Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter-Filled Cookies

Yummo. We've been having chocolate and peanut butter cravings in our family for a week now, and I've also been thinking about the Disneyland chocolate covered peanut butter sandwich cookies ever since we went last September. So..... I finally decided on Sunday that I needed to take a crack at making them. You can find several variations of the recipe online. And I'm pretty sure you can't go wrong with any of them. 

The method and recipe I came up with is as follows:

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Cookies

(Makes 24)

24 graham cracker halves

2 12 oz. packages of Guittard milk chocolate chips

2 T. shortening

2 c. creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. powdered sugar (or more, if you prefer a sweeter peanut butter filling)

1/2 t. vanilla

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. I actually used a glass heat-proof Pyrex bowl that I was able to fit over a saucepan (without the bottom of the bowl touching the inside bottom of the pan). Fill the bottom of the pan with about an inch of water, and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat off, and place your Pyrex bowl over the warm water. Put the chocolate chips and shortening into the bowl and stir until it is well combined and all of the chocolate is melted, keeping it over the warm pan of water.

Once the chocolate is smooth and melted, using a pastry brush (I use a silicon brush), brush the tops of the graham crackers with a coat of chocolate.

Set aside to cool and harden. You can put it in the fridge for a minute or two to speed up the process. While they are cooling, make the peanut butter filling. Mix the peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until they are well blended and the mixture is smooth. You can do this by hand, or using a mixer. It is easy enough to stir by hand. After mixing, scoop out a ball of peanut butter mixture onto each chocolate-covered graham. I used a 1-1/4" cookie scoop scraped flat, which is about 1-1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of filling. Spread the peanut butter filling over the chocolate. Place back in refrigerator to set up a bit.

Check your chocolate. If it has cooled down, turn the water back on for a bit, and stir the chocolate until it is thin. Once it is ready, turn the heat off. Place a peanut-butter covered graham into the bowl of chocolate. Using a spoon, coat the top with chocolate. Lift the graham out of the bowl with forks, and let the chocolate drip off the graham. Tap your fork gently on the side of the bowl to make sure the excess chocolate has dripped off. 

Place on a piece of parchment paper to harden and cool.

Once the tops have hardened slightly, you can ad some decorative drizzles of the remaining chocolate. I just flung my fork across the pan and let the drizzles go where they may, but you can do whatever your heart desires. You could even use a colored candy coating to drizzle over for a holiday like Christmas or Halloween or St. Patrick's!

Let the chocolate covered deliciousness cool in the refrigerator. These are best eaten cold straight from the fridge.

And enjoy. 

The Apple-Pears Are On!

It is definitely that time of year again. The apple-pears are on. And by "on", I mean done. Ready. Kaput. Finished. We've spent several hours picking, and we've declared that job complete.

I mean, we still need to leave a few for the birds over the winter, right? The pickings are pretty slim when everything is covered in snow. They are so happy to see pears here and there among the branches. Some pears just find nooks and crannies to settle in over the winter. A perfect feeding spot for the birds.

This year was not a bumper crop, but we never lose too much sleep over that. There are still plenty of apple-pears to harvest, and we got more than enough this year.

We've been making deliveries to all of the people on our annual list, and I still have plenty to dry. I've been drying a batch every day. It makes the house smell like so yummy... just like fall! To see how I go about drying my apple-pears, click here.

Recipe: Baked Penne Pasta

I love a recipe that I can make one night, split it in half before baking, and throw one of  the pans in the freezer for another time. It is such a help to pull something out of the freezer, thaw it out, and bake it without having to do any of the work. Love, love, love it!

This recipe can work two ways: 1) You can make it in a deep 9x13 pan (or an even larger pan), and serve it all in one night to your family; or, 2) You can make it in two separate 8x8 pans, and freeze one for another time. That works really well for my family. The pasta is yummy and rich and can easily feed 6 people with a smaller, 8x8 pan. So, it's up to you. I show you below how I do it in my two 8x8 pans.

Baked Penne Pasta

1 lb. uncooked penne pasta
1 lb. lean ground beef
onion powder
pepper
garlic powder
seasoning salt
2 (26 oz) jars of spaghetti sauce, any flavor
8 slices provolone cheese
1-1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 T. Parmesan cheese, grated

Cook penne pasta according to directions on package, until al dente. Don't forget to generously salt the water!

In a large skillet, brown ground beef. Add onion powder, pepper, a dash of seasoning salt, and garlic powder, according to taste. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8X8 inch foil baking pans with non-stick cooking spray. Layer the ingredients as follows, in each pan: 1/4 of the penne, 1/4 of the sauce, 4 slices of Provolone, 1/2 of the sour cream, 1/4 penne, 1/4 mozzarella cheese, and 1/4 of sauce mixture. Top with Parmesan cheese and remaining mozzarella cheese.

Bake covered for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted. Serve with a tossed green salad and warm crusty bread.

While the one 8X8 pan is baking, I take the other one, and seal it well with saran wrap.

Then, I cover it with aluminum foil, making sure to crimp down all the sides.

