INDULGE | Holiday Peppermint Puffs

Sometimes you never know what to do with those pesky candy canes. 

Candy canes are great, and everyone indulges in a few around Christmas. But the problem is that you usually end up with boxes of them. Instead of throwing them away, why not try making something with them?

Enter my latest creation: Holiday Peppermint Puffs. As a member of Peanut Butter & Co.'s Yum Squad, I was asked to develop a recipe featuring their peanut butter & candy canes - an excellent way to use leftover candy canes {which were probably used to decorate your tree - am I right?}. And I think I've come up  with something pretty tasty.

You can make this in any shape you want, really. Puff pastry is pretty moldable. I made one giant rectangle, and then with the leftover dough I made a couple small "pies". I actually like the pie shape better because it holds all the sauce!

I used both White Chocolate Wonderful & Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter - but you could omit the Dark Chocolate Dreams sauce and just use melted chocolate instead.

You'll need:

1 box of puff pastry

1 c. white chocolate chips

1/4 c. White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter

6 T. Whipping Cream

3/4 c. dark chocolate chips

1 T. Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter 

Candy canes

Directions:

.1 Allow pastry to thaw. Place pastry in desired baking sheet or pan and bake according to packaged directions.

2. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

3. In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, combine white chocolate chips, 3 T. whipping cream and White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter. Allow to melt, stirring so the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove from heat. 

4. In a small sauce pan over medium low heat, combine dark chocolate chips, 3 T. whipping cream and Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter. Allow to melt, stirring so the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove from heat. 

5. Pour white chocolate sauce (as much as desired) over the puff pastry. 

6. Drizzle dark chocolate sauce over puff pastry. 

7. Crush candy canes and sprinkle over the top. Cut and serve!

Do you have any candy cane hacks? Share the tips with the hashtag #CandyCaneHacks. And if you're looking to buy some awesome peanut butter - PB&Co. is offering their products for 25% off ALL MONTH! Just use the code YUMSQUADLOVE (in all caps!) on their website.

Now... do you wanna win some PEANUT BUTTER?! Here's how you can win (1) jar of White Chocolate Wonderful and (1) jar of Dark Chocolate Dreams! Each of the following things counts as ONE entry, so you can use the Rafflecopter below to enter! The more you do, the more chances you have to win! Giveaway ends NEXT MONDAY (December 8).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*NOTE: Please LIKE us on Facebook when you visit! :)

Enjoy!

Love & Red Velvet Cake

I know it's a bit early for Valentine's Day, but bear with me.

Love is in the air!

Thinking about Valentine's Day makes you do one of two things: groan (if you're single) or have incredibly high expectations for your significant other (if you're in a relationship). I fall into the first category - that of being single. However, this year I'm not groaning.

Because this is the first Valentine's Day in a couple years that I'll be single, you'd think I'd be a little heartbroken and disappointed that I won't be receiving chocolates and roses. Yet I'm just the opposite. Why? Because the love of friendship is in the air!

It sounds cheesy, I know. But the 2012-13 school year, even with my massive breakup, has been one of the greatest years of my life because it has allowed me to develop close friendships with people that I didn't see often before. Especially within Navigators - the people I have become close to have inspired me to grow closer in my relationship with God and with other Navs members. I've been intellectually challenged by friends and, honestly, have probably learned more this year than ever before because of the people I hang out with. As I recently read in the book Imagine by Jonah Lehrer (I highly recommend it, by the way - go read it!), we intentionally place ourselves around smart people because we become smarter by hanging around them. And it's true - I've noticed myself doing that this year, and I'm incredibly excited about the level of my intellectual growth.  

So, that brings us to three types of love in the air - a love for friendship, a love for God, and a love for knowledge.

Who cares about being in a relationship, anyways? We should be satisfied with being on our own. Spending our time hunting for a boyfriend isn't how we should be living life. We should be engaging with others, developing friendships, seeing the world, learning, and having fun. God will bring us the right person when the time is right.

With that being said - be happy to single this Valentine's Day, and go bake yourself a cake! If you want to be specific, you can make the white chocolate cherry red velvet cake recipe below. It's delicious and it's pretty - what more could you ask for?

Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate Cherry Frosting

Based on this recipe 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 Tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups oil

1 cup skim milk

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 oz. red food coloring

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.

Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.

Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.

Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.

