I'm addicted to cake pops.

Hi. My name is Alyssa. I'm a cakepopaholic! Really, they are that good! If you want yummy chocolate cake pops (those are the ones I'm addicted to) keep reading. I made more this past Sunday and Andy even dunked a few in melted candy and decorated them for the youth group. He took a bunch with him to youth that night and the kids ate them up. The boys and I have been enjoying cake pops too. After lunch and dinner they each wanted to choose a cake pop. They are all gone now and I told them we can't make them again until Halloween! They are too hard to resist :)

-Buy a chocolate cake mix and chocolate fudge icing. I think I used Pillsbury (blue box).
-Bake your cake according to the directions on the box in a 13x9 in pan.
-While it is warm crumble it in small pieces into a large bowl.
-Add the container of frosting and mix into the cake until it is uniform. Use your hands!
-Now form into balls (smaller than a golf ball, bigger than a little bouncy ball) and set them back into your 13x9 pan. If you make them too big they are hard to eat and too heavy for your lollipop stick.
-Place the pan into the freezer for 15-20 minutes or until the cake balls are chilled.
-While they are cooling start melting whatever colored candy melts you want in a deep bowl so you can dip the cake balls into the melted candy. You can buy these at craft stores. Add a little crisco in the bowl to thin the candy and heat for 30 sec at a time, stirring each time.
-Set the ball in the melted candy. Roll in around with a spoon. Dip the end of a stick in the melted candy and push into the center of the cake ball. Use the spoon to get melted candy all over the ball and then tap the stick on the side of the bowl to get rid of the excess candy.
-Immediately decorate the cake pop with whatever sprinkles/candy you choose.
-Then stick cake pop stick into styrofoam so the candy can harden upright. Store in tupperware or individually wrap in clear cellophane bags tied with ribbon to pass out to your friends.

Cake Pop Party

Shawna

Jenn and Laura

My sister, Cara

Sister in Law, Stephanie

Some of my cake pops. (I am not a photographer!)

Remember this post? Well I decided 4th of July was a great opportunity to try making cake pops! I emailed all the girls that commented on the blog that they wanted to come to a cake pop party. We got together this morning and tried making our own cake pops! It was much harder than Bakerella and Pioneer Woman make it look...but we did get the hang of it eventually! We all left with some cute cake balls. We had trouble make the cupcake looking cake pops. Jenn was able to make several cute stars and flowers. The rest of us stuck to the cake ball on a stick. Cute!I would like to make these again for halloween. I had trouble with my cake balls because I hadn't used enough frosting in my cake to get the cake to stick together. I added some extra frosting to some cake and mixed again which worked. I also used some of Cara's cake balls. We found that it was ok to add the frosting to a warm cake. Make sure you cake balls are very cold or they will fall apart in the candy coating. Make sure your candy is thin. We used crisco to thin the melted candy. I haven't eaten any yet other than one bite but I'll try one tomorrow!

Can't Wait!

I'm getting so excited about our new house! I dread the packing and moving but it will be so worth it! I can't wait to be able to have people over again. I have really missed this- we just ran out of room and our house was so small that we basically had to stop having people over. We still had family over some but that's about it. I keep thinking of all the get togethers I want to have when we're settled into our new house. One of the things I think would be fun is to have a cake pop making party. It would be SO fun. I'm envisioning everyone bring different colored candy melts, lollipop sticks, sprinkles, and a baked cake...I think this could be really fun. I've spent my spare time reading all about cake pops on Bakerella's website. So cool. I've read the whole thing. She just started making cake balls, then they turned into cake pops. She is so creative! You've got to check out her blog! There are so many variations and cute ideas on her blog. She made some very cute ones for different holidays - easter, halloween, christmas etc. Fun! This picture is from Bakerella's blog.Wanna come to a cake pop party? When I told Andy about my plan he just smiled. I'm glad he loves me so!

Molten Chocolate Cakes

...Andy's Valentine dessert!

Easy and decadent! I think this came from a Kraft Foods Magazine. We ate these warm out of the oven while the center was oozing out! I made homemade whipped cream for the topping. It was delicious!

Molten Chocolate Cakes

4 sqaures semi-sweet Baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 Tb flour

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 T sugar

Preheat oven to 425. Butter 4 ramekins (custard cups). Place on cookie sheet. Microwave chocolate and butter on high 1 min or until butter is melted. Stir with whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour. Divide batter between ramekins. *At this point you can cover each ramekin with plastic and refrigerate up to 1 day ahead of baking.* Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Carefully run a small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert onto plates and top with whipped cream. Serve immediately!

