Cake Ball Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are lots of things that I do well.

Making baked goods.

Eating baked goods.

Reading.

Math.

Being a wife and mom (well, I think I do that well).

Eating baked goods.

Watching Real Housewives, and my new fav, Beverly Hills Nannies.

Having the discipline to exercise (notice I said discipline to do, not actually doing).

Eating baked goods.

Of course, there are lots of things I don't do well.

Like trying new foods. (Thanks to Dr. Google, I'm pretty sure I have food neophobia.)

Discipline (really, I suck).

Cleaning (I hate it).

And, among other things, I am really not good at rolling cake balls.

Seriously, I see cake balls all over the internets. Perfect ones. Gorgeously round, plump, and smooth. And that's before dipping!

And it's not just cake balls. Truffles. Cookie dough balls. Anything round that requires rolling. Other people seem to be able to roll perfectly round spheres of goodness.

Mine? Look like deformed brains.

I have never, ever, not even once rolled a perfect round ball-of-anything.

They always look oddly misshapen, like they been sent through a wormhole to another dimension and back.

Probably why I don't make cake balls and truffles very often.

That, and dipping in chocolate makes me want to poke a sharp stick in my eye.

Now, I love cake balls as much as the next person. I've been known to throw back a few dozen or so in a sitting.

I also love cookies. And it seems fashionable as of late to stuff cookies with things.

So why not marry the two? Stuff a cake ball in a cookie?

But, then came my dilemma. Cake balls require rolling, thus causing misshapen, deformed little brains and lots of frustration.

And then I remember something that the Desperate Chefwife did awhile back. She made her own Nutella chunks by spreading it out in a thin layer and freezing, then cutting chunks of Nutella goodness to add to her cookies.

Would it work with cake ball mixture?

Yup, it totally does.

{Although you should cut them smaller than in that photo. Those were a little big. They'll break up a little bit in the mixing process.}

Added to my chocolate chip recipe, the cake ball chunks added a marbled texture of goodness. No deformed brains here!

Like I said. I'm good at baking.

And eating....sigh.

~Read More~

Very Vanilla Bars {50 Shades of Grey Desserts}

Um...disclaimer. If you happen to be a young, impressionable teenager...maybe you skip this post? Thanksmuch, I really don't want to hear from your moms. ;)

A month or so ago, one of my girlfriends casually mentioned that a bunch of us should read 50 Shades of Grey and do a girls' night book club for it.

I heard "girls' night" and said "of course!"

Then, of course, I had to read the book.

Have you read the book? Undoubtedly, you've heard about the book. And what you've heard is spot on...and more. Way more. Like, eons more.

{I wonder...if I really talk about what's in the book...what will some of my Google Analytics keywords say? I mean, red pancake disease is already listed. And people, do not Google that. I did. Luckily I read some of the text before clicking on any photos. Yeah. Red pancake disease does not come from red velvet pancakes.}

Anyway...back to 50 Shades of Grey. So...there are some things in there I'd never heard of.

Like these. I guess you use them for ... exercise. At least that's what the Passion Party consultant said when she showed them to us at our book club meeting. Yes, the host booked us a Passion Party. Have you ever been to one of those?

Flippin' hilarious. Especially with cocktails. There's toys and stuff. Toys.

So these Ben-Wa Cake Balls are made with, well, cake. In the traditional cake ball way. I made the "strings" with white candy melts on a cookie sheet and let them harden before I dipped the cake balls. Once I dipped the balls I place the "string" on top the still melted candy and held it there for a second while it dried. Then I used my Wilton silver spray and sprayed them all silver. Let dry and you've got...balls.

{Hee, hee.}

So...my daughter was watching me make them. She kept asking what they were and I kept avoiding her.

She then asked, "Are they headphones?"

"Why yes, they are headphones," I replied.

"But why are you making headphones?"

"Well, honey...they listened to a lot of music in Mommy's book."

She keeps asking me if all my friends liked their headphones.

