4 Easy Father’s Day Sweet Treats

With Father’s Day just around the corner, the pressure to make the day perfect can be stressful. However, one thing that almost all fathers have in common is their love for sweet treats. With any holiday, sweet treats are an absolute must-have, and there is no doubt that having the right ones will satisfy your father’s sweet tooth. If you’re looking to go above and beyond the simple chocolate chip cookie, here are some unique treats that are sure to make you the new favorite:

Peanut Ice Cream Pie

Nothing says Father’s Day like a combination of dad’s favorite things, peanut butter and ice cream. With this dynamic duo all mixed harmoniously into the perfect dessert, your entire family will find this irresistible. Not only is it absolutely delicious, but it’s also extremely easy to make. With only a few simple steps, you can whip up this sweet treat!

Ingredients:

·       1/3 cup finely chopped peanuts

·       3 tablespoons margarine, melted

·       2 tablespoons white sugar

·       ¼ cup peanut butter

·       ¼ cup light corn syrup

·       ¼ cup flaked coconut

·       3 tablespoons chopped peanuts

·       1 quart vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1. To make the crust, mix together the chopped peanuts, butter and sugar. Press the mixture evenly against the sides of a greased 9-inch pie plate. Finally, cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate the crust for about 15 minutes.

2. Combine the peanut butter and corn syrup in a large mixing bowl. Next, add in the coconut and peanuts as you stir in the ice cream. Remove the crust from the fridge and spoon the mixture into the crust.

3. Finally, cover the dessert with plastic wrap or foil and freeze overnight.

Now that you’ve got your dessert made, you can go ahead and decorate it for the occasion. Without having to do anything too fancy, you can sprinkle fun chocolate chips or chocolate flakes to give it that extra ounce of sweetness.

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Although these are quite the simple dessert, chocolate-covered strawberries are seen as a luxury treat when it comes to any holiday. Since the original recipe is quite simple, it’s easy to spruce them up for any occasion. With the proper decorations and a clean technique, these strawberries will provide your Father’s Day celebration with a slightly healthier option. After all, it is still considered fruit, right?

Ingredients:

·       1 package of strawberries (or more depending on serving desired)

·       Melting chocolate wafers or chips (white, milk or dark chocolate)

Directions:

1. Rinse strawberries until clean and dry completely with a paper towel.

2. Place chocolate wafers in a saucepan and melt over low heat until completely melted.

3. Remove from heat and dip strawberries into the melted chocolate and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave until chocolate is completely hardened (or refrigerate).

Now that you’ve got the base down, what you do next is up to you! This dessert in particular is great because you can turn a simple chocolate-covered strawberry into a fancy dessert by simply drizzling a different chocolate, adding some lettering, or using some sprinkles. If you really want to go outside the lines, you can even use colored chocolate instead of milk chocolate. The possibilities are endless, and there’s no such thing as too much chocolate!

Now that you’ve got a good list of funky treats to give you some inspiration, the reins are in your hands. You can now put your own unique twist on these classic recipes to cater to your father’s likes and dislikes and decorate them to celebrate this grand occasion. Remember, calories don’t count on Father’s Day!

Brownie Marshmallow Bars

If you’re looking for something that is packed with gooey sweetness, then this is the dessert for you. This dessert bar pairs a deep chocolatey flavor with the light taste of marshmallow to bring a combination that’ll get your taste buds dancing. Fathers love this dessert because it’s jam-packed with sweet flavor. We all know dads love anything that’s sweet enough to give them cavities!

Ingredients:

·       1 package (19.8 ounce) brownie mix

·       ½ cup vegetable oil

·       ¼ cup of water

·       2 eggs

·       1 (10.5 ounce) package miniature marshmallows

·       2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

·       1 cup peanut butter

·       1 tablespoon butter

·       1 ½ cups crispy rice cereal

Directions:

1. To prepare, start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F and greasing a 9x13-inch baking dish.

2. Combine the contents of the brownie package mix with oil, water and eggs and whisk together until smooth.

3. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes (or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean).

