I made these cookies a couple of weeks ago before it got warm out. It was actually pretty cold still since spring made a late appearance here in Michigan. I don’t really remember snickerdoodle cookies being on my radar when I was a kid. My dad loves them so I assume my mom made them from time to time but I just don’t remember it. I like snickerdoodles but my preference often runs to chocolate as opposed to cinnamon.

These cookies are very soft and chewy. Perfect texture for my taste.I have a big sweet tooth. (Shocker!) Really the sweeter and more sugar coated the better. I like the texture these cookies have after rolling them in sugar.

That said, my sweet tooth has been moving over for my “veggie-tooth” right now. I think the nice weather and the fact that we just got our garden in the ground is fueling it. We’ve had eggplant twice this weekend and I couldn’t wait to roast some nice fresh radishes I got at the market this weekend. (I roasted them with the eggplant for a veggified take on tacos.) My own radish seedlings are getting quite big already and I can’t wait to harvest a few!

Back to cookies. . .pretty sure these cookies would be perfect for ice cream sandwiches. And those sandwiches would be perfect for a cook out. Which means they ARE summer food! See. . I can justify any sort of baked good!

Snickerdoodles

2 sticks butter, room temp

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

Cinnamon Sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs & vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar & salt. Mix well.

In a separate bowl mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon to make a small bowl of cinnamon sugar. I usually use about a cup of sugar and 2 Tbsps cinnamon but you can adjust the amount of cinnamon to make it as strong as you like.

Scoop out balls of dough about the size of a tablespoon and roll in the cinnamon sugar. Place the dough balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Oh and I also took  a few minutes to bake on Saturday and it was a disaster. I attempted to make a 3 layer brownie bar but it was not terribly edible or attractive. Bummer. I have to rethink that one and try again.

So today I am going to share with you these scotcharoos that I made a few weeks ago at Tim’s request.I debated even sharing these with you. For 2 reasons; they are a common recipe that you can find ALL OVER the internet and, they are not my favorite. I am not a butterscotch girl so the butterscotch chips kind of ruin them for me. They sort of taste a bit like they came from this candy place in Northern Michigan that we used to stop at when I was a kid. They flavor everything there (even the chocolate) with maple. Not a fan. Butterscotch and maple are not on my favorites list.

However, I know a lot of people like the scotcharoo and they are very easy to make. There is a bakery close to us that makes them and sells them at a couple of places around town. Tim always covets them when we see them. They are cut into huge squares and sell for $3 or $4 a piece. I was unwilling to pay that when I knew I could make a whole pan for not much more. Tim thought it was a good idea if I tried it. For the sake of science. . you know, just to see if I could. For the challenge of it. Not because he wanted a whole pan for himself. Just for my own knowledge as a baker.

The great thing about these is that they are no bake and almost as easy as making crispy rice treats. Oh yeah, I also added a cup of mini marshmallows right at the end. It just changes them up a little from the norm. The marshmallows don’t melt all the way so you end up with little pockets of it as you eat them. That’s a plus for me.

Round two of yard-ish work is next weekend. It is planting season so Dad & I will be putting in our garden next weekend. We plant a large garden at a community garden plot nearby. My garden here at home is already planted but it is much smaller. Mostly herbs, radishes, lettuce and a single tomato plant. At our community garden plot we branch out and do lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, chard, fennel, peppers, eggplant, and this year we are going to try our hand at watermelons, turnips, tomatillo & pak choi. I should have fresh lettuce and radishes very soon. Maybe I will make you a salad for a change. In the meantime, have some more sugar!

Scotcharoos

1 cup light corn syrup (I used Karo)

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups crisp rice cereal

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a sauce pan combine corn syrup & sugar over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar melts. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until melted & combined. Add cereal and mini marshmallows. Mix together and press into a greased 9×13 pan.

In a microwave safe bowl combine the butterscotch chips and the chocolate chips and microwave a few seconds at a time until they are melted together. Spread the chocolate mixture over the cereal mixture. Allow everything to cool and set for a few hours. Cut into bars and serve.

After asking the birthday girl what flavors she preferred I settled on strawberry with a vanilla accent. Strawberry season is upon us so there is no lack of fresh, sweet berries right now.

