Month: November 2008

and I am feeling quite thankful.

It’s Sammy’s first Thanksgiving. It’s hard to imagine that at this time last year, he was kicking my ribs floating around in my belly, but I didn’t know a thing about him. Now, this year, I have a feeling that he’s going to spend Thanksgiving day finally mastering the skill he’s been working on for a few weeks – crawling.

Which means we’re going to spend our Thanksgiving day baby-proofing the house. Because this kid? He’s into everything.

Crazy and curious as he might be, he is amazing. And his big sister is pretty great too. We have a warm place to live, plenty of food on the table, and a lot of love. Really, what more could we ask for?

Have a very, very happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Each year, my office has a charity auction where we all donate stuff, buy other stuff, and give the money to buy Christmas presents for kids in foster care in our county. Everyone rallies behind it and it’s a really great way to finish up the year. Last year, I made buckeyes for the very first time to donate to the auction. After an intense online search, I decided to use the recipe from Nestle’s Very Best Baking site, and they turned out great! Seriously, they got rave reviews, and I am SO NOT A COOK, as I may have mentioned a few thousand times.

It is EASY, but just make sure you give yourself plenty of time for the freezing and everything (I was up very, very late the first time I made these!).

So, without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Estimated Times:
Preparation – 10 min | Cooling Time – 1 hrs freezing | Yields – 72 candies (6 dozen total)

Ingredients:

2 cups creamy peanut butter, (not all-natural)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3 3/4 cups (16-oz. box) powdered sugar
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Directions:
LINE baking sheets with wax paper.

BEAT peanut butter and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in powdered sugar until mixture holds together and is moistened. Shape into 1-inch balls; place on prepared baking sheets. Freeze for 1 hour.

MELT morsels and shortening in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until melted.

DIP peanut butter centers into melted chocolate using a toothpick, leaving a small portion of the center uncovered. Shake off excess chocolate and scrape bottom of candy on side of bowl. Return to baking sheets; refrigerate until chocolate is set. Store in covered container in refrigerator.
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One final tip that I learned from my BFF Jess, who is quite the Martha Stewart – use one of these little contraptions to make perfectly-sized buckeyes!

An easy, fool-proof recipe on what is sure to be a crowd-pleaser – that works for me! For more WFMW tips, click on Rocks in my Dryer!