At this point, I like to label the dish, so that I know just what it is. I also write the date on the label so I am sure to eat it before it gets freezer burn. Then, I fit the cover that comes with the pans over the whole thing, and I put it in the freezer for another day.

When I want to cook it, I take it out the night before and leave it in the refrigerator. Before I put it in the oven, I take the plastic lid off, as well as the saran wrap underneath the foil, and then I replace the foil, and bake. Sometimes it takes just a few more minutes to cook, but since all the ingredients are already cooked, it really is just making sure it's warm all the way through and the cheese is melted.

(Recipe adapted from sixsistersstuff.com)

Last minute Christmas food, gift-wrapping and gift ideas

Since we're nearly running out of time for Christmas food and preparations and gifts, here are a few super quick ideas...

Santa Hat Fruit Skewers 

All it takes are some long toothpicks or appetizer skewers, green grapes, bananas, strawberries, and string cheese (or as we call them around our house... cheese sticks).  Start with a grape, then a slice of banana (dipped in pineapple juice to preserve color), a strawberry, and then a slice of string cheese for the top of the hat, and to keep everything on. They are darling, festive, and refreshing after eating all the sugary sweets of the season!

Easy, Fun Gift-Wrapping Idea

I just wrapped the gift in brown kraft paper (I actually use painters paper from Home Depot. Cheap and comes on a large roll). Then I wrapped the gift with red and white baker's twine and stuck a few real pine branches in the strings. Add a gift tag (these are my chalkboard gift tags), and you're done! So cute!

Quick Neighbor or Party Gift

We made these for the gifts that Bob gave the ward families this year at tithing settlements. But they would be perfect for a quick neighbor gift or a party favor.

I got my jars at Taipan, but any little jar would do. Tie a red and white piece of baker's twine around it. Have I mentioned I love baker's twine? Have I mentioned I might even have a baker's twine fettish? Okay, maybe another subject for another day. After the baker's twine, I tied a couple of sprigs of greenery (fake pine and something silvery for these) into the baker's twine. Add a free printable gift tag, which are all over Pinterest these days, and throw a little tea light into it, and you're done! Couldn't be easier!

Activity Days: Halloween Father-Daughter Minute To Win It Activity

We had such a fun father-daughter activity for Activity Days this past week. We did a Halloween Minute to Win It activity, and the girls and their dads really seemed to have a great time together. The dads were really great sports!

We played a game where the girls had to wrap their dads in a roll of toilet paper, like a mummy. The first one to finish her roll of tissue paper won that game.

My sweetie-pie is below, on the left, being wrapped up by a little girl whose father was out of town on a business trip. She "borrowed" him as a dad for the night!

There was also a game where they had to pick up spider rings with a straw held in their mouth. Easier said than done!

And a funny race where they had to hold a quarter between their knees. Oh, the girls loved seeing their dads looking a bit awkward and silly!

We also used the beanbag toss that we made last year. That was a pretty fierce competition. I'm not sure the beanbags were made to withstand that kind of throwing.

And of course, it wouldn't be a party without yummy treats. This photo was taken before half of the food was on the table, but you get the idea...

Rice Krispie treat pumpkins. I vary the recipe a bit from the standard recipe when I make Rice Krispie treats. Melt 6 T. butter in a large pot. When the butter is melted, add 16 oz. of mini marshmallows. Stir over medium heat til the mallows are melted. Then, if I'm adding food I add it now. Lots of orange, to make it nice and pumpkin-ish. Add in 8 cups of Rice Krispies and stir til they're all coatedd. Have a dab of butter on a little plate so it's handy to dip your fingers into, because you will need lots of butter on your hands -- the mixture is really sticky. Form pumpkin shapes, then make a little divot in the top, and place a tootsie roll in it. Couldn't be easier.

Monster Cookies. Really easy and yummy. The eyeballs are candy eyes from JoAnn. I use the recipe from lilluna.com for Gooey Monster Cookies. The only change I would make from their recipe, is I roll them in granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. The powdered sugar gives them a white-ish covering on parts of the cookie, and takes away from the look I want. Suit yourself, though. Both are equally delish!

And this kindof cracks me up. I went to great lengths to create these witches brooms...

Notice anything? I practically had to drill a pilot hole in each one to keep from cracking the chocolate to bits. I finally got a tray of them done and ready for eating.

And then, just now, when I was looking at the photos, I realized they should be upside down. The chocolates would look much more like brooms if they were bottom side up, AND the pretzels would have gone through the bottom of the chocolates much easier than the top thicker chocolate layer. Why didn't I notice that as I was putting them together, and why didn't my kids or husband notice? They may have, but were too nice to say anything after they saw that I had already finished the tray. Oh well. They were all engulfed fast enough that I don't think anyone was noticing they were upside down.

It was a fun, simple activity, and all of the leaders did a game and a treat, so it wasn't really a burden on any single person. We decided to do it in my home so that we wouldn't have to do any extra decorating. Saved money and time by not having to try to decorate the cultural hall at the church!