The red strawberries are such a pretty accent against the icing. I used a gel food coloring to make the buttercream a bright turquoise. You could use whatever color you like.
These are the before pictures. Before I took it to the party that is.

This is after I got to the party. It had to be decorated with candles and a big “16″ that I made out of white chocolate. We started by adding 6 candles.Then we added more candles until it was a big mass of 16 bright candles! She’s sooooo old!

You can see that the cut tops of the strawberries had started to seep juice onto the top of the cake. It was delicious regardless but it’s best if you add the berries right before you are going to serve it, in order to avoid this problem.

She managed to get all the candles blown out without spitting all over the cake. Whew! I am a freak about the cake spit. I usually avoid the cake if I feel like the birthday person is “spitty”. That usually means little kid cakes are out! Fortunately, she’s a big kid.

This cake is very dense. It’s almost like a strawberry pound cake.

The buttercream is just a simple vanilla flavor but it is perfect with the fresh berry flavor of the cake. It was a hit with the birthday girl! (And was perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!)

Strawberry Cake

3/4 cups butter, room temp (1 1/2 sticks)

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 cup pureed strawberries

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/2 cup milk (I use almond milk)

2 1/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl mix eggs, pureed strawberries, vanilla & milk. Set aside.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder & salt.

Once the butter/sugar mix is fluffy, turn the mixer down to low and carefully add the dry and wet ingredients to the butter mix, a little at a time. Start and end with the dry ingredients.

Pour the batter into 2 greased 9″ cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Add 15-24 fresh berries to the top of the iced cake to mimic the look here.

(I multiplied this recipe by 1.5 in order to make 3 layers for the cake pictured here.)

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temp

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/2 tsp salt

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

Beat the butter on high speed until it is  light and fluffy. Add the vanilla & salt. Turn the beater down and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, adding a drizzle of milk as you need it to make everything come together. Add powdered sugar until you get to the consistency you like. You can add coloring gel to make whatever color icing you like.

They take about 25 minutes start to finish to make, if you don’t count the cooling time. Plus they would be perfect finger food for a cocktail party or a holiday party or whatever kind of party you like.

At Christmas my girlfriend gave me some granola crusted nuts that I loved. I like to think she planned ahead and used walnuts so I wouldn’t have to share. (Tim’s allergic.) I quickly polished those walnuts off and for months have thought about them. So I found the recipe she used and made some yesterday. While I was at it, I decided savory, spiced almonds would not be terrible so I threw together some seasoning I like. And I was right, they were the opposite of terrible. I had to force myself to stop munching them.

As far as tax day goes, we never wait till the last minute. Of course, we also usually get a return. If we had to pay it might be a different story.

My mom used to call me to tell me tales of their April 15th, 11:59pm tax drop off. My dad liked to wait until late at night on the 15th and drive to the post office to get it post marked just under the wire. Of course, those were the days before the US Postal Service was in dire financial straits and they used to be open late post marking taxes and serving donuts and the local news would do a story. If I remember correctly my dad made it onto the news 2 years in a row! He went for the excitement and free donuts, of course. My mom liked to feign embarrassment but I know she secretly loved it, too.

Roasted Spiced Almonds

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp hot sauce (I ALWAYS use Crystal Hot Sauce)

2 cups unsalted almonds

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl stir together the oil and hot sauce. Add  the almonds and stir to combine. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the sugar, salt and spices. pour over the almonds and stir to coat them all with the spice mixture.

Spread in a single layer on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely and store in an airtight container. The almonds will crisp up as they cool.

This is not difficult to make but I have to warn you it made a mess of my oven!

The butter in the crust seeped out of the pan a bit and greased up the bottom of my oven, which then smoked up the kitchen and made the house smell awful instead of apple-y and delicious as it should have. So do yourself a favor when you make this and wrap the outside of your pan with foil to keep the butter from messing up your oven. And maybe set it on another pan just to be extra safe.

