Homemade Twix Candy

My husband, Kevin, is a great fan of Twix candy bars, so when I originally found this recipe several years ago, I was excited to try it! I had never seen one of these ‘copy-cat’ books up until this time, and had no idea they even existed! What are the odds that the first one I pick up has a Twix recipe?! (Apparently pretty good!) Hooray!

I thought it might be harder than it sounded in the book, or maybe just wouldn’t turn out at all. But I thought, “Hey! Someone made it, somewhere. And if they can do it, so can I!” Needless to say, the recipe turned out, and I have been making it ever since!

Twix Candy

35 Caramels (I usually just buy a 14 oz bag of Kraft caramels, which have about 50)

¼ cup water

1 box Nabisco Lorna Doone Shortbread Cookies

2-12oz bags Milk Chocolate Morsels (I use ½ semi-sweet morsels)

Step 1: Combine unwrapped caramels with water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until caramels have melted and the two ingredients are fully combined.

Step 2: Place cookies side-by-side on a parchment or waxed-paper lined cookie sheet.

Step 3: Drop a small dab of the melted caramel onto each cookie. If you have lots left over, go back and drop a second dab of caramel on each. Place tray in refrigerator for about 45 minutes, or until caramel has set up quite firm.

Step 4: Melt chocolate chips in microwavable bowl for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each interval, until chocolate is melted and smooth. DON’T cook for longer than 30 seconds at a time!

Step 5: Remove about 1/3 of the cookies at a time, leaving the rest in the refrigerator to stay cool. This makes it so much easier to coat with chocolate. If the caramel starts getting soft again, place cookies back in refrigerator for a few minutes.

Step 6: Working quickly, drop your first cookie caramel side down into the bowl of melted chocolate. Using a fork, flip the cookie over to coat other side. If any cookie is still exposed, use your fork to push some chocolate over the exposed areas. Obviously, any area not covered with chocolate now, won’t be covered later. I use two forks now, and once I have lifted the cookie up with my right fork, I gently tap that fork on the side of the bowl to help any dripping chocolate to fall back into the bowl, and I then go to place the cookie on the parchment or waxed-paper covered tray, using my left fork to help to slide it off, trying not to damage the chocolates’ surface too much.

This is not a professional approach to candy dipping, by any means. There are candy-dipping ‘forks’ and other useful utensils available at most craft stores. For technique, you may want to peruse some websites that have step-by-step photos or even a video. I use this method because the Internet was not around when I first started making candy! I gleaned what I could from every book, article and recipe and came up with this method, which works for me.

Step 7: Continue working until all cookies are coated with chocolate. If your caramel seems a bit soft, just place your tray back in the refrigerator, or only take a few out at a time. Again, remember to work quickly since your chocolate is easiest to work with when warm and will become harder and harder to work with as it cools down. If your chocolate does become too hard to work with, simply reheat at 30 second intervals. One or two 30-second zaps should be all that’s necessary.

Step 8: Let cool in refrigerator, or if you’re in a hurry, the freezer works great! Once your chocolate has set, remove from tray and place in an air-tight container. I like to place small pieces of waxed paper between each cookie. I then place them back in the refrigerator. I honestly don’t know how long they will keep in the refrigerator or the freezer since ours have never lasted more than two days. If you find out…let me know.

Homemade Peppermint Patties

My grandson, Maddox, grabbing a sample!

I love making candy!...and this combination of peppermint and chocolate is addicting. It is also a favorite of my eldest daughter, Laurel. She loves this flavor combination and usually finds some form of said candy in her stocking at Christmas. Yes! We know you can buy this year-round, but she tries not to consume goodies that often... (I can't take the credit for her good eating habits...I eat candy whenever I can get my hands on it!)

I came across this recipe a few years ago, but only made it for the first time last year. (Laurel lived in AZ at the time,..so she missed out!) I kept telling her how yummy they had tasted, but she could only take my word for it! So I finally decided to make them again yesterday, giving her the chance to finally taste-test the recipe. I'm pretty sure it was a winner....I went looking for one this morning...only to find an empty dish! (No, she didn't eat them all...I think she had help from her sister & hubby!!)

The following recipe is a newer one for me, but definitely a keeper!

1 egg white

4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

½ tsp. peppermint oil or extract

powdered sugar for dusting

1-12oz bag semisweet chocolate chips

1. In metal or glass bowl, beat the egg white until frothy but not stiff.
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar while blending with an electric mixer on medium speed.

3. Add corn syrup and peppermint oil or extract and knead the mixture with your hands until it has the smooth consistency of dough. Add more powdered sugar if necessary, until mixture is no longer sticky.

