Chocolate Cream Puff Recipe with Cherry Almond Filling

January 29, 2013 by 17 Comments
Chocolate Cream Puffs with Cherry Almond Filling from Growing Up Gabel @thegabels #recipe

This chocolate cream puff recipe is an easy dessert recipe that takes very little time and effort but results in a fancy and impressive dessert.  If you don't like chocolate you can always make a traditional cream puff recipe, too, and fill it with this yummy cherry almond filling. I saw a chocolate cream puff recipe with some fancy filling in a homemaking magazine this month.  I gave the recipe a try and it was a total flop. Well, not total - the puffs tasted good, but they just never really puffed.  So I decided to make up my own recipe ... and it worked! This a completely original Growing Up Gabel recipe!   Cream puffs sound a little intimidating to make, but they are one of the easiest desserts I've made yet. Give me a cream puff over a cake any day.   I love them because they don't require any fancy ingredients or equipment, but they look fancy and impressive.  I filled these chocolate cream puffs with a cherry almond filling, but plain whipped cream or even ... [read more]

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Easy Valentine’s Day Recipe for Kids: Valentine Chex Mix

January 28, 2013 by 14 Comments
Valentine Chex Mix from Growing Up Gabel @thegabels #recipe

My kids are loving cooking with me in the kitchen.  So I wanted to hunt down an easy valentine's day recipe we could make together.  I still have leftover cereal from our holiday Slow Cooker Chex Mix marathons so we made a Valentine Chex Mix to satisfy our sweet tooth. My kids are finally getting to the age where we can cook together without me having panic attacks.  The kids still make a gigantic mess, but at least I'm not worried about anyone doing any real bodily damage.  We've made sugar cookies together during Christmas and they were more than happy to help mix up some hot chocolate mix.  It was time to move on to a snack. This is basically a "puppy chow" type of recipe that uses white chocolate chips instead of chocolate chips.  I'm wondering how butterscotch or even cinnamon chips would taste.  It's kind of hard to see in my photos, but you only coat half the cereal with powdered sugar to give it a two tone look.  That didn't really work for us, but the kids ... [read more]

Filed Under: Desserts, Holiday Cooking, Recipe, Snacks, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day Tagged With: , ,

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

October 27, 2012 by 4 Comments
Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

Homemade popcorn balls are an easy and fun treat that kids love to make and eat. This recipe uses marshmallows to help the popcorn balls stay together. Pop up some popcorn and enjoy a fun afternoon treat with your family! Apparently popcorn balls are a family tradition. I recently discovered that my mother made them every fall with her parents and siblings. I've been wanting to make popcorn balls for years, but never got around to it so this was the perfect excuse. So when my daughter saw someone on TV make popcorn balls and then asked to make them, I decided it was time to try them out. There are three basic ways to make popcorn balls sticky: marshmallows, corn syrup or caramel, but probably not homemade caramel sauce.  This recipe is basically a marshmallow recipe with a little corn syrup thrown in to make the popcorn balls sturdier. In general, though, these popcorn balls are more on the soft side.  If you don't relish the thought of getting sticky, I'd suggest heading over ... [read more]

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Homemade Chocolate Truffle Recipe

February 11, 2012 by 16 Comments
Homemade Chocolate Truffle Recipe | Growing Up Gabel @thegabels

Today, I am sharing my all time favorite treat to make for Valentine's Day: Homemade Truffles.  Chocolates are the epitome of Valentine's Day and there is absolutely no reason to go out and buy them when they are so simple and fun to make in your very own kitchen. I have been making this truffle recipe for years and it is the highlight of our Valentine's Day.  Making your own chocolates for your sweetie is unbelievable quick and easy with infinite variations.   The ingredients are pretty basic: chocolate, butter, cream and extract. You pick the chocolate (milk, dark, semi-sweet or a combination); you pick the flavor (mint, almond, vanilla, rum, coconut, orange, etc) and you pick the outside topping (nuts, cocoa powder, coconut, crushed candies, etc) for a truly unique and personalized gift.     This recipe is basically a ganache that you put in the fridge to firm up and then scoop the chocolate in to balls.   For some reason my truffles were very soft ... [read more]

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Homemade Marshmallows

December 20, 2011 by 1 Comment
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Making marshmallows has been on my to do list since  I first saw them in a Martha Stewart magazine several years ago.  I never paid too much attention to the recipe, just noticing it was on the long side, which to me means it takes a lot of time and energy.  Then last week a friend posted a recipe on her Facebook page and commented that she would have made marshmallows a long time ago if she'd known how easy they are.  Well, that was it for me! Marshmallows jumped to the top of the list (mostly because I had all the ingredients on hand, but still). These marshmallows take about 2-3 hours to make and then sit overnight, but they only require about 10-20 minutes of your attention.  This recipe is for "plain" vanilla marshmallows, but they are easily adaptable.  Go crazy with those extracts! Coconut, peppermint (with crushed candy canes on top!), orange, almond would all be fun to use.  Add in a little food coloring and you have a very unique treat. I will warn you, though, ... [read more]

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