4. Evenly sprinkle the marshmallows over the cooked brownie and stick it back in the oven until melted (about 3 minutes).

5. In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter and put over low heat. Stir the contents of the saucepan until everything is melted and smooth.

6. Remove the saucepan from heat, then proceed to stir in the cereal mixture.

7. Spread the finished mixture over the cooled brownies and refrigerate until firm. Slice and serve.

Mudslide No-Churn Ice Cream

One thing that you can never go wrong with on Father’s Day is ice cream. Whether it’s the refreshing nature of the cold dessert or just the delectable creamy texture, there’s hardly anyone who can resist this dessert. Rather than going with store-bought ice cream, surprise your father with some homemade ice cream, mudslide style!

Ingredients:

·       2 cups heavy cream

·       1 (14.5 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

·       1 cup chopped chocolate

·       ¼ cup hot fudge sauce

·       2 tablespoons Kahlua

·       2 tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish cream

Directions:

1. Place the heavy cream in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks appear, about 5 minutes.

2. Gently fold the sweetened condensed milk into the heavy cream until fully combined. Then proceed to do the same for the chocolate fudge sauce, Kahlua and Irish cream.

4. Place the mixture into a 9x5-loaf pan and add some chocolate to swirl for decoration. Move the mixture into the freezer for about 5 hours or until it’s the desired consistency.

Before you serve it, you can even add some decadent decorations to add to the presentation. Adding cute toppings such as candy pearls or even just a pair of googly eyes can really make the ice cream seem like it’s something special!

5 Must Haves to Host the Perfect Graduation Party

There’s nothing more special than celebrating years and years of hard work. Whether you’re hosting a graduation for high school, college, or even grad school, there’s no question that this is a pretty big deal. However, when it comes to decorating for a grad party, it can be hard to gather up the perfect decorations to make this party as special as the event it’s celebrating. If you’re new to decorating game, here’s a few essential yet simple things that can make your grad party one for the books:

Balloons

If you really want people to know what you’re celebrating, decorating your party with big balloons announcing your graduation year or even just emphasizing your color theme is an easy way to make your party qu
ite literally pop. Not only are they fun and colorful, but they can also fill up a lot of extra empty space that would otherwise just be a waste. Even if they’re not filled with helium, simply decorating your floor with an array of colorful balloons will add a little something extra to your party décor.

Balloons are the perfect addition to any party because they can also be used for props in photo booths and games. Whether they’re being thrown in photos or even just used as a cute background, balloons are inexpensive and fun to set up. No matter what you plan to use them for, you won’t regret adding these fun additions to your party!

Finger foods and desserts

When it comes to throwing a real party, there’s one thing that can make sure people have the time of their lives. Having the right finger foods and desserts are a sure fire way to make even the most boring party into one that’s bound to be remembered.  Not only are they delicious to eat, but finger foods and desserts are also a great way to incorporate even more graduation decorations and emphasize the celebration in a cute and delicious way.

Whether you’re looking to decorate small sandwiches or a big cake, you can easy embellish each treat with an adorable graduation topper. These are perfect because they are so simple to use and make the treat so adorable that they’re bound to end up on a million snapchat stories making your party the talk of the town.

If you’re looking to be a little fancier with your sweet treats, you can even frost your cupcakes, cookies, or cake with graduation decorations of your own. Whether you want to write a nice message or just some decorative patterns, these baked goods are the perfect way to add a little more flare into your party.

Photo booths

Was there even a party if you didn’t get a decent picture? Although parties are fun in the moment, graduation parties are all about the memories that are made before you and your friends go off into your next big step in life. Commemorating the memories that were made in the previous years of school is the essence of the whole graduation celebration and you want to make sure that you provide the perfect setting to do so. Creating a cute and aesthetic photo booth where your guests can take mementos of this important celebration is a great way to allow guests to take a token of their
memories with them.

When making the photo booth, you want to make sure that there is more than just a cute background.  Incorporating graduation themes and props into your photo booth is essential to making sure it’s a successful one. Furthermore, placement of the photo booth is just as important as the booth itself.  You want to ensure that you have good lighting and no interfering objects that could get in the way of your guests’ perfect picture. With all these in mind, your guests’ are sure to achieve their ideal picture perfect moment!

