Layered Jello Shots, Virgin Shots

  So these are amazing, and even two weeks later I am still sort of slurping them down.  I loved jello as a kid, and Pork Chop loves the idea of it. He is always lets make jello, he used to say jelly, which was way cuter.  Anyway he likes the idea of it, but eating it, not so much.  Anyway, I saw this on Pioneer Woman, she called then jello fingers which was kind of gross, so I changed that.  And I had to adjust the recipe a tiny bit for me but other than that this is it!  I made it virgin, because I could not bring boozy jello to work, or feed it to Pork Chop, but the idea is there.

  Basically you can tailor the flavor and colour to be what ever you want.  Like I love cherry limeade, and those two colours just happen to be perfect for Christmas.  But say you want to do a rainbow, you go right ahead.  Or as this could be made boozy, you could do whatever.  Basically do what you want, but just make it; okay?

This is all you need, and some water.  And if you are making it boozy, I love you, and you need booze.

Layered Jello Shots
Found on Pioneer Woman

-5-6 boxes of jello powder in flavour and colour of your choice
-10 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
-2 cans sweetened condensed milk ( the ones in the states are larger, but I used the ones we have here and it worked fine)
-9x13 cake pan
-cooking spray
-boiling water, lots of it ( if you are doing boozy shots, which I cannot believe you would not want to, add booze, lots of it.)

So basically that is what I used, I think that if you were to replace part of the water with vodka or something it would be awesome, so I will mention that as I go along.

This is my third layer, you can sort of see how the colours mixed, and when I cut it the layers were a bit mixed, but as I went along it got crisper as I let the layers set a bit longer.

Start by boiling lots of water, I just used my plug in kettle and topped it up between layers.  Spray your cake pan with cooking spray to make sure the jello won't stick.  Also check the fridge, I found out my shelf was not level so I had to end up putting a thick layer of paper towel to try and level it off to get even layers, it didn't work perfectly as I didn't do that for all the layers.  Whatever it was still good.


 So you need a few hours for this, I was sick so did a layer, sat and watched TV then did another.  I found that in my fridge 20 minutes between layers was perfect. You need them set enough so that when you pour on the next layer it doesn't melt the one beneath it.

The layers are as follows from bottom to top, so follow this:
-jello red
-white layer
-jello green
-white layer
-jello red
-white layer
-jello green
-white layer
-jello red
-white layer

 After that I ran out of room. So do what you want, but that is how it worked for me.

For each jello layer follow this:

-melt one packet of unflavored gelatin in 1/4 cup of cold water.  (this is where you would use Vodka instead of water, so 1/4 cup vodka)  Stir. Once fully dissolved pour in one cup of boiling water and right away add in one packet of regular jello, stir really well, but not fast, you don't want bubbles.  Stir until all the jello is gone, and then stir some more, if you get crystals you will get a ruined jello.  So once it is all ready, pour it into your pan and set it in the fridge to set for about 20 minutes.

This is the last layer, it was a heavy pan I tell you!

 You can start making the white layer as it will cover about 3 layers in one batch, it will sit out and not set up so you can take your time.  Start with your can of milk in a bowl, then take another bowl and put two envelopes of unflavored gelatin in with 1/2 cup cold water.  (if you are making the boozy version, don't bother to change this out for vodka, trust me you will have enough in the other layers) Once the gelatin is dissolved take a cup of boiling water and pour that over the milk and stir until well mixed.  Then add the gelatin mix, and add another 1/2 cup boiling water and mix all together.  This will be the white layers.

To make sure the layers are set enough, take your pan out and tilt it, the jello should not move at all.  Once you have that, slowly pour enough of the white mixture over to cover it well and chill it again for 20 minutes or until well set.

That is it!  You continue on with that making it as high as you want.  I found that I ended up just making the last layer a double layer of white as I had lots left but not enough room to do another layer of colour in between.

 Once that is done, let the whole thing set for at least 2 hours and then you can cut it how ever you would like.  I thought it would be fun to try it with a wavy cutter, I was wrong, it was way better just in squares or simple shapes.  Also this pan of jello is heavy, so if you can just leave the pan in the fridge and pour the layers on, that would be great, trust me I did that the last few layers.

This is how it turned out when I used a wavy cutter, I didn't like it that much.

 So this is super yummy, and a great option to regular jello shots as you don't need cups, just pick it up with your fingers and eat.  Which is probably the best way to do it when you are drunk, you know, less waste and less chance of breaking cups.  I am smart that way, and this would be perfect for a new years party.  If you make the boozy version please let me know how many shots you got in before you passed out, I don't know if I am brave enough to try this!

href="http://ourdelightfulhome.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Our Delightful Home" src=" http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r525/ourdelightfulhome/odhbutton1.jpg "/>

Boozy Jumbo Ice Cream Cone Cake Balls

These are not only huge cake balls, but the cones are filled with booze!

