Halloween Cake Pops and a Giveaway!

Hi Guys!

Sorry it's been so long, but I'm back with a gift for you.

No Bake Cake Balls

"In cooking (baking), as in all the arts, simplicity is the sign of perfection." --Curnonsky

That quote was obviously written about cake balls.

I love making cake balls.  They are the easiest, but most delicious little creations ever.

Cinnamon Roll Balls

Okay, so remember how I told you guys I made my dad my grandma's "coffee cake" (aka cinnamon rolls) for Father's Day?

Well, I ended up burning them while I was writing that post!

How sad is that? I was really upset, especially since I worked so hard to do something special for my dad.

I haaattee when my surprises are ruined!  I put all that time and effort into making something so perfect for somebody and then it gets ruined!  Such a bummer!

It's okay, though.  You know why?  When life hands you burnt cinnamon rolls, go with it.

The centers of mine were still okay, so I made cinnamon roll balls.  Like cake balls, only cinnamon rolls!

So yummy!

Have you guys ever accidentally ruined a surprise?  What did you do about it?

Cinnamon Roll Balls

Ingredients:
2-3 large cinnamon rolls
1/8 cup water
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 cups white chocolate
2 teaspoons oil

Directions:
1.  Process cinnamon rolls in a food processor until small crumbs are formed.
2.  Add water and powdered sugar.  *Add more water if needed.  Should be a doughy consistency.  (The water and powdered sugar are to make an 'icing' flavor.)
3.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place in freezer until semi-sold.
4.  Melt white chocolate and oil.
5.  Dip balls into chocolate. Chill until the chocolate has hardened.
*Optional: Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Coconut Cake Balls

Check out my guest post over at beautiful Alaina's blog: Sweetness of Life.

I wrote about a pretty sweet recipe I accidentally created.

It includes coconut butter, cake mix, and chocolate.

Interested yet?

No?

How 'bout now?

Go check it out! :)  And while you're there, look at all of Alaina's delicious recipes!!

P.S. If you haven't had coconut butter before.. you have to try it.  It's amazing!!

You can buy it here.  Or make your own by processing shredded unsweetened coconut in a food processor until creamy.

Cake Ball Trifle and a Linky Party!

My beautiful friend Molly awarded me with the "Stylish Blogger Award".


I'm feeling very lucky... thanks Molly! :)  I've mentioned her blog on here a few times, but if you haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should!


Da Rules:

1. Say seven things about yourself

2. Pass on to other bloggers

3. Contact them and let them know!

I've already said 7 things about myself... but I'm going to try and do it again.

1.  I've never been to a concert.  Local concerts, yes, but never a really famous concert.  I would love to see Adele, Norah Jones, or Jack Johnson.  


2.  I go through phases... of everything.  Exercise, a certain food, reading, etc.  So when I don't exercise for a while, I don't tend to worry about it because I know I'll be back to it soon.


3.  I'm nervous about living with 3 other girls that I don't know next year.  Last year my roommate was a good friend of mine so I wasn't worried about it (and these year my roommates are my parents haha), but I've never met these girls!  Although I'm nervous, I'm also very excited.

4.  Even though my least favorite color has always been pink, I've started to like it more lately.  But I don't like admitting that.

5.  I can't stand to see anyone or anything get hurt.  Today, my cat killed a bird and all I could think about was the bird's family lol.

He's lucky he's cute.

6.  I eat my baked beans with honey.

7.  My current goal right now is to win this contest I've entered.  I am so excited I can barely take it.  It ends on May 20th and I can't stop thinking about it.  It would seriously make my day, year, life if I even made it to the final round.  More details later! :)

8.  I love linky parties.  I enter almost every single one I see and I love clicking through and finding new blogs.


Since I love linky parties so much, I decided to host my own.  No pictures, though, I'm just testing it out.  Let me know if you guys like it! Pleeeasse add your yummy treats to the list at the bottom of this post! :)

Cake Ball Trifle
*This is soooo adaptable, but using cake balls was probably the best idea I've ever had!


Ingredients

• 2 cups crushed up Cake Balls
• 1/2 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cups heaving whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• • 2 cups chocolate chip
• • 
    
• • Instructions
• 
  
• 1. Beat heavy whipping cream with sugar until stiff peaks form.
  2. In a large bowl, combine chocolate pudding mix, 1/4 cup water and 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 1/2 of the whipped cream mixture.
  3. In another bowl, combine vanilla pudding mix with the other 1/4 cup water and other 1/2 of the can of sweetened condensed milk.  Do not add whipped cream to this mixture!
  4. In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the cake balls, half of the chocolate pudding mixture, half of the vanilla pudding, half of the chocolate chips and half of the whipped cream in layers. Repeat layers. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving. (or not...) 

I'm passing the "Stylish Blogger Award" on to:

Kimberley
Alaina
Jessica
Ari
Kat
Sherri Lynn
Kerry
Vicky
Xinmei
Kate
Sheila
Meghan
Clare

Cake Mix Cookie Balls

The other day, my dearest friend Brandon tried some homemade cake mix cookies that I made and proceeded to tell me that he couldn't decide if he liked those better or the cake balls I make... so I made a combination.  Plus, these are one of my best friend JORDAN'S favorite desserts and she's home from college this weekend! :)

It kind of lead to a series of disasters in the kitchen. 

I was trying to make granola at the same time as these cookie balls and I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

First of all, my cake mix cookies definitely didn't turn out as well as last time.  They turned out more like cake, so although the finished product was delicious, it kind of defeated the whole purpose of my little experiment.  I'm not even really sure what I did wrong because they turned out great last time!  I'm thinking I used too much milk...

Then, while trying to multitask, I spilled my granola alllll over the floor and counter!

I also didn't realize how many cake balls I was getting myself into... yiiikes!  It took probably an hour and a half to coat all of them.  Wooo!! Quite the day, but, like I said, these turned out really well and they're made completely from scratch!

They also turned into a delicious trifle that I'll be posting soon... :)

What are your worst disaster stories in the kitchen?

Cake Mix Cookie Balls

*The recipe obviously needs a little tweaking since mine turned out cakey-er than I would've preferred, but this is my recipe I used. 

Ingredients

1 recipe Homemade White Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 batch White Chocolate Frosting
1-2 packages almond bark (I used one vanilla, one chocolate)  depending on how much you use
2 tablespoons oil, depending on how much almond bark used


Directions

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Mix all ingredients until incorporated.
3.  Drop by tablespoonfulls onto a greased baking sheet.
4.  Bake for 6-8 minutes.
5.  Wait for cookies to cool, then break them all apart and put them in a large mixing bowl.
6.  Mix frosting with cookies.
7.  Roll into your choice of size balls (I used a small melon baller) and place in freezer for about 30 minutes.  This will help the dipping process.
8.  Melt one package chocolate with 1 tablespoon oil.
9.  Dip chilled balls in melted chocolate.