The greasy mess meant that the next day I had to run my self-cleaning setting on my oven. It needed it actually given that I hadn’t done it since last winter. It made me nervous though. You may recall that I recently had a little oven mishap when my heating element went bad and created a scary fire-ball that pretty much blinded us. Well my handy man (aka Tim) replaced the element and I have been right back at baking. But cleaning cycle gets SOOOO hot that it scared me a little to think the same thing could happen again. Needless to say I made sure to run it while Tim was home so he could tend to the fireball if the need arose. It didn’t and I am baking in a clean oven again. Woo Hoo!

This torte was delish. And it was a hit with all who ate it. The butter leak was worth it.

I couldn’t help but thinking as I ate it that it needed some almond extract in the filling though. I may give that a whirl next time. I have a version of this in my head that would involve an almond flavored filling (maybe via paste) and pears instead of apples. Mmmmmm. If it’s as delicious as I hope, I’ll share the recipe with you.

Of course, I also had a vision of pineapple cookies in my head yesterday. So I fiddled around in the kitchen and made what I thought would work as a soft pineapple frosted cookie. Nope. They were AWFUL! Tim loves pineapple and he didn’t even want to eat them. So awful. A pineapple failure. I threw them all away. What a waste. I hate kitchen failures like that. But now I am on a mission to make a chewy and delicious pineapple cookie. Fingers crossed.

Bavarian Apple Torte

For the Crust

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp vanilla

Beat sugar, butter & vanilla together. Add flour and mix to combine. Press dough in to the bottom of a 9″ spring form pan. Set aside.

For the Filling

1 8oz box cream cheese (I always use lite)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Beat all the ingredients together and spread over the dough already in the pan. Set aside.

For the Apple Topping

5 cups peeled and thinly sliced apples

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

(1/4 cup sliced almonds to sprinkle on the top at the end of the baking.)

Mix apple, sugar and spices and pour over top of the cream cheese filling.

Bake at a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the top with the sliced almonds. Bake 15 minutes more. Cool. Remove outside ring from spring form pan and cut into slices to serve. Serves 8.

Sweet and carb-y. And homemade if possible.

Sometimes I crave things I ate as a kid or, more likely, as a poor college student. Occasionally I give in and allow myself to partake in these things. Most of the time the actuality and the memory do not resemble one another. At least on the pre-packaged front.

Like recently when I just had to have macaroni and cheese. From a blue box. And it was less than delicious.  Much less. Or the coconut cake from the freezer section that, although still pretty good, was not as I remembered it being. Which was heavenly. I remember it being heavenly. Hmmm. . .good but not heaven.

And not to long ago I made cinnamon rolls from a tube. Sweet and carb-y but just not special.

Here’s the thing. I’m a snob. A food snob. I know it and I can live with it.  I can’t be bothered with most pre-made packaged food. It’s not special enough. I know I can make yummy mac n cheese without the use of a packet of orange powdered “cheese”. I know I can make cinnamon rolls that will make your mouths water. And I know that if I get back to Key Largo anytime soon I will be having the homemade coconut cake with warm rum sauce at The Buzzard’s Roost. (It spoiled me for other coconut cakes.)

I also have a leg up on some people because I enjoy cooking and baking. It’s therapeutic (most of the time). It’s fun for me. It’s a creative outlet. I enjoy sharing treats with family and friends. And I prefer to eat healthier, home cooked, vegetable heavy meals.

Of course, like everyone else, there are nights I just want to be fed cheap, greasy, fried chicken like I was tonight. Thank you, Tim.

And even though I am generally disillusioned with my brief dips into the packaged food realm, I will still occasionally remember something I ate years and years ago and decide I must have it. Sometimes it will be nostalgic and delicious. Most of the time it won’t.

It will, often times, prompt me to get in the kitchen and recreate things the way I think they should be. And so it went with the cinnamon rolls. And they were a huge yummy hit! Be aware they take time. Time to mix up and knead and lots of time to rise and rise again. In the end they are totally worth the work. Especially if you are as snobby as I am.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Dough

1 cup milk (I used almond)

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

4 Tbsp butter, melted

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups flour

Warm the milk slightly in a 2 cup measuring cup in the microwave. It should only be about 100 degrees. Warm. Add the yeast and let set for 5 minutes or until frothy. Whisk in the sugar, melted butter, vanilla & egg yolk.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the flour, nutmeg & salt. Pour the yeast mixture into the flour and mix on low with a bread hook until thick and sticky. Turn up to medium and knead for about 6 minutes. Place dough in a large buttered bowl and cover with a clean towel. Allow to rise in a draft free spot for about 1 hour and 20 minutes.