4. On a flat surface heavily sprinkled with powdered sugar, roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness.

5. Using a cookie cutter or similar circular item measuring 2 ½” in diameter, punch out circles, laying them on a cookie sheet covered with waxed or parchment paper. Refrigerate approximately 45 minutes.

6. Melt chocolate in microwave 30 seconds at a time (2 minutes maximum) until stirred smooth.

7. Take only a few cold candy centers out of the refrigerator at a time. (You may need to work with two trays in order to switch off.)

8. Slide a dinner fork under the cold candy center and submerge the candy into the melted chocolate. (This takes about 1-2 seconds.) Remember to work quickly. The centers will immediately start to soften, then melt, within 3-4 seconds of being in the hot dipping chocolate. Lift out of chocolate, tapping fork 3 to 5 times on side of bowl with fork tines and candy still above the bowl. As you tap you are allowing the dripping chocolate to fall back into bowl.

9. Set your dipped candy on a waxed paper or parchment covered cookie sheet, angling the fork so that the candy slides off onto the paper. You may need to use another fork to ‘help’ slide the candy off, but keep in mind that the more it’s handled, the messier it will look once it has hardened.

10. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

11. Store in an air-tight container. I cut a sheet of waxed paper into squares and placed a square between each of the patties as I stacked them into the container. ENJOY!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I buy these at my local grocery store.

This is such a super exciting recipe find, since we spend so much money on laundry soap around our house! There are hundreds of recipes out there for laundry soap, all with different combinations of these ingredients. The two boxed items have enough in them to do this recipe over many, many times. Enjoy all the money you'll save!!

What you'll need:

1/2 bar Fels-Naptha (can substitute with an Ivory bar)

1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/4 cup Borax

STEP 1: Combine ½ bar finely grated Fels-Naptha and 2 cups water in heavy saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir constantly until soap has dissolved into water.

STEP 2: In 5 gallon bucket combine 1 ¼ gallons (or about 20 cups) VERY hot water and melted soap mixture from STEP 1. Stir.

STEP 3: Add to bucket ½ cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and ¼ cup Borax. Stir until powdered soaps are dissolved. Add ANOTHER 1 ¼ gallons (or 20 cups) water, any temperature.

Allow to sit, covered, for 24 hours before first use.

*This is a concentrate. (1:1) HE or High Efficiency washers call for a smaller, concentrated amount of laundry soap for their machines, making this a perfect choice! (Concentrate amounts found below)

Top load washers: 5/8 cup each load, or ½ this amount if still in concentrate form

Front load washers: ¼ cup each load, or ½ this amount if still in concentrate form

*Interested in a quick, easy & inexpensive homemade fabric softener? Click here!

Tile Coasters

These tile coasters make a great gift idea, too!

These are so easy, you could even do this as a children's craft! Yet, with a little finesse, they can look like very classy additions to the most sophisticated decor....and...you guessed it!...it's CHEAP!!!!!

STEP 1: Purchase 4 or more 4 inch ceramic tiles from your local hardware store. (Mine were purchased at Home Depot for .16 cents each!!!) I used plain white to start out, but use any color that catches your eye.

STEP 2: Choose your motif and purchase your item accordingly. For instance, I saw these cute beverage napkins with four cupcakes on each napkin. So I figured I could use these by cutting out the cupcake on each, and using the cupcake as my motif for this first set. I also figured this was a good investment because if it didn't work, I was only out a few bucks. But if it does work, these would be so cute!

TIP: You can use just about any paper item to make these...gift wrapping tissue, or regular gift wrap, cute napkins (which I did), gift bag design, any scrapbooking paper, etc.

STEP 3: Cut out your motif carefully. Just remember that any extra paper around the outside of the design will show up once the tile is dry. For mine, I chose to leave the motif along with its bottom pink border.

Here is shown a motif cut directly around its border.

Here is shown a motif cut with the entire panel along with it.

STEP 4: Make sure your tiles are free of dirt or any oils. Using Mod Podge, apply the cut-out motifs to the tiles, according to manufacturers instructions, being careful to center them on the tiles. Allow to dry overnight.

STEP 5: For my tiles, I went with the pink bottom border that was on the napkins and just carried that over by painting a matching pink line around the outside edges of each of the tiles. Once dry, I sprayed 2-3 coats of an acrylic sealer. Allow to dry between coats.

STEP 6: Hot glue a matching square of felt to the bottom of each tile to protect your furniture from any possible scratches the tile might make. I chose a soft pink that matched the pink bottom border.

