Thanks

125 cake balls done - too tired to blog.

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for my family, friends and all of the many lessons I learned this year. 

But I am also thankful for you taking time out of your day to visit the little blog that could.

No TWD this week

This week's Tuesday with Dorie was chosen by Britin of The Nitty Britty.  She picked the All in One Holiday Bundt Cake.  This looks really good as I've seen several TWDers who have baked it but it didn't make the Thanksgiving dinner list so I'll make this some other time.  Don't forget to visit the other bakers to see what they have been baking!

A New Fav - Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

So many of the recent recipes I've blogged about have been new.  I love trying new desserts saving my tried and true desserts for special occassions.  I love sweets so I often give strong reviews.  But this little cookie - I love.  It came from the chocoholic, my sister.  She found it on someone else's blog (but didn't doesn't know the origin).  So anon blog - THANK YOU.  The only changes I made were to increase the baking soda and use semi-sweet chocolate versus dark chocolate.

When I first tried them, I thought maybe I should have added a little more peppermint extract.  But then I had another one after dinner and realized it was just right.  I only baked one batch, putting the rest in the freezer but I'm already tempted to bake more. 

Enjoy! 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of baking Soda
1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 tsp. of peppermint extract
1 cup of chopped semi sweet chocolate - I used Ghiradelli

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and peppermint extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chopped chocolate by hand.  Preheat the oven to 375F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Scoop out well rounded teaspoon of the dough and roll them into balls.  I used tiny ice cream scoop which I love for chocolate chip cookies!

Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing.

I totally get Twilight

So I'm a little behind with the Twilight thing.  I have to admit, I hadn't even heard about it until the first movie opened last year.  Suddenly all of my friends were up all night reading the entire series before heading to the movies and claiming "Team Edward" or "Team Jake".

This weekend, my sister and I reverted to our 13 and 14 year old selves and read both Twilight and New Moon.  Then proceeded to watch both movies.

I totally get it.  This series was so written for the teenage me.  To love the boy that is soooooo wrong for me and of course our love is greater than any other love before.  Check!

The movies..... not so much.  I was shocked to discover the first movie was written and directed by a woman.  Where's the love?  Oh and I really think Robert Pattinson is a nice guy and I so want to like him.  But he needs a few acting lessons.  Okay my sister says it is not him but bad directing.  Either way, I'm going to need whomever is writing, directing, staring in Twilight 3 - to READ the book and then interview a bunch of teenage girls to find out why we they love it so.

Perfect Party Treat - Cake Balls

Last year, I discovered Bakerella's blog and cake balls.  Now I see them everywhere!  I have visions of dessert buffets with cute little candies filled with cake of various colors and flavors.  Chocolate Peanut Butter, Chocolate Mint, Red Velvet, Oreo, Pumpkin Caramel, Apple Caramel (okay you get the picture).   Cake Balls can be made with cake scraps but since I tend to not level my cakes before icing, I never have scraps.  But when I decided to make the extra tall Strawberry cake last week, I saved a tier to try them out.  I am so glad I did.

I crumbled the cake in a bowl and mixed in about 3/4 cup of cream cheese frosting.  Mix the frosting a little at a time.  You don't want it to be too wet, just enough frosting to bind the cake crumbs together.  Then I formed little cake balls. 

I put the cake balls in the fridge for a couple of hours to set.  Otherwise, the balls will come apart when dipping in the chocolate.

For chocolate, I recommend candy melts or chocolate bark.  I made a couple of cake balls with regular chocolate chips and not only was the chocolate a little too thick, but it also took over an hour to set.  The candy melts set in less than 10 minutes.  I purchased my candy melts at Michaels and they come in a wide variety of colors. 

The cake balls were WONDERFUL.  The strawberry cake enrobed in white chocolate was just like biting into a fruit flavored chocolate truffle.  This is definitely something you should add to your holiday buffet table. 

Have you made cake balls?  What's your favorite flavor combination?