Peppermint Candy Tray and The Annual Gingerbread House

  So lets see, firstly I have a give away going on, and I would love for you to check it out and enter.  Here. Secondly, I am so happy that I know how to finally edit and do cool things with my pictures.  And by cool things, I mean crop out all the messy back ground that is my house, or at least most of it.  I also have a whole lot more storage in my on line album.  I am almost done, but it has been so neat, going from 99.98% full down to under 8%, I was emailing hubby every few hours telling him, "I'm down to 75%!" And so on, I think he was getting annoyed after the like 25th email, oh well.

  So all that to say I hopefully am going to be back to normal.  So I have a good deal of baking behind me, with pictures, that I can now edit.  So I will start with this one, one of our yearly traditions.  The gingerbread house.  This year I went for something different.  Usually we get the box kit with the pre built house and candy.  But I wanted to try making a candy tray and I also wanted to get candy I like, and the plan was for me to actually bake the cookies.  My sister got me the gingerbread house set last year, but it didn't happen.  So whatever, I got the pieces at the bakers warehouse. And the pre made icing, I did make the tray, so lets focus on that.

I really thought I had more than enough mints, but I was wrong.

I  have seen this tray on the Internet a few times, and the last time when I saw it on The Tip Garden I knew I could do it.  And by that I mean, I would try and if I failed like usual you would never even know as I can keep secrets.  So when I took Pork Chop to the bulk candy store I wanted just the red and white mints, but my store only had these ones.  They called them starlight mints.  I got a bunch of them and then thought I had so many my tray would be huge.  I was wrong, I had just enough actually.

This was enough to build the house with a large yard all around. 

  So to start you heat your oven to 350, then unwrap all your mints, if you have a man or a child that actually likes candy they might help you.  Pork Chop just gave me the look and said "no thank you."  So I unwrapped them while watching cartoons, we are not going to eat this thing so no big deal if there is a little sofa fluff in it.

  Once unwrapped you lay them side by side on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, from what I read wax paper will not work, so use parchment. Then set them up how you want your tray, I was trying to get very straight lines, but well, I did my best.  Then carefully set the tray in your preheated oven.  Try to not allow the candy to move or else your tray will not be straight.

  I went for 6 minutes as the other blog said after 8 minutes it was still not done.  But I know I have a very hot oven so we did 6 minutes and it was perfect. you want the candies to be melted together, but if they start to bubble and stuff it will burn and spread too much.  So once they are done, move the tray to a cooling rack and allow them to set back up.  It didn't take long at all, and I took pictures for face book and texted my girl friends to show them how awesome I was.  I am humble if nothing else.

It was so nice, the top was all shiny and the bottom was smooth but dull looking. It was not fragile really, it felt like a plate, but I bet if you drop it it would shatter. So don't drop it okay?

So while the tray was setting I got out all the stuff for our gingerbread house.  I had these two house kits that when I opened them turned out to be tiny little tent like houses, and Pork Chop was not having any of that.  So I had to jerry rig the bits together so I could get one big house.  This mean gluing bits together and letting them dry a bit then adding more bits and so on and so on.  As the bits were drying I put out all the candy for Pork Chop to work with.

This cost about $8 all together.

 He was adamant that we have gummie bears and the rest he was all "whatever" about.  So I got this and some ribbon candy and we were good.

I may have had some candy left over, which I may have eaten.  I said may have people.

So I set up Pork Chop and he got to work.  Firstly I would pipe on some icing and he started to stick stuff on. The roof fell off and he was all " Why didn't we get the boxed house, I hate this, next year we get the boxed one!"  And I told him to just stick the candy on and stop complaining.

At this point it was all looking like it would be okay, then I added the roof, and well then it was not as okay.

 So he did and he was fine, sneaking a gummie bear here and a chocolate there.  It all was going well.

He was all "I want to touch the candy tray" and I was all "don't you dare!"  And he did it anyway while I was taking the picture.

 He was talking non stop about how such and such was this and such and such was that.  I was really focused on the roof not falling off again since that would mean a  huge clean up.  And we all know how well cleaning happens here.

As I took this the roof fell over, and his face says it all. "Why aren't we using a box kit house!"

 

Look how cute his little arms are!

  And then because he is my child, and he is weird, he needed there to be a gummie bear war or battle as he called it, in the front yard.  This of course is basically him piling on as many bears as he could, and asking me to keep blobbing icing on.

Look out bear!!!

   He would make bomb sounds and "oh this poor bear he didn't even see it coming!" Comments.

 So as any good mom would do, I offered to cut a bear in half, because what gingerbread house is complete without a gummie bear that has been torn in half?

I may have caught Pork Chop stealing a few candies too.

Well you know how that goes right?  The best ideas, are sort of the worst. And now he keeps on saying "that's gotta hurt!"  If he ever catches on to the "that's what she said" trend I am will die, only because it will be awesome, sort of.

All done!

