Apricot, Almond & Coconut Candies

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.

 

 

 

This is a dangerous time of the month for me. Candy everywhere! Normally we just grab a few boxes of the full sized candy bars from Costco to pass out to the few trick or treaters that we get on our court, and that's bad enough keeping them in the house untouched until Halloween. But, we decided that our business was going to participate in the city's police department trick or treat event this year too, so that meant I had to buy and resist the temptation to eat any of the 4,000 pieces of additional candy sitting in my pantry. If you know me, you know that my sweet tooth is unmatched so the restraint is killing me. In an effort to be good though, I figured I could make a sweet treat to hold myself off until every last piece of the stash is passed out to the kids in our community. Thankfully I found a recipe for these Apricot, Almond & Coconut Candies on Golden Blossom Honey and knew that it was just what I needed to keep me on my best behavior until the end of the month. 

 

 

Not only are these candies super easy to make with only 4 ingredients total, they are so much healthier than the processed bagged treats filling the grocery aisles right now. The mixture will be sticky before rolling in the coconut, but I found that instead of dropping by spoonfuls, using a cookie scoop to gather the mixture worked much better. I'd just release from the scoop into the coconut, sprinkle a little more coconut flakes on the top and press slightly into the mixture, then roll it all between my palms for a nice little candy ball. I was able to make right around 20 candies with this recipe, but it could easily be doubled if you wanted to make these for holiday treat boxes instead of snacking on during the Halloween season. 

Ingredients

1 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

12 ounces dried apricots, finely chopped

1 cup blanched almonds, slivered

1/2 cup coconut, or more if needed

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

 

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey, and be sure to Pin It on Pinterest! 

   

What candy will you pass out this Halloween?

Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles for St. Patrick's Day! #CatholicCentral #SaintPatricksDayTraditions

Disclosure: I was provided with a gift pack from Catholic Central to help facilitate this post. All opinions stated here are my own. 



Last summer we were able to take our girls to their motherland, Ireland. We spent 5 days castle hopping, sheep chasing, and chowing down on amazing traditional grub. Even for someone like me who is not of Irish descent, it was truly an incredible experience immersing myself into the Irish way of life. Just spotting that beautiful patchwork landscape from the plane, I knew we were in for a real treat.

We have always had a love of St. Patrick's Day, but this year it's a little more special since we now have an even better understanding of Ireland and St. Patrick. March is the time to celebrate St. Patrick, who is the patron saint who helped introduce Ireland to Christianity. Aside from all of the castles you'll find tucked into the Irish countryside, there are also a plethora of charming little churches to admire as well. So, I think, we have St. Patrick to thank for those.

This year, we are celebrating St. Patrick's Day by looking back through our Ireland travel photos. We also like to have a sweet treat to munch on because I took A LOT of pictures (you can see some of them on my Instagram) and while I thought about making a green dessert, I decided to go with mint instead. These Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles are a rich and indulgent treat, which would also describe your trip to Ireland.

If you want to make them green to keep it more in line with St. Patrick's Day, omit the dark chocolate and coat the truffles with Wilton green candy melts.

Yield: About 20 Truffles Author: Theresa M

 

Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 30 mint cookies (I use store brand thin mints)
• 3/4 cup York mini peppermint patties
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped chocolate mint candies (I used Andes)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
2. Place the cookies and peppermint patties in a food processor and pulse until pea-sized crumbs form. Add in the softened cream cheese and pulse until combined.
3. Scoop out about a tablespoon size amount of dough and roll into a 1 inch ball. Place the dough balls in the freezer while you prepare the chocolate coating.
4. Chop the chocolate mint candies into fine pieces. Set aside.
5. Over low heat, melt the chocolate and coconut oil until you have a smooth consistency. Coat the truffle balls with the melted chocolate, sprinkle each with a pinch of the chopped chocolate mint candies, then place in the fridge until the chocolate is set. 
6. Serve immediately, or store in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

https://www.theresasmixednuts.com/2019/03/dark-chocolate-mint-truffles-for-st.html

  
                  If you liked this recipe, be sure to Pin It on Pinterest!


