Peanut Butter Banana Truffles

I kept seeing this recipe floating around but never thought to try it until I started getting into making chocolate covered treats.  I'm probably the last person on earth to know that chocolate, bananas and peanut butter go together, but now that I know, I'm setting this one on the top of my chocolate covered list.  Even better, is to freeze them. I cannot explain it any better other than to say its an amazing bite of deliciousness.  From the ice cold banana, to the sprinkle of salt on the chocolate, these are without a doubt a hit.

What You Need:

• 2 bananas - slice them into 1/2 inch pieces.
• 2tbs of creamy peanut butter
• 1 tbs heavy cream
• 1/4 cup or confectioners sugar 
• 1 bag of Wiltons chocolate melts 
• Sea Salt
• Toothpicks
• Wax or Parchment paper
• Baking sheet

Directions:

• Line the baking sheet with the wax or parchment paper
• Place the sliced bananas on the sheet and set aside for a moment.

• Mix the peanut butter, confectioners sugar and heavy cream together. At this point the peanut butter will be thicker and you can take a bit and place on top of the banana slices.

• Melt your chocolate (I personally prefer to use Wiltons versus the Nestle morsels because of how easily and quickly they melt).
• Dip each of the banana/PB slices into the chocolate. Swirl it around to ensure its all coated.  Using a toothpick, transfer back to the baking sheet.
• Sprinkle a little sea salt and any other sprinkles you want.
• Place in freezer for an hour or so. More or less is up to you.
• You're Done!

Lemon-Lime Sugar Cookie Truffles

I've tried several different kinds of cake balls thus far, but I've never made them with a cookie mix. In fact, I've also never made them without using the Babycakes maker and the whole point of me getting that thing was because I thought it would be easier.  BUT, after making these truffles by hand, I am thinking I may opt for this method more often. Both ways have their pros and cons of course.

So I've never zested a lime or lemon ever in my life....and its generally something I've avoided because it sounded, well I'm not even sure what it sounded like but whenever I would see a recipe that involved zesting something, I'd ditch the entire recipe.  I've also never really considered lemon treats either. I'm not sure why.  Anyhow, I saw these amazing truffles over at Singforyoursupperblog and the yellow sprinkles lured me in. I decided I'd totally conquer the zesting and not to mention everyone here loves sugar cookies so this could easily be a win.  

What You Will Need:

• 1 bag of store bought sugar cookie mix (or make your own)   
• 1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese (12 ounces) - room temperature.
• 2 bags of Wiltons Candy Melts - white chocolate  (or any other brand. I just prefer Wiltons)
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime.
• Yellow sprinkles

What You Should Do:

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  
• Follow the directions on the bag of sugar cookies or recipe.
• Add the lemon and lime zest and juice and mix mix mix.

I zested and I liked it.
(click the pic )

• Once everything is mixed well, spread the dough in a 9x9 baking dish that you've sprayed with some nonstick spray. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

• Cool completely. Meanwhile, go ahead and set the cream cheese out on the counter. By the time the cookie bake is cooled, the cream cheese will be room temp.
• Once totally cooled, remove from the dish and crumble it all into a medium mixing bowl.

• Add the cream cheese and mix with a fork until everything is blended together.  It'll seem like its not blending at first.. keep going, it will work.  Taste test... omg I'm in heaven.

• Now roll balls a little smaller than a golf ball and put in the fridge for about an hour.  I was able to get around 35 balls from the mix.

• When the balls are chilled, remove from the fridge and then melt the white chocolate per instructions on the package.
• Slowly dip each ball into the chocolate and coat the entire thing. A couple of toothpicks will help get the job done and are useful for getting them out of the chocolate.
• Set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and immediately top with sprinkles. The chocolate will set fairly quickly so you'll want to sprinkle right away
• Place in the fridge until you're ready to eat them. 

NOTE: These are very sweet. I'd recommend not popping a whole one in your mouth and to have some milk or other drink handy. If you're anything like me, one will be plenty. If you are like the rest of my family, you'll be popping several in a sitting.

I also made a couple pink ones for my friend Wendy. I call these ones Pink Lemonade Truffles. ;)

Homemade Lollipops

 

The main thing about this here is that its fun. If you want quality looking lollipops, you may want to go to the store, or perhaps you're a fancy superstar in the kitchen, unlike me.  But if you want fun and you want to entertain the kids or yourself, homemade lollipops kill at least 30 mins - 1hour and everyone walks away happy.  


What You Will  Need:
Jolly Ranchers or any hard candy - 1 bag.
Lollipop Sticks - I got mine at Michaels (don't get the plastic ones, they'll melt!)
Sprinkles - if you want...
Nonstick Spray
Parchment Paper
Aluminum Foil
Baking Sheet


What You Do:
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees.


Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and then the parchment paper. Spray lightly with some nonstick spray and set aside.


Separate your candy colors and then you can go a few ways with this. Smash them, or don't smash them.  Or both. If you plan on smashing them, place the color set in a ziplock baggie and smash on a hard surface like a cutting board.

Now you can start making your patterns. You'll want to do this directly on the parchment paper.  You can use cookie cutters as your pattern makers, but I found this useless. The shapes didn't really stay put once the candy melted. 

Here are some of our smashed and unsmashed.

(click for a closeup)

Place your creations a bit apart so they have room to spread while they melt. You don't want them melting into each other.  


Put in the oven for approximately 7 mins or so. Keep an eye on them, you don't want to let them go too long.

Remove and immediately put your lollipop stick in. You'll want to kind of roll it once to coat it. 


Let them sit for a few so that the candy hardens.
While this is happening, you can add sprinkles even other candies if you'd like. 

Here are some of our creations!
(clearly I can't take a picture worth jack, but you get the idea)

                

Easy Homemade Pop Tarts

Who doesn’t like PopTarts? This household does and so I decided I’m going to be fancy non fancy and make some because then I can say Ohh Ahh I made PopTarts.  I looked at a couple recipes online and they all looked pretty simple; I’m figuring, I got this!  Well I’d like to say that after my attempt, I’ll probably maybe perhaps never make them again.   I can't claim that they look amazing as I had hoped, but they tasted oh so good. I might even venture to say better than the real PopTarts.  Maybe I’ll make them once more. And maybe the next time it’ll go much smoother.

So my first feeble attempt was quite messy. I don’t know how these other people do it but I’d like to see their behind the scenes. I toggled between two recipes on Bake Me More's site and Smitten Kitchen's.  In the end, I was starting to feel real lazy and semi defeated that I gave up on the idea of making the fancy filling with the cornstarch (a la Smitten Kitchen) and just went straight for the easy squeeze bottle in the fridge and nothing more.  I honestly found it to be just fine and delicious.  So for those of you who plan on trying this, I think there’s no need for the added step of mixing in the cornstarch bla bla bla. But what do I know, maybe it makes the filling that much better. I didn’t even attempt the other filling options.

Here goes, the simplest way I found:

Ingredients:

1 package of refrigerated pie crust

Jelly – I used the standard Grape Smuckers.

Butter – few spoons will do.

Glaze, Icing, Sprinkles – whatever you want to top it with.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

There will be 2 pie crusts in the package. It’ll help to let the open package sit for a bit to room temperature. Impatient me didn’t wait THAT long...but I did let the dough soften up some. Dust your workspace with flour and unroll one of the pie crusts out into a rectangular shape. You should have it rolled out enough to cut a 9x13 piece.  I used a baking pan to measure it out and a pizza cutter to cut it.

Repeat with the 2^nd roll.

Next you’ll want to cut the big pieces into several smaller, even rectangles (your Pop Tarts), again using the pizza cutter. I managed a total of 16 smaller pieces.

Now many will say to use the cut off edges to make more or to make other treats.  This is about the point where I was getting annoyed because I couldn’t get it even enough. NOTE: a ruler would help. BUT, I didn’t have a ruler and after a couple attempts to make it look fancy and even, I say forget it... cut what I could cut..tossed the excess. Oooh, so wasteful!

Once you get all your pieces cut you’ll want to melt your butter.  I just tossed a couple spoons in a bowl and nuked it for 20 seconds in the microwave. Brush the butter along the edges of each rectangle. This will help seal your yummy packages.

Now place about 1 tsp of jelly (or whatever you opt for as your filling) in the center of each rectangle and then top it with another piece.  Press down on the four sides lightly to seal, then take a fork and crimp the edges all the way around. You’ll then want to poke small holes on the top of the pop tart so it puffs right when it bakes.

Baking time was about 8 minutes, give or take.  The jelly may ooze out (mine did) but that’s ok. It kind of hardens like a fruit roll up. I just peeled it off and ate it because I was feeling hungry and greedy.

While they are cooling on a rack, you can create your topping.

GLAZE

I did attempt this and semi- failed because I can never seem to get this mix right...

You will need:

1 cup of powdered sugar

Milk to thin.

Place the powder in a bowl and slowly pour milk in until it’s a thick syrup.  I swear I did this... but my results proved otherwise.

It never glazed over in that white tone that I wanted, more so rather an opaque. It still worked and held the sprinkles and tasted fine. Make sure your pop tarts are cooled first before pouring it on. I was impatient and threw them in the freezer.

ICING

Of course you can make your own or be non fancy lazy like me and buy a squeeze pouch and have the kiddos squeeze it on. Fun times for all.

SPRINKLES

Sprinkles makes even the non fancy, fancy.

