Homemade "Almond Joy" Treats

Make your own "Almond Joy"-like treats! These whip up super fast and taste just like the real thing! You also get all the benefits of delicious coconut oil in a nice, sweet treat. This fills about 20 regular sized cupcake liners half full. Next time, I'll be using mini cupcake sized liners.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup of melted coconut oil (coconut oil melts at >75ish degrees, so I popped it in the microwave to make it completely liquid. Took about 1 minute to get everything clear and liquid)

1/2 cup honey

2 cups+ shredded, sweetened coconut

Almonds to top, if wanted. Or you could go "Mounds" style with no nuts!

14 ounces dark chocolate (I used the melt-n-dip kind that comes as wafers in a sealed bowl)

 

1. Mix the melted coconut oil with the honey and coconut.

2. Spoon the coconut mixture into lined cupcake tins. About 1 large household spoonful each.

3. Top each with an almond if desired.

4. Place in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes until it turns white.

5. Melt the chocolate as directed on packaging.

6. Spoon the chocolate over top of each liner.

7. Put back in the fridge or freezer til chocolate gets solid.

Enjoy!!

 

This is the pre-refrigerated (still liquid) form of the treats

 

After it comes out of the fridge it should be white like above. Start to top with chocolate

 

 mmm! mmm! so good!

Fourth of July Cakeballs

Happy 4th of July!! These cakeballs are super festive and easy to share with a large crowd.  We served these at our picnic and they went over so well - especially with the "fireworks" inside!

Fourth of July Cakeballs

Festive Fourth Fireworks Cakeballs
1 box of confetti cake, prepared as directed on box in 13x9 pan
1 container confetti frosting (or cream cheese frosting)
2 containers of dipping white chocolate
Red and blue food coloring

1. Take cooled confetti cake and crumble in large bowl.
2. Warm frosting in microwave for about 20 seconds, just to soften it up.
3. Combine crumbled cake and container of frosting until it is fully mixed. It will be pretty mushy and a little wet, that is ok!
4. Form 1-inch balls of cake/frosting; place on waxed paper on a baking sheet. When all cake is formed into balls, place baking sheets in freezer for about 2 hours to firm.
5. Melt white chocolate. Divide into 3 bowls. Will need smallest amount of red, medium amount of blue, largest amount of white. Add several drops of food coloring to the chocolate until you get the color you desire.
6. Arrange the balls into a rectangle on a sheet pan and decide how you'd like your flag to look. Dip into white and blue colored chocolate. Allow these to harden slightly. Drizzle red chocolate over white cakeballs to simulate the red and white stripes of the flag.
7. Pop the sheet pan back in the freezer to allow the chocolate to set up quickly and continue to harden the cake inside. This helps to prevent everything from getting melty in the hot July weather.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

I am obsessed with sweets and desserts... I could have them all day, every day. It hit me hard yesterday. I found some chocolate cake mix, opened the fridge and low and behold, no eggs. After a quick search through a book I have with cooking substitutions, I found a flax-egg substitute. I'll be honest, I was very skeptical at how it would turn out - it didn't get as airy as normal, but we are also at 7000 feet elevation, so it could be that. I also didn't have chocolate frosting, only cream cheese flavored so I had to improvise on that as well.



Eggless Chocolate Cake

1 box of cake mix - I used devil's food. I think this would work fine with anything with some color to it.

3 tablespoons flax meal

9 tablespoons water

1 and 1/2 cup water (per package)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (per package)

Chocolate Frosting

1 container cream cheese frosting

1 package chocolate pudding

1/2 cup soy milk



I love that we can get Kroger brand out here in AZ!

For the cake:

1. In a separate bowl, combine flax meal and 9 tablespoons of water to substitute for 3 eggs. (1 egg = 1 tablespoon flax to 3 tablespoons water). Stir to combine and pop in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.

2. Prepare cake according to package, substituting flax for egg after it has chilled and thickened. Bake as directed.

3. Frost when cooled.

For the frosting:

1. Mix soy milk and package of pudding.

2. Warm the frosting for 20 seconds in the microwave to soften and make it easier to mix.

3. Combine frosting with pudding mixture. Stir for several minutes then let it sit for a few minutes to thicken.

4. Frost cake, add chocolate chips to top if desired.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

S'mores Balls

Today I am longing for summer. We are in the middle of planning the patio we are going to install this spring and I'm considering adding a small firepit for the chilly evenings we have here in the mountains. The first thing I think of when summer and bonfires come up is a gooey s'more. A perfectly toasted marshmallow, warmed chocolate pieces, and crunchy graham crackers adds up to an amazing combination. Since it is still snowing, I am craving an indoor substitute... that is where this creation came from.



S'mores balls

S'mores Balls - Makes 24-28

Ingredients for S'mores Balls. I didn't end up using the dipping chocolate since the chips melted beautifully!!

1 box Golden Grahams or similar graham cracker cereal
1 stick butter or margarine
1 bag mini marshmallows
1 bag mini chocolate chips

1. Crush about 1 cup of the cereal to fine pieces, reserve.

2. Place marshmallows in a baking pan, toast in oven on broil until desired toasty brownness is achieved.

3. Melt butter in large pot. When melted, add toasted marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted.

4. Add remaining cereal and mini chocolate chips to pot, combine well.
5. Using clean hands, roll into 1 inch balls.
6. After you've rolled all the balls, shake individually in the bag of crushed graham cereal.