At the end Pork Chop told me this was the funnest house ever, so I think he may be quick to change his mind about things, sort of like his father.  Or me, either or.

The side of the house, with what looks like blobs of icing, but I bet he thinks it  is something else.

I think it turned out pretty good actually.

  Any way, it was all good, and Pork Chop was thrilled with the house.  Even though it was not from a box kit, and he proudly talks about it to everyone.  And by talks about it, he says "yeah" when I ask him if he told his friends all about his gingerbread house.

 Part of me thinks he may not be talking it up as much as he says.

And here is Pork Chop pointing out the poor bear who was torn in half, that screams "Happy Holidays!"  if you ask me.

Christmas Coal, Peppermint Patty's in Disguise

These are the pretty ones, the coal, well it looks like coal.

  So I have not been in the baking mood, just not into it for some reason.  I mean I really want to and I have all these great plans, but then I sit down and I want to stay on my butt for the rest of the day.  It's how I roll. I need to be constantly doing something or else I sit and it is not easy to get me moving again.  Ask Hubby, he is all over it now, but in the first few years he was probably plotting to kill me.  Anyway I actually did something baking like on Saturday and it totally didn't turn out how I wanted.  Which is total proof to me that if I sit down, I should stay that way.

  It's just safer for everyone this way.

This is just a big bowl of peppermint patty innards, is that kind of gross to say?  Well it is, also it is reddish, I didn't want to use too much food colouring, just pretend it's red.

  But I tried and I failed, but I totally got something else out of it, so I actually won.  I knew I was a winner!!!

  So Saturday after work we took Pork Chop to see Wreck It Ralph, and it was adorable, I really enjoyed it and he was all over the video game aspect of it.  So when we got home he wanted to play with his toys and I figured I better do something before I sat down again, and so I did.  I wanted to make peppermint patties in a holiday style.  What that really means I have no idea, I just knew they had to be festive.

This cute little pan I had to have, I think I have used it once, so it's paid for itself really.

Peppermint Patties
Based on something I read on I am Baker

-2 small cans of sweetened condensed milk
-3 TBSP peppermint extract
-red food colouring paste
-icing sugar, as much as you want

Basically mix everything but the icing sugar together, then add the icing sugar until it is as thick as you like.  If you like a runny mint ( you can pour them into chocolate coated molds) then add less sugar.  I like them very dense so I add it until my poor mixer is about to burn out, and then I am good.  Then you shape them and freeze them and dip them in whatever kind of chocolate you like.  I also like to keep mine frozen, they taste better to me that way.

This is an ice cube tray.  Story about this, I made hubby drive me around for like 4 hours one night to find the perfect ice cube tray to make ice for my ice coffee.  Guess how many times I actually used it.  Well if you guessed 3 times, you would be a winner.  Hubby may have tried to hurt me, but I would not know, he does that when I am sleeping.

  So I got to mixing up my patty filling, adding just enough red food paste to make it sort of red and then I got to work.  I had two silicon pans I planned to use.  My gingerbread one and a snowflake one.  I will tell you right now, if you have not figured it out from the title, this didn't work.  I spent all this time smooshing my filling into the pans and then I froze them and I waited a little longer to make sure they set.  I did some normal puddles of peppermint and dipped those first.  I put some festive sprinkles on them, because nothing screams holidays like snowflake sprinkles.

  Then I got out the snow flakes and tried to pop out the shapes.  And they cracked and part of them stayed in the mold and I was all.  "Seriously!  I got off the sofa for this!"  So I just mushed the stuff together into lumpy ball shapes.  Then I dipped them.  I figured my gingerbread men would be better as they had frozen longer.

So far so good right?

 I may have been wrong.  I spend a huge amount of time prying filling out of the pans and smooshing them all together.  I dipped everything in melted milk chocolate that I had really thinned down.  And when I was done, I stood back and said to myself "self, you suck!"

They remind me of the cream cheese wedding mints like this, I should have figured out that these would fair.

  Then I started to clean up a bit.  And did you know that peppermint patty filling is like super glue?  Well neither did I, but I did spend a good half hour trying to get it out of my pans.  I finally gave up and left one for hubby to deal with.  Then I went back and looked at my lumps of peppermint patty and then I said "self you are the smartest person ever!!!"

If you look closely you may notice the one on the bottom sort of has a snow flake shape, sort of.

 Why you ask?  Well I had invented peppermint patty coal.  See right there, that is why I get of the sofa every  now and then.  I screw something up so badly it turns out to be the best thing ever.

  And then I packed a bunch of the ones with the sprinkles up for my co workers, but I kept all the coal for myself.  I am so bad, I deserve it.

I should have stopped, but you know I was on a roll.

  But how great is that?!  Imagine if you will, getting a little baggy or box of these, being told basically that you were such a horrible person that all you get is coal from Santa, but then you eat one and it's awesome.

  I know, sometimes I don't know how I contain all my awesome.

I was just pissed off at this point so this is the best picture of the coal you are going to get, sorry.

