Biscoff Pretzel Toffee Bark

My mom is awesome. Really, she is. She's taught me so much and I'm so thankful for her.

Enter this list:

Everything I Ever Needed To Know About Life I Learned From My Mom

1. Not to sweat the small stuff. (That's what Dads are for.)

2. To always be nice. (Obviously.)

3. To be confident. My mom was a great example of confidence. After all, she was always right! (Ha, just kidding mom.) I'm not too good at this one yet, but I'm trying.

4. To love myself. Because if I don't, who will?

5. To always question everything. Like, say, if there is a sign at an amusement park that says "Don't push the red button!" you should always press it, just to see what happens. (Like, maybe you'll get water squirted in the face, but hey, it's okay.)

{That actually happened. Have you ever been to the Flinstone's RV Park near the Grand Canyon?}

6. She taught me what a good marriage is (and thanks to my dad for that, also).

7. To always try new things.

Like Biscoff. Or Speculoos Cookie Butter.

8. She taught me to follow rules. And to be imaginative. And good at math.

Did you know that Biscoff + White Chocolate = Liquid Gold?

Now you're a mathematician too!

9. She taught me that nothing is ever too sweet.

Not even saltine toffee that has biscoff (or TJs cookie butter) white chocolate gold all over it.

10. She taught me how to laugh at myself and how not to take oneself too seriously...although I'm still working on those too.

That's not all my mom taught me. She's taught me way more things. Like how to bake a cake. And how to eat an entire box of See's Candy in one sitting.

You know, all the important things. ;)

Love you mom!

~Read More~

Kiss my Cookie Bark {Coconut Edition}

Last weekend Jordan and I went to run errands together. We went to the dollar store and the grocery store.

We've been trying to (remember) to pay her an allowance, in return for doing some extra chores around the house. She gets $5 per week that she puts in her piggy bank and I try to remember to make her pay for extra stuff, like those awesome toys you can get at Dollar Tree.

She's not too good yet about understanding saving her money or waiting to spend it until she has enough for what she wants. (Case in point: a few weeks ago she paid me $5 so she could style me for the day.)

But in the car on our way to shopping she asked me what it meant to "save up for something." So I told her that it meant she saved her money in order to buy something more expensive than what she has. I used the example that the Lego set she wants is $50 (side note: can we say outrageous?)

"How many 5's does it take to get to $50?" she asked me.

I made her count by five's to get to fifty. "Ten," she answered herself.

It was quiet for a minute.

"Mommy," she said, "you know what would be easier? ... If you paid me $10 instead of $5."

Smart kid. Future Donald Trump? Or she'll win an award for being the lead of her sales team.

Either way, when I'm old and poor, I hope she'll be able to afford to keep me in Hershey's Kisses.

As soon as I made this version of this bark at Christmas, I knew I was going to make it with my favorite Kisses of all time.

Coconut Creme. Oh, how I love you.

This bark starts with macaroons. You can buy them at the store or make your own. I cut down the recipe so it only makes 13. You need 12 for this bark. Do what you will with the 13th. I'm not telling where mine went.

Chop up the good stuff.

Lay out a lake of chocolate.

And top it with the good stuff. I added toasted almonds too.

Now we just need to start a petition to get the Coconut Creme Kisses in full-year rotation. Maybe I'll get Jordan on that. She can talk anyone into anything.



~Read More~