Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

I posted that I wanted to try these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls, I decided this weekend was as good as any. They were super easy, super yummy, and they don't include any egg, so the raw dough is completely safe to eat!

I did a Google search and found this recipe.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1(14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet choc. chips
1 1/2 lb choc. bark
*The original recipe called for pecans, but omitted them*

In a large bowl cream butter and brown sugar with a mixer on med speed.
Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and add milk. Add choc. chips and pecans. Shape into tiny balls. Place on wax paper and chill 2 hours.

Melt choc. bark in microwave. Dip balls into the choc. to coat. Chill to set.

I ran out of chocolate thought it would be fun to do some with white chocolate.

Red, White, & Blue - Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

I have seen brownies made from cake mix before, but never tried it myself. I saw a recipe for red velvet brownies online, but I didn't have all the ingredients I needed. I saw that Bakerella made brownies from a chocolate cake mix, so I tweaked that recipe a little for the red velvet box of cake mix I had in my pantry.

Brownies:
1 pkg Red Velvet Cake Mix
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
8 tbsp water

Cream Cheese Topping (Bakerella's Recipe):
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (softened)
2 eggs
1 lb confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I dyed some of the cream cheese topping blue before I swirled it on top. It kind of baked into the brownie in some places, so there are parts where the cream cheese is sandwiched between the brownie. The verdict? YUM!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls?

Yesterday somebody brought chocolate chip cookie balls to Jonathan and Carolyn's. They were so yummy! Along with the frosting bombs (that I never got around to making), these are next on my list of things to make!

Welcome Baby Cake Pops

Cupcakes in a Jar

I've seen these cupcakes-in-a-jar on a few websites, but when I saw these ones a while back I completely fell in love with the idea and planned to make them for my fellow teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week. As it turns out, I didn't end up having enough time to make them.


So I made them this week instead! Jonathan and Carolyn had a "Meet the Baby" party for their little Kaleia, so I made some cupcakes-in-a-jar to take with me! I think they look much cuter in the taller jars from my inspiration, but I would need to put two cupcakes in each jar, and that just seemed like a lot of cake for somebody to eat in one sitting. So I opted for shorter jars. I think my favorite thing about these were how well they traveled, so much easier to transport than actual cupcakes!
 

Cinco de Mayo, Anyone?

I started following RecipeGirl a while ago on fb because she had a lot of kid-friendly recipes. A few days ago I saw her recipe for Margarita Cupcakes and decided I had to try them. No, they're not exactly friendly to my diet, and no, I don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo. But I like to find any excuse for a margarita. Cinco de Mayo sounds like a good excuse to me!

Her recipe yields 24 cupcakes, but I did away with a few of those and made some minis, well, just because. I love mini cupcakes!

Ingredients:

CAKE:
9 ounces Margarita Mixer, bottled liquid
3 ounces tequila
3/4 ounce Grand Marnier - I used Triple Sec because that's what we had in the bar
1 (18.25 ounce) box white cake mix
3 large egg whites
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 Tablespoon lime zest


LIME BUTTERCREAM ICING:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 to 6 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lime zest
green food coloring, if desired
small lime slices for garnish, if desired


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two dozen cupcake tins with paper liners.

2. Prepare cupcakes: Whisk together margarita mix, tequila and Grand Marnier in a small bowl. Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the recipe; pour the rest on some ice and drink it while making the cupcakes :)

3. In a large bowl, blend cake mix, egg whites, vegetable oil, lime zest and 1 1/4 cups of the margarita mix from step 1. Blend on low for about 30 seconds and then increase speed to medium and blend for two additional minutes. Batter will be slightly lumpy.

4. Spoon the batter into cupcake liners (about 3/4 full). Bake for 20-25 min, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for about 10 minutes in the pans, then remove them to a rack to cool completely.

5. Prepare icing: Once cucpakes are completely cooled, prepare the icing. Place butter in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until butter is fluffy. Add 5 cups of powdered sugar, salt, lime juice, and lime zest. Mix until thick and creamy. Add more powdered sugar until the frosting is of a good spreading (or piping) consistency. Mix in a tiny amount of green food coloring or gel paste if you'd like the frosting to have a green tint. Ice cupcakes in whatever manner you prefer... spreading or piping the frosting. Use small lime slices as garnish.

Jolee's Smash Cake

So, maybe you say I got a little carried away. I can live with that. This was Jolee's smash cake. Yes, I must be out of my mind because I made a 2-tiered smash cake. I've wanted to do one that was 2-tiers for a while now, and Jolee seemed perfect for it!

Her cake was made to match her party decor (Hugs & Stitches), which looked like this:

In pictures, this cake looks a lot bigger than it really is, so I took a picture of it next to the first thing I could get my hands on so you can compare the size. Closest thing was my desk, so a stapler it was!