Peanut Butter Truffles! (Yummmm) (This post is a little early...)

I know, I know, I know. I said that it wouldn't be posted until closer to the end of the week, but you know what? I got bored...so..tada! Anyway..to the stuff you actually want!

Alrighty, I have NEVER made a truffle before and was nervous but excited to try it out! Well, I'm gonna say now, they were AMAZINGLY yummy. This is a good recipe, so it's highly recommended. My mom found the recipe (Here!) and besides a few things that weren't exactly descriptive, it's a great recipe.

Now, step by step, my way!

Ingredients

2        cups sugar
1        5 ounce can of evaporated milk
1/2     cups butter
2        cups mini marshmallows
3/4     cups creamy peanut butter
1/2     tsp vanilla
12      ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2        tsp shortening

Directions (READ BEFORE MAKING...it will probably be beneficial to read first, then make. But do what ever you want (:  )

1. Spray a medium sized sauce pan with non stick spray, so like pam, spam or whatever you use. In the pan, combine the sugar, milk, and butter. Cook/stir over medium-high heat (I did it on 7 on my stove) until it's boiling. (It won't be boiling one second, the next it will be raging boiling)  Reduce the heat to medium and boil it for 12 mins, stirring it on occasion. Don't set spoon down somewhere else, it will get hard and sticky.

2. Remove pan from heat and stir in the marshmallows, peanut butter, and vanilla. I HIGHLY recommend separating out those ingredients before hand, you want to go a bit quickly, don't let it sit for five minutes before adding ingredients. Transfer that mixture to a large bowl and chill for 45 minutes to 1 hr. I did about an hr in the fridge. (I think it meant to just leave it on the counter, but I took chill as in put it in the fridge so.....not sure if I did that part wrong or not, but whatever, I like how it turned out)

3. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper, get out the mixture, it will seem hard but just take a spoon, stir it, crush it, what ever, it will mold together. Trust me. Mold the mixture into 1 inch balls, or really any shape you want, traditionally it's a ball, but you can do what ever you want to. Put the balls on the baking sheet and freeze for 15 mins.

4. While freezing, in a medium sauce pan, combine the chocolate and shortening, cook on low heat until melted. Dip the balls one at a time into the chocolate and coat them. Let the excess drip off and place back on the parchment paper. Stick in fridge for about 20 minutes or more until the chocolate hardens. If you want, decorate with nuts, other melted chocolates or candies. Just have fun!

Now, photos to go along with the directions!

Everyone in the swimming pool!

Swimming pool suddenly got hot...hot tub time!!

Yumm, this smelled so good!

Oh no! Half of them are naked!

Before they got dressed....

After!

After the chocolate clothing...dried? Hardened? Became touchable? Uh...yeah....

Look at that! Yummers!

These things are so amazing and yummy, I LOVE peanut butter. Reese's are my FAVORITE, ever want to befriend me? Give me a Reese. Not joking.

Anyways! I hope you all like this, and I hope you all enjoyed it (:

Birthday Cake -- Piping Tips

Okay guys! Last week was one of my sisters birthday! So, being the amazing sister I am, I made her a cake. However, I wanted to put my skills to the test and not use fondant like I usually always do. (I like it so much because then I don't have to worry about seeing crumbs or anything...however not everyone likes fondant) So, I decided to do all buttercream cream and do a bit of piping, which I haven't really done much of before. It has usually just been fondant decorations. So, my post today is just a few tips that I have with decorating with JUST icing, NO fondant.

First things first....the cake. Here she is! (:  (Yes. I called the cake a she. Got a problem with it? :P )

(Ignore the puzzle..haha)

That is an airbrushed green on top of white icing. I hadn't really airbrushed much so I decided instead of dying it green, just spray it! :D  Anyway, ignore the poor lettering, I am new to that part.....Birthday turned out okay, but happy is a bit wonky. I tried to do a curvy lower case b by the way, but it looks capital, I totally meant to do that...happy is just weird though...I am gonna work on my lettering...

ANYWAY! Tips!!!

1. Have some form of a plan for what you want to do on the cake before hand. Don't just wing a design the moment you put the tip inside the piping bag. Don't. I don't care what you think or say just don't. It's better to have some form of a plan before hand. Sketch out a design, find one online (That's what I did), or use some stencil things that they have now. Seriously, they do. 

2. Make sure you know the tip you are using. Each tip comes out different, each tip should be held at a certain angle to get the right line that you want, so before using anything, either research it or practice with it. It takes like five minutes to research. I'm not kidding. Especially if you use Wilton, that's where I go for my tips and stuff. (The actual metal tips, not like what I am doing, but they do have both kinds on their site)

3. When doing lettering, use a toothpick or something similar and sketch out the letters before hand on it. Don't just stick icing on top of the cake....this way if you mess us, it's easier to fix than if you have icing on it and mess up. 

4. Crumb coat that cake before ANYTHING. Which, (i think I mentioned this before but if not...) is where you put a thin layer of icing on first, you can get the crumbs in it and everything, it's fine. Stick it in the fridge for about a half an hour to an hour, just until the icing isn't all soft and mushy anymore. Then, put a final, thicker layer of icing on. If done right, you wont have any crumbs on that outer layer. Tip inside of a tip: when doing the crumb coat, have a small bowl beside you, empty, dry, nothing in it. When you spread on what you have, you will have crumbs on the spatula, knife, whatever you use, so you need to clean it before putting it into the clean icing. So, scrape it off of the knife in that empty, clean bowl. Reuse what you just scraped off, scrape off again and get some more clean icing, just repeat until you have that crumb coat done. It's easy, trust me! (: 

5. Use the flat side of whatever you use, if it's a spatula, any side is flat, but if using a knife, use the flat side not the serrated side. Use nice, clean, simple lines on it, no needing to be fancy. Just flat simple lines. If you guys have any issues with it, let me know and I will make a post specifically for this with step by step, or a video or something. 

Um...I think that is everything, if you have any issues or need help, do NOT be afraid to ask! I am a very easy to talk to person and I want to help you guys out! I don't want you guys to be afraid to talk to me (: 

Thank you everyone for the support!!!