Chocolate Piggy, Hedgie and Bunny Buns

Piggy, bunny and hedgie buns filled with chocolate were so fun to make this week. First I made dough, let it rise and then cut it into pieces. I flattened each piece and placed 4 chocolate chips in the middle. I rolled the dough up into the animal shape and then used scissors to cut details on the bunnies and hedgies. For the piggies I rolled small pieces of dough for the ears and nose and used a chopstick to poke holes for the nostrils. I poked holes in the dough for the eyes and then pressed chocolate covered quinoa into them. Despite being pressed in pretty deep, some of them still rolled off during transport. The boys loved these for breakfast.

Cornbread

I like to make cornbread and serve it with veggie chili. This recipe is good but not the best I've ever had. I underbaked it so the center was a little mushy when I cut it. I baked it some more and it came out okay. According to my new oven thermometer, my oven temperature is low.

Hedgie Shortbread

These days I've been wanting to make treats that are cute and yummy. These hedgie cookies caught my eye online and I just had to make them. The cookies are shortbread, the same recipe as the snowball cookies I make at Christmas time. They are then dipped in melted dark chocolate and then sprinkled with crushed walnuts. I used melted chocolate and dotted it on with a chopstick for the eyes. Then I added chocolate covered quinoa for the nose.
One challenge I encountered was that the cookie dough was so crumbly it was hard to shape into a tear drop shape. After the cookies baked they had cracks in them. Most of the cracks were covered by the chocolate so it wasn't too bad. Another challenge was that noses start sliding down if the melted chocolate is too slippery. It is best to hold it in place for a bit until it sticks or let the chocolate get a bit tacky before putting on the quinoa.