In the spirit of the season, Catholic Central wants to share the attached embeddable “5 Ways to Have a Shamrockin’ St. Patrick’s Day” downloadable PDF with you. It contains some fun ways you can celebrate the Shamrockin-est holiday of all! 

 

More about Catholic Central:

You have questions about the Catholic faith and what it means to be Catholic. We have answers. Using a team of witty writers, appealing hosts, and even some learned theologians, we’ve created shareable, snackable videos that teach the timeless truths and deep history of the Church with humor and heart. Produced in the Family Theater Productions studios on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, CATHOLIC CENTRAL entertains, enlightens and inspires.

Let me know in the comments below how you're celebrating St. Patrick's Day this year! Then, enter to win a Saint Patrick's Day FeastKit! Which includes: 1- Bamboo Cheese Board with slide out drawer 4 - Stainless steel cutting and serving knife to help you get your St. Patrick's Day feast on!

 

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Entry-Form

Nightmare Before Christmas Bark

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. 


I've been on the hunt for silicone molds with shapes from The Nightmare Before Christmas for years. I haven't had any luck finding them yet (seriously Disney, you're missing out on a huge money making opportunity there. get with it!) but I did come across these plastic molds of Jack and Oogie on Etsy.

I've been wanting to make some Nightmare Before Christmas bark for Halloween this year, so I thought I'd give these molds a try. I much prefer working with silicone because I've never had great luck with plastic, but figured what the heck. Let's melt some chocolate and see what happens. If you follow me on my Instagram Stories, you got a sneak peek over the weekend.

I'm going to be honest here and say that working with these hard molds was a complete pain in the ass. While they are super cute and would probably work better using them as a bath bomb or working with polymer clay, melting chocolate in them was no easy task.

Jack was a little easier because the mold isn't so detailed, but I did the 4 Oogies pictured here and called it quits. The Oogie Boogie mold is very detailed and getting the chocolate to settle into the cracks was a tedious job. I had to keep slapping the mold onto the counter to get the candy to settle and to get the air bubbles out.

Removing the candy after it had set was a whole other challenge. I kept snapping the tips off of Oogies head, then had to take a lighter to the candy to melt it down to reset the pieces back together. I was beyond frustrated after making just 4.

If this looks like a candy craft you'd like to try, I'd suggest just sticking with the Jack mold. While a bit difficult to remove from the plastic, it went a lot better than the Oogie candies did.

However, even with all of the effort I put into the chocolate molds, I did like the final candy bark results. For Jack Skellington, since he's The Pumpkin King, I cut some jelly pumpkins in half to add to the bark, then dusted it with purple sprinkles.

For the Oogie Boogie candy bark, I used sour gummy worms and purple and green jimmies.

I do think this is a fun candy for your Halloween party or to gift to any Nightmare Before Christmas fan. If you don't mind the work, these molds are a suitable filler until Disney gets with the program and starts to make NBC silicone molds for us foodie and crafting fans.

If you liked this recipe, be sure to Pin It on Pinterest!

Here is a list of the products that I used to make this candy bark. These are affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to shop through, but if you do, I make a small commission to help continue running this blog.

Wilton Black Candy Melts
Wilton White Candy Melts
Sour Orange Pumpkin Jellies
Halloween Colored Jimmies
Trolli Sour Gummy Worms 

Do you watch Nightmare Before Christmas around Halloween-time? 

 

No Bake Candy Monster Cheesecake

We celebrated 3/4 of our family birthdays the week of Christmas. Since the girls have gotten older, they are over the pre-made bakery cakes with the cutesy characters decorated on them. Because we are a huge cheesecake loving family, they now request that I make cheesecake for every birthday.

