tasty tuesday: hunky bills

Now Hunky Bills are actually something we make at Christmas time, but since I'm an excellent procrastinator (and life was nuts around Christmas), I'm just blogging about them now!  Really they would be a delicious treat all year round, we just happen to only make them once a year.  Which is probably good for my waistline!

Funny story:  their real name is definitely not Hunky Bills....but rather: Uncle Bill's Cuban Lunch.  Somehow, someway, over many many Christmases.....they slowly morphed into Hunky Bills.  

My family all knows it's not right, but we can't help that we call them that!  It's pretty hilarious.

Moving on.  These babies are another easy peasy recipe, where all you do is melt chocolate and stir deliciousness into it!  (Deliciousness being chips and peanuts....yum.)  

Man, I'm such a sucker for anything  sweet and salty!  Just so darn good.

Hunky Bills
from: my Auntie Bobbi

Ingredients:

3 cups chocolate chips

3 cups reese's peanut butter chips

200 grams plain Ripple Chips, crushed (these usually come in a 200 gram bag, so measuring is easy!)

2 1/2 cups salted peanuts, chopped

Directions:

1)  In a very large saucepan, first melt the peanut butter chips.  Add chocolate chips once the peanut butter chips are melted.  Stir together.

2)  Allow mixture to cool slightly, and then add crushed chips and chopped peanuts (you want the chunks of chips and peanuts pretty small).

3)  Line a mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake papers, and spoon the mixture into the papers.  Let them cool until firm enough to remove from pan.  

*We always pop ours in the freezer for a few minutes until hardened, remove the hunky bills, and then do another pan until all of the mixture is gone.

Soooo....once you've finally caved on your healthy New Year's Resolutions, you know where to find this recipe.  Ha!  They're totally worth it.  Promise.

p.s. ♥ kelsey

Merry Christmas

Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God.

-George F. McDougall 

Merry Christmas everyone!

p.s. ♥ kelsey & clara

Christmas baking: cranberry almond bark

We really really love bark in our house (as you may remember: peppermint bark, coconut bark, toffee pretzel bark.).  Maybe because sometimes we're a little bit lazy, and maybe because it just tastes so darn good!

The toasted almonds and dried cranberries are such perfect flavors for winter, and we always make some for Christmas!  But honestly, there is no right or wrong time to make this bark.

p.s. Christmas is in 3 days....say what?

I'd just like to recommend you bringing this bark to the next party, family gathering, dinner, or potluck you go to.  So simple, but it looks so fancy.  Impress your friends, co-workers, boss, or in-laws.  They'll love you for sure!
(I'm so not ashamed to bribe people with food....a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?)

Cranberry Almond Bark

Ingredients:

1/3 cup slivered almonds (blanched)

1/2 pound milk chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 oz white chocolate

Directions:

1)  Spread your almonds out on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes, or until toasted, and set aside.

2)  Melt milk chocolate in a double boiler.

3)  Remove chocolate from heat, an stir in almonds and dried cranberries.

4)  Pour onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper.  Spread evenly to about 1/4" thickness.

5)  Melt white chocolate in double boiler.

6)  Drizzle white chocolate over milk chocolate before the milk chocolate has set, and use a fork to swirl designs in the white chocolate.

7)  Refrigerate until firm.  Break up into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

p.s. ♥ kelsey

finding our Christmas tree

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is going out to find and cut down a tree with my dad.  Unfortunately for me, attending university for the last 5 years in a different city usually meant that I couldn't go with him!  So this year I was pretty excited to be around to go with him, and hunt down the perfect tree.

The tree farm we went to is about 2 minutes from our farm, and we've been going there for years.  We love walking around several times, examining each tree before we make a final decision.  

It's serious business, tree hunting.

But for real, we probably take way too much time picking one out!

This year our tree was a funny one, and we actually had to cut it several feet off the ground!  We were hoping our estimating skills were spot on, and that it wasn't going to be super short or too tall.  Thankfully, it was just right.

There really is nothing like the lovely smell of a real tree!

p.s. ♥ kelsey

Christmas baking: triple chocolate shortbread cookies

Soooo much chocolate.  We've come to the realization that nearly all of our Christmas treat have chocolate in them....and we're totally okay with that!  These triple chocolate shortbread cookies have been my all-time favorite for many Christmases now, and are still going strong.  The shortbread is chocolate, there are mini chocolate chips inside, and then they're dipped and drizzled in chocolate to make them pretty.  So...if you're not a fan of chocolate, these aren't for you!

But let's be real here.  Who isn't a fan of chocolate?

What I love most about these cookies is how the melt-in-your-mouth shortbread goes so well with the chocolate shell covering it.  It's oh so good!

Triple Chocolate Shortbread

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 oz square of unsweetened semi-sweet chocolate [melted]  
2 1/4 cup flour
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions:
1.  Mix together softened butter, icing sugar, vanilla and melted chocolate until smooth.
2. Add flour and chocolate chips and mix.
3. Roll dough into 1" balls (or whatever size preferred) and place onto a baking sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Decorating:
You can choose to dip these in any kind of chocolate you want; we usually dip ours twice (once in white and once in semi-sweet chocolate).  
Also, if you spoon a small amount of melted chocolate into a ziplock bag, you can drizzle a zig-zag pattern onto the top!  The drizzle looks the best when you cut the smallest hole you can in the ziplock.  Good luck!

