Patriotic Nutella Cookie Dough Dipped Pretzels

Do you ever have those weeks days where you just cannot make up your mind? Getting dressed, eating breakfast, working out. All the decisions normally so easy and effortless now make you feel like a confused teenager just willing your mom to come and tell you what to do.

Yeah, last weekend I had a few of those days.

Most of it centered around this treat. Or, more accurately, what this treat should be.

I knew I wanted to do another patriotic post. I've known for weeks. I would say I had baker's block, but that wouldn't be true.

I had way, way, way too many ideas.

Pie. Cookies. Something with leftover blue buttercream. Pie again. Bananas? No. Strawberries! No. Maybe cookie pie. Marshmallows.

AHHHHHH!

So many times I wanted to take out the dual personality that is my baker self and give her a large slap.

"Make up your mind, baker self!" I would have yelled at her. "Make a choice!"

So I finally did. {Make a choice I mean. Not yell and slap myself. I'm not quite ready for the loony bin yet. Close, but not until Jordan' a teenager. Then I'll revisit that issue.}

~Read More~

Red, White, and Blue Cupcake Tops

Happy Memorial Day! Whatcha all up too?

Wait, what? You're not reading blogs on your day off?

Well then, you're missing out on probably the easiest Memorial Day treat ever.

To be perfectly honest, I never usually make red, white, and blue treats for Memorial Day. I never thought about it, really, until we went to a BBQ last year thrown by a military family.

Then I kinda got it. I'm slow that way.

Anyway, this is a super simple idea to dress up your dessert table tomorrow. In case you haven't set your menu down to the last morsel.

{I mean, not everyone is as anal as I am. I don't think.}

~Read More~

Patriotic Pops

My Top Ten List for the Fourth of July:

10. Barbecue...everything. Steak, sausages, corn, you name it. I love that part of the Fourth.  It's a little bit of a bummer this year because we won't have a barbecue, so we'll have to move inside and faux-becue.

9.  Fresh watermelon, eaten after a water balloon fight.

8.  Red, white, and blue crafts: paper flags, pinwheels, flag wind socks and anything that requires crepe paper and patriotic card stock.

7.  Red, white, and blue tie dyed shirts. Even if they come out magenta.

6.  Spiral cookies and apple pie.

5. Watching fireworks on TV (East Coast time). Because there is no way my husband and I my kid could stay up to watch the real thing.

4.  Small town parades. Ours throws candy and we come home with a haul the likes of Halloween.

3.  Buying a special bathing suit for my daughter that looks like an American Flag. And watching her wear it proudly, all summer long.

2.  That this year, we will be walking on the beach and picnicking. And because there are no fireworks allowed, I won't have to face my fear of all things fire.

1. The "proud to be an American" feeling that is just oozed everywhere by the holiday.

Oh, and one more thing.

These patriotic pops.

I was going to call them "patriotic pops and balls" but, well, I decided not to. You can probably figure out why.

I wasn't having much luck with cake pops when I made these. I don't know if it was the cake recipe I used or the fact that they were too big, but they kept falling off the stick. I managed to get a few of them striped, like I'd wanted. They're sort of like those bomb popsicles. Or Papa Smurf, whichever you prefer.

After several of the pops fell off the stick, I decided to switch tactics. I decided to make cupcake balls instead. I used a candy cup mold to make the base.

These are made very similarly to my Baby Peeps: fill the mold with your candy melts, then pour out the excess  chocolate. Freeze the molds for a few minutes and pop out the shell.

At this point, your cake balls should be ready and waiting for you. Pipe some candy melt into the bottom of the shell and add your cake ball. Let it harden and then dip in the candy you want to represent the "frosting". (Yes, I know the cake ball looks like mold. If you ever try to make blue velvet cake, make sure you use enough blue food coloring.) Top your "cupcake" with sprinkles and a red M&M (or red chocolate covered sunflower seed) and let it harden.

Cute little red, white, and blue "cupcakes". Perfect to help you celebrate the Fourth of July.

I loved arranging them this way. The cake pops in the background seemed proud to be covered in red, white, and blue, don't you think?

What is on your Fourth of July Top 10 List?

Patriotic Pops and Cupcake Bites

by Crazy for Crust

Keywords: July 4th cupcake

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (any flavor), prepared according to package directions, baked and cooled
• 1 can frosting (any flavor)
• 1 bag white candy melts
• 1 bag blue candy melts
• ½ bag red candy melts
• Red, white, and blue sprinkles
• Red M&Ms or chocolate covered sunflower seeds or similar candy

Instructions

1. Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Add half the can of frosting and mix well. Test to see if the cake ball is wet enough to stick together. If not, add more frosting up to ¾ of the can.
2. Make round balls of the cake mixture and place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes before dipping.

