This weekend was a flurry of Christmas baking. I made raspberry jam thumbprint cookies, walnut crescents, fudge, toffee, and a yummy and super-easy mock turtle candy.
Once I come out of my current sugar-butter-induced coma, I'll finish up with sugar cookies, caramels and spritz. My best-ever baking helper, Amelia, will enjoy the sugar cookies and spritz since they require sprinkles -- her favorite part of any baking project!
Amelia was a little disappointed when Saturday morning's cookie dough became jam thumbprints, not chocolate chip cookies. She really wanted a cookie, and finally tried the jam cookies, but decided she didn't like them. (Not a problem. More for me!) Luckily, I had some chocolate chip cookies in the freezer, so she got one warm from the microwave and all was right with the world again.
When I posted my recipe for walnut crescents I promised you a few more of my Christmas favorites. So from the depths of my baking coma, here's an easy one.
Mock Turtles
48 mini pretzel twists or square snaps
48 Rolo candies
48 pecan halves
1. Place the pretzels on cookie sheets. I usually do two pans of 24 each, so the pretzels aren't too crowded together. This is important for step four.
2. Unwrap the Rolos and place one on top of each pretzel. Kids love to do this. Just don't count on having 48 Rolos when they are done! Husbands can also be recruited, for the price of a few Rolos.
3. Put your cookie sheets full of pretzels and Rolos into a 200 degree oven. Watch them carefully and remove from the oven when the chocolate on the Rolos starts to look melted, about 2-3 minutes. I almost always go a full 3 minutes. It makes the next step a little easier. But don't let the melting get out of hand or you'll have a big mess.
4. After you remove your pretzels from the oven, quickly use pecan halve to press the melting Rolos down over the pretzel. Don't worry too much if you break a few pretzels. The melted chocolate and caramel will almost always hold things together. If the Rolos start to harden back up, you can pop the pans back in the oven for a minute. (But remove your finished candies first, please!) Let cool and remove from pans.
That's it. You've got caramel, chocolate, pecans, and my fave -- something salty to go with the sweet. These Mock Turtles are fast and easy to make, and always seem to disappear quickly. Of course, the number that I eat by myself may have something to do with that...
Ah well, swimsuit season is a long way off. Enjoy!
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5 comments:
Oh yum - wonder if I can scrounge some Rolos tonight. Swim practice has been canceled, so we have a rare night for "just girls". Perfect for baking! :)
Use parchment paper on the cookie sheet for these. After they chill they pop right off the paper and makes clean up a breeze. We need more easy clean up during baking season. I don't like doing dishes.
Good tip, Judy. I did use parchment paper. In fact, I use it all the time since you first introduced me to it.
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