Teddy Grahams and Goldfish go to the Beach

Can you guess what I made? 

CAKE POPS !!!

For those who have been left out of the craze, the basic recipe is one baked cake crumbled and mixed with frosting formed into balls and dipped into chocolate. I have been trying to perfect the Cake Pop, the dipping process is hard! I can never dip them right, so I heard the putting vegetable shortening helps and let me tell you it did!

These were for a work party and since we work in a beach city beach themed cake pops were created! and yes each teddy graham got a hot bikini. The "sand" is just some poor teddy grahams in a food processor with a teaspoon of pumpkin pie seasoning.

PB swirl cookies

This has to be one of the best cookie recipe i have ever made!

See the dark spots that's the PB swirl!! 

Okay some notes about the recipe, i was measuring the peanut butter for the recipe and realized it needed the whole jar and i didnt have to measure it. It was really hard to get the peanut butter swirl because the pb mixture would get soft to quickly. i just had to break it into larger chunks then intended and just gently stir it in being really careful to not get rid of the lovely swirl.
p.s. the Peanut butter truffle mixture is so yummy! maybe it would work on other treats
Original recipe: CC and PBTruffle Swirled Cookies 

Nutella cookies?

Want to eat it right of the jar? ya me too

An adjustment i made to this recipe was that i added about 4 tbsp. of flour the dough was to sticky to handle and i chilled the dough before handling it.   When you break these cookies in half you see the lovely nutella, yummy warm but until they cool down you wont see the nutella. Here is the low down chocolate-y cookie with nutella on the inside. Next time i will put nutella in the cookie dough. How did i get the nutella in the middle? I used a regular ice cream scoop then flattened the cookie out like a pancake put the nutella in the middle and rolled it up.

Original Recipe: Nutella Lava Cookies 

yum yum

More Tres Leche Cake

I did not center well on the plate. Frosted with homemade whipped cream and smooth out with heated tools.

This is such a popular recipe for me, I get asked to make it all the time. This post has information about where to find the recipe. This cake was made a a pink themed dinner party. It was the first time I did not soak the cake over night, I soaked it the morning of the party. I almost used the whole mixture of condensed and evaporated milk. The cake was just a moist it was almost like a gusher though, you would bite into the cake and then get the milk mixture in your mouth. 

What is tres leches? 3 milks :) it is a great cake recipe once put together. The recipe for the cake it self is not sweet but once you pour on the condensed and evaporate milk layer it with homemade whipped cream and fresh berries it is very sweet. Many people like it because it does make you feel weighed down. 

Now my favorite thing is homemade WHIPPED CREAM!! you will never love any other cream the same way. The only reason I used the canned stuff because if come in low fat variations but when i bake for other heavy whipping cream, 1 cup of sugar and vanillla!!! Try messing around with other extracts as well :) Keep the adventure going. 

See all of the milky-ness 

Strawberry Bread

Very Yummy!

I was in a strawberry pickle...we had too many strawberries left over! so I was on a mission to find a recipe that used a lot of strawberries, not just a few slices. Strawberry Bread Recipe was my answer. A few modifications I added almost 3 cups of strawberries and if really does need as many as you can put in it. I did not add any nuts, I added a teaspoon of vanilla, and I was light on the addition of cinnamon.  Also I added a brown sugar, flour, butter on top before baking, that really make this a keeper!! 

It took me 50minutes to bake

Great as breakfast or dessert. It is a very moist cake, not very light.

Rose Water, Pound Cake, Whipped Cream, Pudding Filling

What is this you may ask? layers of goodness! I made a rich pound cake in my baking class, I cut it up into little pieces. Made Jello instant pudding following the pie filling instructions which is just 1 cup less of milk. Then made homemade whipped cream with from heavy whipping cream, sugar and ROSE WATER. 

The dish is layered as so pound cake, pudding, sliced strawberries, whipped cream....repeat. 

Decorate with dried roses, pistachios, and chocolate hearts i made

The crazy inside, very good. Rich with a refreshing rose after taste

Tres Leches Cake, again

Well, this recipe is was a hit from my previous post so i made it again in the same color but i decide to make it THREE layers. Very scary but it held up well. 

The process

Not perfect but decorated with melted chocolate that i then made fun shapes with and gold candy pieces

THREE layers, whipped cream filling strawberries and blackberries 

Fail

Another tres leches cake, very disappointed i will have to take on a flag cake again. How did this happen, too much liquid food coloring ruined my whipped cream, so lessoned learned. Everyone stick to the gel stuf

Sweet Sliders and Fries!

Would you like a slider and some fries?

