This post is sponsored by White Lily.

Why share baking tips? Because I feel like so many people are overwhelmed by baking or are scared to bake. Hopefully this video and these tips will help you!

#1 Reading the instructions all the way through and prepping your ingredients
This might be a no-brainer to some but sometimes we are so rushed. Take time to read through the instructions and measure things out. That way you know you have everything too!

If you don’t have everything prepped, you might forget where you’re at in the recipe. It also helps make baking smoother and more fun. Once you have it all prepped, you just need to put it all together!

#2 How to measure flour — it’s sooo important!
Definitely use the correct measuring tools for dry ingredients and for wet ingredients.

#3 Follow the instructions and don’t leave any ingredients out.

Baking is a science so don’t leave ingredients out. In college, I wanted to make banana bread for my classmates and teachers. I ripened a bunch of bananas and went to make the banana bread. I totally forgot the baking powder. The bread didn’t turn out and I was crushed. Beyond crushed.

I was so upset that I had wasted all of those ingredients…the wonderfully ripe bananas and crushed that I couldn't share the bread with my friends at school.

Here are a list of my favorite baking tools (affiliate links below):

• liquid measuring cup
• dry measuring cups & spoons
• angled spatula
• containers for flour
• mixing bowls

What are your favorite baking tips? Is there something about baking that overwhelms you or intimidates you? I want to hear about it. Let me hear about it in the comments below.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by White Lily. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that I work with, it allows me to keep doing what I love; sharing on DualFood.

The post Baking Tips with White Lily Flour appeared first on DualFood.

Thank you Crate & Barrel for sponsoring this post. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Crate & Barrel all content and opinions expressed here are my own.

I'm a huge fan of Crate and Barrel! I have so bought so much of my bakeware, kitchenware, you name it from C&B over the years- so when I had the opportunity to work with them, I was so excited and jumped at the chance!

There's so much to love about Crate and Barrel- they definitely are your entertaining resource. I'm going to share some tips for entertaining as well as share with you some recipes I'm going to make for our annual holiday party!

And since we're talking about entertaining, you should check out my tips for stress-free hosting that I shared on the Pioneer Woman's Food & Friends last month!

First things first, can we all agree that every party needs cheese? And lots of it? I like to do a couple of hard cheeses (manchego, cheddar) and a couple of soft cheeses (blue and read triple creme brie!) at least. Cheese makes the world go round, right?

Make sure you put other things near the cheese plate, including crackers, almonds and chocolate!

Love these appetizer plates, they come in silver & gold. This serving platter is awesome and stylish (perfect for the holidays and year-round), these nosh bowls are great for dips and individual desserts like Easy Peanut Butter Mousse with Chocolate Cookie Crumble Recipe! Ramekins and bowls make great vessels for snacks. I love this acacia wedge server as a cheese tray! And these festive cheese knives add some flair to your holiday table.

I love having a couple of cocktails already made to share with friends. I'm definitely sharing my Meyer Lemon Mojitos at our annual party this year.

Aren't these candles cute? (They come in silver too.) And the small glass hurricane candle holder it's in.

The stemless wine glasses I served the mojitos in. There's an etched snowflake on the glasses – perfect for the holidays! I'm also obsessed with these mallorca mini bowls. (I also have the medium-sized serving bowl too!)

I'm a big fan of comfort food and of course, vegetables- we always have a little bit of both. I love love pieces of bakeware and cookware that look good enough to serve as serveware for parties too. Dual purpose items because I'm sure like you, I don't have a ton of room in my kitchen!

I love making my Easy Garlic and Olive Oil Sauteed Green Beans Recipe (easy easy), this Easy Three Cheese Mac & Cheese(Made with Almond Milk!) Recipe and my Easy Three Cheese Scalloped Potatoes Recipe.

I love Crate and Barrels everyday bakeware line…it's great for year round use! (Pictured above are the everyday large baking dish and the everyday small baking dish. I also use the square one all the time!) I cooked and served the green beans in my yellow Le Creuset everyday pan.

And we have to have desserts at EVERY party. That's a tip (for sure)!

I made you Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie Bars, these brown butter milk chocolate toffee almond cookies (I'll share the recipe later this month) and Easy Dark Chocolate Dipped Funfetti Shortbread Cookies Recipe!

I love using every day platters, plates and serveware and injecting colorful and holiday accents. Like this red oval Marin platter and this mistletoe dish towel. (I'm a huge fan of the Marin collection at Crate and Barrel- I own a lot of the collection!)

I love using cake stands for not just cake- serving cookies or any other desserts.

And using bakeware for serving pieces even if you didn't bake the dessert in it- like this ruffled pie dish!

And these bird plates…love love them! It's a set of 4 and they are Marin plates too! They are all different and Curtis noticed this first, it's a partridge in a pear tree!

