"Fried Egg" Truffles

April fools day is tomorrow, and I am taking these into work.



I think they look an awful lot like fried eggs!

But of course you know they are not.
In fact there isn't any egg in them at all.


These are Granola Cookie Dough Truffles.

Pretty easy to make and just a little more work to turn them into an April fools treat.




I wanted to make truffles, but didn't want to fuss with baking a cake this time. So I decided on cookie dough and added a little cereal into the mix.
They are pretty darn good and sure to cause a few double-takes in the office :)

Granola Cookie Dough Truffles

2 cups Honey Bunches of Oats cereal
1/2 cup butter softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 TBSP. milk
Candy melts

Directions:
1. Mix butter and brown sugar and soft and fluffy. Add flour, cinnamon, vanilla and milk and stir until smooth.
2. Add cereal into the batter and stir until incorporated.
3. Roll into small balls and place on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
4. Once the truffles are firm melt the chocolate in the microwave and dip each truffle into it. You can enjoy them just like this :)

But if you are feeling a little sneaky and want to make the eggs, just change a few things.

Make your truffles much smaller than a normal truffle, think the size of a dime. And flatten the top a little so it's not a ball.
Dip the top half into yellow chocolate and let set.
I used a squeeze bottle to melt the white candy melts in and than on a piece of wax paper poured the white chocolate out and allowed to spread into the shape of a fried egg. White the white is still wet, set the hardened yellow truffle on top near the center.

Happy April Fools Day!

Enjoy :)

SAP
Flour-De-Lis

Wedding cookies

In bright spring colors!
I had so much fun making these cookies for my beautiful sister's reception. Didn't have as much fun carrying them through three airports! But now I know it can be done!
And in case you are wondering, cookie cutters, piping tips, cake pans and candy thermometers also allowed in your carry on :)
Made 50 of these pretty little packages to match the brides colors.

All wrapped up and ready to go

Made a ton of these little cookie bytes, hearts and flowers in matching colors.

It was a gorgeous reception, lots of great friend and plenty of sweets!

The cupcake tower tuned out pretty well too. The top of course was a little cake for the bride and groom and the cupcakes for the guests.

Double chocolate cake and butter vanilla cake with Italian meringue buttercream.

The buttercream is so light and luscious!

The cake and cupcakes were embellished with fondant flowers and green pearl beads.

Pretty little dessert buffet with jars of the cookies.

Congratulations Emilia and Matthew. Thank you for letting me be a part of your special day!

SAP
Flour-De-Lis

Spiced Chocolate Scones

I love scones!
They are so delicious! Seriously, what could be better than warm, tender, moist sweet bread?
There are so many different flavors to choose and almost anything can be added to make a new flavor combo. In the fall there is nothing better than a nice pumpkin scone and a hot cup of cocoa! I have a nice stash of Mexican chocolate in my cupboard, I keep it around so it's always there when I need a little pick-me-up! The wonderful smell of the spices filling the house and the creamy chocolate flavor always brightens my day!
Here is one of my favorite scone recipes from here. It's an easy base recipe that can modified any way you like.

Spiced Chocolate Scones
Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, cut up into 8 pieces

1/4 cup granulated sugar (use 1/3 for slightly sweeter scones)

2/3 cup milk

3 ounces Mexican chocolate (I prefer Ibarra when I can find it)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Take 1 whole disk of chocolate and cut it along the lines into at least 4 wedges.
3. Place the chocolate pieces into a food processor and pulse several times until most of the chocolate is a fine powder. There will be large chunks! Sift the chocolate and leave the powder in a bowl, set aside. Place the large pieces into the milk and heat for 30 seconds in the microwave. Stir the warmed milk until the chocolate begins to melt and blends with the milk. Set aside.
4. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder into the food processor.. Add the butter to flour mixture and blend until the mixture turns to fine crumbs.
5. Add in sugar and chocolate powder, mix well. Next, pour in the milk and blend until the mixture forms a soft dough ball. 
6. Lightly dust your counter with flour. Shape dough into a rectangle about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.
7. Cut the dough into 8-10 scones, and space them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until lightly brown on bottom.

They are absolutely delicious at this point, but if you like them a little sweeter and prettier, you can do what I do and drizzle on some glaze :)

Simple Glaze:

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2-1 cup powdered sugar

Cinnamon Glaze:

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2-1 cup powdered sugar

Whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth and drizzle over the cooled scones.

Hope you try these, they are yummy!

SAP
Flour-De-Lis

Strawberries and Lemons

Had a request for these for a little BBQ party. 

I love the way they turned out.

And than it got me thinking about summer and fresh fruit and strawberry lemonade! I like lemonade, and I like it even better with strawberries. I think a little pink makes everything better.

So I decided to make some Pink Lemonade Truffles!

For some reason they decided they wanted to look darker, but I assure you the yellow candy coating is almost the same color as the lemon cookies!

Want to try 'em?

Pink Lemonade Truffles Recipe

1 package Golden Oreo's

4 oz cream cheese (I used low fat)

1 tsp lemon extract (I used Lorann bakery emulsion)

pink food coloring ( I used Americolor Fuchsia)

Wilton candy coating, any color works, but I used yellow

sprinkles for the top

Directions:

1.  Crush Oreo's in food processor, until only fine crumbs remain.

2.  Add cream cheese, lemon extract and 1 drop pink food coloring. Blend until smooth.

3.  Remove from food processor and roll into tsp sized balls. Place of cookie sheet lines with wax paper. 

4.  Place the rolled mix into the refrigerator for 20 minutes to an hour and allow to firm up.

5.  Melt candy coating and dip each ball into it. Shake off excess and place back on cookie tray.

6.  Top with sprinkles if desired and enjoy!

They keep in the refrigerator for a week, if they last that long :)

SAP

Flour-De-Lis

Engagement Cookies

Congratulations you two!

SAP

Flour-De-Lis

Homemade Oreo's for Spring

I was asked to make these after I made some faux girl scout cookies last week.

Used my favorite chocolate cut out cookie recipe and adapted the filling recipe from here. I left out the gelatin as I am a vegetarian. Used extra shortening and a little milk. They could easily be made with butter instead of vegetable shortening, but they wont be pure white. If you plan on coloring the filling for St. Patrick's day or Easter or any other holiday it won't make any difference at all!
I stuck with the shortening on this batch, but will try butter next time. It has a much nicer flavor.

I rolled the filling out between waxed paper and used the same round cutter I made the cookies with to cut it. It was a little added work, but I think they look much nicer this way.

Used a little flower cutter to make an imprint on the top. Little signs of spring are popping up all over here.

I am not a huge fan of Oreo's. In fact if I was purchasing store bought cookies, I think I would grab anything else.
But I did sample one or two or maybe five of these...

Enjoy!

SAP

Flour-De-Lis