Our Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I've been wanting to make sugar cookies with royal icing. So last weekend I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few things I needed. I made the Pioneer Woman's sugar cookies and made pink royal icing following the instructions on this blog. The boys helped me make the cookies and cut out hearts. Andy helped me make the icing. Then we all worked to ice the cookies! I thought we did great for our first time using royal icing! Wilson was great at spreading the icing out on the cookies with a toothpick after "flooding" the icing in the middle. Luke did a great job putting sprinkles on the cookies. It was fun and definitely something I want to try again!

Tonight Andy and I are going to put the boys to bed and order take-out from Puccini's. We have a buy 1 dinner get 1 free there! I'm going to make homemade Chocolate Molten Cakes with whipped cream. We're also renting a movie. We don't watch many movies so I'm excited! We're off to deliver cookies to my grandparents and parents!

Valentine Treats

Today I made some treats for the boys teachers, a friend who recently had a baby, and to give as valentine's for the upcoming holiday! They helped a little until my rockin' mom came and picked them up to go to the park. (Thanks, mom!!) After making and baking a simple peanut butter cookie dough you poke a mini resee cup in the soft dough and top with mini marshmallow's. Thats what I knew the boys would enjoy doing! I saw these on my favorite food blog and knew I wanted to make them! I thought Andy and the boys would like them and that they'd make cute treats for Valentine's Day. Here is the recipe. The only change I had is that this recipe yielded 36 cookies instead of 24 for me. Also, you could easily halve the ganache recipe. I have a ton leftover. I saved it for Andy to put on icecream or milkshakes! Sorry my pictures are so bad! Follow the link to see better pics. Below is what the boys are taking their teachers!

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies. Ever.

Wow. I made the Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from the recipe I found on Annie's Eats. They are so good. They are thick. They are chewy! They taste delicious! I made them last night after putting the boys to bed. Andy said several times how good they were. Today they are even better. This recipe will be repeated many times in my household!
*I told the boys who lost treats this morning due to fighting, wrestling, and generally not listening to their mama it was a shame b/c I made the best chocolate chip cookies ever!

Homemade Marshmallows!

My happy helpers!

Notice Luke's facial expression - and it looks like Wilson's eating one!

Forgot to rotate this one! A plate of fluffy homemade marshmallows!

Yesterday the boys and I used my new stand mixer to make marshmallows. I didn't even know you could make them until I saw them on a food blog I read! They were easy to make (with a stand mixer- lots of mixing). Then they had to set overnight. This morning we got the powdered sugar out (and got it everywhere!) to cut them. One mistake I made is not oiling my 9x13 well enough. So it was rather difficult to get them out of the pan. The marshmallows were so fluffy! If you ever make these make sure to thoroughly oil your pan. I cut the marshmallows apart and the boys were in charge of rolling all the sticky cut sides in powdered sugar. Then they each ate one to test them out and I got a thumbs up from Wilson! We'll be dipping these in chocolate fondue tonight for our family New Year's Eve Party. We're staying home and making homemade pizza and chocolate fondue! We'll be dipping marshmallows, pretzels, graham crackers, strawberries, and bananas in our chocolate. I'm making a few changes the the recipe- omitting water and using coffee in place of the water and instant coffee. I'm cutting the recipe in 1/2 and I'm going to use chocolate chips instead of cutting up a chocolate bar...we'll see how it goes!

* If you use google reader click on my blog to see the picture Andy had framed for me for our anniversary. I just added it to the I Do post!

