It’s getting to be Independence Day Soon. OK, still a bit over a week, but here is a quick and easy idea for the holiday, if you’re going to a BBQ or potluck. And yes, I make fron-scratch brownies, but I won’t tell if you make the “from the box” type either. The M&Ms (and the peanut variety) are everywhere right now, so pick yourself up a bag for baking. Or sharing. Or just plain eating. This from scratch recipe uses melted butter and lots of chocolate in multiple forms. Positively festive!
Beginning to find my Spring / Easter-ish baking inspiration, just in time, I might add. Here is something happy: Spring M&M Cream Cheese Sugar Drops. They are mostly just drop cookies (a la Toll House Chocolate Chip), but they have a bit of cream cheese in them, which makes them just have s bit of tang. And of course, I overloaded the batch with two who bags of M&Ms (not one to do things by half measure). Colorful and festive and brings out the child in me. Something to add to your Easter Egg hunt, or to stash for yourself?
Right then, I had one more sweet thing to make for St. Patrick’s Day 2023, and here it is. Leprechaun Balls !!! Get your mind out of the gutter, they are just homemade truffles/chocolates with a healthy dose of Jameson Whiskey. They are rather amusing to me, so I will continue to call them Leprechaun Balls, and try not to choke on them as I eat said Leprechaun Balls. 🙂
In the run-up to Christmas, I have been making a few more homemade gifts. While I usually stick with making fudge, this year, I also made these chocolates. Rumkulgeln are a pretty staple German Christmas item, and the Eierlikörkugeln (Eggnog Balls) is a modification of that recipe. Note that these do have alcohol in them that has not burned of… certainly far from getting you drunk, but a noticeable taste, if you are alcohol-averse.
Now that the Christmas Cookies are done, I’m focusing on making some other treats for Christmas. Up this time: Holiday Chocolate Peppermint Bark. “Bark” is such a strange term for this type of candy. Then again, so are “brittles”. Historically it comes from chocolate barks looking like yes, the bark of a tree. Peppermint and white chocolate really don’t, but I am going to go with it anyway. And no matter what it is called, it is delicious.