~Read More~

Chocolate Cake Ball Stuffed Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Hey, before I tell you about these awesomeamazingyouwon'tbelievethem cupcakes, I wanted to let you know that I was a guest poster today over at Something Swanky! I'm talking about using Curves in PicMonkey and another little helpful commenting/HTML tip. Go check it out!

And now, on with your show...

I work out every day. I mean I stuff Almond Joy candy bars in crescent rolls for breakfast. I kind of need to exercise.

Usually I go to the gym, where I embarrass myself in a Core class or I read 50 Shades of Grey on the elliptical and try not to blush.

{Side note: have you read that book? Oh my. It's...intense. And I don't quite understand why everyone is so thrilled about a book where a girl chooses to be in an abusive relationship? If it wasn't for the good...stories...I'd probably have stopped reading. Just kidding... I'm so excited I'll be discussing this at a book club. That night should be interesting. There better be lots of cocktails.}

I've been really enjoying running, which is a lot for me to say because my running is a lot like Phoebe's. {If you have no idea what that means, well...can we even move on from there?}

I can't do it more than a couple times a week, as I have an old lady body with old lady knees and ankles and a bad lower back thanks to being pregnant with Jordan. (I swear, it's all been downhill since I had a kid. What the heck is up with that?)

{Speaking of kids ruining your body, when I'm at the gym and see the clique of 12-pack ab moms at the pool in their teeny tiny bikinis with three kids apiece, I want to cry. Or maybe go and poke them and look for their alien not-from-Earth marks. Because, seriously, how is that possible?}

I really enjoy running outdoors, although my geriatric knees don't allow it as much as on a treadmill. Nevertheless, I strap on my running shoes a few times a week and head out, jamming to I'm Sexy and I Know It.

And every single time right when I get sweaty and out of breath and I feel like I'm ready to die because I'm running a 12 minute mile, an old dude passes me.

The same old guy. Every time. He's gotta be in his 80s. All hunched over and running.

Faster than me.

It's humbling.

But then I remind myself, he's probably an alien too. And then I feel better.

Also something that makes me feel better?

Doing this:

~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.

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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)

Valentine's Day Cake Balls

Have you ever heard of a cake ball? If you haven't you're in for a treat. They are exactly what they sound like: little balls of cake. Except for one thing: they are dipped in chocolate. Yes, you heard me right. Cake and chocolate, like a truffle. I'll wait while you go get a napkin to clean the drool off your computer.

I'd never heard of these delightful concoctions until about a year ago, when I discovered Bakerella. If you haven't been to her website, you really should check it out. She started out making cake balls and then started making cake pops (way before Wilton jumped on the bandwagon, I really hope they've sent her a thank you card). Her pops are truly works of art.

Like truffles, cake balls take time to make. But they are so good! A hard chocolate shell that collapses when you bite into it because of the soft cake and frosting mixture inside. They are worth the time spent, I promise you that. And the ingredients couldn't be simpler: cake, frosting, and chocolate.

You start with a baked cake.  You can use your favorite cake recipe or a box mix. I've even made them before with part of a mix (I had made one round cake for a birthday and had one left, so I made cake balls. If you did this you'd just have to alter how much frosting you use.)

Here comes the fun part. Crumble the cake in a (very) large bowl. (You really should use the largest bowl you can unless you want to be vacuuming crumbs off your counters and floor, or yelling at your dog to "STOP EATING THAT RIGHT NOW IT'S CHOCOLATE AND YOU'LL GET SICK" like she can actually understand your words.)

Mix in your frosting. Start with 3/4 of the can and work up to the full can. You can use your hands or a large spoon. To test for consistency, try to squish it together. If it sticks, you're good. It becomes wetter looking also, not crumby.

Scoop out balls of the cake mixture onto a parchemnt or wax paper lined cookie sheet. I like to use a cookie scoop for this. Once it's all scooped out, go back and roll them into better balls. You'll get about 60 balls, depending on size.

Refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes (or longer if you want) to set. When you're ready to dip, melt your chocolate. You can use the blocks of bark they sell at the grocery store, Wilton candy melts, or chocolate chips. My favorite thing to use (for any chocolate candy recipe) are Guittard's Melt 'n Molds. They taste AWESOME. (Guittard also makes chocolate chips - my favorite.) It's harder to find Guittard's Melt 'n Molds when it's not Christmastime, but you can check them out here. Whatever type of chocolate you use, you need about 24 oz to do the whole batch (buy a little extra, just in case).

