Cake Pops

INGREDIENTS:
1 box chocolate cake mix PLUS whatever ingredients are required for the cake
1 can chocolate frosting
1 bag of candy melts (can buy them at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. )
Toppings- I used sprinkles and Heath candy bar bits
Sucker sticks (got mine at Hobby Lobby)


DIRECTIONS:
Bake the cake according to the directions on the box. Let the cake cool, then crumble into little pieces. Spoon the whole can of frosting into the crumbled cake and mix together well. Mold the cake into about 1 inch balls and place onto a cookie sheet. Stick the cake balls into the fridge or freezer and let cool a little longer. Then melt the candy melts into a bowl. Once the cake balls are ready, take a sucker stick and dip one end into the chocolate, then stick into the cake ball. Dip the cake pop into the chocolate and make sure the whole ball is covered. Then dip into desired toppings. Place on parchment paper until chocolate is set. 

White Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
2/3 cup of shortening
2/3 cup of butter (slightly melted)
1 cup of sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

MIX ALL INGREDIENTS TOGETHER, THEN SLOWLY ADD IN:

3 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

AFTER ALL INGREDIENTS ARE MIXED WELL, STIR IN:

1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

ROLL DOUGH INTO 1 1/2 INCH BALLS AND PLACE ONTO PARCHMENT PAPER

BAKE AT 350 DEGREES FOR 8-10 MIN.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

6 Tbsp. Dutch Process Cocoa ( I only had Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa so I used that)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbsp. milk

2 cups chopped peanut butter cups, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter peanut butter and sugars. Beat on med. high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla, and milk. Blend until smooth. With the mixer on low speed blend in the dry ingredients. Add in 1 1/2 cups of the chopped peanut butter cups and fold in with a spatula. 

Roll dough into about 1 inch balls. Gently press some of the reserved peanut butter cups into the tops of the dough balls. Bake for about 8 minutes. 

Rolo Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting and Chocolate Ganache

I found this amazing recipe on Pinterest of all places :) and I knew i had to make them. It just so happened to be a friend's birthday and I figured this would be the perfect treat!

*The recipe for the cupcake batter and chocolate ganache came from myopenfridge.com*

Rolo Cupcakes
makes about 18 cupcakes
1 box Devil's food chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 small package instant chocolate pudding
unwrapped Rolos candies, 2 per cupcake (one for inside, one for garnish on top)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except Rolos. With an electric mixer on low speed, mix to combine. Raise speed to medium and blend for about 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl. Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans, filling almost to the top of the liner. Press one Rolo into each cup of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-23 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to fully cool on wire racks.

Chocolate Ganache:
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a microwave safe dish, heat cream just until simmering (likely 30 seconds or less on high power, watch it closely!). Stir in chocolate chips. Allow to sit a couple minutes to allow chocolate to fully melt. Stir mixture until smooth. Stir in honey and vanilla. Allow to cool until almost room temperature.

Now for the frosting...uh can I say how much I HATE making frosting. There was a frosting recipe to go along with these cupcakes and it didn't turn out for me at all. Maybe it was me or maybe the recipe, but thats besides the point. So I found a different recipe and it also didn't work..at this point figured It was definitely me that was screwing things up. So because I had used all my ingredients for the TWO previous frostings I headed to the store to buy some more ingredients for a whole different recipe. By this time tears were shed and my sweet husband called up our sister in law in hopes that she could help me figure out how to get that dang frosting to the consistency I needed. So back from the store and onto my THIRD frosting, and what do ya know..I failed again. I started to clean up my gigantic mess I had made in the kitchen and figured our friend would just have to go with some cookies I had previously made. Then my crazy self decided to try just ONE more time. So I did. I didn't have a recipe, but made one up in hopes that I could finally make one that worked. Seriously how can frosting be this hard!! So at 12:30 a.m my frosting finally WORKED! Yay! I had never been so excited about frosting before. So without further ado here is the frosting that saved my cupcakes.

Frosting:

4 oz. Cream Cheese

3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

6 oz. Cool Whip

1/2 Cup Caramel Syrup (add more or less totally just depends on how strong you want the caramel flavor)

Directions:

Whip the cream cheese. (Do this to avoid clumps, learned this in one of my many attempts) Then add powdered sugar, cool whip, and caramel syrup. Whip until well combined.

Deep Dish Chocolate Chunk Cookies

So I finally bought myself a muffin top pan which I have been wanting FOREVER, and now I can make delicious deep dish cookies like these A LOT more than I should!

So to start you'll need one of these amazing little pans (I found mine at Smith's)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter ( 2 sticks) room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chunks (about 2 cups)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together. Add in eggs and vanilla, mix well. Then add in baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chunks. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter into each muffin top. Bake for about 9 minutes or until edges are golden brown and middle is set. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. Loosen edges with a knife. If after the cookies are cooled and you can't get them out loosen with knife and flip onto a wire cooling rack.

Homemade Oreos

EASIEST COOKIES EVER AND SO YUMMY!

1 box devils food cake mix

1/2 cup butter softened

1 egg

1 can cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place dough onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9 minutes. Let cool then frost with choice of frosting.

Peanut Blossoms

One of my FAVORITE cookies!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 & 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 bag milk chocolate Hershey Kisses ( I substituted Kisses for Dove Heart Chocolates for Valentines Day)

Sugar (for rolling the cookies in)

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars. Add egg, milk and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients. Beat at a low speed until stiff dough forms. Shape dough in 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 10 to 12 minutes OR until bottom edges are golden brown and cookie is set. Immediately top each cookie with one candy kiss pressing down firmly so cookie cracks around edge. Remove from cookie sheet.

Angel Strawberry-Pineapple Cake

Easy Easy Recipe!!

1-Get a pre-baked Angel food cake from the bakery (or make your own), and cut it into three layers (horizontally.)

2-Dump a can of crushed pineapple into a container of thawed whipped cream - stir.

3-Evenly pour the whipped cream mixture between each of the angel food cake layers.

Finish by slicing strawberries, and placing around/on cake.

It's extremely easy, very yummy, and it doesn't make you feel sick after from being too heavy. Tyler and I ate half the cake in one sitting... bad but oh so good.

Grandma Turner’s Chocolate Chiffon Pie

Grandma Turner’s Chocolate Chiffon Pie

Prepare pie crusts. Pre-bake. Cool. This recipe makes two 9” pies.

Filling:

1 Large bag 12 oz. Nestles semi-sweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

4 TBLS granulated sugar

6 TBLS homogenized milk (do not use low fat)

8 eggs…separated whites and yolks.

Mix chocolate chips, sugar, and milk in a sauce pan. Over low flame melt chips and blend

until smooth. Don’t heat high, low and slow. Set aside to cool. When cool add egg yolk,

one at a time, blending into the chocolate mixture. Beat egg whites until very stiff peaks.

Fold in the chocolate mixture until blended. DO NOT OVER BEAT to loose fluffiness. Pour

into pie shells and cool. At least an hour. Top with whipped cream. Enjoy!

This picture was taken a few days after and so it doesn't show how smooth the texture really is!

For one pie just cut recipe in half.