And for the holidays, because it's cold or in Florida, I say cooler :)…we have to have warm drinks. I'm obsessed with these snowflake mugs. I had to resist buying all of them off the store shelves! They have matching plates too!

And seriously, I'm obsessed with these snowflake coasters. I'm trying to figure out how I can get away with using them year-round…what do you think?

I hope you found my entertaining tips useful! Do you have any to share? I would love to hear yours!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Crate and Barrel. Thanks for supporting the brands that support DualFood so that I can continue to share with you. I only share brands that I love and always share with you my honest opinions. There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Holiday Entertaining with Crate and Barrel appeared first on DualFood.

Do you ever get an urge for cookies late at night? In the middle of the day? I seriously. do. all the time. That's why I always have frozen cookie dough in my freezer. When I make cookies, I usually freeze the cookie dough already portioned out…

Because a long time ago, I broke my cookie scoop. I made some cookie dough, placed it in the refrigerator to chill according to the recipe instructions. After time was up, I was ready to scoop the dough. It was rock hard and I broke my cookie scoop on it. Major sadface.

Easy Nutella & Peanut Butter Swirled Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

From then on, I always scoop out the dough like you see above before chilling them. And no I don't bake them this close together, I always get that question when I post photos like this on instagram. But if I did, it make would make a major cookie cake bar…now that's not a bad idea! ha

Since the dough is portioned out, once the dough has chilled (in the freezer), it's super easy to bake them! And no more broken cookie scoops and dealing with rock hard cookie dough!

Another note, when I make cookies now, I don't even bother chilling them in the refrigerator, they go straight into the freezer for chilling.

I often do a double batch in my KitchenAid stand mixer too…because I'm making cookie dough like a squirrel hoarding acorns, why not make a double batch? Right? I know you agree with me right now!

Use cookie scoops. Why? You get a uniform size, it's easier to organize and they bake evenly. I love the OXO ones, they have small, medium & large. The large ones are perfect for scooping and portioning out cupcake batter too!

Portion out cookie dough by scooping it out and laying them on…

a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (you can use a silicon baking mat too). I love these small baking sheets for this because they fit in my freezer!

See? Just let these freeze for at least 30 minutes, I sometimes leave them in there for an entire day because I forget about them.

Once they are completely frozen, put them into zippered plastic bags that are labeled with the date, oven temperature and baking time.

Just a note about baking times, since your dough is frozen, it might require 1 to 2 minutes or even longer for baking. It really depends on the recipe. I usually go by the original instructions and set the timer that way and then watch it. I like chewy cookies so I tend to under bake them too.

It's super simple and super rewarding. For that late night craving…or when you need to go to a party and need to make something really quick! Just bake, let them cool and go! You'll be the most appreciated one with freshly baked cookies.

I will admit, the only sad part is when you run out of cookie dough!

Another tip: gift frozen cookie dough. I have been known to bring over a bag or to over to neighbors just because or when someone is sick. They can make it whenever they want to. It's a great way to show your love.

Here are some of the products I use all the time when making cookies!

Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post. At no cost to you, if you click on any of the links and make a purchase, I receive a small commission. Thanks for your support!

The post How to Freeze Cookie Dough appeared first on DualFood.

Yes, 'tis the season for truffles…and silver and gold. I mentioned earlier this year how I'm obsessed I am with Easy Birthday Cupcake Decorating Party Recipe. I love the the way it looks on the white chocolate. It's festive, right?

I have an obsession with cookie butter / biscoff spread / Speculoos cookie butter spread, whatever you want to call it. A couple of years, I even made Easy Biscoff Butter Cup Cupcakes Recipe! And Easy Biscoff Milkshakes Recipe! And even Easy Chocolate Cupcakes with Biscoff Buttercream Icing Recipe! I made these Easy White Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles Recipe a little while back and knew I just had to try it with cookie butter. The results? Divine.

One thing I had to do was share and share these when I made them…otherwise I would have eaten ALL of it.

Making the cookie butter truffle filling is pretty easy. Once you chill the dough. I scoop them out with these awesome small cookie scoops (which is 2 teaspoons).

Place into the palm of your hand.

And then roll it into a smooth ball.

Just like that.

I bought a 2 tine and a 3 tine candy fork from Whisk and Bowl a while back. It has changed my candy making life. Seriously. They were like $5 each, I think?

Place one truffle ball on top the 3 tine fork. Using a spoon,

scoop white chocolate on top of the truffle.

Until it's covered.

Just like that. And then tap the fork on top of the bowl to remove the excess.

I use the 2 tine fork to help push the truffle ball off of the other fork.

I usually dip 3 to 5 truffles and then go back to those and add the sparkly sugar or sprinkles on top. You don't want to add them immediately after you dip them and you don't want to wait so long the chocolate has set and they won't stick.