 So we are still on vacation, and so far it has been really nice.  Except for the fact that our bank account was invaded and over $200 was taken.  We are not getting it back for at least a week which stinks because that was our spending money.  So yeah, it has to get better right?  Anyway I made these a few weeks ago, and I sure could go for one now.  Anyway don't forget to enter my little give away from earlier in the week, and hope we have a good weekend without losing anymore money.

 Okay so this is going to be a super amazing post!  Why?  Well there is a tonne of booze in these and they look cute, and they were perfect.  Until the next day when I went to share them and half of them had exploded.  Then I almost cried and wanted to just drink them all myself.  Not sure how that makes this amazing, but it does, so just go with it.

This is how it all started!

  I had this idea late at night while I was falling asleep. And don't you tell me that is not normal, all women dream of chocolate and booze as they are drifting off after a long day.  I swear, it's in a book some where, I wouldn't lie about stuff like this.

  Anyway I had the idea that I wanted a big cake ball, but with some sort of shot of Irish cream.  I know in the past I have seen at some events that they had chocolate shot glasses and people would pick out what booze they wanted.  You would not believe some of the things people did for events where I worked, and what they were willing to pay for it.  Seriously that could be it's own post.

Just fill the cone and roll it around to get it all coated.

Then pour out the extra.

And this is how they looked before I chilled them.

 So I wanted to make jumbo ice cream cone cake balls, like my mini ones here. Because in that post I had the idea that bigger is always better. ( That's what she said!) 

 I know, my humor is getting old, but I may have had one or two of these while I was typing this.  You cannot prove a thing, so just keep reading.

 So firstly the problem was how to get the booze in there and not make a mess.  And I had it all perfectly figured out, until 24 hours later  when it all failed.  But if you do these and serve them right away, or keep them in the fridge on their sides you should be good to go.  I do think I have to make them again, just to test that out.  Not because I want more booze or anything.

And this is how they looked after they chilled, no idea why it's all streaky but what ever it still tastes good.

And this is with the booze, what a good shot.  Get it, shot?!  Never mind!

 So I was going to coat my ice cream cones in white chocolate, but I went with milk because I hate the thought of trying to get a nice consistency of white. Although if you can do it, go for it, the different flavor would probably be nice.  So I melted the chocolate candy melts and put my cones in the freezer for a few minutes.  I don't think that really helped at all, so you can skip the freezer if you want.  Then just fill up your cones and roll them around until they are all coated, let sit for a few seconds, then tip them back into the bowl to get the extra out.  I then put them all in a cake pan and into the fridge to make sure the chocolate was hardened.

  Before I did all this I had mixed up my cake ball mix, just regular chocolate cake and some chocolate frosting, but you do the flavors you like.  Then I used my large ice cream scoop to make a ball, that I rolled and put in the freezer to set.

So I forgot to get a picture of the cake ball when I had just dipped the bottom and put that in the cone.  Oh well, just imagine.

 So once the cones were set I got out my Irish cream, and realized I did not have enough, so I also added some Kahlua.  I wanted to put an ounce of booze in each cup, but I went with just under 2 TBSP's, and that was plenty, I just measured out the booze and put it into the cups.  Then I was ready for the cake ball part.

  I took a cake ball out of the freezer and dipped the bottom half into chocolate, I got no pictures as these are huge cake balls, about the size of a fist and you make a mess as it is.  Once it is half dipped you put it into the cone, making sure that the chocolate seals all the way around, or else the booze will leak out.

And since I figured you have seen enough here are my finished cones.  No one will ever know you are planning to get drunk, just let them think it's chocolate and nothing else.

  I did them all then let them harden up.  Then I got ready to dip the top of the cone.  I took each one and tipped it upside down to see if any booze leaked out, if it did, and a few did, I just dabbed on some chocolate where it leaked and then dipped the whole thing.  The nice thing about these is drips actually make it look real, so no worries about being perfect.

  So once that was done I wanted to decorate them.  For some reason Irish cream makes me think of green, so that is what I went with.  I drizzled some on top and tried to shake it to settle, but it was really thick chocolate for some reason, so what ever.  I then used larger sprinkles and instead of a red candy I used a chocolate mint M&M, those suckers are good!

  Once they were fully dry I put them in cookie bags so they would be easy to share.  And then into a box and down to the basement to wait for me to take them to work.

