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Archive for the ‘Holiday Recipes’ Category

Holiday Cake Balls

Posted in Cake, Christmas, Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Holidays, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I’ve been dying to make cake balls for a couple months. Don’t ask me why. It’s just one of those weird things that  infiltrate my brain at 3 a.m. and won’t let me rest.

I decided to make a batch for a holiday party and I will state the following about the process:

1. It was easy

2. It was tasty

3. It was messy

4. It took a little bit of time

Overall, a very fun project and one that would be great if you had an afternoon to spend with your kiddos, dipping the balls.

For the sake of easy handling, I decided to put the balls on sticks and now, I guess, I should really call them cake pops.

Ingredients

Once the cake is baked and cooled, you are ready to start the process. I forgot to include a can of frosting in the ingredient list!

Dump the entire cake into a large bowl and break apart.

Add in half a can of frosting and mix together until ball starts to form. It will feel moist and sticky.

Form cake balls. I made mine fairly big because I wanted to have fewer to dip. I'm a lazy slug that way. I'm also incapable of making perfectly round balls, so pardon my somewhat oddball shaped creation.

 

Cover a styrofoam block with foil.

 

Melt the candy coating then dip in ends of lollipop sticks.

 

Harpoon cake balls with sticks and let rest until candy has hardened.

 

Cover cake balls with candy coating. I used a spoon to drizzle over the balls. Gently tap stick on edge of bowl to get off excess coating.

 

While candy coating is still warm, decorate balls with your choice of sprinkles, crushed peppermint, chocolate shavings or whatever tickles your fancy. Poke sticks into foam and let set until coating has hardened.

 

Serve and enjoy!

 

Holiday Cake Balls

1 cake mix (baked according to package directions)

1 can frosting

1 package candy coating (I used Almond Bark)

Sprinkles or other decoration

Lollipop sticks

Bake the cake according to package directions. Cool completely.

In a large bowl, break up entire cake then mix in 1/2 of the can of frosting. I used chocolate just because I need chocolate like most people need air, but you could choose any flavor cake and frosting.

You may have to get your hands into the project to get it thoroughly mixed and you most definitely will get hands-on- involvement when you form the balls. The size is totally dependent on how big you want to make them. I’d stick in the ballpark of between one to two inches diameter.

Once the ball are formed, melt the candy coating. I did just a few bricks at a time so the whole bowl of coating wouldn’t get hard before I was done. You can just pop it into the microwave in 30-second intervals until it is melted. Do not reheat it as it gets gunky and icky quickly. Use it up then melt the next round.

When  the candy coating is ready, dip in the ends of the sticks then stab them into the balls. Let them sit until the coating is nice and firm. This is very important. If you don’t do this, your sticks may fall out and that would be tragic.

Once the balls are ready for dipping, use a spoon to swirl coating over the balls. Tap the edge of the stick lightly on the bowl to get off excess coating. Cover the ball in sprinkles, crushed candy canes, whatever sounds good and looks tasty. Then poke a hole with the stick into the foam black and let rest until the coating is good and firm.

Repeat until all balls are coated. You can put these in the freezer, wrap in individual cellophane bags or share them for devouring as soon as you are finished.

Enjoy!

She Who Liked These Way Too Much

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Peppermint Pillows

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Desserts, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, tagged , , , , on December 2, 2011 | 2 Comments »

The other day I was wandering around the grocery store trying to find what I can’t at this moment remember, but I came across a beautiful bag of peppermint marshmallows.

I had to have them. No clue what I was going to do with them, but had to have them.

So I mulled over some ideas of what to make with the sweet little puffs of peppermint and came up with the following.

These are super easy and pretty yummy, if I say so myself!

Ingredients

If the cookie dough looks too thick, slice it into thinner pieces. I cut these into thirds.

While the cookies are baking, crush the dickens out of a candy cane or peppermint stick.

A great stress reliever...

When the cookies are almost done but still gooey in the middle, remove from oven and top with marshmallows.

While the marshmallows are turning into molten pools of bliss, warm the frosting in the microwave for 10-15 seconds, until thin and pourable.

Remove from oven when marshmallows start to melt.

Pour over frosting

Then sprinkle with crushed candy. I am hoping you aren't quite as messy as I am in the frosting stage of this production. If you are, line your pan with parchment to cut down on the mess and stress.

Peppermint Pillows

1 bag peppermint marshmallows

1 package chocolate cookie dough

1 can chocolate frosting

Candy cane or peppermint stick

Bake cookies according to package directions.(You could also make your own cookies from scratch. I cut the purchased cookie dough into thirds because I didn’t want the cookie to be too thick).

Just before they are done, while the insides are still gooey, place a marshmallow on top and return for oven until marshmallow starts to melt. While the marshmallows are turning molten, put frosting into a microwave safe pitcher and nuke for about 15 seconds or until thin. Do not over cook or it will taste scorched and believe me – that is a horridly nasty flavor.

It will only take a minute or two for the marshmallows to be ready to take out of the oven. When they are, pour on the frosting and sprinkle with crushed candy cane or peppermint. Let cool then roll your eyes in bliss as you take a bite. Enjoy!

She Who Loves Peppermint

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Pumpkin Mousse Trifle

Posted in Cake, Desserts, Easy Recipes, Entertaining at Home, Holiday Recipes, Puddings and Custards, Recipes, tagged , , , on November 18, 2011 | 3 Comments »

Warning: If you are on a diet or trying to avoid sweet, delicious goodness, you may want to skip right past today’s recipe post.

