These are the best rice krispie treats that I’ve ever had.

That said, I don’t eat rice krispie treats all that often, but every time I have had them they have been consistently tasty. Much like the Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, almost everyone has used the original and it’s popular because it makes a very good product. But also as with chocolate chip cookie recipes, I can’t resist playing around a little bit with things to try and make something even better.

This recipe was inspired by a photo I saw in an Australian food magazine that used a mixture of plain rice krispies (a.k.a. rice bubbles) and chocolate rice krispies (such as cocoa krispies) to make a similar snack. I don’t care for the artificial taste of those chocolate breakfast cereals and decided to see if I could work out a better recipe, using real chocolate and cocoa powder to dress up the treats.

I added melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder into half of my rice krispie mixture and made the white half to rice krispie back-of-the-box specifications, adding only a bit of vanilla to make sure there was a nice contrast between light and dark. I tossed a handful of mini chocolate chips into the chocolate batch for good measure, as well. Once the mixtures were ready, I doled out spoonfuls into lined muffin tins, creating a layer of chocolate topped by a layer of vanilla in a single-serving size. Muffin liners are really useful here because they don’t stick to the treats and make the treats very easy to get out of the pan. As an additional bonus, they keep the treats from sticking to anything else (including eachother) if you’re going to pack them up in a lunch bag or take them along on a road trip.

The chocolate was surprisingly rich and cut the usual sweetness of the plain vanilla side slightly, giving the treat a nice twist. I love the color contrast between the two sides, too. Grownups can have after-school snacks too, can’t they?

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Ever since I first started making homemade marshmallows with a Thomas Keller recipe a few years ago, I’ve been hooked. I can’t count the batches of marshmallows I’ve made or the cups of hot chocolate that I’ve dunked them in. Plain vanilla is unquestionably my favorite, but even a marshmallow-lover like myself gets a little bored once in a while. It didn’t take me long to start to experiment with different marshmallow flavors and, after my less-than-satisfying experience with the Trader Joe’s peppermint marshmallows that I tried earlier this month, I thought I would share my own formula for peppermint marshmallows.

These ‘mallows have a much subtler mint flavor than the TJ’s versions, and have the light and fluffy texture that you would expect to find in a top marshmallow. The vanilla mellows the mint flavor somewhat and gives the whole confection a very well-rounded taste. I like them plain and love them in hot chocolate.

If you prefer a stronger mint flavor - in other words, if you want something really intense - feel free to increase the amount of peppermint extract by a half teaspoon or so. Keep in mind, however, that a little mint extract (much like almond extract) goes a long way. To really punch up hot chocolate with mint, I’d stick with a milder marshmallow and add in a shot of peppermint schnapps or simply stir it with a peppermint stick.

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Peanut butter and chocolate are a good combination - great combination, in fact - which is precisely why there are so many peanut butter and chocolate confections out there. But commercial availability has never stopped me from putting together a homemade version of a favorite treat before, so when I saw a recipe for homemade chocolate peanut butter candies on on Bittersweet, I knew I had to try it.

I first made the candy cups, spreading melted dark chocolate into mini bonbon papers (sold at craft stores, they are basically metallic versions of mini muffin liners, which make a fine substitute) with a small paintbrush that I use for candy-making only. I chilled the cups and prepared the filling, a mixture of organic peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar and salt. The filling is the place where you really get to play. For instance, I used a mixture of crunchy and creamy peanut butters, blending two different brands together, along with vanilla and sugar. I needed to add a bit of extra salt to enhance the overall flavor of the filling, but I might try adding cinnamon or maple next time for a bit of a twist.

The finished candies were fantastic. The centers had a good amount of chew to them, and I loved the fact that there were fairly large pieces of peanut in mine. The chocolate - naturally - was a great contrast to the center. I brought the candies along to a little party this week and they were a huge hit. The only downside is that the recipe only makes about 2 dozen candies, so I’ll have to make another batch for myself later because there were no leftovers from the first one.

Other nut butters would also work in the filling, if peanut butter isn’t your favorite, and you could try doing this with different types of chocolate, if you really prefer to use milk instead of dark, for instance.

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Everyone should try making truffles at least once in their lives. They are delicious and dead easy to make.