Now comes the time where you can step back and be amazed by your creation. Even my horrible cutting skills were saved by the icing and sprinkles. Likely you can do a better job than me, but nobody in my house complained and the plate was empty before the day was over. 

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Cookies. Ice Cream. Sprinkles. Three things that go well together.
I don't have a big sweet tooth, but everyone in this house does and I enjoy making these things. So here we have a quick and easy ice-cream sandwich.


You will need:


Cookies!  - I used store bought oatmeal and chocolate chip.
Ice Cream - I used vanilla
Sprinkles


Its as easy as spreading the ice cream between two cookies, dipping the edges in sprinkles, freezing it for a bit to harden and eating.


I will say that I thought I could use frozen yogurt the first go around, but between the heat outside and the heat in my kitchen that turned into an instant melted pile of disaster.  I'm not kidding when I say instant either.  


Never fear though, that cookie yogurty mess was saved with sprinkles, cinnamon powder and a cherry on top. I crumbled the cookies up in the melted mess, added a little more and served it up. The kids were eagerly pleased and none the wiser.

Rum Balls

These rum balls are simply another variation of the Basic Babycakes Cake Pops minus the lollipop stick.


What You Will Need:
Fudge Brownie Mix - 1 box.
Wiltons Candy Melts - Dark and White Chocolate.
Sprinkles - Cookies and Cream, Chocolate, and Confectioners Sugar
Rum - 1/2 Cup.


Directions:
Follow the exact directions used for the Basic Babycakes Cake Pops but also include 1/2 cup of rum to the mix.

Here's everything you need and here's how the cake balls came out. They don't look very promising but don't worry, because once you cover them in chocolate, they will look quite nice.

I'm not very neat in the kitchen.

Oooh Ahhh, don't they look good?

As good as an iPhone picture can make something look... but really, they really taste good!!

Basic Babycakes Cake Pops

Cake pops are everywhere these days. I have to admit I have never tried one from the store or one that anyone else has made, but I'd like to assume that the ones I make taste as they should.  I'm definitely not good enough at making them yet to make fancy designs on the outside, but I can toss on some sprinkles and that works just as well for me.  All this work to have these yummy little cake bites gone in a flash. You really can't eat just one!


I found the Babycakes Cake Pops maker at the craft store for $29.  There are little slots for a dozen cake balls.  I should have picked up the model that came with the stand because after just my first run with this model here, I quickly came to learn that it is important to have something sturdy to hold the pops up while they cool.   I did end up using the styrofoam inserts that where in the box holding the maker steady, but thats only because I didn't have anything else in the house and had no intentions of leaving the house.  From what I can tell though, using a solid rectangular foam piece should work fine.  So if you happen to get the model I got, make sure you grab a block of styrofoam too.  Your other option is to just set them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  The only problem then would be a flat dent at the top of your pop.  

What You'll Need:

• 1 Box of your favorite cake mix and everything in its instructions that you need (eggs, etc)
• 1 bag Wiltons Candy Melts - flavor is your choice.
• Sprinkles, crushed graham crackers - whatever you'd like to decorate with.
• Lollipop Sticks - I got mine at Michaels.
• Parchment Paper

Directions:

• Make the cake mix according to the directions on the package.
• Plug in the Babycakes maker and when the light is green, slowly pour batter into each of the 12 wells - approximately 1 tablespoon of batter.  
• Close the lid and let it bake for about 4-6 minutes. Once thoroughly baked, remove and set aside. A box of cake mix should get you about 3 dozen cake balls.
• I used Wiltons Candy Melts for my outer coating after trying Hersheys white chocolate chips, which I found took a lot longer to melt and I had to add vegetable oil to thin it out.  Wiltons melted fairly quickly and tastes just as good.  Follow the directions on the package to melt the chocolate. 

• Once melted, dip one end of a lollipop stick into the chocolate and then into a cake ball.  This will help the ball stick to the stick better when you dip the entire ball into the chocolate.  

• Next, dip the chocolate. I found it works best if you dip and roll the ball.  Tap it slightly not he side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate.  
• Sprinkle with your favorite sprinkle and then if you have the stand or styrofoam, prop each cake pop up. If you don't have either, you can lay them head down on some parchment paper on a baking tray - reminder, this will cause the chocolate to harden with a flat surface at the top of the pop.  
• Place in the fridge for a few hours or the freezer for 10-15m (this is what I did). The chocolate will set and then are considered ready to eat! Michaels has these little treat bags you can use (they are right by the lollipop sticks) if you plan on making them for a special occasion.  

** If you don't have a Babycakes maker, you can make the cake balls by hand. There are countless recipes online for cake that you can follow.  Or here is a very basic cake from scratch recipe:


1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar and baking powder. Add milk, margarine or butter, egg and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined. Beat on medium speed 1 minute. Bake as directed and then follow the same steps with the chocolate melt.