Valentine's Day Goodies

Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to make (and eat) some sweet goodies. I made my boo his favorite chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with cream cheese icing, and my first attempt at red velvet cheesecake-filled cake balls. Little did I know he wasn't too crazy about red velvet...more for me! :D

Red Velvet Cheesecake-filled Cake Balls

Ingredients:

8-ounce cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 box red velvet cake mix

1 can store-bought cream cheese icing

Package almond bark/white chocolate for melting

Combine the powdered sugar and cream cheese and using a 1/4 tsp spoon, scoop small dollops onto wax paper. Put in the freezer for several hours or overnight.

Prepare the red velvet cake as directed on the box, but use milk instead of water (makes it more moist). Bake in 13 by 9 pan as directed and let cool completely. Once cool, crumble into a large bowl and mix with about 1/2 to 2/3 can of cream cheese icing. (The same way to make cake balls previously described). Remove cream cheese balls from freezer, they should now be easier to work with. Mold red velvet cake mixture around each cream cheese ball to form your cake balls. When finished with all the cake balls, place back into freezer until chilled (they are easier to dip into melted chocolate when chilled).

Melt almond bark/white chocolate in microwave or in a double broiler. Dip balls into the melt and place on wax paper, or make cake pops by using candy sticks for dipping. Add some sprinkles or decorate however you like.



So these aren't the prettiest cake balls in the world (I was having some trouble with the melted white chocolate) but they sure are tasty!



Merry Christmas to you

Christmas came and went too fast. It was a good one though! I took my mama to the Biltmore House in Asheville for the Candlelight Tour....SOO beautiful! It even snowed when we were there. We had such a good time together.

I wanted to make someithng really special for my grandparents this year for Christmas. So at Thanksgiving when the whole family was together I got sneaky and took some pictures of each grandkid each with a solid wooden letter.

I had looked into getting it matted at Michaels but of course I couldn't let myself pay $150 to have that done, so I got some artist painting canvas and tried it myself. It's a little crooked but hey it added character...and only cost about $10 to do. My Nannie loved it!

Happy New Year!

Apple Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Filling and Praline Drizzle

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I definately did. I ate WAY too much, but at my Nannie's house, thats a given. I took this cake on Thanksgiving to add to her multiple desserts (the best part!) I got the recipe from the Southern Living September 2011 issue. This cake was on the cover! I used gala apples which made it wonderful, although I think I put too much because it turned out a lot denser than I had hoped. The praline drizzle was by far the best and can't wait to use it on other cakes.

Happy Holidays :D

Homemade Wreaths

All this warm weather we've been having is making me have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit.....until today! My mom, my aunt Deborah and my cousin Stephanie and I went to a wreath making class this morning at Tom's Creek Nursery in Farmer. This is a beautiful place, if you ever have a chance to go I recommend it! We spent three hours of our morning in the plant-filled greenhouse with hot chocolate, cookies, Christmas music, and lots and LOTS of laughter. You really can't buy a wreath for the price of making one of your own. We had such a great time making wreaths from fresh greenery and berries all grown at the nursery, and they smell so good!

 Stephanie's wreath

 

Our moms' wreaths.....my mom can barely see through hers!

My mom's wreath on the porch at home.

My wreath! I'm so proud! :)

Thankfulness....and Turkeys!

Mini Oreo Peanut Butter Pies

It's that time of year again. The holidays are about giving and being thankful of what we have to give. This year I volunteered to make some goodies for the Relay For Life bake sale at my mom's school. These treats raised over $60 alone! :)  I started out with some mini pies filled with Oreos and layers of peanut butter I saw from The Picky Palate. They turned out pretty good and were an easy way to use up some leftover pie crust dough. Just roll out pie dough and cut into a 3.5 to 4 inch circle and fill in a greased cupcake pan. Layer two oreos, each topped with a good layer of peanut butter, then cut out thin strips to make a lattice on top. Brush each pie with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar on top. Bake on 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

 

Turkey Cake Pops

With Thanksgiving being days away, I had to try out some turkey cake pops. I LOVE THEM!

I made the cake pops the same way I did the other cake pops I've done, and used yellow cake mix and canned cream cheese icing. Then I dipped in melted chocolate and used both candy corn and Indian corn as the fan. The head is a Whopper and sprinkles make up the eyes and nose, using chocolate icing as glue to attach them. The wattle is an upside down heart candy sprinkle I had leftover from Valentine's Day. I made the faces on the heads first before attaching them to the turkey bodies. Make sure you stick everything to the body while the chocolate is still melted! It makes things a whole lot easier. Gobble Gobble!

Gobble Gobble! Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!

Spooky Graveyard Treats

For halloween this year my girlfriends came over and had a cupcake decorating party. It was not as corny as it sounds and actually was a lot of fun! My favorite thing we made were graveyard brownies.

Graveyard Brownies

These were so easy to make and so cute! I made these with some friends and took some to my little cousins' punkin carving party and they were a hit. Just get a box of brownie mix and bake accordingly. I used Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies for the graves and pipe on chocolate icing for the tombstone writing. Crunched up Oreos in front make a creepy freshly-buried look. I added candy corn and pumpkins along side the grave.

Independence Day Goodies

Everything about Independence Day is great...fireworks, family, food, hot summer weather, being off work! I found the recipe for these firework cupcakes at Lady Behind the Curtain and can't wait to get a chance to make these! The fireworks are made from candy melts and piped out with sprinkles while the suckers were bought from Oriental Trading. Adds alot to the classic red, white and blue cupcake! I am going to Alabama for the holiday weekend to visit my boyfriend's family but at some point these WILL be made! Happy Independence Day!