I may have a bit of a secret addiction to Nutter Butters.  When Jon and I were in the airport headed to Fiji I stopped in one of the newsstands and picked up a bag of them.  Next thing I know a full on addiction had been formed.  Ohmygosh, so good.

So when one of my friends said she’d seen the idea of Nutter Butter Truffles floating around the internet I knew I immediately had to try my hand at them.  Ridiculously easy, ridiculously delicious.

Throw the entire package of Nutter Butters into the food processor and blend down until it’s all crumbs.

Mix in a stick of cream cheese.  You can start with a spoon, but you’re going to have to get your hands in there to really blend it together.

Form the cream cheese and Nutter Butter mixture into balls.

Dip into melted chocolate.  I use Wilton Candy Melts, like I use for making cake pops.

For a little extra pizzaz I throw the extra chocolate into a bag and drizzle over the truffles.  Instant fanciness.

Refrigerate them for a bit and then break off all the excess chocolate.  Serve up to your friends and impress them all.

Or just keep them all for yourself.  I won’t tell.

I may have found this recipe in Good Housekeeping, and I might just have a subscription to the magazine.  Which makes me like 90 years old, but I’m okay with that.  I love whipped cream on my hot chocolate, but hate how quickly it melts, so I was pretty excited about this recipe.  And the fact that it only needs three ingredients:

2c heavy cream

2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

You start by beating the heavy cream in the mixer on medium speed until soft peaks are formed.  I found this took about five minutes.  Then add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla extract and beat until stiff peaks form.

Pipe the cream mixture on parchment paper and freeze for at least an hour.  You can store these for a couple of weeks in the freezer.

When you’re ready to enjoy a warm drink, pull a couple out, pop them in the drink and enjoy.  As I was enjoying my hot chocolate I thought about replacing the vanilla extract with peppermint extract for a little flavor in hot chocolate.

And then I started dreaming of making these with a little bit of Bailey’s and putting them in coffee.

I think I may just try that once baby arrives.

A couple of weeks ago we were going to our friend’s Green Bay Packers party, and I decided to try my hand at these jello shots.  I realize that this post is a bit delayed considering Green Bay is no longer in the playoffs, but let’s pretend that doesn’t matter for the sake of this post.

What you’ll need:

-Water

-Knox Gelatin

-2 colors of powdered jello

-vodka

-sweetened condensed milk

For detailed instructions, check out this blog.

You start by making a batch of each color jello with vodka and refrigerating.  For the Packers I used lemon and lime flavored jello.

You let these refrigerate for a couple of hours, and then cut into pieces.

Combine all the pieces into one tray and pour the sweetened condensed milk mixture over the jello pieces.  Refrigerate a couple more hours, cut into cubes, enjoy!

Unfortunately, I did not get to actually taste them, but from the way they disappeared, I’d say they were quite a hit.

After seeing this recipe for homemade peanut butter cups and how ridiculously easy it was I knew they were next on my list.  There are only four ingredients, and they’re all things I had on hand.  No running around Manhattan to baking supply stores that are only open a few hours a day.  Which do not include the hours I’m not at work.  Because that’s convenient.

See, I told you.  Only four ingredients.  FOUR.

Double broil some chocolate chips and then put a thin layer on the bottom of your cupcake liners.  Freeze for 15 minutes.

Then whip up the peanut butter/confectioner’s sugar/butter mixture and put on top.

Shake it like a salt shaker.  Or just tap the pan on the counter.  However you get the peanut butter to smooth out is up to you.  Freeze 15 more minutes.

Finally, cover with the other half of the chocolate chips and freeze one final time.  Present them to your friends and take credit for making an easy treat that seems complicated.  You’re very welcome.

With the temperatures dropping dramatically, I’ve been on the hunt for things to keep warm.  Insert a craving for all things salted caramel.  A salted caramel hot chocolate?  Sure, why not?

I ended up passing by Trader Joe’s on my way home from work last night, so I popped in and picked up a couple things.  And by “popped in” I mean I was there an hour because even though it was pouring down rain the line was still wrapped entirely around the store.

Ingredients:

1 bar dark chocolate (mine was 3.5 oz)

1 bar caramel chocolate (mine was 3 oz)

2 pinches sea salt

8-12 oz milk, depending on how rich you want your hot chocolate

Combine the milk and dark chocolate bar in a sauce pan.  I used 8 ounces of milk, and it was honestly a bit rich for my tastes.  Next time I’ll definitely add more milk to dilute it down a bit.  When you’re so used to having hot chocolate from a powder mix, the real thing can be a bit much.

Whisk until combined and then add the caramel chocolate bar and sea salt.  Keep whisking away.  When it’s all nice and combined just pour it into a glass, top with some whipped cream and enjoy!

Next time I think I’m going to substitute the caramel bar for some peanut butter.  Peanut butter hot chocolate…now that sounds good.

Saturday I took a “Macaroon and Madeleine” class at the French Culinary Institute.  One of my friends had signed me up as a gift, which was awesome because it’s something I would have never thought to do for myself.

The class was really great, except I would describe it as, “TV Baking”.  As in, you do a couple of steps and wah-lah!  You’re done!  They had one main chef giving instructions while five assistant chefs put our macaroons in the oven, monitored them and took them out.  All ingredients were pre-measured and as soon as we were done one thing we’d listen to the head chef while the assistants cleaned our work stations and got us set up for the next thing.

So basically I looked like a rockstar when I brought a box full of macaroons (both the American and French types), madeleines and almond cookies to a party later that night.  Jon seriously couldn’t get enough of the macaroons and kept hinting all weekend how good they were, and would I ever want to make more?

Need I remind him I’m currently a bit busy baking a child as well?