Chocolate Dipped Spoons

The Holiday Bake, Craft, Sew Along is BACK!

HolidayBakeCraftSewAlong

The amazingly talented Cindy and Kelly and I have teamed up again to bring you 30 days of Handmade Christmas gift ideas!

Do you want some Sewing Inspiration for Holiday Gift Ideas? Skip To My Lou has those!

How about some new Craft Ideas for handmade Holiday Gifts? According to Kelly has those!

Need ideas for Homemade Food Gift ideas for the Holidays? I’ll have those here!

You can visit each of our blogs every day in September for great inspiration for all your Handmade Holiday Ideas!!

 I can’t wait for y’all to meet Liz.  I have been following Liz’s delicious blog for years and met her in person at Blissdom 2009 and simply fell even more in *like* with her :-) .  Liz’ personality and heart are even more gorgeous than her creations!  Take it away, Liz!

Hello Southern Fairytale fans! I’m Liz from Hoosier Homemade. I’m super excited to once again be sharing for the Holiday Bake, Craft & Sew Along. Do you remember the Peanut Butter Cups from last year? No…well you better head on over and grab the recipe! They are perfect for the Holiday season or even a treat for your kiddos.

Today I’m sharing these Chocolate Spoons and Hot Cocoa Mix that are a perfect gift for teachers, neighbors, school bus driver or even the babysitter. Or you could have them for a sweet take home treat from your Holiday Party.

These Chocolate Spoons are super easy, but there are a few tricks that I found that might help. Let’s gather our supplies…

First, gather all your supplies, after melting the chocolate these spoons go super quick, so you need to have everything ready. Then lay a piece of wax paper out, at first I thought it would be best to stand them up, but I quickly learned, even after I let the chocolate drip mostly off, it still dripped down and pooled in the spoon.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, it should take about 30 seconds depending on the size of chocolate you use. It doesn’t take very much. Then melt the white chocolate disks, stir until smooth, add a drizzle of oil if the chocolate is too thick. Place white chocolate in a plastic squeeze bottle.

Dip the spoon in the chocolate and let excess drip off. Immediately add sprinkles and/or drizzle with white chocolate. Place on wax paper to dry, about 5 minutes. You can also place them in the fridge until they are set.

To assemble the gift bags; add Hot Cocoa Mix {recipe below} in a plastic treat bag, add a handful of marshmallows. Cut off about 2 inches off the top of the bag. Place the spoon in and tie shut with a twist tie. Add a festive ribbon and you are all set.

Note: I did find it easiest to add the cocoa first, if you add the marshmallows then the cocoa, the marshmallows get lost.

 

Hot Cocoa Mix for Dipped Chocolate Spoons

These delicious chocolate dipped spoons and cocoa mix recipe are courtesy of Liz from Hoosier Homemade

Ingredients

  • 4 C instant dry milk powder
  • 1 1/2 C to 2 sugar
  • 1 C powdered non dairy creamer
  • 2/3 C cocoa, unsweetened
  • 1 small box instant instant chocolate or vanilla pudding (optional)

Instructions

  1. Whisk all ingredients together until well combined
  2. Store in an airtight container
  3. To Serve
  4. Add 1/3 Mix to a mug and fill with boiling water
http://asouthernfairytale.com/2011/09/16/chocolate-dipped-spoons/

 

Recipe adapted from Hillbilly Housewife

 

 

Wishing you all a wonderful Holiday Season! Thanks so much for having me Rachel!!

Easter Menu Planning: Ham Recipes

Here’s what’s actually kind of funny about this post and these recipes; I do not like the traditional brown sugar maple sugar glazed hams that overpopulate the grocery stores around the holidays.

That being said; I wanted to try to do two easy recipes that incorporate glazes that would be rich and satisfying but not too cloyingly sticky sweet and overpower the natural flavor of the ham.

Bourbon Brown Sugar Ham

bourbon sugar ham

  • 3/4 to 1 1/2 C Bourbon Whiskey
  • 2 C Brown Sugar (I think Dark would be best, I only had light)
  • 1 Tbsp ground mustard
  1. What temperature you heat your oven to will depend on your ham, boneless, bone-in etc.. follow the directions on your ham package.
  2. Place your ham fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan.  Lightly score the fat about 1 inch apart.. pour 3/4 C bourbon whiskey over ham and pour 1 C water in the bottom of the roasting pan.
  3. Cover tightly with foil or a roasting pan lid.
  4. Bake your ham as directed.
  5. Mix brown sugar, mustard and remaining bourbon whiskey in a bowl to create a paste.  When you have 40 minutes left for your ham, pull the ham out of the oven and remove the foil/lid.  Slather the paste onto the ham, use a spoon or basting tool and drizzle the juices from the roasting pan over the ham.  Re-cover the ham and place it back into the oven for the remaining amount of time.
  6. Pull the ham out of the oven, allow it to cool and then slice.

