--Candy Cane Snowballs--

We made these yummy little pillow cookies for Christmas neighbor treats.  They were very yummy.  You could also make them for Valentines Day with all your left over candy canes!  I found the recipe here.

Candy Cane Snowballs

• 3 c. powdered sugar, divided
• 1 1/4 c butter, softened
• 2 t. vanilla (or if you’d prefer a stronger peppermint flavor, you can replace 1 t. of vanilla with a teaspoon of peppermint extract)
• 1 egg
• 3 c. flour
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 c. finely crushed candy canes, divided
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 2-3 T. milk

1. In a mixing bowl, beat 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar and butter until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and beat until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine. Slowly add to mixing bowl, beating until combined, about 1 minute. Stir 1/2 cup finely crushed candy canes in by hand.
3. Roll dough into small balls using just under a teaspoon of dough. Rolls balls through granulated sugar to coat and place on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool.
4. While cookies bake, stir together remaining 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar with 2-3 T. of milk. Add just enough milk to form a thick glaze. Drizzle over cooled cookies and top with remaining crushed candy canes immediately.
ENJOY!!

☼When Life Gives You Lemons...☼

...Make Pink Lemonade Cupcakes!!

I found a recipe in the "Keeping up Cookbook" for Lemonade Cake and decided to make cupcakes for my daughters Cupcake Birthday Party!!

Lucious Lemonade Layer Cake/Cupcakes:

1 1/3 c. sugar

6 Tbl butter, softened

zest of 1 lemon

3 Tbl thawed lemonade concentrate

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 egg whites

2 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

Place sugar, butter, zest, lemonade and vanilla in mixer and mix until well blended.  Add eggs and egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition.  In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients.  Add dry ing. to batter alternating with buttermilk until all ing. and buttermilk are well blended.  Pour into two well -greased 9" round pans.  Bake @ 350* for 18-20 minutes.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes and remove to cooling rack.

If making cupcakes just place in cupcake liners in muffin pan and bake for about 12-14 minutes.  Remove promptly to cooling rack.

Frosting:

2 Tbl butter, softened

zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbl thawed lemonade concentrate

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Mix together all ing. except powdered sugar and blend well.  Gradually add powdered sugar and beat at low speed untill blended.  Don't overbeat.  Frost cake or cupcakes:)

ENJOY!!

○Mini Cupcakes○

For Ellie's 6th Birthday we had a Cupcake Party!!  I found this FUN idea to make mini cupcakes to pass out.  Over at Confessions of a Cupcake Queen she made these as cupcake toppers.  She used mini confetti sprinkles and Mary Englebreit cherry sprinkles for the tops.

All I could find was these red pearls from Bake It Pretty website.  I still think they turned out ADORABLE!!  Wanna know how I made them??

Mini Reese's PB Cups!!!!!!;)

Yep...just unwrap, frost them, sprinkle on your favorite sprinkles and top with a "cherry" - LOL!!

I made a WONDERFUL cream cheese frosting that made them taste very YUMMY!  They were a hit at the party...

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. powdered sugar

Beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla till smooth.  Add powdered sugar, mixing till smooth.  Beat for about 1 minute further to make light and fluffy.  You can add other flavors to this basic vanilla-flavor as well, such as cinnamon, lemon zest, orange zest and white chocolate - to name a few!

I found this recipe in a WONDERFUL cupcake kit I found from Amazon HERE!

FrUiT PiZzA - 4th of JULY StYle

I LOVE this Fruit Pizza recipe that is posted HERE!!

So for the 4th of July I doubled it into a jelly roll pan and turned it into a festive flag!

I rolled out two pkgs of sugar cookie dough...

Baked it, let it cool...

And frosted it with the YUMMY cheesecake frosting recipe!

(ps - I doubled the frosting but it was WAAAYY too much so no need to do that but it made GREAT dip for apples and bananas!)

Than I added blueberries and strawberrys to make an American Flag!!

This is a WONDERFUL treat for any BBQ this summer!!!!

{Chocolate Chip Carmel Bars}

I found this recipe over at Our Family Treat last week and made them last night for dessert.  Very easy and very good:)  My family gobbled up it's ooey gooeyness in seconds!!