  And the next day, well I got them and half of them had leaked out of the cones.  Not sure if it was the heavy cake ball that caused the cone to crack or the chocolate inside so the booze leaked out, but whatever it was I was sad.  My friends at work?  Not so much, they loved them.  Or they are just a bunch of drunks, I cannot honestly tell you.  

And I just put them in bags, which was a good thing since they leaked.  

  So these were a big deal to me, a dream come true.  And yes I know that is stupid and whatever, but at least I can say I made one of my dreams come true. Right?

I'm Linking up HERE

Red Velvet B52 Cupcakes

I got super lazy and did not decorate them really, a few blue sprinkles and I was done.  I may have taste tested a little too much boozy frosting.  So you are just lucky I got a picture.  And it is even sort of in focus.  Double win!

  I love thinking up things that I think no one has thought up before. I also like to not google my idea, because more often then naught it's been done before.  I am sure these have been done, in some form, but there is no way I am going to look.  I want to just imagine I am the first ever to do this.  So you know, at least I don't crawl into a hole and cry that I have nothing to call my own in the baking world.

  So these came about when I was walking by the liquor store and thought, I have not been in one in ages.  The last time just before the holidays I had no clue where to even find stuff.  So I went in and looked at all the stuff.  I had wanted to get some Bailey's but the different flavors only came in huge bottles, so I went to the cash and checked out the stuff there.  I found these tiny bottles, about $8 each and thought they would  be good.  I then remembered that a B52 was something I had always liked the sound of, never had one actually, so no idea why I thought of it.  Anyway I googled it and found that I needed amaretto or something, anyway it was an almond flavor so I figured that I could use almond extract.  

This is what I used, and I wasted almost 3/4 of a cup of the stuff when I ruined my first batch of icing.  If I was a drinker I might have cried.  As it was I swore a bit at the waste of money.

  Now I made these with a Red Velvet cupcake, since Pork Chop had been asking me to make him cupcakes for a few days. And he made it very clear he wanted red velvet.  No idea, he is weird.  Usually he is all " I want cupcakes!" So we make them and he decorates them with a million sprinkles, and I even scrape the icing off for him at his request, then he doesn't eat them.  So I was a little leery of making them.

  But I said I would and I did, I made him 4, 1 with frosting and 3 without.  He ended up eating 3 and only leaving one icing free cupcake.  Which is amazing for him.  And I just did plain frosting for him, he is crazy enough without booze, and it might be illegal or something too.


  So to make these I used the same cupcake recipe that I used to make wedding cupcakes.  I did not post the recipe on that post, but here I will. And since this post is going up before the wedding one, it totally works out.  It is an oil based recipe which was weird to me, but everyone who has had them has said they are super moist and really good.  I agree, so this is going to be one of my make again and again things.

This is the oil and sugar, I was really worried at how it would turn out, I had my doubts.

   So I had pinned this recipe on My Baking Addiction a while back.  I had never made red velvet from scratch up to this point.  So maybe they all use oil as a base, I don't know really.  That would require research and I just don't want to do it.  So whatever, this is a great and easy recipe.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
From My Baking Addiction

makes 24 large

Pre heat oven to 350

-2 cups cake flour
-4 TBPS cocoa powder
-1 TSP salt
-1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
-1 1/2 cups sugar
-2 eggs
-2 TSP vanilla bean paste or regular vanilla
-red food coloring as needed*
-1 cup butter milk **
-1 TSP baking soda
-1 1/2 TSP white vinegar

*I used gel paste and just put in enough to get the colour I wanted, I think it was about 1 TSP, but just put in a little at a time to see how much you need

** I make my own by putting about 1 TBSP of white vinegar in a measuring cup then filling it up to the 1 cup line with the milk, then stir and let sit for about 5 minutes


  My Baking Addiction suggested using the wire whisk attachment on your mixer, I tried it with that and the paddle, I think it was just as easy with the paddle.

  Mix the sugar and oil until combined, then mix in the egg.  Slowly add your vanilla then the food colouring until it is a nice dark red.  Have all your dry ingredients sifted together ( except the baking soda) and add half of it, then the buttermilk, then the other half of the dry ingredients.  Mix until just blended.  Then add the vinegar to the baking soda, stir it until the soda dissolves then add it and mix into the batter.  Then fill baking cups and bake for about 15 minutes. Or until a tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

This is after the food gel was added, it got even darker when I added the dry ingredients due to the cocoa powder.

  I found the batter to be really thin, so I did not use my ice cream scoop as I usually would.  I filled the largest squeeze bottle I had and that worked great.  I managed to spill a bunch of it, as I thought using a measuring cup would be smart.  I probably was smart, I am just not smart enough to do it properly.