I like to do my chocolate in batches; about half or a third at a time. I dip the cake balls until I'm out of chocolate and then melt more. Water ruins chocolate and I've had times (not just with cake balls) where I've melted all my chocolate, dip a few items, and the chocolate seizes because there was some moisture somewhere. By doing it a little at a time I don't ruin all my chocolate if this happens.

To keep your chocolate warm and melted, I preheat my electric griddle to it's lowest setting (about 200 degrees) and place two thick kitchen towels on top. Then I place my chocolate in it's microwave safe Tupperware bowl on top and dip from there, stirring occasionally. Dip, pick up with fork, tap tap tap, wipe off excess, repeat.

Once the balls are dipped, refrigerate until set. You can eat them this way, or you can decorate them. Decorating is the fun part; the sky's the limit! Use more chocolate and some sprinkles, drizzle them with melted white chocolate or other colors of the Wilton Melts. For these Valentine Cake Balls I used red Wilton Melts. I melt them the same way I melt chocolate (in the microwave) and then put in a little squirt bottle and decorate the tops. You can also use a zipper-top bag or pastry bag, or a fork to achieve the same thing. Have fun with it!

I used a silicone heart-shaped ice mold (from IKEA) to make the heart shaped cake ball.

And you know the best part about these cake balls? You can freeze them! Ahead of time! For using at a later date! (Like, say, when you've got 20 kids coming over for a birthday party two days before Valentine's Day and you're making a large from-scratch tiered cake for the birthday girl and you don't want your head to explode the day after when you try to sit down and make 60 cake balls for Monday? I'm just sayin'.)

Or they'd probably be good straight from the freezer for a midnight snack. Not that I'd know.

Enjoy!

Cake Balls

Printer-Friendly Recipe

Decorate these for whatever occasion you need them for! They are very versatile.

Ingredients:

1 9x13 cake, prepared (from your favorite recipe or box mix)
*I've always used chocolate and have seen recipes using red velvet. I've never tried vanilla.*
1 can vanilla frosting (not whipped)
24oz + a little extra of chocolate melts, bark, or chips (milk, dark, or even white)
More chocolate (any kind), colored melts, and/or sprinkles for decorating

1. Once your cake has cooled completely (you can even bake it the day before), crumble it into a very large bowl. Mix in the frosting (starting with about 3/4 of the can, adding more as needed) until completely incorporated. The mixture should stick together if you press it in the palm of your hand.

2. Scoop out your desired size balls onto a wax or parchment lined cookie sheet. I find that a small cookie scoop works best for size and uniformity. Then roll each ball between your hands to create a better shape.  Chill for at least 20 minutes.

3. Melt half your chocolate, either in the microwave or in a glass bowl on top of a pot of simmering water. (I prefer the microwave, in a sturdy Tupperware bowl.) If you want to keep your chocolate warm during dipping, preheat an electric griddle at about 200 degrees and cover it with two thick kitchen towels. Place your melted chocolate in its bowl on top of the towels during dipping. Stir occasionally. When this runs out, melt the remaining chocolate.

4. Dip your cake balls in the chocolate and place carefully onto another wax or parchment lined cookie sheet. I use a spoon and a fork for dipping: a spoon to cover the ball and a fork for removing. Dip, pick up on fork, tap on the side of the bowl, wipe off excess chocolate from under the fork with the spoon, then move to prepared cookie sheet. I call it the "dip, tap tap tap" method. Very scientific.

5. Chill your balls until hardened. It won't take long. Decorate with more melted chocolate and/or sprinkles or another color of candy melts.

You can freeze them for later use. To freeze, place so they are not touching on a cookie sheet and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Then place in a seal-able container, separating the layers in wax paper. Seal and freeze until ready to use.

Yield: about 60 cake balls

Source: Bakerella
Printed at Crazy for Crust