Fun in the Kitchen

Here are a couple of good recipes I tried using my new cooking stuff! Chocolate Chip Cheesecake using my new springform pan and electric mixer! Soft Garlic Knots using my new mixer. I love my stand mixer! It is a-mazing! The first time I used it I couldn't stop smiling. No more will I turn on my hand mixer to mix-turn it off-set it down-crack the egg-pick up the mixer to mix- turn it off- set it down- etc! Stand mixers are glorious!! Both were pretty good recipes- that was my first real cheesecake to make using a springform pan and all. It turned out pretty good. I think I overmixed the garlic knots. Andy thought they were good as did the boys but they weren't light and fluffy. I'm still new to bread doughs! The new soup I tried was okay but not a recipe I'm going to keep. It had leeks in it- which I had always wanted to try in a recipe, but it wasn't our favorite! I enjoyed it but can live without it. Andy didn't care for the texture of the leeks which I think are like big green onions without the onion flavor. We also made fondue Sunday night in the new fondue pot Dan and Carol got me for Christmas. It was fun! The boys were so excited but as it turns out, they didn't care for the cheese fondue. Andy and I enjoyed it - though it was expensive to make! Here is the recipe for Three Cheese Fondue. I served it with a big platter of cut up baguette, potatoes, broccoli, zuchinni, carrots, and green apple. That was dinner! I was able to find 2 cheeses at Meijer and the 1 at Whole Foods. The fondue pot works fabulously- it is electric so you don't need a flame or anything. The boys really had fun adding the shredded cheese to the pot and watching it melt as we whisked it into the liquid. I promised them next time we'll do a chocolate fondue! I really want to make homemade marshmallows to dip into the fondue. I'll keep you posted! But I did find a good chocolate fondue recipe I want to try.

This one is so good!

*These take a long time to make but are very easy. They are delicious. I think they are worth the long prep time due to cooling!

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
Ingredients:
For the crispy crust: (Andy and I thought it might be good to double the crispy layer next time)
1 ¾ cups crisped rice cereal
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
3 tbsp. light corn syrup
3 tbsp. butter, melted

For the chocolate peanut butter layer:
5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter

For the chocolate icing:
3 oz. dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ tsp. light corn syrup
4 tbsp. butter

Directions:
Lightly spray a paper towel with nonstick cooking spray and use it to rub the bottom and sides of an 8×8” square baking pan.

To make the crispy crust, pour the cereal into a large bowl and set aside. Pour the water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and the corn syrup (do not let any sugar or corn syrup get on the sides of the pan) and use a small wooden spoon to stir the mixture until just combined. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235° F.

Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, and pour the mixture over the cereal. Working quickly, stir until the cereal is thoroughly coated, then pour it into the prepared pan. Using your hands or a silicone spatula, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan (do not press up the sides). Let the crust cool to room temperature while you make the next layer.

To make the chocolate peanut butter layer, in a glass bowl set over a pot of boiling water, combine the chocolate and peanut butter. Cook, stirring with a spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust. Put the pan in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the top layer hardens.

To make the chocolate icing, in a glass bowl set over boiling water, combine the chocolate, corn syrup and butter. Cook, stirring with a spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the chilled chocolate peanut butter layer and spread carefully into an even layer. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the topping hardens.

Cut into 16 squares and serve. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

Holiday Recipes

Caramel Corn
3 pkgs popped microwave popcorn
1 stick butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Pour popped popcorn in a large bowl. Discard unpopped kernals. Melt 1 stick butter in saucepan over medium high heat. Add sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Stir until boiling. Turn down heat and let mixture bowl for 5 minutes without stirring. Then add soda and vanilla - it will bubble up- and stir. Pour mixture over popcorn and stir to coat evenly. Put popcorn on two cookies sheets. Then bake 1 hour at 250, stirring every 15 minutes.

Peanut Butter Patties
Ritz crackers (reduced fat)
Jif Peanut Butter (reduced fat)
Chocolate Almond Bark
1 T shortening

Make peanut butter cracker sandwiches. Melt chocolate in a double boiler, adding 1 T shortening to thin the chocolate. Dip sandwiched crackers in chocolate completely, shaking excess chocolate off. Let cool on wax/parchment paper until chocolate is set. I usually throw them in the freezer on the cookie sheet for a few minutes to speed the process along.

Yummy Recipes

Last week I tried 2 new recipes. We had a bake sale at school to raise money for our Helping Hands account. I took that as a good way to try some new recipes I have in my huge stack of recipes I want to try! I made Cranberry Bread and Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake. I received compliments on both so I figured the recipes were good enough to share! Oh and my two contributions made $23 at the auction!! I did tell Andy that I won't be making the Crumb Cake again until I have a stand mixer. It requires a lot of mixing! I have linked the Crumb Cake above. Here is the Cranberry Bread recipe:

4 T unsalted butter, melted (plus more for pan)
2 cups flour (plus more for pan)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk
1 12 0z bag cranberries, wash and throw out bad ones
1 T turbinado sugar for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl combine butter, egg, and milk. Add wet mixture to dry and whisk to combine. Fold in cranberries. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with turbinado sugar if desired. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let bread cool 30 minutes. Invert onto rack and immediately turn right side up to cool completely.

