Snowman and Reindeer Oreo Pops

I started my Christmas shopping this week. So although I am painfully aware it is still August, I figured, what the heck, let's post a holiday treat.  I made these pops last year and have been promising to post them, and since I'm pretty sure I don't want to spend my *December* a very sacred month, posting OLD recipes, I'll just post them now for you.  I take it a personal responsibility to spread Christmas cheer before Halloween costumes are even in stores. PLUS if you're a freakish planner like me, you need lots of time to strategically plan which holiday treats to bake when, who to give them to, how to avoid having heaps of chocolate sitting on your counter all month... this time of year practically calls for a binder!  Oh wait, I have one of those.

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Rock Candy Cupcakes

Rock candy is a weird food.  I mean, there isn't really anything that good about it minus that it's pure sugar, which is always a good thing, but every time I see it I get this giddy feeling in my stomach like I'm 5 years old at a country candy store and my parents have caved for once and bought me a treat. After sucking on it for about 3 minutes you realize it doesn't really taste *that* good.  But next time you see it you have to buy it all over again.

I think nostalgia probably tastes better than anything.

My kids about flipped when I made these.  They taste like you'd expect, but I have to be honest; the texture bothered me.  The soft cupcake combined with the rock hard candy made for a really strange combination to chew in my mouth.  Things aren't ready to swallow at the same time... It's awkward.  The kids were too busy crunching and licking and smacking their lips to notice or care. This is definitely kid food.

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Tigger Tails

Doesn't this just make you smile? Tigger Tails are a Disneyland treat. As far as I know they can only be found at Pooh Corner (by Splash Mountain) at Disneyland.  They're basically marshmallows on a stick, covered in caramel, covered in orange-flavored white chocolate, drizzled with semisweet chocolate.  Ok, in spirit of full disclosure, they have actually changed the tails so they are now not orange flavored, and they are rolled in orange sugar instead of orange chocolate...  kind of like a peep.  The disney community is up in arms over this betrayal. They also make cheshire cat tails, which are pink and purple and stinkin' cute.  If my 3 year old was a girl, he would SO be having an Alice in Wonderland party for his 4th and I would soooo be making some cheshire tails. But since Disneyland is gonna be all *exclusive*-like about their tigger tails... we're just gonna have to make our own.

Quite honestly, white chocolate and I are not BFF's. I think these would be yummier if they were dipped in milk chocolate and drizzled with fat orange stripes of white chocolate.  Less cute, but more delicious.  It's a price I'm willing to pay if I ever make these again. White chocolate just doesn't do it for me. But make them however you want.

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Chewy Caramel Twix Brownies

Quote of the day:

"Mom!  Look at all that WEED!"

(My 3 year old, as we drive past a farm where a farmer is harvesting hay into those rectangular bale things)


Luckily he doesn't know what "weed" actually is.  Or he better not, because he's only three.  But I'm pretty sure I almost ran into a fence I was laughing so hard.  I hope he doesn't go to preschool next month and tell his teacher about all the "weed" in our backyard.  That would be an interesting parent teacher conference.  If I had to bribe her *not* to call social services, I would probably do so with these twix brownies:

Bribing a teacher has to be a sure thing my friends.

(Seriously, these are YUM!)

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Clementine Soda

 

I am having one of those weeks where everything I touch self-destructs. If you don't ever have those weeks, don't tell me.   It's like this awful curse that ruins everything I bake.  Overdone. Too salty. Bland. Bitter.  ARghhhh!!   

I found this recipe for sodas and on my THIRD attempt finally found one I love.  (In case you don't know my motto- it is that I will never post anything that turned out to be a disappointment for me. Everything I post will be something I absolutely loved.  Nobody wants to try reject recipes.) 

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