This was my super smart idea to fill the bottle and not spill.  I did not take a picture of the table with the huge puddles of batter, that would have given you the idea I am not so smart.

  They bake up nice and fluffy and they are not a dense cupcake like some other recipes I had done, which is fine.  I love a nice dense cupcake, but these were fluffy like a box mix, but moist not dry.  I cannot see this working well for a frosted cake as it would not be very sturdy.  But as a cupcake, it is perfect!

I also took a top view so you would not see the Halloween cupcake liners I used.  They were on sale so I have like 5 million of them.

 So once they were cooled I got to work on my icing.  And I will tell you right now, I had to toss out about 8 cups of icing, all because I am lazy and ruined the first batch.  If you know me you know I usually don't measure, and this can lead to you screwing up.  Usually it is not an issue, if you add too much milk, just add some more sugar to thicken it up.  Too much vanilla, same thing, add more milk and sugar.  But when you are using something very strong like almond extract, which is very alcohol y tasting you have to be careful, which obviously I was not.  So take it from me, if you add to much, just stop and start again.  I kept adding more sugar and booze trying to make it better, it did not work.  Pork Chop nearly lost his mind when he saw me tossing out all the icing.  He was all "What are you doing!" And I was all, the icing went bad, I have to make it again.

  He must never know I am not perfect!

  So this is an easy recipe, you can use more or less booze, you can even use amaretto or whatever it is in a real B52, I was just cheap and this is what I did.  As they were for my co workers and I did not want them to be drunk as they were working.  Although that would have really made for a fun day for me, I used half milk and half booze.

 B52 Frosting
Adapted from me just tossing stuff in a bowl and mixing it and it will cover about 24 cupcakes

-1 cup butter
-2 TBSP vanilla bean paste, or vanilla
-milk as needed
- 1 1/2 TSP almond extract or amaretto as needed
-Irish cream as needed
-Kahlua as needed
-icing sugar as needed
-2 TBSPs cocoa powder

Cream the butter and vanilla until well blended.  If using almond extract blend that in as well. Add the cocoa powder.  Mix together your booze, I did about 1/4 cup of each.  Add the booze to the butter and blend, it will be sort of lumpy.  Add icing sugar and then alternate between icing sugar and milk to get it as thick as you like and as much as you need.  If you want more booze, cut down on the milk and obviously if you want less, use more milk.  You can also get all of the flavorings for this in most baking supply stores.  And be warned that if you only use booze it is strong, but I like that as I don't drink.  What is better than getting drunk off a cupcake? Nothing, that's what!

And again, the post frosting picture.

  So I made 12 for work and they were gone so fast, which is great, because some times things don't go so fast and I think people hate them.  I probably work with a bunch of closet drunks and they don't even realize it.  That's okay as long as they like them.

 And since Pork Chop liked the ones without boozy icing you know I will make these again. And when he is of age, look out!  Boozy cupcakes every day!

Mudslide cupcakes in a jar - week 8 of the 12 weeks blog hop

These are the perfect portable treat!  Oh and there is booze in there!

  So I am really enjoying this blog hop. I have been so lucky to be able to join, even though I have not made a cookie yet.  I hope this week is no different because I have been wanting to make these for a very long time.

  I first saw the cupcake in a jar on Glorious Treats and was smitten with them right away.  I did attempt them once, and it did not end well.  I bought the wrong size jars and didn't figure it out until I went to put my cupcakes in the jars.  Sigh; I was upset, but not upset enough to not make them.  They tasted great, looked bad, and I ended up with about 2 dozen jars and no reason to use them.  I did eventually figure out that the jars were perfect to put itty bitty cookies in.  So I was really just being prepared for making little jars of cookies.  See I am smart.

Any guesses as to the secret ingredient?

  Anyway, on with the treat for today. I had been thinking about what I could make that was different and sort of sinful and you know, over the top.  Then it hit me, Mudslide Cupcakes.  My theory being that a mudslide is decadent and chocolaty and full of alcohol.  I was so excited because I had a bottle of Irish cream in the pantry.  But like every other bottle of liquor in my home, it was old.  But I figured it would still be good, it's alcohol, that doesn't go bad right?  Well I was wrong, it was past due, a year past due.  What kind of person lets liquor go to waste like that?  Well I do, we got lots of stuff when we first got married and the first few years after.  But we are not drinkers.  Not because we are against it or anything, we just don't drink. Hubby will have the rare beer now and then.  I used to, trust me Hubby has a few stories he could tell, but he won't.  If he knows whats good for him.  Anyway my plan was almost lost, but I decided that this blog could not go on without some sort of booze, so I made the hubby go with me and I got another bottle, a smaller bottle. But still, I got booze!