 Or my modesty, really how Hubby can handle it is beyond me.  And after the last few weeks, I totally deserve an awesome mistake for once.

These are the nice ones my coworkers got, I could eat these all day, if they didn't make my tummy turn into knots that is.

  Just don't expect this level of awesome again okay?  That will save us all a lot of disappointment in the end.

St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Patties

I don't know why but my Alice in Wonderland tea cup makes me so happy, and I don't even drink tea.

  You know, there are just some foods that I love, some I hate and some that are just okay. This right here people; it's one of the good ones. I could eat these until I am sick. And shamefully I have, more than once. I know my sugar tolerance, and I know eating more than one of these will make me sorry, but it takes all I have to only eat one. I bet you will have the same problem too.

So to deal with this problem, I have come up with a very serious plan of action. It entails many steps to ensure that I only eat one at a time. So this may be helpful to you too. Firstly, I only make these vary rarely, that ensures that the temptation is minimal. Then if I do make them, they are given away mostly. Then if I was dumb enough to save some for myself, I put them in containers and freeze them. This usually means I either put them in the basement freezer, and I am too lazy to go get them one at a time. Or I forget they are in the freezer and don't want them. Although that last point is pretty stupid, I mean I know they are there, it is just an excuse.

That right there is the makings of a beautiful patty.  

Anyway, please ignore my rambling, I just ate one and my mind is full of sugar, and thoughts of more. I shouldn't point out that it is only 8:30am while I am writing this, that would make me look bad. So just try to imagine it is late at night, I have had a good diner and just finished working out ( even I laugh at that) and I just rewarded myself with one patty, just one. I will let you decide if I need help or not, I already know I have issues.

  So I know I posted these before here.  And you can check it out there and see how one of my earlier posts turned out.  I have not gotten any better at picture taking, but man I have props now.  Those holiday sprinkles, they sell it.  Trust me, put a sprinkle on it and people will want it.  Or at least I will.

 To make these, you just need a few things.  The only thing I changed about this batch is I added a little green food colouring to Irish it up.  Because if it's green, it totally becomes a St. Patrick's day patty.  I know, I am a genius!  Also, I did not make this recipe up, but I did add the food colouring, so you could say I did invent it.  Or not.  You can totally find this on I am Baker, which I linked in my original post.  But the green patty, that is all me baby!  I should patent that!

Patent Pending!

 St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Patties
Adapted from I am Baker

-1 can sweetened condensed milk *
-1 TBSP peppermint extract**
-green food colouring, as much or as little as you want
-5 cups +/- icing sugar


* there are some great recipes on line now to make your own home made, so I will have to try that when I run out, also the cans are much smaller here in Canada, so you may want to add a tiny bit more peppermint extract if you have a can larger than 8oz
**make sure you use peppermint extract, if you try just mint or another kind, this will turn the patty into a toothpaste flavoured patty, and no one wants that.  Unless you like eating toothpaste, then by all means go ahead ( and if you like eating toothpaste, you are not alone, as a kid I would put too much on my brush so I could eat it, sorry Mom)


  So I just put the milk, peppermint extract and a few drops of colour into my mixing bowl and start mixing.  Then just add the icing sugar a bit at a time and mix until it is as firm as you want it.  I think that if you do it by hand or with a hand held mixer the chances are your mixture will not be as thick.  I use my kitchen aid and it gets to the point where the motor is really working hard to mix it.  Even then, my dough doesn't hold it's shape fully.

 Once you are done mixing, shape your dough however you like.  I usually use a cookie scoop.  I love to have a thick patty, because to me more is better.  But you can make them thinner, or roll by hand.  Whatever you like, just do it!  For these I scooped my patties out onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and spaced them out.  They settle a bit to make them a little flatter,but if you want them even flatter just pat them down.  And always work on wax or parchment paper, this stuff will stick to your pans, your hands and your scoop.  But I found the thicker the dough, the less trouble you have with sticking.

Little green globs, not so appealing really.  That is why you need chocolate.

  So once scooped, put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes, if you leave them too long they will get too hard and cause cracks in your chocolate when dipping.

  When ready melt your chocolate, or like me your candy melts and thin them a bit with paraffin crystals.  If you don't have that you can use a little shortening.

  Only take out a few at a time as they thaw out really fast.  Just dip your patty then put a sprinkle on top. If you prefer not to use sprinkles you can just dip then leave them, or go back and drizzle a contrasting colour of candy melts.  I was feeling really lazy and had these super cute shamrock sprinkles, so I had to use them.  I love sprinkles, you may as well know that, I may be obsessed.

They sort of look weird here, but they taste good, I promise.

   So once you are done you can leave them at room temperature, or the way I like them, I keep them in the fridge.  I like them frozen too.  So you know, try it out, either way, they are good!

Ohhhh, Ahhhh, "look at her amazing photography skills!"

I know, but at least "someone" loves my pics right?

I'm linking up here