sweet combo makes you never want to stop eating them. I'm surprised I'm not eating some right now.  I made purple rods and blue pretzel bows. What for?  A blue and purple themed dessert table.

Bff called me a few months ago with a special request.  His niece was turning 15, he loves and spoils her like crazy, and she wanted a dessert table -- would I help?  Of course I would.  So I spent my time planning the table, he spent his time shopping for ridiculously cute candy and cupcake themed party decor.

We used all glass jars and trays  and filled them with blue and purple candy.  Bff made centerpieces with adorable lollipops.  We tied ribbons and bows to anything we could.

Then we used polka dots and stripes throughout the table.  Especially on the place cards and signs.  Oh those place cards?  Yeah, aren't they awesome and adorable?  Thought so.  A big, BIG thanks to Pam who blogs all things art and fashion at Just Pandippo.  She made the banner I use for this site but was also kind enough to take time out of her busy day to make these for us.  And she didn't even get a cupcake or cookie in return!!!  That's friendship.   And as an extra special Halloween treat, if you're looking for some blue and purple place cards/signs she's willing to give them to you.  :)  Just head over to her post here and download them for free!  Thanks Pam!   (Also, these actually print out teal, my printer colors were off and I didn't have time to redo it.  Oops.)

I also baked a little.  I made lemon filled blackberry cupcakes and my awesome peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  The cupcakes are new.  That's not even a good look at them is it?  It's just a sneak peak.  :)

Did I mention we had another smaller side table too? We had to because we had a Chocolate Fountain!  It was so messy.  Bff got chocolate all over his dress shirt b/c they didn't secure it properly before turning it on.  The clean up was a pain, but it was worth it.  Especially if you got to make yummy little creations like that faux raspberry s'more down below.  That one was mine.  I ate it.  Twice.  Cinnamon graham cracker, chocolate dipped marshmallow and a chocolate dipped raspberry on top.  You know you want. (Do you see the heart in the chocolate on that other marshmallow by the way?  <3 cute="cute" p="p" so="so">

And then for good measure, we also had an ice cream float station with the best little sprinkle cups EVER.  I got kind of obsessed with them and took a bunch home.  I don't know what I am going to do with them yet... but be assured that you will see them again.  We had three kinds of soda to choose from. Whatever float you wanted, I served with a smile.   You will also see that I made some chocolate truffles.  Half were rolled in cocoa powder and half were rolled in graham crackers. They probably look familiar.  I've blogged about them before.  

And Oh my God the cake right?  My friend Jimmy made the cake, and BFF directed the decoration for it.  Jimmy is the same one who made this Hollywood cake for his own Birthday back in April.    Amazing right?  Two layers, two different flavors.

I had helped out with a pink bridal shower dessert table earlier this summer and was excited to do this (mostly) on my own.  It was a lot of fun.  A lot of work.. but a lot of fun.  The gorgeous birthday girl was very thankful  and gracious (so unusual for a teenager) that we spent the time to make her big day special.  

I had a blast.  And I might have had fairy wings on.  (Hey it was supposed to be a costume party, but apparently only I got the memo.) And a necklace with REAL sprinkles inside.  A candy fairy maybe?

Have a safe, sweet and happy Halloween! 

Recipe for the chocolate truffles..

Recipe for the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe for the cupcakes.

You can buy the chocolate fountain and chocolate candy we used online at Sephra.

Download Pandippo's awesome placement cards.

xoxo,

Anna

Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.. in Waffle Bowls!

THESE TASTE LIKE MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM.

*Deep Breath.  Okay.

Wanted to get that out of the way right off the bat.

Also, I think it's safe to say that you want me at your summer bbqs.  (My schedule is filling up fast, however, so book early.)  These little babies are what I whipped up for one I attended on Sunday evening.

I don't remember how I decided on mint chocolate chip as a flavor.  Maybe because it was super warm last week  (high 80s) and refreshing and light things like mint sounded good.  But as soon as it was chosen, it was quite obvious that the theme would have be ice cream like as well.  And I dont just mean using an ice cream scooper to fill the liners.

 I spent a week bouncing ideas off of Pam, debating between cups or cones of waffle cones. (Thank you!!!)   I was resistant to it at first, but in the end necessity and time convinced me that I had to go with waffle bowls.  

