Pops!

After a four month hiatus, I'm back to blogging about the ridiculously delicious things my family and I make.

Have you ever heard of cake pops? No? Here you go.

A guy from work and his wife are expecting (any day now, actually) their first little one, so we threw him a pretty embarrassing baby shower. We played all sorts of games that were actually kind of fun. This coming from the girl who stays away from those kinds of games mostly because I always lose...and I hate losing. He and his wife (who sadly couldn't come) did sneak away from the whole thing with a pile of baby clothes and goodies.

All of the ladies of the office signed up to facilitate a game, bring prizes or supply food and drink. I volunteered myself to make cupcakes (I knew there would be an extra batch for me to keep at home teehee). Instead of just making cupcakes, however, I got a little ambitious and tried my hand at cake pops.

In preparation, I went to JoAnn Fabrics to just get a few supplies. Turns out they have like five ailes entirely devoted to cake popping fun! I went a little crazy with the candy melts, sucker sticks, molds and sprinkles...but it was well worth it.

They were so easy to make and even easier to eat :) I decided to make my own frosting instead of buying a can/jar from the store. I stuck with a classic vanilla buttercream!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!) Ideal texture should be like ice cream.
• 3-4 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Directions:

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups, 1 cup at a time, of powdered sugar. Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. After all 3 cups have been added, increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

For the cake:

I just used a classic white cake mix - follow the directions on the back of the box. *Next time I might try making my cake from scratch*

Directions:

• After the cake has cooled completely, cut it into four sections and crumble with your hands into a large bowl. Make sure there aren't any chunks of cake in the bowl.

• Add about 3/4 cup of the icing and mix into the crumbled cake with the back of a spoon. The mixture might take a few seconds to start forming together, so don't get antsy and add more icing - you don't want them to get too "soggy". You should be able to roll the cake/icing mixture into 1/2 inch balls with the palms of your hands.
• Place the balls on a cookie sheet or tray lined with wax paper (or whatever you have) and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

If you are just making cake balls...

• Melt any color/type of candy melts that you have in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each turn, until melted.
• Dip/spoon the semi-frozen cake balls in the chocolate until coated. If you want to decorate them, now is the chance to do it. Sprinkle on the fun before the candy coating hardens and place back in the freezer for another 15 minutes. Cake balls are ready! They can be stored in a container in the fridge if you are not serving them right away.

If you want to make cake pops...

• Melt any color/type of candy melts that you have in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each turn, until melted.
• Dip the end of a sucker stick (found at JoAnn Fabrics) into the candy melt and then insert into the semi-frozen cake ball. This helps the stick to stay.
• Now you can either dunk the cake pop into the chocolate or drizzle it over the top. To help hold it's circular form, I stuck the cake pops in a block of styrofoam and then decorated! 
• Place them back in the freezer for 15 minutes. Cake pops are ready! They can be stored on the styrofoam (make sure it fits) or in a container in the fridge if you are not serving them right away.

If you want to get extra fancy...

• Melt any color/type of candy melts that you have in the microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each turn, until melted.
• Get out your mold (TONS of options at JoAnn Fabrics) and fill them about 3/4 of the way up with the chocolate. Place a semi-frozen cake ball right on top and push down until the chocolate comes to the top of the mold. 

• Once the tray is full, place in the freezer for 15 minutes, or until the chocolate is frozen. (The cake balls will stay connected)
• Melt another bag of candy melts (I used pink, since it was a girl baby shower!)
• Pop the cake poplettes (made that name up) out of the mold and quickly dip them in the newly melted chocolate. Only dip the cake part in, leaving the molded chocolate on the bottom exposed.

• Decorate them to death, then place back in the freezer for 15 minutes. Cake poplettes are ready! They can be stored in a container in the fridge if you are not serving them right away.

I can't wait until I come up with another excuse to make these bad boys.

Outrageously Outrageous Brownies

There's not much to say...

These brownies really live up to their name. I usually eat 2-3 brownies in one sitting, but when it comes to Outrageous Brownies, I can only scarf 1 down. My family has made these so many times - there are at least 12 paper copies of the recipe in our recipe cabinet (seriously).

Once you see the ingredients, you might call these un-figure friendly, but I bet to differ! Sure, there's a pound of butter and sure, there's close to 2 pounds of chocolate. BUT! They are so rich and outrageous that  you won't be able to go back for seconds! :D

I really hope you enjoy them as much as my family has! SO good.