Delicious Dehydrated Apple-Pears

As I've mentioned before, we have many an apple-pear tree in our backyard. Thirty-ish. We have taken really good care of them, pruning them every year. We LOVE the old orchard trees. They give an "oldness" to our yard, since the trees are 50 years old.

Last year I bought a dehydrator to try my hand at drying the apple-pears. We actually bought it a little late in the season, so I didn't get around to trying it out last year. Soooo, this year I dusted it off, and put it to use, and I'm in the apple-pear drying business! Actually, I'm definitely not going into business, but I've got it down to such a good system, that I fill the dehydrator almost daily.

The dehydrator I am using is the Cabela's Heavy Duty Dehydrator, 10 Tray Model No. 75-0401-C. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it works great for what I'm doing, and I haven't had any issues with it yet.

As I began to look online for fruit-drying instructions, I quickly realized I needed a mandoline. Up to this point, the only mandoline I knew of was the kind without the "e" on the end, which happens to be a musical instrument. After some investigating, I realized a mandoline is a food slicer, and I came to the conclusion that the cost was well worth the investment. Whitney and Mike dropped by the store on the way to our house one evening, and picked me up a OXO Good Grips Chef's Mandoline Slicer. Can I tell you how much I love that little device? It has saved hours and hours of work, and there is no way I would be able to slice each of my apple-pears to an exact 1/4" thickness without it.

To dry your own apple-pears, first place your fruit in a sink full of cold water to wash off any dirt. We don't spray our fruit with pesticides, so I don't need to really work too hard washing them. To fill my dehydrator, it takes 20-24 medium-sized apple-pears.

Next, peel your fruit. I started to do this the old fashioned way -- with a paring knife. That was resulting in getting me nowhere fast, so I went with my daughter's suggestion, and used my vegetable peeler. Slick.

Next, use an apple-corer to pull the core out of the apple-pear.

At this point, you will fill a large bowl with 8 cups of cool water and 2 T. Cabela's Dehydrator Flavor Guard or lemon juice or pineapple juice. I haven't tried using the lemon juice or pineapple juice yet, but it appears that many other people do it that way. The purpose of the Flavor Guard or lemon or pineapple juice is to keep the fruit from browning, and to preserve the freshness of the fruit.

After all that sweet-talking about the mandoline, you would think I would have photographed it in action. But the truth is, while you're using it, you have lots of fruit juice on your hands and cameras don't react well to having sticky fruit juice all over them. But, just so you can see what it is I'm referring to... here is a photo of the box!

Slice the peeled, cored fruit with your new favorite kitchen tool -- the mandoline. Slice them to 1/4" thick. After slicing, put them in the large bowl of water mixed with Flavor Guard or juice.

After you have filled the bowl with sliced fruit, scoop the fruit out and put it in a colander to drain the excess liquid. It will be important to have the fruit as dry as possible before placing them on the dehydrator trays. I placed a clean towel on a cookie sheet and laid out the fruit rings on the towel. Then, I took another clean towel and dabbed each fruit ring til the excess liquid could no longer be seen on the fruit.

At this point they are ready to go on the trays. Unless, of course, you would like to sprinkle cinnamon on some or all of the fruit. If so, then after dabbing the fruit with the towel, place the fruit in a bowl and sprinkle cinnamon to your desire all over the fruit, making sure the slices are evenly coated.

Place the fruit rings on the dehydrator trays. Be sure to not overlap the fruit.

I am still experimenting with how long I keep them in the dehydrator. It seems to work well at about 145 degrees for about 7-8 hours. Be sure to dry them til the moisture is gone, or they will spoil when they age. I like mine chewy... not crispy. Remember that all dehydrators are different, so you may want to check yours after 5 hours or so, and then every hour after that point. Sometimes I have a tray or two that seems to be a little slower than the rest, so I remove all the other pears and leave the others to cook for another hour or so.

Keep them in an airtight container. These are so, so yummy! I have enough fruit on my trees to feed a small army, so I think I'll just keep on drying til I'm out of fruit. By the way, for those who are reading this and are also on my fruit-picking list, I haven't gotten around to calling you all yet, but... The Fruit Is ON!!! Come on over and pick before it's all on the ground!

Wedding Luncheon Photos - Part 2

Just a few more photos from the wedding luncheon. Such a beautiful day (despite the clouds and iffy weather)!

Originally we had planned to have all of the tables outside on the lawn. Since it had rained for the three days prior to the big day, the grass was a little mucky, and I feared the ladies' heels getting mired in the muck. So, we set up four of the tables outside, under the deck. where they were sheltered from any chance of rain. The other five tables were just inside, in the basement.

The centerpieces were made by my friend Val. She used old barn wood, fashioned it into boxes, and planted succulents and ivy in them.

Ooooo. Who is that cute little baby looking right at the camera? Our sweet, sweet grand-baby!

Some of the crowd in, some out. It worked beautifully as a "Plan B" arrangement.
How cute is my son (the groom) with his hand tenderly holding the arm of his new bride? He's a sweetie-pie!

And finally, my beautiful mother...