Then make the frosting.

White Chocolate Cherry Frosting

3 T. white chocolate chips

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick butter

6 T. cherry preserves (or more to taste)

5 c. powdered sugar

Directions

In a microwavable bowl, melt chocolate chips. Allow to cool slightly. 

Beat together cream cheese and butter until combined. 

Add melted chocolate and cherry preserves and stir. 

Slowly add powdered sugar until incorporated. 

Frost cake and enjoy!

White Chocolate Strawberry Truffles

**CONGRATS TO Art You Dream About, the winner of my Goodbelly Challenge giveaway! Please email me your info so I can mail those coupons out to you!!**

Sometimes, all anyone needs is chocolate. 

Yes; I may have a small large addiction to it, but... it's okay, right? Just eat it in small quantities?! :)

If you are a chocolate lover like me, you will love these truffles. The center is very ooey-gooey, but if left in the fridge for a couple days, it will became harder and more truffle like. You can do whatever you want, they are good both ways - it just depends if you want them to be more cherry cordial-like or truffle like! 

White Chocolate Strawberry Truffles
Ingredients:
1 c. chocolate chips, melted
1/2 c. vegan white chocolate chips (or regular white chocolate if not vegan)
1 T. almond milk
3 1/2 - 4 T. strawberry jelly
Chocolate molds
Optional: luster dust

Directions:
1. Prep chocolate molds with luster dust, if using. Just dust all around with a clean paintbrush.
2. Melt chocolate chips on a saucepan or in the microwave. Spread a layer of chocolate all around the bottom of the molds with another paintbrush. Make sure everywhere is covered!
3. Melt white chocolate in a saucepan. Once melted, add almond milk and jelly. Stir until the mixture is all melted together.
4. Fill chocolate molds with filling, almost to the top. Just leave a little bit of room so the tops can be covered!
5. Take remaining melted chocolate and, using a spoon, pour just enough chocolate over the top of each mold so that all the edges are covered with chocolate. This will prevent the filling from oozing out of the edges when removed from the mold.
6. Place in the fridge and all to chill until chocolate is fully hardened.
7. To remove chocolates from mold, turn right side up and smack on a hard surface. Chocolates should pop right out.

On another note, I received my prizes from Kels and Heather recent giveaways! Thanks ladies! I received a bunch of protein and fruit bars and protein powders from Kels, and some SeaSnax (Toasty Onion flavor) from Heather! I love all of them - and I'm honestly surprised I enjoyed the protein powders and the SeaSnax. They are super great!

School has been a blur recently. My Writing for the Media teacher told me I know everything he'll be teaching, so I'm taking my midterm on Thursday (yikes!) and turning in my writing portfolio in a week. Then I don't ever have to attend the class! How awesome is that!!

On a sad note, I resigned from leading Xavier Navigators. I LOVE my small group. However, I feel I should step down and get my personal life together before continuing to lead them. As you can imagine, this was an extremely difficult and stressful decision (over the course of a couple months) and involved a lot of crying :( Oh well. Hopefully it was the right choice!

I love you all - have a great day!
Much love,

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Let me preface this recipe by telling you that it is EXTREMELY. Extremely. Good. I loved them, and I know you will too! Now, here is the bad thing: they are a bit time consuming, but if you are willing to have patience, they will turn out extremely well. They also use a LOT of Earth Balance. Oops. But super tasty!

You can garnish yours with vegan white chocolate chips and red sugar like I did (get festive for Christmas!) or simply garnish by sprinkling mini chocolate chips on the top!

We'll add some vintage flare to that picture!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Based on this recipe.
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar
4 flax eggs (4 T. ground flax + 8 T. water)
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 

For the filling:
4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) Earth Balance Buttery Spread, at room temperature
6 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 ounces vegan sweetened condensed milk 
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks Earth Balance Buttery Spread (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons almond milk
2½ teaspoons vanilla extract

For decoration:
Mini chocolate chips, vegan white chocolate chips, colored sugar...whatever you want!

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Line cupcake pan with 24 liners. 

In a large bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together until creamy. Add the flax eggs and beat until combined.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Fill cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to finish cooling.

To make the filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about a half hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a small hole out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the almond milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

To assemble, simply top each cupcake after it has been filled with the icing. SO DELICIOUS!

What's your favorite way to use cookie dough?
Much love,