Here's the recipe: (Thanks, Barefoot Contessa!)

1 lb unsalted butter (4 sticks)
1 lb plus 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 T instant coffee powder (really makes the chocolate pop!)
2 T real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour, divided
1 T baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
3 cups diced walnut pieces (so yummy in them, but totally optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 360 degrees

Grease and flour a 13 x 18 by 1 1/2 in. sheet pan (trust me, you'll need every inch)

Melt together the butter, 1 lb of chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together the 1 cup of flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. (I find it easiest to stir the dry ingredients together in a very large bowl and add the chocolate mixture to the dry.)

In a separate bowl, toss the walnuts (optional) and 2 cups chocolate chips with the remaining 1/4 cup flour to coat. Add to the chocolate batter and pour into a prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until a tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap/bang the pan agains the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Cool throughly, refrigerate well (if you can resist that long) and cut into squares. Finish them off with a healthy dusting of powdered sugar, and enjoy!.

omg

Blueberry Crumble Bars: Perfect for "Ice Days"

It's an "Ice Day"!! What?

I've heard of "Fog Delays" and "Snow Days"...but "Ice Days"?? I'm not sure why I'm surprised, considering I live in Indiana - a perfect state for people who love inconsistent and to-the-extreme weather conditions. As I write this I can see the freezing rain hit the windows and hear the trees (covered by a layer of ice) creak as they get tossed in the 40 mph freezing wind. I love Indiana...

Just lovely!

Since it's an "Ice Day" and I didn't have to go into work, I decided to do what any person would do in this situation - bake! I had to move quickly this morning as I wasn't sure how long we would have power at my house. The chosen recipe was Blueberry Crumble Bars! MMM the name just sounds delicious.

I have been stalking www.foodgawker.com lately and came across this recipe. I'm not sure why I was drawn to this one, considering there are multitudes of chocolate dessert recipes on the site and I am a sucker for chocolate. I decided to take a risk (went for it) and it turned out to be worth it - these bars are so light, crisp and refreshing - perfect for an "Ice Day" :-) 

Here's the recipe:

1 cup white sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter 

1 large egg

1/4 tsp. salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees

Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch glass baking pan. Optional: For easy removal after done baking, put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan - it's fine if it hangs over the sides of the pan - and spray the parchment.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (fitted with paddle attachment) combine the 1 cup of sugar, flour and baking powder on low speed. Add the salt and lemon zest. Mix until combined. Add the butter (I cut mine into small cubes) and toss with a fork to coat with the flour mixture.

Add the egg and mix on medium-low speed until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with the butter pieces no larger than small peas. Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, combine the lemon zest, 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Pour this mixture evenly onto the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over the berry layer

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes (I left mine in for 50) or until the top is slightly brown. Let cool completely and transfer to the fridge to chill before cutting into squares. Store in a container in the fridge.

I hope you love these as much as I did!

Chocolate/Orange and Almond Biscotti

I've always wanted to make biscotti. It's like a cookie, only better. Not only can they be chocolatey and sweet, but they are totally appropriate and preferred at breakfast!

For my very first recipe, I decided to make a chocolate/orange and almond biscotti.  I found the recipe via Food Network and tweaked it to my liking. Instead of using almond extract, I used orange extract. I just love the combined flavors or chocolate and orange - so sweet and tangy!

Here's the recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 T almond extract (I used orange)
3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I opted not to use)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and extract. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry. Stir in the almonds and optional chocolate chips.

Roll the dough into 3 logs (10 x 2 inches) and place on a baking sheet. *I used non-stick cooking spray, but you could use parchment paper in its place* Bake the dough for 20 minutes. The dough will be firm on the outside and still a bit gooey on the inside. Let it cool for 5 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees

Cut the dough (on a diagonal) into 1/2" thick slices and place back on the baking sheet. Bake for another 20 minutes or until the biscotti is crispy. Place the finished product onto a cooling rack, brew some coffee and enjoy!!

I really loved the texture of the biscotti. It was crispy enough to not fall apart when dunked in a cup of coffee yet chewy enough to eat on its own! So yummy.

Try it out and let me know what you think!!

Go Time

My first foodie blog. I finally caved.

I love to bake - and cook - and it's time to share that love! Hence, this blog. Each week I will make a goodie - either something I've already made before and want to share or something new that I want to try! I'll (gladly) try it and then share it with you. I'd love to see your feedback and take suggestions for my next baking adventure.

Stay tuned!