For the Patriotic Pops:

1. Melt white candy coating in a medium sized but deep bowl.
2. Working in batches, remove cake balls from freezer (place extras into the refrigerator; you don’t want them frozen). Dip a lollipop stick into the melted candy and then insert into the bottom of the cake ball. Dip each pop in the melted white candy coating. Do not swirl or move the cake pop inside the melted candy. If needed, use a spoon to help you cover the entire ball with white candy. Pull straight up to remove and tap your wrist (not the stick) to remove excess candy. Place upright in a styrofoam block. Repeat with remaining pops and freeze until hardened.
3. Repeat step #3 with the blue chocolate and red, dipping less of the cake pop each time to create stripes. Let harden in between each layer.

For the Cupcake Balls:

1. Melt the blue candy melts and add to a squeeze bottle. Fill the candy molds with the blue candy. Pour the excess back into the bowl and freeze the mold. When solid, pop out the candy cups.
2. Add a little more melted candy to the bottom of the cup. Add a cake ball and wait until it hardens. Melt your topping color candy coating and dip the cupcake ball upside down in it. Pull straight up (do not swirl) and top with sprinkles. Chill until firm.

Powered by Recipage

Enjoy!


This recipe will be linked with:

Cast Party Wednesday, Made It On Monday (Lark's Country Heart), 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), This Chick Cooks, Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), A Themed Baker's Sunday (Cupcake Apothecary)

Spiral Cookies

Last weekend we took Jordan to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. I loved that book as a kid. I still remember turning the pages and looking at the illustrations of the penguins in the refrigerator.


There was a short movie that played before the main event. It featured one of the characters from Ice Age. It's hard to explain, but it showed him making various parts of the earth, like the continents and various landmarks. One such landmark was Mount Rushmore. Next to me, I hear Jordan say "hey, that's Mount Rushmore!" I smiled to myself. Hey, my 6-year-old pays attention in school! She learned in Kindergarten about Mount Rushmore! I wondered if she knew the presidents names, too. What a smart kid!


After the movie we went to dinner where I mentioned this to my husband. He asked Jordan, "did you learn about Mount Rushmore in Kindergarten?"


Her answer? "Nope. I learned about it on Phineas and Ferb. They tried to put Candace on the mountain."


So much for being so smart in school. All my Kindergartner ever wanted to know she learned by watching the Disney Channel. All those hours weren't for naught after all.


Speaking of Mount Rushmore, the Fourth of July is right around the corner.


Enter these red, white, and blue cookies.


I made these spiral cookies a few years ago for the 4th and they were a huge hit. They disappeared quite quickly. I've been making them ever since. They are super easy and super yummy. I think the almond extract adds a little extra to the cookie. (You can sub vanilla if you don't like almond.)They are quick and easy to eat and very portable if you are having an outdoor event or need to travel with them. And the best part about them is that you can change out the colors for different holidays (red/green for Christmas, orange/black for Halloween...)

What I love about making these cookies? Is that there is no mess! You roll out (or use your hands to press) the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. There is enough butter in the dough it doesn't stick. No messy flour clean-up. That's my kind of cookie. Then you just slice and bake. Easy peasy.

This is the first of a few 4th of July recipes I'll be sharing. I'm learning to plan ahead. 


Excuse me while I go put on another Phineas and Ferb for Jordan. It's summer and I don't want her to loose her school skills. Disney = Educational, you know (wink, wink).

Spiral Cookies

by Crazy for Crust

Source: Betty Crocker

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup red colored sugar
• ¼ cup blue colored sugar

Instructions

1. Add sugar, butter, almond extract, and egg to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed for about 2 minutes, until combined. Slowly stir in your flour and mix until just combined.
2. Divide dough into two pieces. Place one half on wax or plastic wrap spread out on your counter. Cover the top with another sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap. Use your hands or a rolling pin to press the dough into a 8-inch rectangle (oblong is fine). Alternating colors, sprinkle sugars in lines across the dough. Use the bottom sheet of wax paper or plastic wrap to help you roll the dough. Repeat with the second half of dough. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour (overnight is fine).
3. Heat oven to 350°. Slice rolls of cookie dough into ¼-inch slices. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake 6-8 minutes until the edges begin to brown. You may want to rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet and then remove to a cooling rack.

*Use any color sugar you want; red and green for Christmas or orange and black for Halloween, etc.

Powered by Recipage

Enjoy!






This recipe is linked with:

Sweet Treats Thursday (Something Swanky), Chic-and-Crafty (Frugal Girls), Sweet Tooth Friday (Alli-n-son), Sweets for a Saturday (Sweet as Sugar Cookies), Joy of Desserts, Cast Party Wednesday, 2 Maids a Baking (2 Maids a Milking), A Well-Seasoned Life, Savory Sunday (The Sweet Details), This Chick Cooks,  A Themed Baker's Sunday (Cupcake Apothecary)