Valentine's Chocolate Bark

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I thought this would make another nice post for Valentines! I adapted the recipe a little bit, but got it from here. 
If you like white chocolate or maybe your kids or Sweetheart does (like mine ♥)  Then this post is for you. ツ 

This is a easy and quick recipe. I changed it up a little bit to use what I had on hand, and it still worked out good! 

I have a couple of tips after the recipe so be sure to look ..... learn from me ツ 

Here is what you need:

I used Nestle's Milk Chocolate,Chocolate Morsels (either semi sweet or milk choc.) The Chocolate Candy Melts were recommended, You can buy them at Walmart.
I used Nestle's White Chocolate Morsels. The White Candy Melts were recommended, you can but them at Walmart also.
I used about  1/4 of a bar of Paraffin, split between the two chocolates (see Figure 1, below )
I used Gel Food Coloring. Recommended was a oil based food coloring I found this on Wilton's site. I don't know if you can get these at Walmart or not?
Sprinkles
M & M's (Valentine M & M's) I just had regular M & M's, so I picked out just the red ones ツ
Parchment Paper
I used a  9 x 13 cookie sheet, but you could double the recipe and use a normal size cookie sheet.

(Figure 1)  -- cut off 1/4 block of Paraffin

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper and put it aside.

In a double broiler (I just use two pans,1 bigger, 1 smaller) melt the chocolate morsels and half of the wax. (you can microwave to melt, but I prefer to use the double broiler,if you choose to do it the microwave, make sure not to burn the chocolate) check and stir it often.
Once all of it is melted and smooth, pour into the lined cookie sheet and spread it thin with either a spatula or a rubber bowl scraper.

After its spread out in a thin layer place it in the refrigerator until set (about 15 to 30 min.) Meanwhile...after at least 15 min. has gone by, start melting your White Chocolate Morsels,Wax and Food Coloring.

Once melted and smooth, pour it onto the chocolate layer and spread it out to cover chocolate layer.  Add your M & M's and your sprinkles.

Return the cookie sheet to the refrigerator and let it set another 15 to 30 min.Once its set, break into pieces. 

Tips:
* Press your M &M's in a little bit, mine were  popping out when I was breaking up the bark. Same with the sprinkles. Kinda throw your sprinkles at it so it digs in deeper! lol
* Oil based food coloring is recommended, but I used the Betty Crocker  Neon Gel and it worked okay, it looked a little polka dottie :) and maybe didn't blend in together as well as the oil based? You can't tell on the finished Candy though, so that's good!



Happy Valentines Day!!
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Ps. This could be used for any occasion, just change the color of the food coloring! 

Buckeyes (Candy)

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Once upon a time, I made these for Christmas a long, long time ago. I don't know why I haven't made them since, they are so good, and they aren't that difficult to make! I've talked about them though, so much so, that I piqued my husbands curiosity, he said "You talk about them all the time, and now you've made me want them. :D Make them already!" So I did, and he loves them. ツ

They are rich and peanut-buttery. So if your on a diet or a diabetic you might want to steer clear of these, and go look at one of my other pages! ;)

I don't remember, when I made them before, if my arm was about to fall off, from stirring, but I must have used my mixer or something. I don't have one now :( (it died two years ago) so my arms felt like they were about to fall off from stirring!! And it seemed like it took for-everrr... I really need to get a stand mixer, it would have gone a whole lot faster!! Instead of what seemed like hours of stirring would have been minutes! lol  ¯\(°_o)/¯

I've seen several different recipes, but I am going with the one I'm familiar with. I've seen people add Rice Crispy's and Crunchy Peanut Butter, but true Ohio Buckeye Candy isn't made with any of those things, nope. I've also heard them being called Peanut Butter Balls...to me, they are Buckeyes, you can call em' anything you want. I guess you could say I'm particular about the name because I'm from Ohio, and Ohio has the Buckeye trees....

What you need:

2 lbs. Creamy Peanut Butter
1 lb. Butter
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
3 lbs. Powdered Sugar
Two 12 oz. bags of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips Don't skimp on the chocolate.
1/2 of one Paraffin Bar ( you can find this in the canning isle)
Wax Paper 
Tooth Picks
Cookie Sheets

Cream Peanut Butter and Butter  and Vanilla until combined. 

Add Powdered Sugar with a sifter, a little at a time.

Make a mess on the counter...

Stir...

Keep adding more Powdered Sugar, and stir some more, till you feel like your arms are  about to fall off lol Unless your lucky and have a mixer!

 (I seriously was thinking about my husbands paint mixer/cordless drill at this point in time Haha) I didn't though! Ugh!

My arm was about to fall off at this point!

Once you have all the powdered sugar in, make sure its thoroughly mixed
It'll be about the consistency of cookie dough.

if you have a small cookie scoop, use that but otherwise use a little less than a spoonful of "dough" and roll into about 1 inch balls. Roll all the balls and put them in the freezer for about a half hour or so. 

In the mean time...

In a double broiler melt your Chocolate Chips and Paraffin.
If you don't have a double broiler (Like me) then use a bigger pan and a smaller pan, fill the bigger pan with just enough water for the smaller pan to be submerged just a little. The whole object is, to melt the chocolate and not burn it. (I just realized I didn't take pictures of that step.. opps!) Some recipes I have seen melt the chocolate in the microwave, I prefer the double broiler method, that way I don't have to keep re-heating it in the microwave.
Line  cookie sheets with wax paper. 
Once your chocolate/paraffin is melted put a toothpick in the balls and start dipping your dough balls into the chocolate almost covering the whole thing. 
FYI..  If your balls aren't chilled they just slip right off the tooth picks into the chocolate. :(
Place on wax paper to cool and harden. Smooth over the tooth pick hole with your finger.

Paraffin is used to make the chocolate set better and to make them shiny when they are cool.

These need to be stored in a cool place, so store them in the refrigerator, or if you prefer, in the freezer. That's where mine are, in the freezer.

This recipe was suppose to make about 400 balls, I guess mine were bigger(two bites instead of one) because it only made about 160.

You can half or quarter this recipe.

Enjoy.... and try not to eat them all ! ツ


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