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Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category

Ethel M Chocolates

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining at Home, Holidays, Travels, tagged , , , on December 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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When we were in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago, we made time to visit Ethel M. ® Chocolates.

About 15 minutes south of the Strip, the facility is owned by Mars, Inc., the people that Make M&Ms® and other yummy treats yours truly should stay far away from.

The Mars tradition of candy making began in 1911 in the kitchen of Frank and Ethel Mars home in Tacoma, Washington. Their son, Forrest Mars. Sr.,  retired to Henderson, Nevada in 1981 and created Ethel M.® Chocolates to honor his mother by creating a line of gourmet chocolate candies that reminded him of how he learned about quality chocolate making. Ethel M.® Chocolates are sold in various locations throughout Las Vegas, and via the web at www.ethelm.com.

The factory is still located at its original location at Two Cactus Garden Drive in Henderson, where gourmet chocolate gifts are made from Ethel Mars’ original recipes. Captain Cavedweller and I were completely enthralled with the pecan brittle. It was beyond wonderful.

Guests to the factory can take a self-guided tour and also stroll through the cactus garden. At night, the garden comes alive with hundreds of lights and decorations artfully placed along the three acres of beautiful and rare plants.

Although we went during the day, we did have fun checking out the garden.

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She Who Enjoyed Seeing the Exotic and Interesting Plants – and Sampling the Chocolate!

25 days 2011

 

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Holiday Favorite Sweet Treats

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Holidays, tagged , , , on December 17, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This weekend, I finally got around to baking sugar cookies.

I was pretty sure one of us was going to founder on them and it wasn’t me.

Despite the fact Captain Cavedweller isn’t a big sweet eater, there are a few treats that he can’t pass up.

Sugar Cookies are definitely on the short list.

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Here is the recipe. These take a little time and effort but it is well worth it!

Sugar Cookies

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of lemon juice

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

Frosting

Cream together butter and sugars. Add in eggs, vanilla and lemon juice. Mix dry ingredients together and gradually add into creamed mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Generously flour a flat surface and your rolling pin. Scoop out half the dough and roll until about 1/4 inch thick. You want to work fairly quickly at this point because the warmer the dough gets the stickier it becomes and you don’t want to add more flour. Cut into shapes and bake about 6-8 minutes or until cookies are just set. You do not want them to get brown at all. Cool in pan for one minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely. Frost and decorate then watch them disappear.

You can use a royal icing if you are of a mind to stir up a batch or, if you are a lazy slug like me, I whip out a can of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting and frost away. I also like to use decorator gels, especially the sparkly variety, along with sprinkles!

Here are a few links to some of our other favorites!

Gingerbread Bars

Nut Goodie Bars

Pumpkin Roll

Seven-Layer Bars

25 days 2011

 

 

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Christmas from Pinterest

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining at Home, tagged , , on December 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

northpole cupcakes

Most of you already know I’m obsessed with Pinterest.

There is so much cool stuff there, just waiting to be pinned! How can you not love it?

Anyway, here are some of the fun Christmas things I recently discovered and had to share. Click on the photos and check them out!

white snowflake cookie

hot chocolate

 

snowman

centerpiece

winter scene

sled and skatesrope wreath

Happy Holidays!

She Who Loves this Season

25 days 2011

 

 

 

 

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Almond Joy Bars

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Holidays, Recipes, tagged , , , , on December 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

almond joy bars plated

Years ago, my mom used to make this wonderful coconut candy dipped in chocolate. It took a lot of work and the chocolate contained paraffin wax. Needless to say, the few times I attempted to make the candy, I left out the wax and found the whole process to be both traumatic and awful.

I did keep the recipe for the filling though.

After seeing various recipes for Almond Joy Bars on Pinterest, I decided to make up my own, using the filling from the dipped candy.

These bars were relatively simple to put together. You do need to either keep them in the fridge or the freezer, though. The centers are sticky and need to be kept chilled.

If you like coconut, almonds and chocolate, you will definitely love these!

almond joy bar ingredients

Ingredients

Combine filling ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm.

Combine filling ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm.

Mix crust ingredients until crumbly. Press into greased (or foil-lined pan) and bake until set.

Cool crust completely before adding filling.
Cool crust completely before adding filling.
When crust is cool, spoon on filling. It will be sticky, so work fast while it is cold. Spread out evenly over crust.

When crust is cool, spoon on filling. It will be sticky, so work fast while it is cold. Spread out evenly over crust.

Nuke chips, butter and cream in 20-30 second bursts until chips are melted. Mix well.

Nuke chips, butter and cream in 20-30 second bursts until chips are melted. Mix well.

Spoon over filling and spread out evenly.

Spoon over filling and spread out evenly.

Top with more sliced almonds then freeze until firm. Cut into bars and indulge!

Top with more sliced almonds then freeze until firm. Cut into bars and indulge!

Almond Joy Bars

Crust:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 tbsp. sugar

6 tbsp. butter

Filling:

1 can condensed milk

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 1/2 sticks of butter

3 cups powdered sugar

Topping:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tbsp. butter

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Crust – Beat softened butter then add in flour, sugar and coconut. Mixture will be crumbly.  Press into greased baking dish (if you are lazy like me, line it with foil then spray with non-stick spray. It makes it easy to lift out and cut bars when finished). Bake for about 6-8 minutes, until just set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Filling – Mix condensed milk, almonds, coconut, butter and sugar until well mixed. Freeze until firm. When crust is cool, spoon filling over the top and spread out to smooth.

Topping – In a microwave safe bowl, mix chips, butter and cream. In 20-30 second intervals, cook until chocolate melts and cream and butter are fully combined. Spread over the top of the filling and sprinkle with nuts. Put in the freezer until firm then take out and cut into bars.

Keep refrigerated or in the freezer until ready to serve (if you feel like sharing!).

These are rich, but oh, so good!

She Who Loves Chocolate and Coconut

25 days 2011

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