And there you have it, perfectly imperfect little truffles that are perfect for sharing, gift giving or for hoarding! I won't tell anyone if you don't share, I completely understand.

Print

White Chocolate Cookie Butter Truffles Recipe

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Resting Time 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Servings 25 truffles approx.

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 ounces evaporated milk 1/2 of a 5-ounce can
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1/2 stick
• 1 cup small marshmallows
• 1/3 cup creamy Biscoff or cookie butter or Speculoos spread
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 12 ounces white chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons shortening

Instructions

• Take a medium-sized heavy saucepan and butter the sides. Add sugar, evaporated milk, and butter to the saucepan. Turn heat to medium high, cook and stir until it's boiling. Reduce the heat to medium, allow to boil moderately for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove the from heat and add in marshmallows, biscoff spread, and vanilla. Pour mixture into a medium-sized mixing glass bowl. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 45 minutes or until mixture is thick and can be shaped.
• Take a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Using a

  small cookie scoop, scoop out portions and shape them into balls using the palms of your hands. Place on the lined baking sheet. Freeze all shaped balls for at least 15 minutes.
• Add white chocolate chips and shortening to a small glass microwave safe bowl and microwave on 50% power in 15 second increments. It should take 45 to 60 seconds to melt, maybe longer. In between, mix with a spoon.
• Set up another baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using two forks or two candy forks, dip truffle balls into the melted white chocolate. Tap the top the bowl with the fork to allow excess chocolate to drip off. Place on the lined baking sheet. Dip 3 to 4 truffles and then add sparkly sugar or sprinkles to them. Allow them to set. They set up even better when you refrigerate them for 15 to 20 minutes. Package them in cute little boxes for gifts!

Notes

adapted from Easy White Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles Recipe

Disclosure: The links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link. Thanks for your support!

The post Easy White Chocolate Cookie Butter Truffles Recipe appeared first on DualFood.

If I had a dime for every time Curtis has requested tacos for dinner, we would have enough money to build a pool. That sounds so specific but Curtis really wants to build a pool. Haha Every week, it never fails, he says let's have tacos! I love making them (and eating them) so 9 times out of 10, I say okay.

I have used this taco seasoning recipe from all recipes for years. We have slightly tweaked it to our taste and honestly it took too much time to gather all of the bottles to put the seasoning mix together so whenever I would put this together, I would make two batches. But then every other time I would have to gather all of the bottles and start over.

So months ago, I decided to make an entire jar of spices. We have been making tacos out of this jar for a few months so I wanted to make more. For gifts, for hostess gifts and for just because gifts and for us. I made a total of eight jars and am so excited to have taco seasoning for tacos for a while!

Line them up! This is how many jars of spices it took to fill 8 9-ounce jars.

First, get all of your tools ready. I laid down a paper towel because I knew I would lose some and the paper towel kept my counter clean. You'll need 1/4 cup measuring cup, a Tablespoon spoon, a teaspoon spoon, a 1/14 & a 1/2 teaspoon spoon.

Measure out the spices, do one spice at at time so it's easier to keep track of it.

After an addition of a spice, mix with a chopstick (hey it's a great kitchen tool! not just an eating utensil) or a butter knife just to ensure all ingredients get incorporated.

Easy peasy.

I add the 1/4 cup of chili powder last.

Close the jars with the lids. I used the 9 ounce Weck jars…love them. I love that I can reuse them too! I flip over and shake just a little bit just to make sure everything is incorporated.

Here's my favorite way to make Easy Ground Beef Tacos Recipe using this taco seasoning recipe. And if you decide to give them out as gifts, I made printable gift tags for you to use! (Please don't link directly to the download link, if you're going to link to these tags…please link to this post. Thanks!)

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1 9-ounce jar

Ingredients

For a 9-ounce jar

• 1 3/4 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional
• 1 3/4 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon paprika or 3 1/2 teaspoons
• 1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin or 3 1/2 teaspoons
• 1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon sea salt or 3 1/2 teaspoons
• 1 Tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon black pepper or 3 1/2 teaspoons
• 1/4 cup + 3 Tablespoons chili powder

For dinner tonight, if you're not putting a jar together

• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

• Add spices to jar one at a time, after each addition, mix with a butter knife, spoon or chopstick. Close jar tightly and flip to and shake slightly to ensure it's completely mixed up.
• When using in a recipe, use 1 to 1 1/2 Tablespoons for one pound of meat. Give my favorite Easy Ground Beef Tacos Recipe or Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup with Black Beans and Zucchini Recipe a try!

Notes

Slightly tweaked from Allrecipes

How much did I use up to make 8 9-ounce jars of taco seasoning?

