Peeps Krispie Treats

It's that time of year...time for Peeps! They may not be the most delicious food in the world but they sure are cute. So fluffy and colorful. Kind of like sprinkles, Peeps just make me happy. For my first treat, I decided to go with a subtle nod to the Peep - Peeps Krispie Treats. 

Sushi Cupcakes

A few weeks ago a couple of the girls in the office, Caitlyn (@lizard _princess) and Kelly, made some amazingly decorated cupcakes for a coworker's birthday. Said coworker really likes sushi and had chosen a sushi restaurant for her birthday lunch so, naturally, "sushi" cupcakes were the ideal treat. I was fortunate enough to hear about these and get a few pictures before they were devoured.

It's amazing what you can do with vanilla cupcakes, white frosting, and some fairly common candy. I was thoroughly impressed with the attention to detail. I think the "wasabi" is the touch that takes them over the edge. I also never would have thought to use white sprinkles as a stand in for white rice. I also loved the presentation. Nice touch.  
 

 

While on the topic of sweets that look like sushi, I thought I'd throw in a picture of the Rice Krispie treat "sushi" my friend, Janelle, made me for my very own birthday. That was the first time I'd seen this kind of thing in person and I sure was impressed. 

Photo courtesy of Janelle's facebook page

All in all, I think these girls all did an amazing job decorating their treats. Thanks for letting me use them as material for a post! Keep the creative ideas coming.

Have you ever made something sweet that looked like something savory? Or the opposite?

Adventures in toffee

Until last weekend the only experience I'd had with candy making, or molten sugar of any kind, was the caramel and caramelized sugar decorations I made for my cupcakes for CupcakeCamp Ottawa. I had always been intimidated and figured that anything requiring constant and precise temperature monitoring just wasn't going to work for me. I was pleasantly surprised. It's kind of amazing what some sugar, corn syrup, water, and cream can turn into.

First attempt with a candy thermometer



Salted caramel

 
This past weekend I decided to break the thermometer out of the cupboard again and try my hand at some sponge toffee. If you're unfamiliar, it's the delicious crunchy hole-filled toffee in the middle of a Crunchie bar. In other parts of the world you may hear it referred to as honeycomb, sea foam, or hokey pokey. Sugar, corn syrup, water, vanilla, and baking soda - that's all it takes.

Two friends in the office were declaring their love of the stuff last week so I decided to make some for one of their birthdays. I was amazed at how easy the process was and how much candy I ended up with from so few ingredients. The 9x13 pan suggested in the recipe (from Canadian Living) barely contained it all.



Mmm...sugar



To make the treat a little more gift appropriate I decided to dip the pieces in melted semisweet chocolate.

Finished product

The resulting confection got rave reviews in the office the next day. As a result, I decided to add sponge toffee to the list of treats available from the Holiday Sweatshop. Let's hope every batch turns out as well!