Games

Although mingling and catching up with all of your friends and classmates can be fun for a while, there’s only so much small talk that even the chattiest person can handle. If you want to ensure that your party doesn’t die down too quickly, it’s nice to organize a few party games that your guests can enjoy. Not only will this take away the inevitable awkwardness, but it’s a great way to spend time with everyone and ensure that no one feels left out. Group games are a great way to bond with your guests and create lasting memories that are sure to make your party one that will be remembered.

However, one of the key things to organizing party games is to make sure that they are fairly simple while still being loads of fun. We all know how hard it can be to hold the attention of a huge group of people whilst trying to explain a complicated game. For example, twists on childhood games such as apple bobbing or pin the tail can be funny and exciting for your guests. Although you’re celebrating growing up, it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun like a kid!

Goodie bags

No one likes to leave a party a party empty-handed, even adults. No matter how old your guests are, it’s always nice to leave your guests with a nice little thank you gift for attending your celebration. Although they should be nicely packaged, they don’t have to be anything too extravagant like flat screen TVs and diamond rings. Small gifts such as cake pops, cookies, decorative chocolate, and other graduation themed baked goods can still make the perfect goodie bag.

One of the easiest and cutest ideas that we recommend is to make decorative chocolate candy pops! These are not only absolutely delicious, but they can be decorated and molded anyway you want with absolute ease. By simply using premade chocolate molds, you can create intricate designs and finish them off with a simple plastic bag and bow. Now that’s definitely going to end up on Instagram.

Whether you’ve been planning parties for years, months, or even a couple hours, there’s no question that graduation parties can provide a whole new set of challenges for even the party planning pros. With a celebration as grand as this one, there’s so much competition to make your party the best. However, even if you’re party can’t provide elephant rides and Ferris wheels, you’re sure to capture the real essence of the celebration with these tips!

Make Your Own Festival-Inspired Waffle Pops

These are candy coated waffle pops and they're a huge hit at the Coachella Music Festival. What is great about these pop is that they're relatively easy to make and completely photo worthy! In honor of early summer creeping in and the days getting longer, we decided to give you a quick guide on making your own festival-inspired treats, specifically these waffle pops.

When you think of festivals, you probably think of summer and bringing your friends together, complete with bright colors and trendy bohemian outfits.

With music festival season coming into full swing, surprise the guests of your next get-together with a spread of colorful, summery, festival-inspired candies from unicorn colored candy bars to brightly colored flowers.

Make these waffle pops ahead of time or throw your own decorating party (we promise these are "Insta worthy"). Here's how you make them:

What You'll Need:

• Waffle iron
• Your favorite waffle batter mix (Bisquick will certainly do the trick)
• Popsicle sticks
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Your favorite sweet toppings

Depending on what type of waffle pop you want to make, you'll want different sweet toppings, but we recommend:

• chocolate melt
• candy sprinkles
• warm, somewhat melted peanut butter
• cocoa powders
• diced fruit
• confectioners sugar

How to Make Them:

• Once you've got your waffle mix ready to go and the iron is hot, pour the mix in the iron. 
• IMMEDIATELY lay your popsicle stick on the batter with about 1/3 of the stick hanging off the edge of the iron. You'll want enough room to hold the waffle pop. 
• Pour a little more batter over the popsicle stick
• Then, close the iron and cook the waffles as you would normally

Once they're done, carefully remove the waffles with a fork and allow them to cool. Once they're cooled to room temp, you can cut them in serving portions and then the fun begins. The type of waffle you make is really up to you, but we encourage you to be creative and try things that you normally wouldn't.

At Sweet Treat Supply, we make candy making fun and easy. With our selection of tools and supplies, you'll be making blog-worthy treats like a pro without the stress or mess. Liven up your next gathering with candy making and decorating, or simply make your treats ahead of time to surprise your guests. The only thing that's easier and quicker than making these candies might be eating them!