While the dough rises make the filling.

Apple Filling

4 cups diced apples

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbsps Cinnamon

pinch of salt

8 Tbsps butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

While the dough rises, place the apples, 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a sauce pan over medium heat. Heat until the sugar melts and the apples begin to soften. Set aside to cool.

After the dough rises, pour it on to a liberally floured surface and roll into a large rectangle (about 12×14 inches). Spread the softened butter onto the dough and sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Evenly spread the cooled apple mixture on top and roll the dough up around it. Cut the dough log into 8 even sections.

Place the 8 pieces, cut side down, into a greased 9×13 pan in 2 rows of 4 with room between each. Cover with plastic and allow to rise 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake the rolls about 35 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool about 30 minutes. Make the frosting while the rolls cool.

Frosting

4 Tbsps butter, room temp

2 cups powdered sugar

1/8 cup half & half (or milk)

In a mixing bowl, mix the butter until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and begin to mix in. Add the half & half slowly until the frosting comes together and is creamy.

Spread the frosting on top of the partially cooled rolls. Delicious served warm. These will be making an appearance at our Easter celebration!

I do love the corned beef & cabbage but this year I’m going to skip it. And skip the green beer. I was never a fan. Of course, I may partake in a nice Irish Coffee and one of these brownies.

I don’t like the flavor of beer, but I do occasionally use it when I cook. And now I use it to bake! Not to worry if you feel similar about beer. . the bulk of the flavor cooks out. It just helps to deepen the flavor of the chocolate and adds a slight malty flavor.

The sun was out while I was baking these. Shocking! Has anyone else notice that there is a hint of spring going on right now? It makes me want fresh spring veggies. Asparagus, spring onions, tender baby greens, etc. These brownies are great but they are rich. I would trade you a brownie for a nice plate of roasted asparagus right now. Once in a while my sweet tooth loses to vegetables. How weird. 

I’ve been waiting for spring seasonal veggies to start showing up at reasonable prices in the stores. I splurged on a couple of bunches of asparagus the other day and I can’t wait to eat it! I know it’s still early but I am soooo ready for fresh spring flavors, warmth, sun, bike riding, gardening, open windows, etc. .  You know, things that don’t happen while snow clings to the ground.

I’ve gotten ahead of myself wishing for spring. It will most likely snow again before we get any lasting spring weather. The rains of March and April will make it too wet and muddy to bike ride or garden. I have been really missing the bike riding, too. Last summer Tim and I had these great Saturdays & Sundays when we would ride our bikes downtown, have breakfast and then ride back. They were such fun days! I can’t wait for the perfect warm sunny weather to do that again.

Enjoy your St. Patty’s day. I’ll be hosting a waffle and green syrup brunch this year on the 17th. Not the most Irish thing in the world but fun and very customizable. I’ll have some green syrup available plus Irish Whiskey if anyone wants some (me) and that seems Irish enough.

Oatmeal Stout Brownies

Oatmeal Base

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup flour

4 Tbsps butter, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper. Mix together the oatmeal, flour, melted butter, brown sugar, baking soda & salt. Press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Brownie Layer

1 cup of Stout, reduced down to 1/2 cup, cooled

1 10.25oz brownie mix (The small mix, not the family style.)

1 egg

Pour the Stout into a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat until the beer has reduced down by half. It will thicken and get a bit syrupy. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl combine the brownie mix, egg and reduced stout. Mix well and pour batter on top of the oatmeal base layer. Put back in oven and bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Frosting

4 Tbsps butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar

2 Tbsps cocoa powder

3-4 Tbsps milk (or half & half)

pinch of salt

In a mixing bowl beat the butter until light and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Beat slowly to incorporate into the butter. Add the salt and add the milk 1 Tbsp at a time until the frosting in creamy and spreadable.

Once the brownies have cooled completely, spread the frosting on top. Add sprinkles or sanding sugar if you like. Cut into 16 bars. Keep in an airtight container.

