Can we fix it.....YES WE CAN!!!!

My aunt Wendy sent Hank and I a package at the beginning of December  (I get SUPER excited to get mail that is not junk mail or bills....so a  actual package, I can't even explain to you how excited I was). When we opened it I saw it was a ginger bread house. I have not put one of these together in a long time so I was excited. But when I opened it I was crushed to see this cute little house.........in pieces!!! I guess it got shook a few to many times in the mail. But  little did I know that it being all broken would make it a whole lot more fun!

 Now it was a good smelling puzzle. Nothing a little hot glue can't fix

Piece by piece we built our ginger bread house......and I mean piece by piece, there were some TINY pieces!!! 

Look look......it looks like a house again!

for some reason the humpty dumpty story kept popping my in head

 Hank was GREAT with helping me glue it back together....he even had fun doing it. But when it came to decorating,  his interest was pretty much not there. So I had lots of fun listening to Christmas music and decorating our ginger bread house that we built from the card board up :)

Thank you Aunt Wendy if you ever send us another ginger bread house…..make sure to give it a few shakes. We kinda thought that was a pretty fun way to do it!

Almond joys

Here is another one of my Christmas treats I made to take to my neighbor. They were super yummy, but they took some time.

These are all the ingredients you need

NOTE: It's smart to look at the amount a ingredients the recipe calls for. Whoops!

First I started out mixing the powdered sugar, butter, and sweetened condensed milk together. SLOWLY add in the powdered sugar....if you do it to fast...POOF! You will be covered in a cloud of  white that will leave everything sticky
 ( just take me word for it ;)

After the powdered sugar is mixed in, start adding in the coconut.  I had to  grab a bigger bowl. For all of you  who have a mixer ( LUCKY) this will be much easier then using a hand mixer.

Next stick the coconut mixture in the fridge to chill.

 Now on to toasting your almonds.

Toast your almonds just enough to not look like this! This happens very fast, as soon as you can smell them take them out of the oven!!!!

I used a Tablespoon to  to measure out  some of the coconut mixture before rolling into a ball.  

Next add your toasted almond ( remember...not the burnt ones) . Stick these in the freezer while you melt the chocolate. 

Melt your chocolate......but not to the point of looking like this!

It should look like this :)

Leave the coconut balls in the freezer till they are firm enough they wont fall apart when dipped in the chocolate. I found using a fork and a tooth pick worked the best for dipping and sliding onto the wax paper.

Ta-Dah!!!! Don't they look scrumptious!

MY ALTERATIONS/NOTES
Remember when I said to look at the amount of ingredients the recipe calls for....well I didn't do that. I got all the stuff and when I started to make it I realized the amount this recipe was going to make. Needless to say it was about 3x more then what I was planning to make. I also would make the almond joys about half of a tablespoon, they were super yummy but I like a little more almond with my coconut, so making the coconut ball a little smaller would solve that problem :)  When I make this in the future I will be cutting the recipe in half. At a tablespoon per ball it made about 75 almond joys.
(I know some of you are wondering; but no I am not a food photographer, could have fooled you huh...okay okay...I will work on it.)

Oh and the pictures of what "not" to do...I did those on purpose. ;)

Homemade Almond Joy

14 oz - sweetened condensed milk
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
2 14 oz bag sweetened flaked coconut
1-2 24 oz pkg. chocolate almond bark or dark chocolate chips
1-1 1/2 cup whole almonds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, spread raw almonds onto a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, on medium speed, blend the sweetened condensed milk, butter and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing until smooth. On low speed add the coconut a little at a time and mix until thoroughly combined with the powdered sugar mixture. The mixture will be thick. Place mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the coconut mixture from the refrigerator. With clean hands shape one tablespoon of coconut into a little log about 2 inches long and 3/4-inch thick. Press the coconut mixture together very well so they don’t crack when dipped. Place the log on the lined baking sheet and continue until all of the coconut mixture is gone. Rinse hands occasionally if they get too sticky. Press an almond on top of each coconut log. It might not completely stick. That’s ok. Place the baking sheet in the freezer to chill while you melt the chocolate.