Cake Decorating Tips for Beginnners

It’s incredibly hard to take the decoration ideas that you have in your head and turn them into reality on the cake. No matter how easy it may look on Food Network, amazing cake decorating is no simple task. If you – like us - are having trouble perfecting your cake decorating skills, here are some simple tips and tricks that are bound to make you look like a pro in no time.

Cool Your Cake

If you’re anything like us, you can’t stand waiting for your cake to cool. It’s almost as if you want to start decorating right when it comes out of the oven. However, cooling is a necessary part in the decorating process and there’s a reason why all professionals do it. When your cake is not cooled all the way, trying to frost it will most likely lead to it falling apart or melting your frosting.

Although enough layers will eventually cover it up, it’s always easiest just to wait for it to completely cool down. If you’re feeling extra antsy about wanting to decorate your cake right away or you’re under a time crunch, stick the cake pan in the refrigerator for faster cooling. No matter how excited you are, having a broken cake and melted frosting is never worth it.

Find the Frosting Consistency Sweetspot

When frosting a cake or anything for that matter, the type of frosting that you use can make or break your decoration. Whether it’s too thick or too thin, some frostings are simply not the best for icing or decorating a cake. Most cakes are decorated using a buttercream frosting because of its thick consistency. When icing a cake, you want the consistency of your frosting to be fairly thick in order to create a nice smooth layer.

The easiest way to check if your frosting is too thick or too thin is by simply using your finger to test it. Usually a frosting that is too thick will fall off your finger without any residue and have a hard time sticking. A buttercream frosting that is too thin will seem a little too sticky or runny.

Start with good ingredients and really zero in on the right consistency.

Creating a Crumb Coat

Even with a completely cooled cake, you’ll still get a few pesky crumbs that are determined to stick to your frosting. These crumbs can easily make your frosting look dirty and provide unwanted texture to your smooth base. The best way to get rid of this is to cover your cake with a thin layer of frosting often called the “crumb coat.” This crumb coat is going to catch all of the unwanted crumbs into a hidden layer of your cake.

Even though this layer will be hidden, it’s important to make sure that you smooth it out just as you would the top layer. Simply slapping on some frosting will make it hard to create a smooth top layer. (Remember, a smooth base is always important!) After creating a nice, smooth crumb coat, stick it into the fridge for about 30 minutes to 1 hour to let it settle. We know, more waiting can be a nuisance but the best things take the most time!

After your crumb coat has sufficiently cooled, you’re all set to create the top layer of your cake!

Create a Smooth Base

When it comes to cake decorating, one of the biggest mistakes happen when bakers try to start with a messy base in hopes of covering it up later. Although this may occasionally work, it’s still a pretty big risk.

Starting off with a smooth, even base will not only give the cake an overall cleaner look, but it will also make it easier to decorate later on.

One of the best ways to get that smooth texture that you see on TV is to use a stainless steel spatula. Unlike a typical butter knife, this rounded spatula provides just enough even surface area to create a smooth texture to your cake.

Another tool to take into consideration is a rotating cake tray. Although this may seem like a mere display, this rotating tray is actually a huge help when it comes to frosting your cake. By simply turning the cake rather than having to run around your table to get all the edges, you’ll be able to have a steady hand to create a more consistent look.

Add Some Texture

Once you have your smooth base, it’s all up to you have you’d like to decorate your own cake. Although some may stop at the smooth cake, adding a little bit of texture can add some complexity to your cake decoration if done correctly.

One way to add texture to your cake is by using various cake decorating tips to add dimension to your cake. These are the easiest way to make professional decorations without being an actual “professional.” Whether you’re looking to add flowers to your cake or woven designs, there’s pretty much a cake decorating tip for anything.

If you want to keep your cake as simple as possible, another technique to try would be to use your spatula to create lines or ridges in your cake. Even lightly dragging your spatula across the sides of your cake can create some artistic texture to your masterpiece.

At the end of the day, the perfect cake is hard to find. No amount of practice can prevent all the accidental slip-ups that may happen when baking and decorating a cake. But following some of the helpful tips above, you can focus less on avoiding disaster and more on your cake deocrations.