St. Patrick's Day Pot-O-Gold Chocolates

Hi guys! I know I haven't been posting as much as I would like to. I have been busy with work and also working on my jewelry and crystals over at Black Feather.

But I just had to share these cute mini St. Patrick's Day cauldrons I made for family and friends.

I found these cute small black cauldron's at the Target dollar area at the front of the store. A bag of six cost $3.00. These are mini, about 4 inches tall and 2 inches wide. I wish I took a photo of all the cauldrons I made, but didn't realize I should until I had only two left...

These are q quick and easy gift to make - Very small chocolates can fit the inside of the cauldron, so it is easy to stuff it with gold foiled rolos or hershey kisses. About 12 or so small chocolate can fit inside.  I took the longer approach and dipped mini oreos in chocolate and wrapped each one.

Next, I bought a few bags of these mini oreos. I melted some chocolate chips in the microwave and I got to work by dipping my oreos in melted milk chocolate. Placed each one on parchment paper and once the chocolate hardened I wrapped them in gold foil. And that is it - You can wrap the cauldron with colorful ribbon and add a sweet note.

Enjoy! And if you make these please let me know as I would love to see your version of them.

Saint Patrick's Day Treats

I listed a few of my favorite easy Saint Patrick's Day treats to make the day before or day of Saint Patrick's Day. You are going to love how simple and easy these are to do.

1.  I love a good peanut butter and sandwich. I usually eat one before I work out and sneak in some slices of bananas in it too. I simply toast the bread and use a shamrock shaped cookie cutter to cut one toast and then I fill the shamrock cut out with jam. I used a peach jam so it looked like a gold shamrock.

Here is the full step by step: http://peachycheek.blogspot.com/2015/03/saint-patricks-day-peanut-butter-and.html

2. Leprechaun hats made with chocolate covered marshmallows and Keebler's fudge stripe cookies.
Recipe and Photo from: http://blog.hwtm.com/2012/03/diy-tutorial-leprechaun-hat-smores/

Tip: To make this easier,  I recommend dipping the marshmallows in chocolate (or buying chocolate rolos) putting them over a chocolate cookie and simply adding a mini cut out green shamrock.

3. These are easy peanut butter shamrock cookies using the same shamrock cookie cutter. I also use it to make chocolate chip shaped shamrock cookies.

Here is the recipe: http://peachycheek.blogspot.com/2014/03/shamrock-peanut-butter-cookies.html

4. Rainbow Veggies. This is such a cute and quick idea. All you need is a slice of green, yellow, orange, red pepper and cauliflower put it over a mini bowl of salsa, guacamole or my favorite hummus (recipe and photo via parents.com)

I hope these little fun treats bring a smile on your face.

Saint Patrick's Day Peanut Butter and Jelly

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Using the same shamrock cookie cutter I used to make shamrock shaped eggs in toast recently I made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I found a similar looking cookie cutter here.

1. Toast two slices of bread and then press the cookie cutter down on one slice.
2. You will have 1 slice cut with the cookie cutter and another slice left alone.
3. Spread peanut butter on the full and complete slice
4. Place the cut slice over the peanut butter slice and pour jelly inside the shamrock shape. I used a peach jam so it looks like a pot of gold.

These make a great Saint Patrick's Day lunch or snack.  Enjoy!

Shamrock Shaped Egg in Toast for Saint Patrick's Day

Top of the morning to you! I am sure you have seen those cute heart shape eggs in the toast. Inspired by that idea I decided to make shamrock shaped eggs in toast. These shamrocks eggs would be the perfect Saint Patrick's Day morning breakfast. 

And these are so easy to make. I am going to walk you through each step so you can make your very own.

1. You will need a clover shaped cookie cutter. Butter the inside of the cookie cutter and next, press the cookie cutter on the slice of toast.
2. Heat the pan on medium heat. Butter the pan a bit and place the toast and cookie cutter in the pan.
3. Crack the egg inside of the cookie cutter. You can also pour eggs whites.
4. Cover the pan while the egg sets. I like my egg over easy, so I was able to flip the toast and egg, but you can leave it as is and it will set after a few minutes.

These only took a few moments to make and will be enjoyed by you, your loved ones and your kiddos.

Enjoy!

Shamrock Peanut Butter Cookies

Saint Patrick's day is around the corner and to celebrate I made some peanut butter cookies in the shape of shamrocks. I was a little worried to make the cookies with peanut butter dough because I didn't know if the cookies would hold the shamrock shape, like gingerbread and sugar cookie dough does so well. But, I am happy to report that these held their cookie cutter shape very well and I think what helped is the amount of time I chilled the dough in the fridge and how thin I rolled out the dough. I chilled my dough for about an hour, which is necessary to firm the dough, because peanut butter dough is very soft and sticky to work with. These came out so soft and chewy and they were exactly what I was craving. 

Ingredients - Makes about 3 dozen (depending on the size of your cookie cutters)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla
• 1 egg (I substituted with egg whites)
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Mix butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla. Mix on low speed until thoroughly mixed.

Add the egg and beat on medium speed until mixture is creamy and fluffy.

Add the baking powder and add the flour in little by little.

Wrap dough in clear wrap and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes - 45 minutes. If you leave it in too long, you may need to let the dough sit at room temperature for 10–20 minutes until it is pliable, or roll it between parchment paper. 

If the dough too cold and brittle to roll immediately, it could crack. To fix this, let the dough sit at room temperature for a bit. It take a bit of time to get comfortable with being able to tell the sweet spot between chilled and also pliable enough to start rolling it out. You don't want it too soft and it can't be rock hard either.

Once dough is chilled, but also pliable (it may need to sit out for 10-20 minutes after the fridge) and has firmed up a bit, roll out dough on floured counter top and press down with cookie cutters. If the dough is cracking, it might need to sit out at room temperature a bit more.

I got this awesome shamrock cookie cutter from my sister during Christmas.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

I added a few green sprinkles on some of them before they went into the oven and the rest I left plain to either decorate with icing later or just left them blank to eat as is.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until bottoms are slightly golden.

Once out of the oven, place cookies on wire racks to cool completely.

I've been struggling with allergies, or a cold, off and on for weeks, and I think this is exactly what the doctor ordered, a bit crisp on the outside and soft in the inside.

I  keep the cookies in a tupperware to keep them fresh and soft. These would be great to give as a little gift, I would recommend tying a very thin green bow around the little clover stem.

Thanks for stopping by my little corner in the world.