Easter Chocolate DIY

 I love to have special sweet treats at Easter time.  I found this silicone egg mold at Dollarama for about $1.50 and decided to give it a try to make chocolate lollipops.

The mold has six egg shapes with a slot to insert a lollipop stick.

I decided to fill in the groves with white chocolate to give the lollipops some contrast.  So I used a sandwich bag filled with white chocolate, cut off the tip and carefully piped the chocolate into the indents in the eggs.  I then popped the mold into the freezer and once it was firm, I filled the egg with melted milk or semi-sweet chocolate, added a lollipop stick and let it firm up again in the freezer.

This is the end result: 

I was impressed with this silicone mold and now will be on the hunt for other seasonal molds for future holiday celebrations.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I saw a recipe for a chocolate peanut butter cake in a magazine and it inspired me to make it.  I put my own spin on the decorating and love how it turned out!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Directions:
Cake
Use a boxed chocolate mix and prepared as per directions on box.  Pour batter into two 8" round pans.

Icing
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Chocolate syrup (prepackaged squeeze pouch works best)

Beat butter until fluffy with an electric mixer.  Add peanut butter and beat till incorporated.  Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla.

Spread frosting between cake layers and ice top and sides of cake.  Pour chocolate syrup around the edge of the cake allowing it to drip down the sides.  Decorate top of cake as desired.  I put dollops of icing around the top of the cake and in the middle and then decorated with chopped peanut butter cups.

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe has been around for a while.  It is a quick, easy way to make peanut butter cookies and they are oh so good!  They actually melt in your mouth, they are that good! 

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 egg

Directions:

1.  Combine peanut butter and sugar.

2.  Add egg and mix well.

3.  Roll dough into balls (about 1 tbsp. dough each).

4.  Make criss cross pattern with fork.

5.  Bake at 325F for 18 minutes.

Vaseline Almond Smooth Body Lotion

This Almond Smooth lotion from Vaseline contains almond oil, vitamin E and vaseline jelly.  Together these ingredients work to heal and nourish dry skin.   

My Thoughts

I use body lotion on a regular basis and was excited to try this new lotion from Vaseline.  First off, I am usually not a fan of almond scents but this scent was so lovely.  It was slightly sweet, but also a delicate scent.  It was not overpowering at all.  It left a light fragrance on my skin.

Since this is a body lotion, it is not as thick as a cream.  It wasn't runny and would stay put on the skin.  I did find that it took longer to absorb into my skin compared to other body lotions.  But after it was absorbed, my skin felt soft and smooth.  There was no sticky or tacky feeling.  I also found that a little lotion went a long way so this bottle will last for a while.

I applied this lotion in the morning after a shower and found that my skin stayed hydrated all day.  I also used this as a hand cream and it worked wonderful too.  My hands even felt soft and smooth after hand washing!

This lotion bottle features a revolutionary smart pump that locks and unlocks with a 90 degree turn.  I appreciated the oversized hand pump on this bottle.  It made dispensing the product very easy and would be perfect for anyone suffering from arthritis in their hands for example.  Due to the size of the pump I did find that it dispensed a lot of lotion so only small pumps were necessary.  Also, once I open a bottle of lotion, I am apt to always leave it in the "on" position so I didn't find the lock and unlock system to be of value to me.  

Overall, I really enjoyed this lotion and especially the lovely scent.  I would recommend this product to anyone to keep their skin hydrated.

I received a #freeproduct from TopBox to facilitate this review.

Yet Another Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

 Here I am with yet another chocolate chip cookie recipe!  Can you tell I love chocolate chip cookies and am trying to find the perfect recipe?  I'm looking for a cookie with a nice color (not pale), crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and a tiny bit of height to it.  This cookie checks off all my boxes!  Yay!  

I've posted other recipes for chocolate chip cookies on the blog and they are good in their own right but just not what I would call the "perfect" cookie.  Everyone has their own idea of the perfect cookie and this cookie for me, so far, is it!

I was hesitant to try this recipe as it is different than any recipe I have tried.  It has no brown sugar in it, only white but with the addition of molasses.  The molasses threw me for a loop but honestly you can't even taste it in the cookies!  I guess the white sugar with molasses somewhat subs for brown sugar.

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup + 1 tbsp. white sugar

1 tbsp. fancy molasses

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Using a hand mixer combine butter, sugar and molasses.

2.  Beat in egg and vanilla.

3.  Mix flour, baking soda and salt into wet ingredients using a mixing spoon.

4.  Stir in chocolate chips.

5.  Chill dough for 45 minutes.

6.  Drop by heaping tablespoon on to parchment lined baking sheets.  (I used a 1.5 tbsp. cookie scoop).  Flatten tops of cookies ever so slightly.  (HINT: Add extra chocolate chips to tops of dough balls to make them look extra pretty).

7.  Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. 

Layered Jello Cake

 This layered jello cake just screams summer to me!  It is light and fruity and the perfect end to a summer meal.  Of course it is great all year round too!  You can experiment with the jello flavours but my favourite would be raspberry, strawberry or a mixture of the two.  

This recipe requires some planning ahead as each layer does take time to set.  That being said, it is a simple cake to make with ingredients you would probably have on hand.  There are three layers to this cake: cake base, filling and mirror glaze.

Directions:

Cake Layer

1/2 box of white cake mix

Prepare according to package directions but half the ingredients listed. (If box calls for 3 eggs, it is hard to half this amount so I use 2 eggs with no issues).  Bake at recommended temperature on box, in a greased 9" x 13" pan for about 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool.

Filling Layer

2 boxes of strawberry jello (85g each)

2 cups boiling water

1 cup cold water

1L tub of Cool Whip, thawed

6-8 fresh strawberries, halved

Add 2 boxes of jello to boiling water and cold water. Stir until jello is dissolved.  Set aside to cool (not set, you still want the jello to be pourable).  When cool add tub of Cool Whip.  Let sit in fridge, stirring occasionally until not so runny.  Pour over cooled cake layer.

Press halved strawberries into filled layer. I usually use 12-16 strawberry halves depending on many pieces of cake I want.  Let sit in fridge until set.

Mirror Glaze

1 box of strawberry jello (85g)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

Combine the box of jello with boiling water and cold water.  Stir until jello is dissolved.  Let cool then pour over the top of cake.  Pouring over the back of a spoon is helpful!

Place in fridge until set.

This is a very pretty looking cake that will wow your guests!  Try using different jello such as orange with mandarin slices or raspberry with fresh raspberries.  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love a good cookie and this is the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate.  They are mild tasting, peanut butter wise but perfect for when I don't have a lot of peanut butter on hand.  This recipe is easy to make and contains ingredients you would normally have in a pantry anyway.  I love recipes like that! 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
6 tbsps. butter, softened or margarine
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions
1.  Cream butter/margarine, peanut butter, and sugars.
2.  Add egg and vanilla.  Mix well.
3.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add to creamed mixture.
4.  Stir in chocolate chips.
5.  Drop by tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
6.  Bake at 350F for 11-13 minutes.