*I didn't have any turbinado sugar so I left it out. I'm sure it would be tasty though!
*This is taken from Everyday Food Magazine.

-Random-

This post is going to jump from one thing to another- just a warning. I didn't want to do a bunch of separate posts. Yipee! Our oven is working again! So I have had an easier time making dinner. Got to try a new chicken pot pie recipe and a twice baked shortbread recipe. Both were yummy.

We went to Andy's parents house for the last time on Thursday evening. It officially sold. Andy was a little sad, that had been his parents house for a long time, the house he grew up in. He took a bunch of pictures while we were there.

The boys had fun trick or treating last night and handing out candy. It was fun! Uncle Bill and Dan came over and ate pot pie with us and hung out during trick or treat time. Then my mom, dad, and Terry stopped by to see the boys. Mom and Terry did a little trick or treating with them so that was fun too. Today I had the boys lay out a blanket each and dump their pumpkins out. We had fun going through their stuff to see what they got. I threw a few things away and took out all the hard candy. I can't wait until they are old enough to trade candy - I remember doing that every year with Cara. We would either dump it out and look at it at Maw-maws house or on mom and dad's bed. I'll try to post halloween pics soon.

You know Luke's Halloween costume? It was pretty awesome. Well, funny story. Andy told me about one of his halloween's where he wanted to be a robot. Here is his story- on halloween his parents found a box and cut out holes for his head and arms. Then it was covered in foil. He said he was bummed about his costume but what was so awful was that a one of the houses another little robot came up to trick or treat in a totally awesome robot costume. Andy said he felt like his costume was so stupid in comparison. So maybe that's where the inspiration for Luke's robot came from- with old computer parts, lights that actually lit up and the black pipe. I told him I had to tell this on the blog! He was so cute telling me the story too!

We're all fighting colds. Ty is better though!

One more week of maternity leave. I'm sad. Don't want to go back. I love being at home with the boys.

Another pumpkin recipe for Fall!

Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
pinch of allspice
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup sugar
¼ cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
¼ cup buttermilk

Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat the butter at medium speed until soft. Add both the sugars and continue to beat until light and smooth. One by one, add the eggs, beating for a minute after the eggs are incorporated, then beat in the vanilla. Lower the mixer speed and mix in the pumpkin and buttermilk. With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients in a steady stream, mixing only until they disappear. To avoid overmixing, you can stop mixing early and stir any remaining dry ingredients into the batter using a rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then carefully remove each one from its mold and finish cooling on the rack.

I found this recipe on Annie's Eats and modified it slightly for our taste. I left out the nuts and raisins. Had some batter leftover after making 12 muffins so I made about 6-7 mini muffins as well. Her muffin pan must make bigger muffins than mine!

Bakin' a Cake!

I'm making Andy a cake today as a thank you for all the help he's given me with setting up my classroom. It's a Reese's Cup Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. I found it on Annie's Eats. I'll link the recipe here. When I saw this entry on her blog I knew this would be a cake Andy would love. He pretty much loves anything with chocolate & peanut butter! While making the cake he sampled the batter several times and we all sampled the frosting. I don't even like frosting but this was GOOD! Luke helped me unwrap all the candy to decorate the cake. He couldn't lay down for his nap until the cake was finished! I'll let you know how it tastes after we cut it!

Edited to Add:

Yummy! The cake is so fluffy and delicious! I even enjoyed the icing. I think you could do any type of icing you like with this delicious chocolate cake. Andy's parents were over and enjoyed eating it too. We still have a lot left. I hope Andy's sweet tooth is up for this!

Mini Cheesecakes

2- 8oz pkgs cream cheese, softened (I use lowfat)

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

24 vanilla wafers (I use lowfat)

cupcake liners

cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese with mixer. Add sugar, vanilla, and beaten eggs. Place cupcake papers in muffin pans. Put 1 vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cup. (Wilson and Luke are GREAT at these two steps!) Pour each cup half full of mixture. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Top each with cherry pie filling (or flavor of your choice) while still warm. Refrigerate.