I made this Pumpkin Mousse Trifle for a potluck last week and it was quite tasty. Actually, it was more than quite tasty. It was downright want-to-lick-the-plate good.

And here is the best part – it was super fast and easy.

Anyone looking for a quick and simple no-bake recipe for Thanksgiving, try this. You’ll be glad you did!

Cast of Tasty Characters

You can use any kind of dense cake – pound cake works especially well. You could also use angel food cake or bundt cake. Regular cake tends to get a little crumbly. I ran out of time to bake gingerbread and resorted to a pound cake from the bakery.

Cut the cake into little bite-sized cubes. Try not to snitch too many. At this point I got in a bit of a hurry to get this finished and forgot to snap photos of mixing up the mousse. Mix the pudding mix with milk then add the cream cheese. If you have a 3-ounce package of cream cheese, it will work fine, otherwise cut an 8-ounce package in half. Mix it with the pudding then add pumpkin filling and spices. Blend well then let rest for about 5 minutes.

Whip up some whipped cream. I like to add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to sweeten it up a bit.

Start layering the trifle by adding in 1/3 of the cake cubes.

Layer in 1/3 of the mousse mixture. Top with a drizzle of the caramel and then whipped cream. Continue making layers of cake, mousse, caramel and whipped cream.

Finish with a layer of toffee sprinkles, if you so desire.  My taste buds greatly desired. You could also do another drizzle of caramel. Or a spinkle of cinnamon. Go wild and crazy if you wish.

Pumpkin Trifle Mousse

1 box of gingerbread mix, baked (or 2 cups of cake cubes)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 small box instant cheesecake pudding

2 cups milk

1 cup pumpkin pie filling

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup caramel sauce

2 cups whipped cream

Toffee bits for topping (optional)

If you are making your own gingerbread, bake and let cool. You need about 2 cups of cake cubes. I planned to use gingerbread, but I ran out of time to make it, so I grabbed a pound cake that looked quite yummy. It was.

Mix pudding with two cups of milk. Add in softened cream cheese and blend. Then mix in pumpkin and spices. Blend well then set aside for about five minutes. Whip up whipped cream, set aside.

Cut cake into cubes and start layer in a trifle bowl, large glass bowl or individual glasses.You are going to do three layers, so use everything in thirds (guesstimates work just fine).

Top cake with mousse then drizzle with caramel sauce. Spoon on a layer of whipped cream then start again with a layer of cake.

Finish with a layer of whipped cream. You can top with toffee bits and cinnamon or another drizzle of caramel and cake crumbs. Whatever strikes your fancy.

Have fun with it and enjoy!

She Who Would Have Licked Her Plate If Witnesses Weren’t Present

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Banana Cheesecake

Posted in Desserts, Entertaining Ideas, Holiday Recipes, Holidays, tagged , , , on May 6, 2011 | 2 Comments »


My most wonderful mother-in-law will be arriving later today for the weekend. We are pretty excited about her coming for Mother’s Day!

I wanted to make something extra special for her so I contacted my sister-in-law to find out her favorite desserts. One of them just happens to be The Cheesecake Factory’s Banana Cheesecake.

After a little bit of searching online I found the recipe and dived right in to create this treat for her.

I will warn you that it takes a bit of patience to make, but the result is most definitely worth it!

Ingredients for Banana Cheesecake.

Smash cookies until finely crushed (or pulse in food processor). At least this way, I could put Captain Cavedweller to work!

Press obliterated cookies into the bottom of a springform pan.

Mash up enough bananas to make 1 cup. I used three, and then made Captain Cavedweller mash them for me.

Beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy.

Add your eggs one at a time.

Pour batter into crust.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes then reduce temp to 200 for 75-90 minutes. Mine was closer to 90 when I took it out of the oven and could probably have gone another 5-10 minutes to be done the way I would have really liked. I recommend not deciding to make this at say 7 p.m. at night because you'll be standing in your PJs staring at the stove waiting for this to be done!

You can garnish the cheesecake with slices of fresh banana, a dollop of whipped cream, whatever floats your boat. My boat was floating on caramel sauce, Heath bits and chocolate swirlies.

Enjoy!

Banana Cheesecake

1 package vanilla sandwich cookies

1/4 cup butter, melted

24 ounces cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp. cornstarch

3 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. banana flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cookies in a resealable bag and smash the dickens out of them with a cast iron skillet or a meat tenderizer. If you have a food processor, just pulse until they are finely crushed. Mine were finely crushed by Captain Cavedweller.  Crushed by the fine Captain Cavedweller. Finally crushed finely. Oh, you know what I mean.

Add melted butter and mix well. Press into the bottom of a 10″ springform pan and refrigerate.

Beat cream cheese on medium speed with electric mixer until creamy. Add sugar and cornstarch, beating until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas, cream and vanilla and banana flavoring. If you don’t have banana flavoring, just add another spoon of vanilla. Place springform pan on cookie sheet. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and continue baking 75-90 minutes until center is just set. Loosen edge of springform pan but do not remove. Let cool completely then take off pan rim. Refrigerate cheesecake for at least six hours before serving.

Happy Entertaining and Happy Mother’s Day!

She Who Can’t Wait for my MIL to Arrive!

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