Chocolate Chip Carmel Bars --

Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup mini milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup Skor toffee chips

32 caramels
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cube butter

Mix together the cake mix, vegetable oil and eggs. Then mix in different chips. In a greased 9x13 pan, press half of the mixture. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. While that is in the oven, melt in a sauce pan the caramels, sweetened condensed milk and butter. When crust is done, pour sauce over the crust. Then sprinkle in chunks the rest of the mixture. Bake for another 22-25 minutes. Let cool before serving.

(Somewhere Over the RaInBoW)

To help celebrate St. Patrick's Day we made festive RAINBOW cupcakes!

YUMMY!!

I have been seeing them around on other blogs and have been dying to try them out myself.  Even though they are a very LoOoOoNg process I LOVED the way they turned out!  I found a wonderful recipe to make your cake box mix taste good too.  We topped them with a delicious marshmallow frosting which gave it a fun cloudy look:)  And they tasted DE•LI•CIOUS!!!!!!!!!!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES:

1 white cake mix

1 sm. pkg instant pudding - vanilla

     (Tip -- you can use same recipe for any cake mix, just use chocolate pudding for chocolate cake)

8 oz. sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. oil

First mix together cake mix with pudding, then add remaining ingredients and beat well. 

Seperate batter evenly into 6 different bowls and add food coloring to get desired colors.  I just mixed till I got it bold enough....

Today I found this guideline or someone even suggested using gel dyes and it creates more vibrant colors ....

RAINBOW COLOR DROPS OF FOOD COLORING --
Purple 9 red and 6 blue drops
Blue 12 drops
Green 12 drops
Yellow 12 drops
Orange 12 yellow and 4 red drops
Red 18 drops

Than place about 1 tsp of each color batter into cupcake liners to fill 1/2 - 3/4 full.  I even saw someone do layers, which was just as cute:)  Bake 350* for 15 minutes.  Frost when cooled.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
1 lb. butter - softened
2 jars marshmallow creme
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat all ingredients till fluffy!  I then put the frosting in a ziploc baggy, cut the tip and swirled frosting onto the cupcakes.  I would have used my frosting bag but I don't have a tip big enough, but the baggie worked just as good!

Here is another frosting recipe if you don't prefer marshmallow:)

COOL WHIP FROSTING:
2 sticks butter (1 cup) - softened
3/4 bag powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and slowly add milk to get desired thickness.  She adds about TBL at a time.  Than fold in a tub of Cool Whip.  I haven't tried this one so let me know if you do and I need to tweak the recipe!

♣HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY♣

Another fun festive RAINBOW treat is fresh fruit served with YUMMY fruit dip --

My kids and husband devoured this creative snack and really thought it was fun.  Here is my fruit dip:

MARSHMALLOW FRUIT DIP:

1 8 oz. cream cheese - softened

1 jar marshmallow fluff

2 tsp. vanilla

Beat till creamy and fluffy.  Chill.  Serve with favorite fruit!

I came across this idea on another blog and she included fruit ideas and another version of fruit dip --

Red - Strawberries, apples, cherries, watermelon

Orange - Mandarin oranges, navel oranges, canteloupe

Yellow - Pineapple, banana, apples, pears, lemons

Green - Apples, pears, grapes, limes

Blue - Blueberries

Violet (Purple) - Plums, grapes, pears
Pot of Gold - Bananas
Clouds - Sm. Marshmallows

(I cut the apples and bananas over two hours before I served it and they weren't brown. How? Using a basting brush, spread lemon juice over the cut sides. EASY!!!)

FRUIT DIP:
8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened works best)

8 oz. Sour Cream

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 oz. package of instant vanilla pudding

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix it all together. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve. And DEVOUR!!

◄EASY FRIED ICE CREAM►

For our Church Ward party we celebrated Feliz Navidad and ate Fried Ice Cream for dessert...YUMMY!!
It was so easy to make so I wanted to share the recipe with you ----

EASY FRIED ICE CREAM
1/2 c. Melted Butter
1 c. Coconut
3/4 c. Sugar
4 c. Crushed Cornflakes
1 ctn. French Vanilla Ice Cream

Melt butter and mix with coconut, sugar and cornflakes. Spread a little more than half on the bottom of a 9x13-in. pan. Cut the carton of ice cream into slices and lay over the mixture.
TIP: Before you start to spread ice cream let it sit out a bit and soften enough to spread evenly. Squish down while spreading to get mixture to stick better:)
Another suggestion is to sprinkle some cinnamon over top to give it a more authentic fried flavor.
Than sprinkle remaining corn flake mixture over top and freeze until ready to serve.
Serve with caramel sauce and chocolate sauce (homemade is best) or BOTH and whip cream!! You can top with favorite fruit such as strawberries as well.
ENJOY!!