And really it looks better in person than it does in these pictures. I’ve had this problem before. Some chocolate goodies just don’t translate into yummy looking photos.

Rest assured it is yummy.

Indian Pudding, if you are unfamiliar, is a slow baked porridge type dish that was brought over by early colonists. They referred to it as ‘hasty pudding’ and used flour to thicken it. Since flour was in short supply at the time, they adapted the recipe using corn meal which at the time they called Indian flour. It was eaten savory or sweet and could be left to firm up and then fried. In time it became a sweet dish with molasses and spices.

I have made Indian pudding before in a more traditional fashion with the molasses and cinnamon, etc. It’s ugly but delicious.  I hadn’t made it in a long time and stumble upon the recipe the other day when I was digging through some recipe cards. It doesn’t seem like the time of year for heavy fall flavors like molasses so I adapted it and made it chocolate.

I was skeptical as to whether it would be edible. I tasted the porridge right before I put it in the oven to bake and I was not impressed. But like many things, if you give it time and be patient it will come together. This reaches its true delicious peak after it has had several hours or overnight for the flavors to meld.

It solidifies into a dense sort of truffle-like consistency. It reminded me of a flour-less chocolate cake. And even though it was extra delicious when it had some time to age, giving it a few seconds in the microwave before eating made it extra yummy.

So, color me impressed! Not a bit of this went to waste. The whole pan was eaten. That said, it’s rich, so a little serving really went a long way. I think you could easily serve quite a few people with a single recipe. I was happy with a small bowl. Many small bowls over the course of several days, actually!

The molasses version is also good. Sweet and spicy with cinnamon if you go that route. Or in the fall I’ve been known to make a version with pumpkin or squash puree.

I imagine this would be great with a little scoop of ice cream. Vanilla by tradition or chocolate if you, like me, don’t believe in too much of a good thing. I had no ice cream. Disappointing. But I did have Cool Whip so I made do. If you have an aversion to Cool Whip (I have no such aversion) whipped cream would also be tasty. I generally can’t be bothered to whip cream though. Plus it’s mean.

Also, generally speaking I use plain, unsweetened almond milk in most of my baking. If you only have regular milk that’s fine. That’s what most recipes call for. And I see no reason soy or rice milk wouldn’t work. Although I have not tried it so I can’t swear to it.

I also prefer dutched cocoa powder, just fyi.

Chocolate Indian Pudding

2 cups milk (I used almond milk)

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup corn meal

pinch of salt

1/2 cup dark chocolate, melted

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp espresso (or strong brewed coffee)

1 Tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cool whip, whipped cream, ice cream (optional)

Prepare a 1 1/2 quart baking dish by giving it a light coat of non-stick cooking spray. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Carefully melt the dark chocolate and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the milk, cocoa powder, corn meal and salt. Cook, stirring regularly for about 10 minutes or until the mixture starts to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, brown sugar, espresso, butter and vanilla extract. Whisk until thoroughly combined.

Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Put in oven and turn oven down to 275. Bake uncovered for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Allow to cool before serving with Cool Whip, etc, if desired.

I ate mine warm from the oven initially and it was good. After letting it set at room temp, covered with plastic overnight, it was even more delicious.

But I am cold. My aunt makes these quilted cloth bags filled with dried corn kernels and you stick them in the microwave to heat them and then put them on your freezing feet! They are probably also useful on sore muscles but I wouldn’t know because my feet are too cold to waste the warm corn on muscles. (side note-when I heat the corn my house smells of popcorn, which in turn makes me want to eat popcorn.)

Oatmeal cookies are not summer food. (Even though I do make them in the summer, too.) They are hearty and cozy. A snuggly winter treat.

Add cherries and chocolate and you’ve got. . well, near perfection, actually.

This is just a variation on the salted caramel cookie I made a few weeks ago. Once you nail a cookie base you can modify it into just about any flavor. Plus the dried cherries in my cabinet have been begging to be used.

When it is very cold out, as it has been, I like to hole up in the kitchen and fire up the oven and bake. It warms the whole house. Plus, it’s just fun. Plus, I like to eat. I’m thinking of trying to make some Nutella oatmeal cookies soon. Yummy!