In a medium microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave 2-4 minutes at 30 SECOND intervals until chocolate is melted. Remove the coconut candies from the freezer. Place one coconut almond log on a fork (I use my meat fork to my silverware). Use a spoon to scoop a bit of chocolate over the almond. This will help the almond stick to the candy and not fall off during dipping. Lower fork into chocolate and spoon chocolate over candy to coat. Lift fork and gently shake to release some of the chocolate. Scrape the bottom of the fork along the side of the bowl and place on the lined baking sheet. You might need a toothpick to help get the candy off the fork. Repeat until all candy is coated in chocolate. If chocolate get thick, just return to the microwave and heat for another 30 seconds.

Let dipped candy harden for 45 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. If you need to layer the candy in a container, use waxed paper to separate the layers.

Almond Roca

Every now and then I find a yummy looking recipe on pinterest or some random cook book and I get a itch to do some cooking/baking.  Well time after time I start in on my cooking project and I found I either have no clue what I'm doing or it take 9 TIMES LONGER THEN I THOUGHT!!! So I have come to the conclusion that EVERY recipe should come with step by step instructions or pictures!

Toast almonds and spread on the bottom of a pan

Bring to a boil stirring constantly

continue to stir....get comfy, this part takes a long time

Pulled over my squishy mat, and got my sweats on. This is as comfy as you can get in the kitchen

Watching me some Glee while I continue to wait (horrible show.....but it was Christmasy) 

FINALLY!!!!!!!!

Look at those guns! ( there there......the long johns are just hiding them ;)
Not even kidding....my arm was tired from stirring so long!

Spread mixture over the almonds ( be fast about this step.....it sets up fast)

TA-DAH!!!!!!

MY ALTERATIONS/NOTES

·         First off……….be SOOOOO careful toasting your almonds. Those babies go from not cooked at all to BURNT so stinkin fast. So right when you can smell them, take them off the heat.

·         I only had dark brown sugar. It works just the same just makes the roca part darker.

·         So the way the recipe made it sound, I thought this treat would be fast to whoop up. But the part when you have to bring the temperature up to 300 degrees……that takes a LONG time. I didn’t time it (shucks I wish I did…but I didn’t)  But it was close to 25 minutes…..that's a lot of stirring. If you try to turn up the heat to warm it faster…..it burns. So just get comfy!

·         Things I would change: I put mine in a cake pan so it all was thin. ( sorry I’m fresh out of 7x11 pans…..do they even make those??? ) So next time I make this I would double the roca part. On the Bottom layer of almonds I would double that as well. This batch I made the main thing I could taste was the chocolate. So I would double everything else and it would have been PERFECT!!!

Almond Roca

¾ cup toasted, chopped almonds ***

1 C light brown sugar

1 C (2 sticks) butter

6 oz (about 1 cup) milk chocolate chips

Butter a 7x11 inch pan. Sprinkle half of the almonds on the bottom of the pan.

 In a heavy sauce pan, over medium high heat, melt the butter and then add the brown sugar. Stir gently until boiling. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling until the temperature reaches 300 degrees (hard crack stage). Use a candy thermometer. If temperature goes high then 320 it will not set up.

Pour the hot mixture over the almonds in the buttered pan. Pour the chocolate chips over the top and let them sit for a minute or two to melt.  Once they are melty, use a spatula to spread them evenly over the top. Sprinkle remaining chopped almonds over the melted chocolate. Let the whole things cool until the chocolate has set. Use a knife to break the almond roca into pieces.

*** To toast almonds spread them in a dry skillet and cook them over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to lightly brown and you can smell them. Let them cool completely. Toasting nuts gives them a much crunchier texture and a richer flavor.

Recipe For a Happy New Year

Take twelve whole months.

Clean them thoroughly of all bitterness,
hate, and jealousy.

Make them just as fresh and clean as possible.

Now cut each month into twenty-eight, thirty, or
thirty-one different parts,
but don’t make up the whole batch at once.

Prepare it one day at a time out of these ingredients:

Mix well into each day one part of faith,
one part of patience, one part of courage,
and one part of work.

Add to each day one part of hope,
faithfulness, generosity, and kindness.

Blend with one part prayer, one part meditation,
and one good deed.

Season the whole with a dash of good spirits,
a sprinkle of fun, a pinch of play,
and a cupful of good humor.

Pour all of this into a vessel of love.

Cook thoroughly over radiant joy,
garnish with a smile,
and serve with quietness, unselfishness,
and cheerfulness.

You’re bound to have a happy new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!