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.

Peanut Patties

  Holy blast from the past, Batman! I loved these things growing up, and my mom loved them when she was growing up too. We used to be able to find them at the grocery store in packs of ten. Then you could only find them in gas stations, one at a time. Then, for the last few years, nothing. Imagine my delight when I stumbled across the recipe on Pinterest!

  They're very easy to put together, and pretty cheap too. They're PURE sugar, so, they aren't the healthiest things for you, but they will kick your sweet tooth right in the sweet teeth.

  Why are some of them heart-shaped, you ask? Why are some of them rougher around the edges, like they took a ride in a washing machine, you ask? For one, you're very observant. Two, stop asking so many questions. Here's the deal: in the original recipe, posted at Just a Pinch, they have you pour the mixture out in little pancakes onto wax paper. You can do that, but the patties I used to get when I was a kid were thicker- like a third of an inch or more. So, I decided I would pour the mix into a muffin pan. Surely it wouldn't stick to the metal, right? Wrong.
  The mix, even when it sets up, is too sticky for a muffin pan. You need to either do the wax paper thing, or do what I did with the remaining part of my mix and pour it into a silicone cupcake sheet. The only one I had was little heart shapes. Adorable, right? Manly, right? No? Anyway, the silicone worked like a charm. The patties set and popped out as easy as you please. Lesson learned. I had to cut the other ones out with a knife, so they got a bit crumbly. They still taste good, though, so it's not a total loss.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 1/2 c sugar
2/3 c light karo
1 c milk
2 1/2 c raw peanuts (16 oz. bag)
4 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 c powdered sugar
4 OR 5 drops red food coloring (I used quite a bit more for my red color)

Directions

1. Place the first four items in a heavy saucepan. Stir to combine.
2. Bring to a boil and continue cooking on a low boil, uncovered, for approx one hour until soft ball stage (235-240*), stirring occasionally.
3. While cooking, prepare a spot on your counter top with waxed paper to drop candy on.
4. At soft ball stage, remove from heat and add margarine/butter stirring until melted.
5. Add powdered sugar, sifting if needed, and red coloring. (I use extra for more color)
6. Stir to combine well. Keep stirring until it just starts to thicken.
7. Quickly drop by spoonfulls onto waxed paper. The nuts should be flat, not in a pile. If candy starts to get too thick, just place pan back on heat to warm slightly.
8. Depending on your preference, they can be any size you like. I prefer to eat several that are 2" across. Bobby likes bigger ones. Your choice will always be right.
9. ENJOY


  Step 9 is always the most important.

Blueberry Banana Bread

  Triple B! What's so special about this banana bread? Absolutely nothing. Banana bread, in fact, is one of the easiest things in the world to make. It's cheap, it's easy, and there is a massive return on investment in the form of tasty, piping hot bread right out of the oven. Some people add chocolate chips, or extra bananas or eye of newt and wing of bat. Customize- it's up to you. I made it this way because I had the ingredients, and I love banana bread. That's it. This recipe was originally posted at The Kitchen Paper.

Blueberry Banana Bread

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed (ripe) banana
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350 F and butter two 4×8 loaf pans.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter and mashed banana. Mix in the two eggs, vanilla, and then sugar. Combine the wet and the dry ingredients, mixing gently until just combined.

Fold in the blueberries, divide batter between the pans, and bake for 60 minutes. If the tops are browning too quickly, tent with foil. Test with a cake tester to make sure the loaves are done before removing from the oven. Let the loaves cool in their pans for 10 minutes before removing and allowing to cool completely.

  **I also threw some chopped almonds in there. I like nuts in my banana bread, and what I had on hand was almonds. Worked just as well, and gave it a nice crunch.

Cucumber Roll-ups with Sundried Tomato Sauce

  Deliciousness! These very-easy-to-prepare-and-even-easier-to-eat-rollups would make great hors d'oeuvres for your next party, brunch, or whatever. There's also a lot here that's customizable. You can make your own hummus, if you're so inclined, or buy any of the many varieties you can find at the market. You can garnish with the sundried tomato sauce, or add your own dash of flavor on the top. If you've got a mandolin and a food processor (or high speed blender), you're pretty much all set. Here are the recipes you'll need: (originally posted at The Detoxinista- and with many more pretty pics!)

INGREDIENTS:

1 large cucumber
Hummus
Sun Dried Tomato Sauce (recipe below)

Directions:

To create your cucumber rolls, you’ll need a mandolin or a wide vegetable peeler. Slice the cucumber lengthwise, into very thin slices. Because they are so thin, you’ll want to double-up the slices for each roll. Apply a thin layer of of hummus lengthwise down each slice. Then roll up, and top each roll with a dollop of tomato sauce!

Sun Dried Tomato Sauce
makes about 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:
3 oz. sun dried tomatoes
2 roasted red peppers
1/2 cup water
2 cloves raw garlic
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Directions:

In a high-speed blender, blend all the ingredients until smooth and creamy.

  I threw in more garlic and less bell pepper, so again, very customizable. Enjoy!

Irish Apple Cake

  If you want your entire house to smell amazing, this one's for you. As an extra bonus, you can stuff this delicious cake in your gut at the same time. Does it get any better?
  This was another Pinterest discovery, and it's great. Plenty easy and quick to put together, and you get a nice, not-too-sweet cake that would probably be good at any time of the day. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cup sugar
3-4 Granny Smith apples
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp granulated sugar for topping

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2.Spray 8 or 9" round baking pan with cooking spray (I like Bakers Joy for cakes)
3.(I don't recommend any larger pan as the cake will be too thin)
4.Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cloves, nutmeg & cinnamon in large bowl.
5.Using pastry cutter- cut butter into dry mixture until it resembles fine bread crumbs
6.Add sugar & mix through
7.Peel & slice apples into thin wedges & toss in flour mixture - coating apples
8.In a separate small bowl - beat eggs & milk - add to apple mixture
9.Toss & stir well to fully moisten flour. Should result in a very sticky dough
10.Transfer to prepared pan
11.Flatten top of surface & sprinkle with remaining sugar
12.Bake 45-55 minutes or until toothpick test is clean
13.Cool on wire rack

  Special thanks goes out to the fine folks over at Kleinworth & Co. who posted the original recipe here.

Peanut Butter Bars

  Fellow foodies, this "recipe" is stupidly easy and quick, and it only has three ingredients:

  1 Cup peanut butter
  1 Cup honey
  3 Cups old-fashioned oats

  Instructions

  1. Melt peanut butter and honey in a small pot, stirring until well blended and soupy.
  2. Stir in oats until well blended.
  3. Press mixture into 8x8 inch pan.
  4. Allow to harden and cut into bars.

  If you leave the pan on the counter to harden, it will take a good long while. You can speed the process, as I did, by sticking it in the fridge for half an hour or so. I can see all kinds of combinations with this recipe- you could add nuts of your choice, or dried fruit. It's a great tasting bar that packs a good dose of protein and energy, and takes only minutes to put together!