○RoAsTeD aPpLeS n' CrEaM cArMeL tOpPeD bRoWnIeS○

I recently discovered a new website PICKY-PALATE.com and I fell in LOVE with these brownies:) Who could go wrong with brownies, carmel and creamed apples? So I gave them a try yesterday and WOW they are YUMMY!! I didn't make them as thick as she did but they still turned out wonderful...
Give them a try this fall and enjoy!!☺ Than check out her great site for more fun recipes!
Roasted Apples N’ Cream Caramel Topped Brownies

1 Box Pillsbury Brownie Mix, Family size, 9×13
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
4 Tablespoons butter
4 small-medium baking apples, peeled and thinly sliced
4 Tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 Cup chopped walnuts (or other nut of choice)
Prepared Caramel sauce, warmed in microwave (I use the caramel apple dip or ice cream topping)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Pour into a 11×7 inch (makes thicker brownies) baking dish that’s been lined and sprayed with tin foil (easier to remove and cut brownies). Place softened cream cheese and sugar into a mixing bowl, mix until smooth. Place dollops of cheese over brownie batter. Use a butter knife to carefully swirl without dragging against the bottom of dish.

2. Place butter into a large skillet over medium heat to melt. Add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Cook and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour evenly over brownies. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until center of brownies are cooked through. Remove and let cool completely before cutting into squares. Just before serving, drizzle with caramel sauce.
8 large brownie squares

Good Ole Family Fun...

This weekend I got together with my wonderful cousins and we mixed, rolled, froze, dipped and drizzled till our hearts were content:) We tried some old and some new recipes for making cake pops/balls and I wanted to share them...
Here is the links to my other Cake Pop adventures--

Basic Cake Pops
Cheesecake Balls
Bakerella's Blog for further instructions and ideas - gotta give credit where credit is deserved:)

Over the past few months I have worked out a lot of my kinks and perfected my dipping methods. So here is a few tricks I have had up my sleeve that will make this process a little easier:
-Really pay attention to the type of chocolate you use. I have found that Kroger is the best and Western Family brand would be my second choice. DO NOT use gourmet chocolates...tastes the best but doesn't set up.
-Double check the boxed brownies you purchase...the more oil it calls for the greasier they will be and harder to keep shape. I actually prefer the WF brand as well. Plus start out with 1/4-1/2 of the 8oz. of cream cheese.
-Now my dipping technique...I will explain and than post pics next time I do this (sorry I keep forgetting to take them). If you are not putting them on sticks like in my basic instructions than put the balls in freezer till firm, almost frozen. My freezer will set them up in about 30 minutes. Than insert a toothpick into the flat part of the ball and dip in chocolate a little more than 3/4 of the ball up to the toothpick (do not cover whole ball). Tap excess off and twirl and tap to smooth. Place in foam block to set up. The faster you dip the less chance they will thaw out. If they start to fall off toothpicks place back in freezer to set up.
After they have hardened on foam block remove from toothpick and dip bottom of the ball into more chocolate and place on wax paper to set up. Then drizzle with more chocolate. Of course you can indulge yourself with a taste or wrap in bags, tie a pretty bow and share. Enjoy!!
I apologize if it's confusing I will get some photos up!!:)
-Another trick I learned was BUY some bottles at your local craft store that have a tip on them for drizzling. I usually would just use a baggie with the end cut off till I discovered using these this weekend. They were $2 for 2 of them (found in the baking section at my Micheal's) and I use one for chocolate and one for vanilla. They are a great investment.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask:)
Here is a new recipe we tried and some I plan on doing...

Cookie Dough Truffles --
3/4 c. Brown Sugar
1 Stick Butter
2 c. Flour
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/2 c. Mini Chocolate Chips
Cream together the sugar and butter. Then add flour, vanilla, milk, and choco chips. Place in fridge for 1/2 hour. Roll into balls, place on wax paper and firm up for another 1/2 hour. Than dip into melted chocolate. Enjoy:) The kids all LOVED these!!

These two I plan to try...

