I just made manicotti. I always dread stuffing the shells because my shells always rip or it's just a mess in general (I've always just used my fingers or a spoon to push the filling through). Maybe I read it here on CC but I decided to use a pastry bag to fill the shells. What a breeze! Quick and mess free. I'm just wondering if you guys use your pastry bags for anything else other than icing?

~Lynn

I haven't, but what a great idea!

What's manicotti?

Suzanne x

Really big, tube shaped pasta that you fill with Italian fillings.

Easter treat bags ... fill them with orange jellybeans; tie closed w/a green ribbon & the look like big carrots.

Cocoa Cones; melt chocolate for filling molds...

Manicotti is an Italian dish. You use Manicotti pasta (they are large tube like pasta)...stuff them with a cheese mixture and put a red spagetti-like sauce on them and bake. My kids aren't fond of spaghetti but Manicotti is always a hit.

I love the idea of the Easter treat bags!

I did the cocoa bags also... with marshmellows and chocolate chips for stocking stuffers last year at Christmas... everybody seemed to love it.

I bet it would work slick for filling deviled eggs and twice bake potatoes too.

I use a pastry bag filled with sour cream when we have taco night in our house. A no mess way of getting your sour cream in your taco and no one is dipping a spoon in the sour cream tub and struggling to get it on their taco. My son thinks this idea is the bee's knee's.

I just used one to fill my mini-muffin pan w/ cupcake batter! Much less mess

kutabby.... I love love love the mini-muffin pan idea... That is awesome! If you don't mind, I really need to borrow your idea... I bake 600 muffins for church every Saturday evening and this will certainly make my life SO much easier....

Can you guys explain the cocoa cones/bags? I've never heard of them but it sounds like a fun idea for a teacher's gift or something.

I use them for cannolis and once I tried them for manicotti, also, but since I make my own pasta crepe for them (a round crepe that I add a 'line' of ricotta-based filling to before rolling up) it doesn't really save much time than just spooning it onto the crepe. If I ever use premade, I would definitely use the pastry bag.

I tried to tuck point (replace the missing cement between the bricks or stones) my foundation, but the cement was to thick to come thru the hole in the bag. It probably would work for grout work. It is a thinner consistancy.
Mary

There used to be a thread around here on cocoa cones but I'm not finding it in a search. However, here is a picture of what they look like from the galleries: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-90961.html

Aww...those are adorable! I've seen those in gourmet shops before. I'll have to PM her closer to Christmas and ask her for the recipe.

Also along the manicotti theme, you can use these bags to fill stuffed shells (the jumbo ones). Works like a charm!

I definitely use them for making deviled eggs! I also fill them with melted chocolate to drizzle over cookies and cakes.

Made a cake that got picked up this morning and realized right before I started to ice it (and no time to rebake) that it was suppose to be an orange cake, not a white cake. I poured some orange flavoring in a bag, added a little bit of water, then snipped the end and "sprinkled" the cake with orange flavoring. Worked great (and saved me from totally crying!)

We like nacho chips with hot refried beans and nacho cheese on top, but I HATE just a big blop of beans in the middle of the pile of chips .... I like everything spread neat! So the beans go in a bag and I squeeze a dollop on each chip. Then using another bag filled with the warmed nacho cheese, snip the end and drizzle cheese over the chips. Pretty!!! (sorry ... I'm a caterer, so food HAS to look "pretty"! )

Deviled eggs and pimiento cheese-stuffed celery stalks.

Found one! (The others seems to have been eaten in the crash.)
http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-12453-cocoa.html+cones
http://pub45.bravenet.com/forum/3783415996/fetch/625540/
http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off&q=cocoa+cones&btnG=Search+Images

Thanks 7yyrt! I will definitely be making those for Christmas gifts. I also liked the valentine's cones from bravenet.com.

floophs.. I havesome cocoa cones that look like santa heads in my photos ! Everyone loved them !!

Fiddlesticks...those are super cute too. Did you use redhots for the hat? What's in between those and the cocoa?

floophs.. Thanks and so fun to make! Yes red hots and its just crumpled up plastic wrap for whats supposed to be the hair I guess !

Fiddlesticks...do you actually make the cocoa part or do you just use store bought? I'm definitely stealing this idea for Christmas.

I made home made cocoa! There are different recipes around ! Im not even sure what one I used for the santa,s last xmas ! But they were hit ! I also had one in every xmas stockng I gave out to family members ! I like to give out home made goodies for special days !

Thanks Fiddlesticks for your help.