Are you sick of Christmas baking yet?  I hope not.  We still have a few more Christmas-y recipes to share, so stay tuned!

p.s. ♥ kelsey

Christmas baking: toasted coconut shortbread

Why is toasted coconut so much better than regular coconut?

Like, it's ridiculous how good it is.  Toasting things is the way to go I guess.  It makes everything better.

Anyways, since we're both majorly into coconut, my mom and I made cookies with toasted coconut inside them, as well as on top!  So much wonderfully crunchy and delicious coconut.  If you're in a serious hurry, you can leave off the chocolate and extra coconut, but I'd advise against it.  You'd really be missing out.

These cookies were a new addition to our annual Christmas baking, and man are they a winner.  Our family always bakes up a giant storm of goodies in late November/early December since we love to give away plates of baking as presents.  We love it because we love baking, and our friends love it since we're not giving them stuff they don't really need!  Win win.

Toasted Coconut Shortbread
from: family circle magazine
yields: ~3 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup butter
1/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt (only add this if your butter is unsalted)

for dipping:
chocolate (doesn't matter what kind)
extra toasted coconut

Directions:
1)  Spread out your coconut evenly on a cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees until golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, and stir every couple of minutes, otherwise you'll burn it!  *You can add a bit more coconut to the pan if you're planning on doing the chocolate and coconut topping.
2)  Place the butter, coconut, and sugars in a medium bowl and mix well.
3)  Add flour and salt, and mix again.
4)  On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, form a 1-inch-diameter log and cover with plastic wrap tightly.  It can be hard to make the log completely round and not flat on the bottom, so just do your best.  Place in the fridge for an 1hr minimum, or up to two days.  (You can also freeze it for up to 2 months.
5)  Take your log out of the fridge and cut 1/4 to 1/2-inch slices and place them about 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
6)  Bake at 350 degrees until cookies are just starting to brown on the edges, about 18-20 minutes.
7)  As the cookies are cooling, melt your chocolate for dipping either in the microwave (being extra careful not to burn it!), or by using a double-boiler on the stove.
8)  Dip the edge of your cookie in the chocolate, press into the extra toasted coconut and allow to set.
9)  Serve and enjoy!

Served with milk, these are perfection!

p.s. ♥ kelsey

bacon jam

I know what you're thinking... this is AMAZING. Best idea ever, right?! Bacon jam? A bacon themed Christmas on ps.heart? Yes. That's right. You're welcome. Bacon is the best, and this bacon jam is going to blow your bacon-loving mind, because this stuff is seriously delicious and addicting and epic beyond words. You might even be hailed as the favourite (friend/child/brother/sister/cousin/whatever it is you are) if you decide you can part with this goodness and gift it away!

Ingredients:

2 packs of bacon (each at 500g)

2 medium onions

3 garlic cloves

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup coffee

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp cinnamon

pepper and salt to taste

Instructions: 

1. Cut up your bacon into 1/2 inch strips. Dice your onions, and peel then smash up your garlic cloves.

2. Set a heavy skillet to med-high heat and begin cooking your bacon until it begins to brown. Keep your bacon fat! (cause really, if you're going for bacon jam, you might as well go all in).

3. Stir in your onions and cook until softened (8-10 minutes).

4. Add in your maple syrup, vinegar, coffee, and worcestershire sauce. Season with cinnamon, pepper, and salt. Continue to cook until the mixture has a glossy appearance and a syrup-like consistency (up to 1 hour). Don't forget to stir occasionally!

5. Let the mixture cool for 20 minutes, then stick it in the blender and puree. You don't want it to end up "pasty," so don't go to town while blending! It should still be thick and chunky at the end.

6. Enjoy the pure awesomeness that is now bacon jam! 

*Note: bacon jam can be refrigerated for approximately 1 month. Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy!

p.s. ♥ clara 

diy bacon mandles (aka. candles for men)

A few weeks ago, Caleb and I were trying to come up with creative White Elephant gift that we could make when he suddenly had the craving for... you guessed it, bacon. Which led to the brilliant idea of, why don't we make our Christmas gifts this year bacon related?

So I present to you, the Bacon "Mandle"! The product of a hungry man, several pounds of bacon, and the time pressures of trying to figure out a fun diy Christmas gift. It really does smell like bacon.

What you need:  bacon. more bacon. and then some bacon grease...

and candle wax, wicks, some glass jars, and pencils.

Instructions

1. Cut up your bacon into small pieces and start cooking away!
2. Tie your piece of wick to a pencil and balance it in the middle of your glass jar.
3. Drain you bacon and keep the grease.

4. Melt your candle wax (I used this method from our mason jar candle diy)

5. Pour your wax into your jars. Mix in approximately 1/3 of the size of your jar with bacon grease and throw in pieces of bacon as well.

6. Let cool, then cut off any excess wick. 

7. Enjoy the awesomeness that is your Bacon Mandle!

To make our bacon mandles more festive, I tied some Christmas string around the lid and also whipped up a tag in Photoshop to attach to our candles, which I've posted   =)  I'm not gonna lie, they're pretty awesome and made pretty popular gifts.

The Bacon Mandle:

candles for real men and women who love bacon.

made with real bacon and real love.

you're welcome.

p.s. ♥ clara