I made a Dulce de Leche Cheesecake for Cinco de Mayo last year that caused a huge fight between the girls. I hardly ever see Mariah mad, but the girl was fuming when she came home from school and realized that Allison ate the last slice. Here's how it went down:

Mariah: What happened to the cheesecake?
Allison: I ate it.
Mariah: I've been wanting that all day. I was going to come home and split it with you!
Allison: I'm so sorry! How about I make you a smoothie? What kind would you like?
Mariah: Cheesecake.

Almost 8 months later, Mariah still hasn't gotten over the incident, so I told Allison to pick a cheesecake recipe from the same cookbook for her birthday this year and make sure that her sister got her fair share of the pie. After much debate, she settled for a Candy Filled Monster Cheesecake.

This cheesecake is a sweet tooth's dream. It has a peanut butter oatmeal crust, a chocolate chip cheese cake center, and topped off with candy coated chocolates. Totally drool worthy!

Mariah is still being stubborn, insisting that the Dulce de Leche cake was better, but she sure didn't hold back when it came to serving sizes. I'm pretty sure she made up for the lost cheesecake slice by dipping into this cake every day until it was gone.

Author: Theresa M

 

No Bake Candy Monster Cheesecake

 

INGREDIENTS:

 

 For the Crust: 

• 8 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups old-fashioned quick oats
• 3/4 cup candy coated chocolates (such as M&M's)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips  

 For the Filling

      •  1½ cups + 2tbsp heavy whipping cream, divided

      •  3/4 cup powdered sugar

      •  12 ounces cream cheese, softened

      •  1/4 cup granulated sugar

      •  1 tsp vanilla extract

      •  1 cup mini chocolate chips

 
For The Topping

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp melted semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup candy coated chocolates (such as M&M's)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. For the crust, line the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the edges of the spring form pan with cooking spray, wiping excess off with a paper towel. 
2. Soften the butter in the microwave for 10 seconds. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the softened butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat at medium speed until well combined. Add the peanut butter and mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Once combined, add the vanilla extract, mixing until the flour is just incorporated. Slowly add the oats, one cup at a time. The dough will thicken, but continue to mix until combined. Fold in the candy coated chocolates and mini chocolate chips with your hands or spatula so you do not crush the candies. Press the cookie dough mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan to form the crust.
3. For the cheesecake: Place a mixing bowl and the whip attachment in the freezer for 10 minutes to chill. Pour 1 and 1/2 cup of the heavy whipping cream into the chilled bowl and beat with the chilled whisk on medium-high speed until the cream starts to turn bubbly. Slowly add in the powder sugar and continue beating on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside. 
4. Beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Slowly add the sugar into the cream cheese while beating the mixture. Add the remaining 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract. Beat until the filling is smooth and creamy, scraping sides of bowls as needed. Fold the mini chocolate chips into the mixture. Slowly add the prepared whip cream to the mixture, folding over and over with a spatula until well combined. Pour the filling into the prepared crust, smoothing the top with a spatula. Run a flat edge knife around the cheesecake to loosen it from the side of the pan before placing into the refrigerator to. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. 
5. For the topping, combine whipping cream and powder sugar as you did before to form a second batch of whipped cream. Remove the cheesecake from the spring form pan and using a star tip, pipe on decorative swirls to the top of the cake. Microwave the semi-sweet chocolate in 30 second increments until melted. Drizzle over the top of the cake and swirls. Finish the cake off by pouring the candy coated chocolate over the top of the cheesecake. 
6. Serve. Store any unused cheesecake in the refrigerator. 

Original Recipe adapted from No-Bake Treats by Julianne Bayer

http://www.theresasmixednuts.com/2018/01/no-bake-candy-monster-cheesecake.html

This monster candy cheesecake will be a hit at any birthday party.  It's colorful, fun, and best of all, delicious!

What's your favorite kind of cake to have on your birthday?