Happy New Year!

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Truffles

I was bound and determined to make the truffles from Sally’s Baking Addiction.  Sallys Baking Addiction Mint Oreo Truffles. » Sallys Baking Addiction  I love her website.  She makes everything look so amazing and delicious.  I can’t eat any of it, but when I see the pictures, my brain fills in the flavors. 

We had a special day at church this past weekend (Purim), and I wanted to make something special.  Something relatively easy since I knew I had kind of a lot on my plate.  Plus, St Patrick’s Day was coming soon after, and the Irish in me just can’t let that one pass unnoticed.  I even painted the Irish flag on my nails, haha. 

So I made Lemon Truffles, and Chocolate Mint Truffles. 

The round ones are the lemon, and the square ones are chocolate mint.  I had zero room in my freezer so I thought if I made bars instead of balls, they’d be a bit flatter and maybe I could sneak them in somehow.  I had success in that area, but I think being flat and not totally covered by the candy melt made them a bit messier, although as you can see from the leftovers, the bars did much better than the balls, lol.  People love their chocolate!

Sally’s recipe is pretty easy and simple, and mine turned out not bad looking despite being a rush job.  People raved, so I’ll be making these again.  Just not lemon, lol.  Fortunately, Oreo’s come in lots of flavors, and Wilton makes lots of candy melts colors.  The possibilities are practically endless! 

Have you ever tried making these truffles?  How did yours turn out?

Hanukkah Cupcakes

Our Hanukkah celebration at church was postponed a week, so we’re celebrating this weekend.  In honor of Hanukkah, I made cupcakes, natch.  🙂  It seems it’s what I do, and I’ve discovered that I really, really like to make cupcakes.  No one ever frowns at you when you present them with cupcakes.  They break out in wide, happy smiles like kids at a birthday party.  I love that.  🙂

I gave a little flavor boost to these by adding equal parts (1.5 teaspoons each) of vanilla and almond extracts to classic white cake mix.  The house smelled like a Danish while they were baking, mmmm!  It’s not too strong, just a hint of flavor, so that’s good.  I didn’t want anything overpowering.  I let the kids have 2 each – my taste testers, since I don’t each cupcakes anymore. 

I used most of 2 tubs of frosting – one I left classic white, and one I tinted blue, but I didn’t add any extracts to the frosting. 

And I managed to find some blue and white cupcake liners.  Not specifically Hanukkah, but a pretty match with the colors.

Speaking of cupcake liners, I got tired of the mess accumulating in my baking box.  So I found a handy dandy way to organize them with those empty frosting tubs I love so much.  Plus I got to use my label maker, too.  Yay! 

How about you, what sorts of things do you take to social get-togethers?

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Epicute: Happy St. Patrick’s Day! – Cheezburger

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