And little wooden spoons. And fresh sprigs of mint (that I bought at Safeway only to find out later that I have oodles of mint growing in my own backyard.  Spanish Lesson for the day: Yerba Buena means is Spanish for mint.  This whole time I never knew! I just thought we had some weird fresh herb in the yards.  Oops.)

I used a new chocolate recipe for the cupcakes.  I am still in search of my Holy Grail chocolate cupcakes.  Does anyone have any recommendations?  Because the one that I used was by David Lebovitz, and it was good... but not UH-MAZING.  I strive for UH-MAZING afterall.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 18, Bake for 15 minutes at 350*

9 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 stick butter, room temp
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 cup cooled, strongly brewed coffee
1/2 cup low fat milk

Directions:
1. In one bowl, sift together cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and set aside.
2. In a cup, mix milk and coffee and set aside.
3. In mixer, cream butter and sugar together.  Add in vanilla.  Add in eggs one at a time.
4. Add flour and milk mixture in additions to mixer, beginning and ending with flour.
5. Scoop into cupcake liners and bake.  Let cool before frosting.

Truth be told though, I was a little terrified going into this one because the thought of using peppermint extract in something was pretty scary.  The chance for failure was high.  Every recipe that I read said to use peppermint but that makes me think of peppermint bark.. or even those York peppermint patties, neither of which I like.

A better blogger than I would look up the differences between peppermint and mint and why these came out awesome anyways.  Yeah.  I'll be a better blogger one day.  Today, we'll call is magic.

I looked up a good five recipes before deciding on not using any of them.  It's supposed to be ice cream like.  We needed some cream cheese up in there!

Mint Chocolate Chip Frosting

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temp
1/4 brick of full fat cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons peppermint extract
2.5* cups of powdered sugar
4 oz bar of dark chocolate (60% cocoa works good)
Itty bit of green food gel coloring

Directions:
1. Cream butter and cream cheese together until fluffy in stand mixer.
2. Add in powdered sugar.  *Feel free to use more powdered sugar, you probably should anyways, it will come out about the same and be firmer.  I just hate too much sugar.  I'd rather fatten people up with butter than sugar.)
3. Add in extracts, slowly.
4. Add food coloring, if desired.  I put about 5 SMALL drops of coloring in with the head of a toothpick.  I wanted a light color, and you probably do too so go easy.
5. Chop up your chocolate bar.  Don't feel like you need to put it all in, I ended using about 3/4 of it.  Make  big chunks. I use Ghirardelli because I am a Ghirardelli fan girl.  No shame in it.

6. Gently fold the chunks into the frosting.  My tip to you is to not just dump all the chocolate in there off of your cutting board.  When you chop it off, there are tiny little "crumbs" and shavings everywhere and this can dirty the frosting up.  Instead use the bigger chunks/pieces. 

This is where the fun part comes in.  Putting it all together!

I got some of the cupcakes naked (no liner) and put them inside waffle bowls.  They fit perfectly!

Then I took a small cookie scoop and filled it with frosting.  (DOESN'T IT LOOK LIKE ICE CREAM ALREADY???  At this point I am pretty sure I was actually giddy.)

I tried using a big ice cream scoop but that proved to be way too  much frosting for a cupcake.  I used a medium cookie scoop to "frost" the cupcakes.  But if you like that kind of thing, double (or even triple) the recipe and go for it!  And let me tell you, frosting with a scoop is so much more fun than with a piping bag, haha.

Then just add a little bit of mint for garnish and stick a spoon in it (I found my little wooden spoons at JoAnn's for 3.99)  and you are done.

Again, I made just a few with waffle bowls but I don't think that anyone ate the leftover bowl.  Everyone did use their spoons though!  It was cute, lol. And unnecessary but made me happy I found the spoons.   I made a lot with just white liners too.  Or if you can find them, you can also put them in little ice cream cups! And maybe drizzle them with ganache? Mint ganache.  I had toyed with the idea of doing so, but I ran out of time because my best friend held me up an hour away while he plowed himself with bottomless mimosas, lol.  Next time!

Best part was that even though it's a lot of chocolate, they still remained light and refreshing.  This only make me hopeful for the few other things I have in my head.  Hopefully you'll see those soon, too.  For now let's just be happy I finally posted something that was not a cookie...

xoxo,
Anna