It would be nice to do some winter sports while we actually have snow. Snow shoeing is something I’ve been wanting to try, but, when I have time to actually try it, the snow is no good.

Of course, I’ve also been thinking how nice it would be to lay out in the hot, hot summer sun right now. Drinking a mojito. Ahhhh. . .

I guess I’ll have to patient for the summer sun. Anyone tried snowshoeing? Thoughts? Recommendations?

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 cups flour

2 1/2 cups oatmeal (I used rolled but old fashioned would be great, too)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and almond extract. Mix well to combine.

Add the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and cherries.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop the dough by heaping tablespoonful (or 1 oz. disher) onto the baking sheet. I got 1 dozen to a baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes 31/2-4 dozen cookies.

My Valentine is getting these cherries. He loves maraschino cherries so I’m sure he will love them all candied and boozed up.

I’m so lucky to have such a wonderful Valentine so he deserves special treats. Made with love. Awwwwwwwwww. . . . .These are pretty easy to make but they take a little time. It may be too late to make these for your valentine and for that I am sorry. But if I had posted these 2 weeks ago when I made them it would have ruined the surprise for Tim!

This is a stick-in-the-back-of-your-mind-to-make-for-a-future-event sort of thing.

You need a couple of weeks for the flavors to meld together and the sugary cream to start to soften and get runny. That said, if you truly want them runny and cordial-like you will need a special ingredient called invertase. It is an enzyme that breaks down sugar. When added to the fondant type cream around the cherries it will turn the centers to liquid over time. I could not be bothered to order any but I am sure you can find it on Amazon. I am perfectly happy with the creamy centers.

I found it easiest to make the fondant, scoop it into small balls the size of a cherry, chill them briefly, flatten them and form around the cherry, chill again for an hour, melt chocolate, dip, chill, age 2 weeks. Got it?

It really is simple but give yourself time for the chilling and of course, time for the aging! You could eat them right away but I thought they were noticeably better after 2 weeks than they were when I first made them. (I sampled both ways, of course!)

Feel free to use whatever booze you like. I chose Captain Morgan Black because I know my man, but I am sure bourbon would be awesome and so would brandy (which I love). Or if you want to skip the booze (shame on you) you could just swap the booze for some of the maraschino cherry juice. (I have a friend who says I am a foodie, but she is a boozie. . .she would NEVER skip the booze in these cherries!)

I also felt compelled to make these because I didn’t get my fix at Christmas. My friend, R, who normally makes a similar candy, did not this year. I was so sad. I mean she had a baby and what not and I guess her time was at a minimum. . blah, blah, blah. All I know is I never got any cherries. I guess I can forgive it but only because she is awesome.  As far as my lovely husband goes. . . Happy Valentine’s Day, baby! You are so loved and appreciated. I’m lucky to have a guy who still thinks I’m as awesome today as he did on our first date.  I feel the same way about you, sweets! XOXO!

Boozie Chocolate Covered Cherries

1 10 oz jar Maraschino cherries, with stems, drained well

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp butter, room temp

1 Tbsp corn syrup

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp booze (I used spiced rum)

1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips)

1 Tbsp shortening

Drain and pat dry the cherries. Set aside.

Mix sugar, extract, butter, corn syrup, salt and booze in a medium-sized mixing bowl until it comes together as a thick dough. I used an electric hand mixer. You may have to add a little more powdered sugar a little at a time if your dough is not thick.

Form dough into small balls about the size of one of the cherries. I made mine just slightly bigger. Chill the fondant balls for about 20 minutes in the frig. Once chilled take them out of the fridge and one at a time flatten the ball into a disk in your palm, set a cherry in the center and wrap the dough up around it to the stem. Set on a parchment lined tray.

Once all your cherries are wrapped with fondant dough, refrigerate for 1 hour. When the hour is up, slowly melt your chocolate and shortening in a double boiler over low heat. Dip cherries one at a time and set back on the parchment. The chocolate should set rather fast since the cherries are cold. Once they are all dipped, refrigerate again for a little while until completely set. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 weeks before serving. (Or, if you live in the cold, cold north and are trying to hide them from your husband, store them in the cold garage for 2 weeks before serving!)