Cupcake Pincushions

 Just before Christmas I saw this idea on a website. It was titled "Dollar Store Crafts". (I was already drooling!) Now if you aren't fortunate enough to live in an area that has a Dollar Store in it, I'm very sorry for you. Honestly, I am! I find more items in that store than I care to elaborate on! It's awesome.
Anyway, I had just been there and seen these cute little plastic ramekins in red or white. Three in a package for $1! I didn't buy them considering we have many, many ramekins in our house. Little did I know I could turn them into such a fantastic and useable item for my home!
I have the website address listed at the bottom of this page to 'give credit where credit is due'. I followed most of the directions there, except for the variety of  'frosting' colors and 'topping' options, as seen in my photos.
STEP 1: Purchase: ~Ramekins from the Dollar Store
                               ~Fabric for 'cupcakes'. I used felt & fleece
                               ~Polyester fiber-fill
                               ~ Hot glue
                               ~'Sprinkles' and 'cherries' etc...


Have fun when adding 'sprinkles' and special 'frostings'!

STEP 2: Cut out an 8" circle from your fabric. Here is where you will add embellish- ments: Any beads should be sewn on. Adding rick-rack?.. it should be hot glued on at this time. Stick on or flat hot-glued items can be added during STEP 5. Using a needle and thread, do a running stitch around the diameter of the circle. Leave the thread long at one end and gently pull the thread, gathering the fabric together, leaving a 1 to 2 inch opening.
STEP 3: Using the fiberfill, stuff the cupcake top. Make sure it's quite firm, or you won't have a very pretty cupcake top! Draw thread tight and knot.
STEP 4: Run a line of hot glue around the inside of the ramekin, close to the rim. (Doesn't need to be precise) Quickly place bottom of cupcake top down into ramekin, holding it in place for a few seconds as it cools.

Fancy 'swirled' chocolate frosting!

STEP 5: Hot glue 'cherry' to the top of the cupcake. Add any stick on or hot-glued embellishments at this time.


Web address for original pattern: http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/01/cupcake-pin-cushions/

Homemade Eye Makeup Remover: Olive Oil

Costco is where I purchase our oil. 

Luxury defined: noun 1. a material object , service, etc., conducive to sumptuous living, usually a delicacy, elegance, or refinement of living rather than a necessity. In other words we don't need it, but we sure like having it!
This is how I feel about eye makeup remover. I love using it...it's made especially for the delicate eye area...it either feels good going on, or smells good. It's also something I had never even heard of until I was married and had 3 of my 4 children! (Ok...I didn't get out much) But it was definitely something I knew I didn't need, (I had removed my eye makeup for years with just soap and water) but I liked using it. You know. A luxury.
Well, recently we've been cutting back on our spending, which has moved eye makeup remover somewhere close to the bottom of the shopping list. Right down there with ziploc bags and cling-free sheets. I simply looked up 'homemade eye makeup remover' on the internet and found all kinds of ideas. After some trial and error and a little bit of research, we found a brand new favorite beauty product...and we found it in the kitchen!
We started out applying the oil using a cotton ball, but quickly discovered a lot of oil was being absorbed into the cotton ball, which is not only wasteful, but also more expensive. I bought a few reusable plastic squeeze bottles with flip-tops, which can be found at the following website: http://www.qosmedix.com/pages/category/8/Packaging.aspx.
We simply apply a few drops to our fingertips and gently smooth the oil over the eye area. We then wash with our regular face wash. Any residual oil I simply consider a bonus eye moisturizer! It's so mild on your skin and I've read numerous sources that name olive oil as an excellent moisturizer, even for eczema sufferers! Try it...you'll be pleasantly surprised...and a little richer!

Lemon Meringue Pie Cookies

This is one of those fantastic recipes that are so easy, yet turn out surprisingly delicious! I was told the recipe while on jury duty, so I quickly scribbled it down on something I found in my purse. (Can't remember what it was...receipt, deposit slip, napkin...but WHO CARES!? I got the recipe!!)

1 box lemon cake mix
1-8 oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed
1 egg
1 tsp lemon extract (I used vanilla the first time, since I had no lemon extract on hand. They tasted awesome, so I've continued to use vanilla)
Powdered sugar, for rolling dough

STEP 1: Peheat oven to 350*.

STEP 2: Combine all ingredients in bowl. Mix well. Dough will be extremely sticky.

STEP 3: Here's where the powdered sugar comes in handy...pour some into a bowl or dish. Use a spoon or melon ball scooper (sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) to scoop up dough and plop into powdered sugar. Place dough ball on a cookie sheet lined with parchment, after rolling it in the powdered sugar. DO NOT FLATTEN.

*TIP: I use a scooper the size of a walnut. I place 12 on my baking sheet, which is pretty large.  The cookies will spread out to be about 2 1/2 to 3" in diameter. It really doesn't matter what size your cookie sheet is as long as the cookies have that extra room on all sides.


STEP 4: Bake exactly 15 minutes. Cookies may seem too gooey...(I'm getting hungry just typing this!)

ENJOY!



The powdered sugar adds a beautiful design.