Chocolate Peanut Butter Raspberry Hugs Cookies

I’m not a fan of regular Hershey's Kisses, but I do love me some Hugs (couldn't be the addition of white chocolate, now could it?). So when I saw Raspberry Hugs in the grocery, they went in the basket. I didn’t want to just eat the entire bag by itself, although I’m sure I could have. Luckily, I was sold on the first thing that came to mind: Peanut Blossoms (original Kiss on a PB cookie).

So I had my Hugs in hand, but I couldn't decide whether to use a peanut butter or chocolate cookie base.  Easiest way to not miss out on any possible goodness? Use both! 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Raspberry Hugs Cookies

For the complete (and completely satisfying) recipe, visit Foodbeast.

Chocolate-Covered Sweet Potato Tater Tots

Quick post about a not-so-great chocolate-covered creation. I had some leftover sweet potato tater tots (which Carl thinks, and I agree, should be called sweet po-tater tots) that we weren't going to eat. I should have figured that if we weren't impressed with them, then covering them in chocolate might not be an improvement. But one can't always predict such things.

Chocolate-Covered Sweet Potato Tots

Easy enough: Bake the tots (my first mistake), melt the chocolate, coat the tots (maybe or maybe not my second).

Like I said, we weren't impressed. I say baking was my first mistake because I think we would have gotten a totally different experience if they had been fried. So next time (yes, I'm trying it again) I'll use REGULAR tater tots, which will already be an improvement, fry them, coat them and see how it goes. 

Although I have a pretty good track record, you can't win them all (yes, I know everyone is thinking about the olives). And I'm okay with that.

Birthday Cake Oreo Truffles

Marriage, like the elevator business, has its ups and downs (high-oh). Some days you might have to try really hard to remind yourself that you chose to marry him or her. And then there are those magical times when you just know that your spouse was meant for you. Today was one of those days. I was in the process of crumbling up Birthday Cake Oreos in the food processor when my other mentioned, yet again, how I should use less cream cheese this time around. Then he asked me a question second only to "Will you marry me?" He said, "Why not use frosting?" Yes, I do. I mean, I will.

Duh! Why didn't I think of that? They are Birthday Cake Oreos!  Mere cream cheese is just will not do this time around. I had a can of fluffy white frosting in the pantry (vanilla is lame), so I put my cream cheese back in the fridge for another day.

 Birthday Cake Oreo Truffles

For a recipe that is worth celebrating, visit Foodbeast.

Strawberry Shortcake Bark

Yes, strawberry shortcake is something most people associate with summer, but I don't believe in seasonal desserts. As long as you can find the ingredients (and are willing to pay the price for out of season fruit, etc.), you should just make whatever you want year-round. Of course, I didn't make make an actually strawberry shortcake, but the sentiment remains the same. 

Strawberry Shortcake Bark

Ingredients

• 1oz  dried strawberries
• 4 store bought individual sponge cakes
• 12oz white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Prep baking sheet with wax.
2. Coarsely chop strawberries, and either food process or hand demolish the cakes until they are crumbs.
3. Melt the chocolate chips and spread out on the baking sheet.
4. Sprinkle strawberries evenly over the chocolate, then cover the rest of the chocolate with the cake crumbs, pressing down when you are done.
5. Put in fridge until set, and then break into "reasonably-sized" pieces.

I really enjoyed getting that summer flavor of the strawberries and cake with the heartier background of the white chocolate. Another dessert in bark form for the win!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Fudge

Do you ever sometimes think, “Man, I want to make something that promotes both gross negligence of my nutritional health and my laziness.”? That wasn’t my initial reasoning for making this fudge, but it will be from now on. I even added an extra step. The original recipe, which you can find all over the Internet, just called for two ingredients, but I had some chocolate cake lying around, so I thought, "Meh, why not?"

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Fudge

For the full it's-so-good-you'll-eat-it-until-you-yack recipe, visit Foodbeast.

Chocolate Covered Nerds

Do you struggle with keeping your Nerds in one place? I know I do. After eating a box of them, a couple always seem to wind up in my pocket. So I've figured a way for those little bits of rainbow goodness to stay in once place (and make them even worse for you!). Cover them in chocolate, duh!

Chocolate Covered Nerds

Ingredients

• bark of your choice (my preference was the white, but if you are looking to cut the sweetness of the Nerds, go with the regular chocolate)
• Nerds (I used Rainbow Nerds)

Directions

1. Melt the bark.
2. Stir in Nerds.
3. Drop spoonfuls of Nerds/chocolate mix onto a wax-covered baking sheet.
4. Chill in freezer until set.

I just used bark because it's usually what I use to cover things in chocolate, but using chocolate chips would work just as well. Chocolate chips would give you a higher chocolate-to-Nerds ratio as they have a thicker consistency than bark when melted. This would certainly increase your chocolate options. Oh, I bet peanut butter chips would be great with Nerds. Project!