Cheating the Recipe ... and Winning!

I'm very lucky that I've 'bastardized' these recipes and had some reasonable success.  It's all about trial and error sometimes.  It's more fun that way.  Come check out the latest concoctions!

I had originally found this recipe on the back of the of a bulk box of Sour Patch Zombies when I bought them for Halloween.  The recipe is incredibly simple, but patience is needed when you're moulding your little dumplings ... or whatever you'd like to do.  I've scanned the clipping for the original recipe, called 'Monster Toes'.

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I had only made two changes to the ingredients; I had used cherry Jell-O instead of lime and replaced the Swedish Berries candy with gummy spearmint leaves.  The dough is very crumbly, like a shortbread, and a little weird to roll out flat.  I had instead made palm-sized dumplings and pushed the leaves into the middle.  They turned out decently, I guess.  They're not how I'd like them to look - I'm picky about presentation - but I'm impressed for the first try.  Yes, I did eat one - and they're pretty damn delicious, like a flavoured shortbread consistency.  An easy recipe to do with kids!

:: Reese's Pieces Truffles ::

This one didn't turn out as well as I wanted, but I know how to correct myself for next time.  In the meantime, they're still delicious and edible.  Here's the original recipe that I found in a little holiday recipe book I bought in the grocery store, called

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The changes here were using Reese's Puff cereal and dark melting chocolate.  The problem happened with the cereal-to-melted-chocolate ratio - too much cereal in the chocolate and nothing would hold together quite well.  I dropped teaspoonfuls into small paper cups and drizzled a little chocolate sauce over each to help them stick together.  I shook some icing sugar over the whole batch for an added touch.  I'll be trying this one again, second time's a charm, yeah?

Have fun with the recipes - lots of wiggle room!