StyleNectar

Irresistible Halloween Candy Bark

 Halloween Candy Peanut Butter Heath Bark 

Irresistible Halloween Candy Bark is quick and easy to make... A good thing 'cause you just can't beat this kid-in-a-candy-store combination of eight favorites all in one bite!  It's a fun and colorful treat perfect for any Halloween party or autumn get-together.  (Of course you can make this for ANY season ~ just switch up the candy/colors to match!)

 

 

Halloween Candy Bark Recipe (Serves 12-15)

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces high quality semisweet chocolate chopped (or use chips)
• 6 ounces Butterfinger candy bars, cut into irregular 1-inch pieces
• 3 1.4-ounce Heath or Skor toffee candy bars, cut into irregular 3/4-inch pieces
• 8 0.55-ounce peanut butter cups, each cut into 8 wedges
• 1/4 cup honey-roasted peanuts
• 3 ounces high-quality white chocolate, chopped (or use chips)
• Reese's Pieces and yellow and orange peanut M&M's

Method:

1. Line baking sheet with foil. Place a heat-proof bowl over a heavy, medium saucepan filled with lightly boiling water over a medium-low heat. Add semisweet chocolate chips and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until melted and warm to touch (NOT hot to touch which would result in grainy chocolate).
2. Pour chocolate onto foil; spread to 1/4-inch thickness (about 12x10-inch rectangle). Sprinkle with Butterfinger candy, toffee, peanut butter cups, and nuts, making sure all pieces touch melted chocolate to adhere.
3. Put white chocolate in a bowl over a heavy, small saucepan of lightly boiling water. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly over very low heat until chocolate is melted and warm (not hot) to touch. Remove from heat. Dip spoon into chocolate; wave from side to side over bark, creating zigzag lines. Scatter Reese's Pieces and M&M's over, making sure candy touches melted chocolate.
4. Chill bark until firm, 30 minutes. Slide foil with candy onto work surface; peel off foil. Cut bark into irregular pieces. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit ~ Tested & Approved!

  

A Perfectly Irresistible Halloween Treat!

Time for Herbs to Head Indoors for the Winter!

Though the leaves on the tall oaks have thinned considerably, our window panes remain candy boxes of red, orange and gold.  That time of year again.  Halloween days away.  When we shut off the outdoor spigots for fear of frost and burst pipes.  And we've waited til the last possible minute to lug in the remains of the garden, the salvageable herbs that can be brought in for the winter and then taken back out again next spring!  

What a thrill it is to invite these summer friends back inside!  Fragrant, bountiful greenery at a time when the rest of nature is going into hibernation.  We spray off mossy pots and turn them on end to lift our new housemates to sunny heights!  Each morning they quiver with joy as I mist them all over.  (Thanks for the suggestion Pamela!)

And I am beside myself... adding fresh mint to my honey tea, oregano to my egg salad sandwiches, sage browned butter over gnocchi (recipe coming soon)... It feels like Christmas to me!  I suppose it's the sudden population of frangrant greenery that brings me back.  A lovely prelude to the holidays!

Peppermint loves his new digs in the Dining Room!

Rosemary thinks her new room-mate, Peppermint, is kinda cute!

Oregano and Sage are particularly fond of their daily spray bottle mistings.

One happy family! (L to R) Rosemary #2 in the breakfast room alongside roomies Spearmint, Sage & Oregano!

Limoncello Cocktails ~ Perfect Any Time of Year!

Includes recipe variations to make Sugar-fee or Virgin Cocktails!

 

Frosted Sugar Rims on Limoncello Cocktail Glasses

Limoncello Cocktails ~ Perfect Any Time of Year!

A gorgeous, delicious cocktail. Oh so easy to prepare.  (Yes, you can make them in advance!)  You and you're guests will adore!  

This is a great recipe.  We had a great time.  I know you'll enjoy them too!  

 

Limoncello Cocktail Recipe (4 - 6 Servings)

• 1/3 cup Water
• 1/3 cup Sugar + 1 tsp. Sugar, separated (*Update- if you're sugar-free like I am now, sub coconut sugar)
• 1 750 ml bottle Prosecco (*Update- if you want to make this virgin, sub lemon kombucha)
• 4 tbsp. Limoncello  (*Update- to make virgin, sub lemon kombucha as noted above)
• 8 oz. Fresh Blueberries (or substitute another berry or fruit currently in season)
• 3 or 4 slices of thinly sliced Lemon

1. Pour 1/3 cup water onto a small plate or saucer just larger in size than the circumference of your cocktail glasses.  Pour 1/3 cup Sugar onto another plate of exactly the same size.  Dip rims of each cocktail glass into water filled saucer, then into sugar filled saucer, coating rims evenly.  Set aside.  The sugar will harden, crystalizing beautifully onto the rims after about 15 minutes or so!(This makes refills work beautifully since the rims will remain sugar coated for that second pour!)
2. Meanwhile, pour the Prosecco into a glass pitcher, add 4 tbsp. of Limoncello and a 1 tsp. Sugar (use more or less to taste depending on tartness of your Limoncello). Mix well to disolve the sugar.
3. Regfrigerate for an hour or so.  Just before serving add 3 or 4 thin slices of lemon to the pitcher. 
4. Place 8 or 9 blueberries into each sugar rimmed glass. When your guests arrive, pour the Limoncello mixture into the glasses and enjoy!

 

Awaiting that sweet & sour Limoncello Mixture!

At last! The completed cocktail! Taken by my dear friend, Bick's, cell-phone, no less:) Party time!