• 1/2 container of 4 ounces black pepper
• 6 containers of 2.5 ounces chili powder
• 2 1/2 containers of 0.9 ounce ground cumin
• 1 1/2 containers of 2.12 ounces paprika
• 1/2 container of 1.5 ounces crushed red pepper flakes
• 2/3 container of 3.12 ounces garlic powder
• 2/3 container of 2.62 ounces onion powder
• 3/4 container of 0.75 ounce dried oregano leaves
• barely put a dent in the huge container of sea salt I had

Buy these 9.8 ounce Weck Jars at Amazon.

This is NOT a sponsored post. There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Homemade Taco Seasoning appeared first on DualFood.

A few months ago, I woke up from a dream about these red velvet oreo truffles, yes I dreamed about these truffles. I have made them twice since then and wanted to make these again for Valentine's Day to share with you. I did dream them with the red velvet on the inside but they worked a lot better in reverse. My bunko friends loved them and I hope you do too!

There's been a lot going on in our household, our older dog, Charley, who's 9 years old needs hip surgery. He was diagnosed over a year ago with hip dysplasia and we were told that he was probably going to need surgery but it wasn't urgent at the time. Well, last week, we were told it was urgent because the level of pain and his limping has gotten a lot worse over the last couple of weeks. There are so many fears and worries we have but we know if everything goes well, he will be less painful and his quality of life much better. So he's scheduled to have this surgery on Tuesday (tomorrow). I'm bringing his vets these truffles as a thank you…thank you for taking such good care of our guy, who we love so much.

These red velvet oreo truffles are red velvety and oh so chocolatey and remind me of a different take on the Guest Post on Steamykitchen.Com - Red Velvet Cheesecake Pops I made a couple of years ago. Of course, you can make these truffles into pops if you'd like to!

I made a quick video and included some pictures of the steps to make the filling for these truffles. It's super simple!

First things first, I bake the red velvet cake and while it's cooling, I pulse the oreo cookies in my KitchenAid food processor. It takes only seconds to turn the oreo cookies into crumbles perfect for the oreo truffle centers!

Then, roll up the oreo-cream cheese mixture into little balls and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

I baked half of a red velvet cake mix and then when it cooled, crumbled the cake. Mix the red velvet cake crumbs with some frosting.

Then, taking some of the red velvet cake mixture into your hands, flatten it over your fingers.

Place an oreo ball on top of the red velvet cake.

Then, wrap the red velvet cake around the oreo ball.

And using your fingertips, create a closed seal. Pinch with your fingertips to close. You may need to roll it into a ball in the palms of your hands.

I love the Wilton Chocolate Pro when I'm melting chocolate for truffles like this. Drop the red velvet oreo truffle in the chocolate and using an offset spatula, pick it up. Tap the spatula against the chocolate melter. Using a second spatula slide the truffle off onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Before the chocolate completely cools, add sprinkles or drizzle white chocolate or whatever you want on top!

And there you go. These little truffles are little pieces of heaven.

I used a cake mix and store bought frosting because these things are little time consuming but feel free to use your favorite red velvet cake recipe and your favorite homemade frosting recipe – to make it less effort when you go to make the truffles, make the cake and the frosting the day before.

Easy Red Velvet Oreo Truffles Recipe

Red Velvet Oreo Truffles Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Resting Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

Servings 40 -50 truffles

Ingredients

• 1/2 of a 15.5 ounce package of Oreo cookies about 19-20 cookies
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 of a 18.25 box of red velvet cake mix and the ingredients to bake it cooled and crumbled by hand (feel free to use your favorite homemade cake recipe)
• 3-4 Tablespoons frosting
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon oil
• Sprinkles cookie crumbs or chocolate melts for toppings

Instructions

• Using a food processor, reduce the Oreo cookies to crumbs. Mix with cream cheese (you'll probably need to use your hands). Measure out 1 teaspoon of the oreo truffle mixture and roll into a ball. Place on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 10 to 15 minutes.
• Mix the red velvet cake crumbs with the frosting (you'll probably need to use your hands). Once you got it to a consistency that is a little moist but still crumbly, measure out 1/2 Tablespoon of cake truffle mixture and roll between the palms of your hands. Flatten it against your fingers and add one oreo truffle ball to the middle. Wrap the red velvet cake around the oreo center and pinch it closed with your fingers. You may need to roll it between the palms of your hands if it needs to be rounded into a ball. Chill red velvet truffle balls for at least 25 minutes in the refrigerator.
• Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments or in a chocolate warmer. Mix in oil and use to dip the truffles. Add sprinkles or whatever you would like on top of the truffles before they cool. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These truffles should hold up in the fridge for at least a week.

Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Easy Red Velvet Oreo Truffles Recipe appeared first on DualFood.