Blonde Brownies --
2/3 c. Melted Butter
2 c. Brown Sugar
2 lg Eggs
1 1/2 Tb Water
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Salt
2 3/4 Flour
2 c. Chocolate Chips
Mix first 7 ingredients, then add flour. Blend together. Add chocolate chips and stir. Spread in 9x13 pan. Bake 340* for 2-24 minutes. Or until edges start to brown. Cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Blondies --
1 cup margarine
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chunky peanut butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and peanut butter until smooth. Combine the flour and baking powder, then stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. Spread the dough out flat on the prepared pan.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops of the bars look dry. Cool completely in pan.

To make the balls I would mix with chocolate frosting. And roll as instructed. I will play with these recipes and let you know how they turn out:)

DIPPING QUEEN!!

As you all know I love to dip EVERYTHING...
Brownies
Oreo's
Cakepops
Marshmallows
Cinnamon Bears
Fruit
...You name it I might have just DIPPED it!!
Well this last week I have been working on a Cakepop/ball Fundraiser for my mom to raise money for the Relay for Life my family is participating in. So I having become dipping CRAZY!! LOL!☺
I will post more about the fundraiser later but I wanted to show you my most recent recipe and a little Thank You I helped my mom whip up for her WONDERFUL nurses at the hospital --

These are Strawberry Cake Pops (hence PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness;)!!) arranged very pretty in a pot to say a huge Thank You to all those that have helped my mom along in her treatment! I sure hope they enjoy them!!:)

This is my newest dipping excursion...
I took Philadelphia Ready to Eat Cheesecake Filling (you could use a homemade recipe if you prefer). Than I scooped balls out with my Pampered Chef Scoop and rolled them in Graham cracker crumbs.

Place the cheesecake balls on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Place them in the freezer to firm up - about 15 minutes. When ready to dip warm chocolate according to package. Dip and drizzle. Package or EAT!!:) For other tips and recipes check out my other posts for CAKE POPS!

OOOHH Don't they look YUMMY!?☺

Now my husband has been such a great help...he's quite the Dipper! LOL So I had to give into his promptings to dip a Strawberry Twinkies in chocolate! It actually looks really GOOD!! But too sweet for me:) He said it was YUMMY...and that's all that matters!

Happy Dipping!!

♫♪Fruit Pizza - Yummy Yummy♪♫

I have a wonderful SIL Jesica who sent me this recipe for Fruit Pizza and I just had to try it!☺ It was very easy and Ohhh so TASTY!! Take the refrigerator Sugar Cookie dough and bake at 350° for 12 minutes - Let cool completely!
Than take 1 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar, 1 c. Cool Whip and 1-8oz. pkg Cream Cheese - blend together till smooth. Spread over top of cooled cookie.
Add your favorite FRUIT!!
VOILA!! A tasty dessert...
Oh than you can't forget to add a dash of one sweet taste tester!!
Doesn't it look good enough to EAT...well grab your fork and dive right in!!

Thanks Jesica for a very YUMMY new dessert we will be having A LOT at our house!!☺

~~You can never go wrong with CHOCOLATE and PEANUT BUTTER~~

I had this dilemma...
A smooth, milky, melted bowl of chocolate and a pan of smooshed up peanut butter bars.
What was a chocolate loving girl like me suppose to do?
Remind myself that everything dipped in chocolate tastes better!

Last week while trying to come up with other flavors of cake balls I made a pan of peanut butter bars and was going to try and shape them into balls, put them on sticks, and dip them in chocolate - Oh my goodness - Heaven! I love Reese's PB Cups! They are my absolute favorite treat!! So when I came up with these my mouth was watering just thinking of the combination on a stick. BUT...after adding more peanut butter to the cooked and crumbled bars it became a mess. All week I have been trying to think up something to add to the mixture to make it stick together and form balls. Well nothing came to me and I figured I had to do something with it.
So low and behold the ginormous PB Cup...
I took silver cup cake liners, spread a small dab on the bottom of the liner, sprinkled the PB bar mixture into the cup filling it about 2/3 full, and than spreading more chocolate over top.
I placed them in the freezer for about 5 minutes to set up and VIOLA -- HEAVEN!!!!
Well we will admit (my dear hubby was the taste tester) they are a bit BIG and RICH!
So not wanting to have 50 huge PB cups in the house with a PB cup addict I decided to whip up something a little less overwhelming.
I put wax paper on a jelly roll pan, spread 3/4 of the melted chocolate all over the wax paper....
Sprinkled the PB bar mixture (see recipe at the end) over the chocolate, smashing it down into the chocolate...
Take the remaining chocolate and drizzle over top...yours will look prettier:) I ran out of chocolate and attempted to make it look edible. They are a little messy so spreading more chocolate over top to create another layer instead of drizzling may help.
Put them in the freezer to set up and cut with knife or pizza cutter and ENJOY!! Thank goodness we are going to a BBQ tonight and I can share these. Because my diet just isn't going to work with a huge pan full of PB and Chocolate:)