Essentially, all you have to do is combine chocolate and heavy cream in a heat-proof dish (I tend to use glass bowls) and melt them together. Once the mixture - called ganache - is smooth, it is chilled slightly until it is firm and easy to handle.
One thing that I do to make the process easier is that I melt the chocolate and the cream in the microwave, rather than on top of a double boiler. You have to take your time - working in intervals of a few seconds - but the whole process only takes a minute or so.

When everything is mixed together, I refrigerate the ganache. It can be made a few days in advance and kept cold in the refrigerator, then warmed slightly to room temperature to make shaping the balls easier. Speaking of the balls, I find it very difficult to shape them by hand, so I scoop the ganache into a ball with a teaspoon and use a small knife to turn it out into a ball. The shape can be adjusted slightly once it is covered in cocoa and is less sticky.

Adding peppermint makes these taste a lot like the York peppermint patty candies, but any flavor of extract (or none at all, if you like things very chocolaty) can be substituted. Vanilla is a nice option, as is cinnamon, but feel free to get creative with any flavors you like.

The truffles can be stored in the refrigerator, but should be eaten at room temperature for the best flavor and texture.

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Popcorn has been around for about 5000 years. At a site known as the “Bat Cave” in New Mexico, an anthropologist and a botanist, along with several graduate students, discovered layers of prehistoric “trash” stretching back thousands of years, which contained all manner of corn cobs and even popped corn. There were many unpopped kernels so well preserved that they popped when placed in hot oil by the scientists.

Popcorn balls are a food around which legends have sprung up, though the truth is probably that it was easier for shop owners to sell popcorn in pre-measured amounts than it was to sell it loose. In fact, they were one of the most popular candies around the turn of the last century, when popcorn was enjoying huge popularity. Since the most popular time of year for popcorn is late fall, it is no surprise that popcorn balls quickly became favorite holiday treats. Though not as popular as they once were, popcorn balls are still a tasty treat and have a sort of retro cache about them that keeps bringing people back for more.

I think that popcorn balls are an easy way to eat popcorn. They’re not as fussy as many caramel corn recipes are, but they have a similar flavor. They also look very beautiful and will keep in an airtight container for at least a week or two. All you have to do is cook the syrup with a candy thermometer and stir it into the popped corn.

From start to finish, these take about 15 minutes. The maple syrup gives these a wonderful flavor, though you should be able to use molasses or treacle if it isn’t available to you. By cooking the syrup only to 250F (121C), which is hard ball stage, the sugar is still pliable enough to work with easily and the balls will not be too hard, which would make them very difficult to eat. I personally think that the dried fruit and nuts are a nice touch, but feel free to be a purist and leave them out.

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I don’t know when it happened that “sweet” became synonymous with both unsophisticated and undesirable in desserts. As though there is some level of sophistication past which your palate is too evolved to eat sugar. For the record, I don’t feel this way. I love sugar and candy is the perfect way to showcase it. In fact, this week I did a complete 180-degree turn from the anti-sugar sophistication and made a classic, Southern holiday treat: divinity.

Divinity is an ultra sugary treat that is balanced by the inclusion of nuts. It is sometimes called divinity fudge, as it is a textural cross between fudge and marshmallow, dense, light and smooth all at the same time. It is quite close to nougat, actually.

Though the ingredients are simple, I have always found divinity to be very difficult to make. This is because almost every recipe I ever looked at was identical. Identical and, frankly, not very good. Up until this time, I failed in every attempt I ever made to make divinity. Most recipes seem to not cook the sugar long enough and not direct you to beat the mixture for enough time; their divinities never set up. I went straight to the source for my new recipe, Karo Corn Syrup, on the theory that their product is such an essential ingredient in divinity, they must have a workable recipe. And they do have one.

For divinity, the sugar and corn syrup mixture is cooked to 260-266 degrees Fahrenheit, the upper end of hard ball stage. A candy thermometer is the best way to do this (If you want to try it without one, however, just drip a bit of the syrup into water. When it sets up in a stable ball that is pliable with your fingers, it is ready). The syrup is drizzled into beaten egg whites and beaten until it has cooled enough to set up firmly, which takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes. The beating is the point where most recipes fail, as they underestimate the beating time. The point of beating is not only to generate the divinity consistency, but to cool the mixture down to the point where it will set up quickly and maintain that consistency.

Pecans or walnuts - roasted and salted are always my preference - are folded in at the end and the mixture is pressed into a baking pan, like fudge, too cool before it is sliced.

Cut it into small pieces. It’s addictive, but too sweet for large chunks.

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