The brown sugar combined with the bourbon gives this ham a savory, rich, moist amazing flavor.  This was a hit with the kids and the adults alike and let me tell y’all.. cold served on a toasted roll with a bit of mayonnaise, a crisp lettuce leaf and a juicy tomato slice.. oh yes ;-)   That’s leftovers that are anything but boring!

bourbon glazed ham

Rachel Note:  I would love to show y’all gorgeous sliced ham pictures but, I don’t have them.  I butchered the ham while attempting to carve it and then.. we were all so hungry from SMELLING the hams all day.. we tore into it like y’all wouldn’t believe.

This next recipe is a teensy bit more involved but oh mah holy hell, y’all.  It’s all kinds of amazingly delicious.

Sweet pineapples, smoky spicy chipotles, the sweet hint of fresh ginger and the naturally sweet honey… wow.  This recipe really takes Ham to the next level.

Pineapple Chipotle Honey Glazed Ham

pineapple chipotle ham glaze

  • 1 (20 oz) Can crushed pineapple or sliced pineapple with 1/2 the juice drained out
  • 1 to 3 chipotle peppers ( I used two and didn’t seed them) This adds a delicious smoky heat to this sweet and savory glaze
  • 1 C honey, if you can, use local, wildflower honey.
  • 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
  • salt and pepper, to taste.. (I added 1 Tbsp of RSS)

cup of honey

Put all ingredients into a food processor and puree.

pureed pineapple chipotle glaze

  1. Follow the directions on your ham package as to oven temp and times.
  2. Place your ham, fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan.  Put 1 C water in the bottom of the pan and then drizzle 1/2 C of the glaze over the ham.pineapple chipotle glazed ham
  3. Cover tightly with foil or roasting pan lid and bake according to your package directions (This was a 10 lb ham.. 325 degrees F.. 25 minutes per pound)
  4. When the ham has 1 hour left, put the rest of the glaze in a medium saucepan and bring to a slow simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  5. Remove ham from oven; uncover and Pour this over the ham; Put back in the oven and bake for the remaining 45 minutes.
  6. Remove ham from oven, let cool and slice.

Rachel’s Note: AGAIN with no sliced ham picture.. this was served at a party at my house, Saturday and there was soo much going on, I forgot to get a *good* picture.  It was however.. devoured and EVERYONE kids included loved it and every person there asked for the recipe!

glazed ham table of food

  • Another glaze that I think would be AMAZING on Ham: The Orange Chipotle Marinade from This Recipe
  • Two great Easter Side Dish recipes can be found on last week’s Easter Menu Planning Post

I would love to hear what you’re planning on serving for Easter, or what your favorite way to serve Ham is!

If you’re linking up, Thank You!  I love visiting your blogs and reading what y’all are cooking up!  Please make sure to link up your recipe URL, visit others and share the love and link back here in your post so that others can find the recipe sharing love, too! Thanks y’all! Happy Cooking!

Easter Menu Planning

Do you plan your Easter Menu?

Easter Menus can be daunting, the planning.. down right frightening.  Do you serve Ham or Lamb?  How many side dishes do you make?  Do you serve appetizers?

For my family, it’s always been Ham on Easter, Turkey at Thanksgiving and Chili on Christmas Eve.

If this is the first Easter meal that you’ve cooked it can feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.  Seriously y’all.. don’t let it.

I’m going to be playing with some Ham recipes this week and I’ll share them very soon, promise.

For today.. here are two side dishes that will be appearing on OUR Easter table:

Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Potato Casserole

sundried tomato basil casserole

I made this potato chip topped, creamy, flavor packed, cream cheese enhanced casserole last Easter and it was one of the first things to FLY off our table.  Seriously, you add potatoes, green onions, sour cream, potato chips, sun dried tomato and basil cream cheese, cheese and more… how can you go wrong?  Plus, it’s EASY to make!!!!

You can find the recipe here.

Chilled Green Bean and Potato Salad

green bean and potato salad

Fresh, crisp green beans, baby red potatoes, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, red wine vinaigrette and more blend together in a dressing that adds a special zing and unique flavor to this refreshing twist on a green bean side dish.  If you’re tired of the same green bean or potato salad dish, this is the side dish to add to your table.  When I serve it, it gets thumbs up from everyone and requests for it to show up again sooner rather than later.

Recipe here

What’s going to be on your table this Easter?  Do y’all do Ham, Lamb or something else for a main dish?

I’d love y’all to share your Easter Menus and Ideas!

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