Skillet-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie

I've been making this for several years and it is so good! Andy had a graduation dinner Saturday night for the 3 youth that just graduated and their families. I was the chef, along with his help and my mom's advice! I knew I wanted to make Cranberry Chicken so then mom and I decided on green bean casserole, salad, rolls, and rice. It was a good meal! I wanted the dessert to be yummy but simple so I settled on the skillet cookie. It reminded me how delicious it is since I haven't made it in a long time. I've made the cranberry chicken for several people and am always asked for the recipe so I'll post it too!

Cranberry Chicken
4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup water
1 envelope lipton onion soup
1 can jellied cranberry sauce
Mix the last three ingredients. Pour over chicken. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Or you can throw it in a crockpot for a couple hours.

Skillet-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookie
2 cups flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (recipe suggests using 1/2 milk chocolate and 1/2 semi-sweet)
vanilla icecream

Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl cream butter and sugars about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; mix. Add flour mixture, beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Pour dough into a 10 inch iron skillet. Press to cover bottom of pan. Bake until edges are brown and top is golden, 40-45 minutes. Don't overbake, cookie will continue to cook a few minutes out of the oven. Serve in wedges with vanilla icecream!

Valentine Cookies

Last night the boys and I made heart shaped Valentine cookies. I took the easy way out and bought the bag of dry cookie mix. Then just had to add an egg and butter. Wilson and Luke helped roll out the dough, used cookie cutters, and best of all added sprinkles! Here are a few pictures! There aren't many action shots because we were busy little bakers!

Christmas Cookies!

Last Saturday I went over to my mom's house to make Gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies! Wilson and Luke were very excited about the day! Cara and her girls were there too. We had a lot of fun. Andy came over later and we started a gingerbread house together. I had trouble getting started without him because I wanted it to look just right, but knew I couldn't do it that way on my own!! Once Andy was there we were able to do it together. Luke ate more than he made I think! It was a lot of fun. When we finish the house I'll post a picture!

Not much going on...

There just hasn't been much to post about lately! We've been busy! School is still all consuming (when will it not be?) and Andy is busy getting youth back into the Fall swing of things. Wilson is going to school 3 days a week and Luke is keeping busy with helping daddy at work and playing lots!

The boys are doing fine. We did have a pretty bad biting incident last Sunday. I stepped out of the living room into the kitchen and immediately heard Luke screaming. Wilson had bitten him so hard he broke the skin. It was awful. Luke was crying so hard and I had to take Wilson to his room for time (and the a spanking after I calmed Luke down) out and the put ice on Luke's back where he was bitten. Wilson never bit until he somehow learned it from Luke. Not sure how Luke knew about biting! Anyway, Luke still has an awful spot on his back from the bite. It is pitiful. Tonight, Wilson threw a Lego at him and he has a swollen spot on his upper lip. It was only a few weeks ago that Will threw a sippy cup at Luke and he had a bruise on his face. Clearly Wilson is having some issues. We deal with them the best we can. He is such an intense little guy. Any suggestions? Do tell! As I mentioned here, in John Rosemond's recent article he says if you want children to get along, make them share a room. Andy and I would like to try it in January when Luke can move to a big bed. Spankings, time outs, and taking toys away just haven't been enough.
Tonight we had a very delicious dinner eating some of our most recent farm fresh veggies. We had hoppin' john and okra (sooo good!) Wilson ate an entire cucumber and I had a few strips of fresh red pepper which was also sooo good! The okra and red pepper just tasted better than they ever do from Wal-Mart! We also got acorn squash, zuchinni, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and swiss chard. The farm is having a potluck and harvest tour for the CSA members in October. I think it would be fun to take the boys to the farm. We'll see.
About two weeks ago I started re-reading Harry Potter. I had read books 1-3 several years ago and just never finished because I forgot too much of the story. I've now read and finished book one and went to rent the movie tonight but it was already gone. It'll have to wait! I really enjoyed the first book (again) and have already started book 2. If you haven't read them, you should! I read right before I go to sleep, when the house is quiet :) and often fall asleep while reading so it might take me a while to get through the rest of the series!
Happy Birthday to Heather, Jenn, and Erin!
* Have you ever tried the Betty Crocker Brownies with cookie topping? You totally should! I made them for my small group Wednesday to celebrate Heather's b-day and we thought they were delicious. (Don't remind Andy that I was a little disapointed when he couldn't find the type of brownie I requested! These were WAY better- don't worry, I gave him credit!)