Second Day of Christmas

Anne's 12 Days of Christmas Recipes

 On the second day of Christmas, for my true love, I cooked...

~ Two Turtledoves ~

 Anne presents...

Bacon Cheese Turtleburgers

and

Dove Chocolate Turtles

 

Anne's Turtle

 Jeremy's Turtle

 

 Dove Chocolate Turtles

Once again, I took some creative liberties.  I'm not going to cook actual turtledoves.  And there's just too many days of poultry in this silly song.  So I decided to have fun with turtles instead.  I found the recipe for the bacon cheeseburger turtles online, and I thought they looked super cute, so I just had to give it a try.  Of course, this recipe could also be called "Heart Attack on a Plate."  I could just feel my arteries clogging as I ate that delicious heavenly bacon.   The recipe is just ground beef and a slice of cheese wrapped in bacon--LOTS of bacon!--with hot dogs sticking out for head and legs.  I only used about 5 slices of bacon for mine by making a smaller beef patty and cutting each strip of bacon in half and only draping the bacon weave over the top instead of entirely around the whole body.  I am supposed to be on a pre-wedding diet after all.   This recipe wasn't helpful.  Oh well.  It was a sacrifice I was willing to make in the name of my recipe blog.  hee hee.  ;)

I decided I should incorporate the "dove" part of turtledoves somehow, so I made those cute Dove Chocolate Turtles using Dove Caramel-Filled Chocolates.  They were incredibly easy to make... and so yummy.  I love caramel.

Anne's Fun Facts:

Cost of Two Turtledoves (2010 Christmas Price Index) = $100.00

Cost of Two Dove Turtles made by Anne = ~$0.35

Calories in Bacon Cheese Turtleburger = I don't want to know. Don't tell me.

Calories in 2 Dove Turtles made by Anne = 120 calories

Doves are believed to mate for life.  They symbolize marital devotion, faithfulness, and love forever.

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Recipes:

Bacon Cheese Turtleburgers 

Ingredients:

Very lean ground beef 

1 egg white

salt and pepper

Hot dogs or sausages

Packet of bacon or more

Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Form beef patties by combining the ground beef, egg white, salt, and pepper.  Set a slice of cheese on top of the patty.  Make a weave using 8-12 strips of bacon (depends on the size of your patty) and lay on top of the cheese, tucking ends underneath patty.  Cut wieners to make head and legs. Make 3 cuts in the "feet" sausages and one cross wise cut in the "head" sausage (so it will look like a mouth opening). Carve out a conical tail as well.  Make holes in the bacon weave, poke wieners about 1" into the patty. Secure with toothpicks that have been soaking in water.  Use a spatula to transfer turtles to a broiler pan.  Bake in the oven at 400º until beef is done (internal temp of 160º), about 35-45 minutes.

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Dove Chocolate Turtles

Makes 24 turtles

Ingredients

24 mini pretzels (the square ones work well)

24 Dove caramel-filled chocolates

24 pecan halves

pretzel sticks 

Arrange the square pretzels in a single layer on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Place one chocolate-covered caramel candy on each pretzel.  Bake at 300º for 4 minutes.  While the candy is warm, press a pecan half onto each chocolate and use pretzel sticks to make head and legs.  Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.  

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Anne's 12 Days of Christmas Recipes  
(I will be posting one per day from Dec 26 thru Jan 6th, 2010).  Feel free to comment!

1st Day: Partridge in Pear Tree             7th Day: Seven Swans a-Swimming
2nd Day: Two Turtledoves                    8th Day: Eight Maids a-Milking
3rd Day: Three French Hens                 9th Day: Nine Ladies Dancing
4th Day: Four Calling Birds                  10th Day: Ten Lords a-Leaping
5th Day: Five Gold Rings                     11th Day: Eleven Pipers Piping
6th Day: Six Geese a-Laying                12th Day: Twelve Drummers Drumming