Every time I head home to East Texas, my grandmother has a hand full of recipes waiting for us to try when I get there, so I wasn’t surprised last weekend when I stepped into her kitchen and she had all these ingredients laid out on the countertops. You see, Gwenmommy (as we call her) is an excellent cook. She taught me everything I know when it comes to the kitchen, and she’s the reason I’m not afraid to push the limits of a recipe or just flat out make my own.
This weekend, the recipes of choice were Homemade Turtles, and Little Pink Roses. They are so simple, yet SO TASTY :)
I just had to share!!
I didn’t have my camera with me at the time, so I do not have step by step pictures right now, but I’m sure I’ll make these for the girls the next chance I get. Pictures will be added then. :)
Turtles
You will need:
- Rolos, at least 4 rolls
- Pretzels, the original pretzel-y shape.
- Pecan halves
- Baking sheets
- Oven set to 400F
- Lay the pretzels on the cookie sheet. It doesn’t matter if they touch or not, but I spread them all out.
- Put one Rolo flat on each pretzel.
- Place in the oven for two minutes. This will melt the Rolos a little, not all the way. They should maintain their shape, so if you notice that they are sliding around or something, TAKE THEM OUT! :)
- Put a half pecan on top of each melted Rolo, and push it into the chocolate a little bit. If you don’t like pecans, you can just put another pretzel on top. I always do half and half because… I hate pecans.
- Let cool and enjoy!!
Roses
You will need:
- Fresh strawberries, washed and dried. (Do not cut off the leaves, but remove the stems if any)
- Vanilla almond bark (I always call this white chocolate)
- Red food coloring
- A large bowl for mixing
- One icing (decorating) bag with a small tip
- Thin wooden skewers
- Flower vase
- green floral foam
- Cut the floral foam to fit into your flower vase, and place inside. If you do not have foam, you can do without, just make sure the vase is shallow enough for the skewers to stand out of it.
- Put a skewer into the top of each strawberry (through the center of the leaves) and set aside.
- Melt the almond bark (following the instructions on the package) in one of the mixing bowls, and add a few drops of red food coloring. When mixed, it should be a light pink. You can make it a darker pink if you wish, but remember not to make it too dark. You will need a darker pink for the decoration later. You may also have to keep adding melted almond bark to the bowl so that there is enough to cover all the strawberries.
- Dip each strawberry into the light pink almond bark, making sure all the red is covered, but try not to cover the leaves.
- Stick the other end of the skewer into the floral foam so that you begin to form a bouquet.
- Repeat until all strawberries are covered and arranged in the vase.
- With the remaining almond bark, make sure it isn’t too firm, and add additional drops of red food coloring so that the pink is somewhat darker than the original pink (see picture above or below).
- Spoon the darker pink almond bark into the icing bag.
- Starting at the tip of each strawberry, draw a spiral with the icing so that it starts tight on the top, then winds down the strawberry towards the leaves. The idea is to make them look like rose buds!
- If you do not like the look of the green floral foam, you can cover it with any kind of riff-raff. I used a cellophane gift stuffer for mine, but this is optional.
Enjoy :)
The Girls House 
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