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Saturday, January 18, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
Hershey's Spreads - #SpreadPossibilities
Have you seen the new chocolate spread on the shelves of your local Walmart or grocery store? Hershey's has recently released their chocolate in a smooth, creamy, spreadable form! I was lucky enough to receive a sample through #Crowdtap, in exchange for an honest review. And let me tell you - I was all excited about this as I have a food sensitivity to hazelnuts and haven't been able to eat the other popular spread.
In preparation of one day being able to indulge, I had pinned a lot of ideas and had all these wonderful recipes dancing around in my head waiting to be tested. My limited time wouldn't allow for as much testing as I would have hoped, but I did manage to try a few different things.
When I initially opened the jar I thought there would be a burst of chocolate scent and I found myself disappointed that I hadn't noticed any scent. I pushed my disappointment to one side and dipped a knife inside the jar, dragging it down the middle. Smooth and creamy were next in my thoughts; the knife was able to move through the Hershey's Chocolate Spread like a hot knife in warm butter. I could just imagine spreading it on rolls or using it to stuff french toast. Not willing to wait any longer, I opted to try some straight out of the jar (via spoon). My first lick only tasted sweet. Disappointment on two levels.
I then paired the Hershey's Spread with pretzels, bananas and apples and found the chocolate flavor was overwhelmed by pretty much everything else. The food pairings tasted sweeter than normal but I didn't find that they tasted very chocolaty. So, I decided to try to use the Hershey's Spread in baking.
Hubby asked me to make peanut butter cookies yesterday so those formed the basis of the baking experiment. I had a tube of crescent rolls in the fridge and decided to use those for the second experiment. Finally, I had some gingerbread cookie mix that I decided to use as comparison for the peanut butter cookies.
I made two types of cookies with each flavor of cookie dough: traditional drop cookies and cookie cups. When the drop cookies were complete, I sandwiched them together with Hershey's Spreads as the filling. For the cookie cups, I used a mini muffin tin and used a mini melon baller to place a small scoop of Hershey's Spread in half of the raw cookie cups. The other cups received a scoop of Spread after coming out of the oven.
With the crescent dough I tried two different styles of pastry. First I used the crescent dough to free-form cups in the mini muffin pan and then put a small scoop of Hershey's Spread inside each one before baking. Next I rolled a small scoop of Hershey's Spread inside each crescent dough piece and baked them as usual.
My last test idea was to mix the Hershey's Spread with cream cheese and then swirl it in a brownie mix, but I ran out of time.
When all was said and done, I learned that the Hershey's Spread was sweet but for me it did not have much chocolate flavor. That said, however, it should be noted that I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and those with a preference for the lighter chocolate may enjoy the flavor. I was unable to get Hubby to try any of it. Freezing the Hershey Spread before baking is unnecessary, although it does stay quite creamy when frozen and I will be incorporating it into my next ice cream batch. When baked, the Hershey's Spread hardens into a solid piece - even hot out of the oven. The flavor did not change between consistencies.
Cookie on left is peanut butter cookie filled with Hershey's Spread before baking. Cookie on left is gingerbread cookie filled after baking. Even after sitting overnight, the Hershey's Spread in the gingerbread cookie is still soft and malleable. It did not form any type of crust or appear to dry out any.
In preparation of one day being able to indulge, I had pinned a lot of ideas and had all these wonderful recipes dancing around in my head waiting to be tested. My limited time wouldn't allow for as much testing as I would have hoped, but I did manage to try a few different things.
When I initially opened the jar I thought there would be a burst of chocolate scent and I found myself disappointed that I hadn't noticed any scent. I pushed my disappointment to one side and dipped a knife inside the jar, dragging it down the middle. Smooth and creamy were next in my thoughts; the knife was able to move through the Hershey's Chocolate Spread like a hot knife in warm butter. I could just imagine spreading it on rolls or using it to stuff french toast. Not willing to wait any longer, I opted to try some straight out of the jar (via spoon). My first lick only tasted sweet. Disappointment on two levels.
I then paired the Hershey's Spread with pretzels, bananas and apples and found the chocolate flavor was overwhelmed by pretty much everything else. The food pairings tasted sweeter than normal but I didn't find that they tasted very chocolaty. So, I decided to try to use the Hershey's Spread in baking.
Hubby asked me to make peanut butter cookies yesterday so those formed the basis of the baking experiment. I had a tube of crescent rolls in the fridge and decided to use those for the second experiment. Finally, I had some gingerbread cookie mix that I decided to use as comparison for the peanut butter cookies.
I made two types of cookies with each flavor of cookie dough: traditional drop cookies and cookie cups. When the drop cookies were complete, I sandwiched them together with Hershey's Spreads as the filling. For the cookie cups, I used a mini muffin tin and used a mini melon baller to place a small scoop of Hershey's Spread in half of the raw cookie cups. The other cups received a scoop of Spread after coming out of the oven.
With the crescent dough I tried two different styles of pastry. First I used the crescent dough to free-form cups in the mini muffin pan and then put a small scoop of Hershey's Spread inside each one before baking. Next I rolled a small scoop of Hershey's Spread inside each crescent dough piece and baked them as usual.
My last test idea was to mix the Hershey's Spread with cream cheese and then swirl it in a brownie mix, but I ran out of time.
When all was said and done, I learned that the Hershey's Spread was sweet but for me it did not have much chocolate flavor. That said, however, it should be noted that I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate and those with a preference for the lighter chocolate may enjoy the flavor. I was unable to get Hubby to try any of it. Freezing the Hershey Spread before baking is unnecessary, although it does stay quite creamy when frozen and I will be incorporating it into my next ice cream batch. When baked, the Hershey's Spread hardens into a solid piece - even hot out of the oven. The flavor did not change between consistencies.
Cookie on left is peanut butter cookie filled with Hershey's Spread before baking. Cookie on left is gingerbread cookie filled after baking. Even after sitting overnight, the Hershey's Spread in the gingerbread cookie is still soft and malleable. It did not form any type of crust or appear to dry out any.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Have you tried smiley360.com—Be Heard. Be Happy.
smiley360.com—Be Heard. Be Happy.
Have you tried smiley360.com yet? I started in October 2013 and I love it. One of my first tasks was Tapbooty. With this app, I am able to quickly try new apps for my phone and get awarded points. I can then redeem the points for stuff!
The last task I had was for Sleep Number. I tried the new dual temp mattress topper - which was wonderful! I was then entered to test their new cool pillows - and was selected. A pillow was shipped for free to my home, for me to test, and I get to keep it.
If you haven't tried it yet, click the link above to find out more info. Note: This is my referral link. I don't receive any compensation for your use of it, but I think I'm still required to let you know. All comments and feedback are my own.
Have you tried smiley360.com yet? I started in October 2013 and I love it. One of my first tasks was Tapbooty. With this app, I am able to quickly try new apps for my phone and get awarded points. I can then redeem the points for stuff!
The last task I had was for Sleep Number. I tried the new dual temp mattress topper - which was wonderful! I was then entered to test their new cool pillows - and was selected. A pillow was shipped for free to my home, for me to test, and I get to keep it.
If you haven't tried it yet, click the link above to find out more info. Note: This is my referral link. I don't receive any compensation for your use of it, but I think I'm still required to let you know. All comments and feedback are my own.
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