I used a little bit of milk, like 1/4 cup, then 2 TBS vanilla bean paste, and the rest was Baileys. Lot's and Lot's of Baileys.

    So to start I bought the right jars this time, the little ones, and washed and dried them. Then I got to making the cupcakes for them.  I used a cake mix.  Again.  I know.  But I like the texture and I really wanted to use what I had on hand.  So I had box mix and worked with it.  For each jar you need 1 1/3 cupcakes.    I baked them in wrappers because if you don't then you have to grease and flour a muffin tin and then you have to wash it after.  So, your welcome, cupcake wrappers it is.

  I baked and cooled the cupcakes and then got to making the icing.  I had planned to make it with all Baileys, but that would have been wrong.  So I put in a little milk, just to make it not too boozy.  It turned out really boozy, but I don't think it's enough to get you drunk.  I mean I am still typing this after eating a cupcake right?  Well there was not as much icing on the cupcake as in the jar, so maybe don't drive right after eating this. (I am a cheap drunk)

Mudslide cream cheese icing
(I just sort of made this up as I went)

2 packages of cream cheese
1 cup butter
icing sugar*
2 TBSP vanilla bean paste or just vanilla
milk or Irish cream or half of each **
Irish cream flavouring to taste (if you are not using the real stuff, and if so replace the booze with milk)
1 cup chopped malted milk balls

*as much as you need to get the amount and consistency you need
** same as the icing sugar as much as you need

  Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla bean paste until light and fluffy, then add a little milk.  I then added some icing sugar to thicken it up.  Now I just started dribbling in the Irish cream, and I put in a lot. I wanted the flavour to really come through.  I added enough to make the mixture really sort of thin, almost like tooth paste, then I just kept adding icing sugar until I made it thick enough to hold when I piped it.

  I had enough for 12 jars (I used 16 cupcakes) and I also had enough for 3 large cupcakes ( for me) and 2 dozen mini cupcakes to give to the elevator guys at work and there was still about 3 cups of icing left over.  So you can half this if you are making less, which is probably the case.  I just like to make lots then use the extra later, I froze it, so I can use it whenever I like.

  Then just to go over the top a bit I wanted to add some crunch, but not a lot of crunch, so I took some malted milk balls I had from Halloween and crushed them up .  I put them in a freezer bag and used my meat tenderizer to crush them, they where hard!

All set up to go, I made three at a time.

  To get set up, put your icing in a piping bag with a large star tip.  I use disposable bags, of course and I used a lager tip, the kind you would use to frost large cupcakes.  I cut my cupcakes and got my jars lined up to put them together. I worked 3 jars at a time

From the left, the first layer, then icing, then crushed milk balls.

  First put 1/2 of a cupcake into the bottom of the car, then pipe on a layer of icing.  Now you can sprinkle a little bit of the malted milk balls if you like, and I like, so I did.  Then put another 1/2 cupcake and repeat.  At this point depending on your jars you may put in another layer or stop now.  It's all up to you. I ended up putting 1/3 of a cupcake on for the 3rd layer. When you are done, make sure you make the top swirl of icing nice and sprinkle the malted milk balls to make it look like the top of a nice cupcake.

All done!

  Now a few things I found.  The tops of the cupcakes don't drop into the jar like the bottoms, just push it in a bit.  Then as you layer you may need to push down your cupcake layers to make it all fit in nicely.  No worries it works great.

All ready for the fridge, with a spoon tied on.

  Then you just put the lids on and they are done.

  I got a little crafty here, and made tags.  I used some of my scrap booking stuff to cut out two shapes.  I punched out flowers then some circles.

I used my die cutter and my sticker maker to make it easy to attach my tags.  I wrote with  a glitter pen.

You can either tie this on or make it easy and just stick them on the lid.

  Once you are done you can just leave them as is, or like I like to do, tie a spoon on with a ribbon.  Makes it the perfect one serving treat.

I had a few extra cupcakes so I made them for me to eat at home.  Also for the guys at work who are busy I made 2 dozen mini ones so they could eat them faster.  Also a little less booze so they can keep on working, just kidding not enough for regular people to get a buzz, just me!

  Now these need to be kept in the fridge due to the cream cheese.  They taste like a Baileys cheesecake, they are so rich and the little crunch of the malted milk balls really adds something.  I will make these again for sure!
  Hope you try it out and check out Glorious Treats, she had done a lot of different jar treats.