Cake Pops

  Ah, cake pops. I've wanted to try my hand at these for quite some time, but never got around to it until now. Deceptively simple seeming, there are actually quite a few things to pay attention to the first time you make them, as I found out.
  This is another one of those desserts that is endlessly customizable. There are an infinite number of fillings, coatings, and toppings you can use. For my first batch, I used plain old yellow cake (from a box mix) and white chocolate for the coating.

  Your first step is to bake a beautiful cake. Make it from a box, or from scratch, and in whatever shape you like. It won't matter when you get to the next step, which is...

  ...to completely obliterate your beautiful cake. Turn it into crumbs. I used my stand-mixer, but you can use any method you prefer. If you use a shotgun, be sure to pick the pellets out of your cake-crumbs before moving on to the next step.

  Next, you'll add some frosting to the cake crumbs, and combine them well, until they form a "dough." I say "some" frosting, because it's a bit subjective. If you use too much, your cake pops will be overly dense and mushy. If you use too little, they will crumble apart and not hold their shape. I used about half of a standard frosting container. You also want to be careful with what frosting flavor you choose. Make sure it compliments your cake flavor. I picked plain white, which really doesn't have a flavor.

  Now, roll the dough into small balls no bigger than about 1 1/3" in diameter. Some people will want to use a scoop for this, so all their pops are exactly the same size, but I just eyeballed it. In order to help the balls better maintain their shape, I gave the dough a slight squeeze before forming it. Throw them in the fridge for a little while as you work on the next step.

  Using a double boiler, or heating it in the microwave, melt your chocolate coating. If you double boiler it, be careful to not get any water in your chocolate, because it will seize. If you use your microwave, do it in no longer than 30-second bursts, or you will risk overheating the chocco.

  You see here that my white chocolate is completely melted, but still looks pretty thick. That's okay, because the first thing I'm going to do with it is dip the ends of my cake pop sticks into it.

  Take your cake balls out of the fridge and insert the sticks into them, first dipping them in the chocolate. This will glue the balls to the stick, and form a nice little support that will keep them from sliding down the stick when they're right side up. Throw them back in the fridge for 10 minutes or so to let the chocolate firm up.

  Now comes the fun part. Dip the cake pops in your melted chocolate coating, being sure to coat the entire thing (my white chocolate was a little thick for dipping, so I added a couple tablespoons of canola oil). Go easy on them, or you'll knock the cake ball right off. Too much up-and-down dunking or twisting motions will bring you to grief. Just dunk them, then bring them out and let the excess drip off. Turn them on their side and rotate them, giving a gentle tap as you do so.
  Don't roll them in your coatings just yet. At this stage, the chocco is so gooey that it won't be able to hold them and the whole thing will slide right off. Instead, let them sit for a couple minutes until they start to take on a dull sheen. Then, you can stick them in your sprinkles or nuts, or mini-chips, or whatever you like.
  Don't refrigerate them, because it will cause them to sweat. Leave them out on the counter to firm up for a few hours, or overnight. Trust me, they will be perfect.

  Enjoy!

Granola Bites

  Tired of those run-of-the-mill granola bars from the store that have preservatives and chemicals and formaldehyde and insect parts and who-knows-what in them? Why not make your own?
  I sound like an infomercial.
  Really, though, these granola bites (or indeed, bars, if you wish) are ridiculously easy to make, and endlessly customizable. My favorite two things! You can put the mini-chocco chips in that this recipe calls for, or you can put nuts in there, or dried cranberries, or pretty much whatever you want. You can make them into bite size treats with a mini-muffin pan, as I did, or put the mixture into a pan and slice them into bars. Do whatever your little chef heart desires. The original recipe was posted over at Another Lunch, and is as follows:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 C. quick oats
1/2 C. crisp rice cereal
1/2 C. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. canola oil
1/4 C. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
* optional: ground flax seed and/or wheat germ (I use 3 heaping Tbs. or so of each).

Directions:

Mix all ingredients (except for the chocolate chips - keep those out for now) really, really, really well. I start with a wooden spoon and then usually end up using my hands too. Take your time to make sure everything is really blended. Taking your time also allows the wet ingredients to sort of soak into the dry components. If your mixture seems dry after mixing then you may need to add a little more oil and/or honey - a teaspoon at a time - until it starts to clump up a little. It may be hard to tell, but can you see how some of the granola mixture is starting to cling and ball up a little here?
  When your granola mixture gets to this point, not too wet, not too dry, then stir in the chocolate chips.   Holding the mini muffin cups, scoop the granola mixture in and form the mound compactly. I use a rounded tablespoon to help form them, a small cookie scoop would work too. You need to use both hands to press the granola and support the muffin cup at the same time. Line them up on a baking sheet to place in the oven.
  Press the remaining granola into your baking pan (if you are making bars). Make sure your baking pan has been sprayed well with non-stick spray! Press mixture firmly, compacting it as well as you can.

Baking:

350 degrees. Granola bites: 12-15 minutes. Granola bars: 17-22 minutes (keep an eye on them!). They are ready to remove from oven when the tops are golden. If they don't cook long enough they may not hold their shape. If they cook too long they will get too dry (not to mention they can burn) and may not hold their shape. (I've found granola bars to be finicky.) Let the granola bites cool completely. Just leave 'em alone for a few hours so they can set. Then, they are done! So easy.