PEANUT BUTTER BAR RECIPE:
3/4 c. Margarine or Butter
3/4 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp. Salt
3/4 c. Peanut Butter
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/2 c. Flour
1 1/2 c. Quick Oats
Cream sugar and margarine. Add eggs and vanilla, and than peanut butter. Gradually add combined dry ingredients. Pat into a jelly roll pan and bake 350* for 10-12 minutes. Cool.
To make the PB mixture for the PB Cup Bars crumble the cooled bars and add 1 cup peanut butter. Mix together until very crumbly and prepare as suggested above.

Chocolate Strawberry Crispy Pie

Another recipe from GTU...sounds yummy!! I want to try it this weekend:) But I love chocolate and raspberries so I am going to use raspberry sherbet - HMMM! I will post some pics after I make it!

Ingredients:
½ cup chocolate flavored syrup
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups crisp rice cereal
¼ cup dairy sour cream
1 quart favorite flavor ice cream
Butter an 8” pie plate; set aside. In medium microwave-safe bowl combine chocolate syrup with chocolate chips; microwave on high for 45 seconds or until hot. Stir until smooth. Remove ¼ cup chocolate mixture to small bowl; set aside. Add cereal to remaining chocolate mixture and stir to coat; cool slightly and press mixture evenly into bottom and up the sides of pie place. Place in freezer for 20 minutes or until firm. Combine reserved ¼ cup of chocolate mixture with sour cream. Spoon half the ice cream into pie, drizzle with chocolate sauce. Top with scoops of ice cream and remaining sauce. Decorate with berries - raspberries, strawberries, etc.!

FrIeD TwInKiEs...

I have heard about these and finally found the recipe on GTU...yeah can't wait to try them!!

Ingredients:
6 twinkies
popsicle sticks
4 cups vegetable oil
flour for dusting or powder sugar
1 cup of milk
2 tbl vinegar
1tbls oil
1 cup of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Chill or freeze twinkies for several hours or over nite. Heat 4 cups of vegetable oil in deep fryer to about 375 degrees. Mix together milk,vinegar and oil in another bowl blend flour baking powder and salt. Whisk wet ingedients into dry and continue mixing until smooth refrigerate while oil heatsPush stick into twinkie lengthwise leaving about 2 inches to use as a handle dust with flour and dip into the batter rotate twinkie until batter covers entire cake. Place carefully in the oil, the twinkie will float so hold it under with a utensil to ensure even browning. It should turn golden brown in 3 to 4 min depending on the size of your deep fryer, you might be able to fry only one at a time, two at the most. Remove twinkie to paper towel and let drain. Remove stick and allow twinkie to sit for about 5 minutes before serving. You can put powdered sugar on them while they are hot and then more when they are cooled. You can top them with choclate syrup or carmel or cool whip and strawberries for a deep fried short cake. The toppings are endless...

Tasty Desserts...

Apple Pie Almost

8-9 Apples (I prefer yellow)
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1 c. Water
Peel and slice apples, place in bottom of 9"x11" pan.
Sprinkle on cinnamon and pour on water.
Topping:
1 c. Butter or Margarine
2 c. Sugar
1 1/2 c. Flour
Mix to make a crumbly type mixture
Spread evenly over apples and Bake at 400* for 1 hour.
Oh so Yummy!!

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

Heat Waffle Iron and spray with Pam
Beat together:
1 c. Melted Butter
1 1/2 c. Sugar
4 Eggs
9 Tbl. Cocoa
2 c. Flour
2 tsp. Vanilla
Spoon 1 heaping spoonful into all 4 corners and heat for approx. 1 min. 50 sec. (depending on waffle iron), they should be able to lift out easily with a fork but they wont brown or be crispy. Let cool and serve with favorite chocolate frosting, powdered sugar, or make larger ones and top with vanilla ice cream and fudge sauce. Extremely Yummy and my kids favorite!!