They perfect idea for a picnic. Since there are so many steps to this I don't do it from scratch, that would be to time consuming for me.
Sliders: Make yellow cupcakes, i do not use any liners, and just use some pam. After the cook i slice the cupcakes in half. the patty is made from a brownie, not to thick, just use a round cookies cuter. For ketchup, mustard and lettuce i use the same frosting divided up in to there portions dyed with food coloring. I place each color in a zip loc bag, snip a corner and add "condiments". Use a tooth pick to hold it together and it looks cooler.
Fries: snikerdoodle  cookies, I dont get why but a lot of people like snickerdoodles. I made large rounds and slice the cookies when they were still hot from the oven, let them cool then removed from cookie sheet. Ketchup is just red frosting. 

Soft Cookies!!

Are you ready for the softest cookies? 

Cream the butter, white and brown sugar!!

Yeap putting pudding into the mix. I know I say 3.4 oz, i could only find 3.5 oz, close enough, right? 

Nice and fluffy! before adding flour

To flatten or not to flatten? well lets see what happens to the 3 i flattened

no difference between flattened and not but all are nice a fluffy out of the oven, they do flatten as they cool. 

I half the the ORIGINAL RECIPE this gives you about 20 cookies. What are you waiting for make these! 

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown

Egg cake "pops"

Well I have made Cake Pops before, so yummy for thanksgiving...spice cake mix with cream cheese frosting dipped in chocolate! I decided to make some for easter...what shape to make? Eggs!! well i was being lazy and decided not to dip them just coat the top with chocolate, that created problem number 3, the cakes got a little soggy and they should really be fully dipped so you get crunch on the out side and soft center, it just ruined the whole thing. Problem number 1 was my cake was cooked! how is the bad? i let it brown a little to much so i had to really break it apart. problem number 2 was the icing i made to decorate with was runny!!!

Easter Cake "Pops" semi-fail

 So if you don't know how to make cake pops it is easy get a cake mix, frosting, and chocolate, in my case i use white chocolate

You cook the cake as directed on the package, when hot crumble the cake and mix in the container of frosting. After I mixed it i added the extra sprinkles, why not. Then form in a shape, like eggs. I freeze mine for an hour. Then dip in chocolate, I coated i don't recommend it.  

Coated eggs

Notice my running icing :( so sad, so ugly oh well they still taste good. 

Tres Leches Cake

I made this cake for my mother's birthday... the original recipe is from Food Network 

A little sloppy put so much better than I thought. 

Fun candles! 

Purple Whip Cream Frosting and homemade chocolate decorations.

Filled with strawberries and black berries. 

 The recipe from Food Network was great! I separate the batter in to two cake batters, gave me some room for mistakes while cutting the layers. I made the cake into three layers, bottom one being the thickest. I placed cake in a spring pan poured one cup of soaking liquid, whip cram and fruit, cake 1.2 cup of soaking liquid, whip cream and fruit, last layer 1/4 cup of soaking liquid.

I just made my own icing using 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla and purple food color. I made the decorations, prepare my covering a plate or something flat with tin foil, then melting some milk chocolates and place the melted chocolate in a small plastic bag and snip the corner. Go decorations happy making designs and then place the plate in a fridge. Remove gently from foil. 

Very sweet cake! Great with some black coffee

ICE CREAM CAKE

Bottom: Cake Recipe, from Hershey's, I made half: 

2 cups sugar

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup of boiling water

Bake in a spring form pan, the one where the sides of the cake pan cane be removed. After baking the cake I let it cool, and sliced off the top. Just the right amount to be on the bottom of an ice cream cake and spread a layer of yummy nutella. 

Middle: Spread softened ice cream.I purchased some pistachio flavored gelato from an ice ream shop, this cake was for my dad's birthday and it is his favorite flavor. 

Top the cake with this yummy topping

Top: Whip some heavy whipping cream into stiff peaks then fold in as much nutella are you like, then spread it over the top of the cake. 

Put some saran wrap around it so your ice cream doesnt stick to the pan

Shave of the top and smooth the saran wrap marks with a warm spoon

Decorate!!!!
I used dyed whipped cream.

A HEALTHY Blueberry Muffin!?!?

Ingredients: Blueberries, fresh, 1 cup Applesauce, unsweetened, 1/2 cup Brown Sugar, 3/4 cup, unpacked Egg, fresh, 2 Whole Wheat Flour, 1 1/4 cup Baking Powder, 1 tsp Baking Soda, .5 tsp Salt, .5 tsp Cinnamon, ground, 1 tbsp Fat Free Sour Cream, 3/4 cup Vanilla Extract, 1 tbsp

They look cute right, now for the real low done, taste gets a B-
needs either more sugar or more applesauce and cinnamon. 

Mix applesauce and sugar, add eggs, vanilla, add dry ingredients, sour cream and then fold in blueberries. Sprinkled the top a bit of flour, brown sugar, and oats. Makes about 20 muffins. Cook at 400 for 20 min. I typed the nutrients and each one came out under 100 calories. Next time though I would make less to have bigger muffins.