Cake Batter Cookies

So apparently cake batter cookies are a thing. I have been reading about them on line for a while but never got around to them. Which is weird, because I love me some cake mix.  But whatever I never made them.  Then as I was rushing around on December 23, trying to make a yule log and get stuff finished, I realized we needed Santa cookies.  Now this is all my fault, I mean it usually is, but I tend to blame Hubby or more usually Pork Chop.  So take this in, because I probably won't admit fault again for at least another 12 months.

  So my company holds a huge kids party for Christmas every year, although they call it the "Holiday Party"  But Pork Chop knows better, there is a Santa and gifts, and food and fun times.  So whatever you call it, it was happening. And as every other year Pork Chop got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him all the great things he wants and what not.  And Santa is awesome, he looks at you as your kids asks and watches to see if you nod yes or no to the things, then he commits or tries to talk around the issue.  Then this year he asks if Pork Chop is going to put out cookies for him, and in usual Pork Chop style he just nods and says "umm hmmm." And I say, I and I'm telling you this only because I know you guys know I never do the wrong thing, I said "Oh we will for sure, home made cookies too!"  And then I walked away with Pork Chop and thought, "wow, I'm an idiot."  

  Yeah yeah, I know, but it was said and I hoped it was one of those things Pork Chop would forget about, like you know, brushing his teeth.

I think it looked sort of gross actually, it tasted good, just looked like poop with lots of rainbow bits.  Okay now that just made it even grosser, sorry.

 So fast forward a few weeks to the night before, the night before Christmas, the 23 of December if that was too confusing.  Anyway I ask Pork Chop what kind of cookies he wants to leave for Santa, and he says "home made ones"  Well I froze, and I was like "oh yeah, WE promised him those didn't we?"  I was hoping he would have said chocolate chip or even gold fish crackers or something.  But no, that little bugger remembered. I swear if I didn't think he was so cute, I would hurt him.

This was his way of helping, see the mess of chips, yep anyone else would have gotten two broken legs for this.

  So I was all, "I don't want to make any!"  But I said it in my head, what I really said was "great! Lets make some cake cookies!" And I told Pork Chop to wash his hands to he could help.  I googled and found the easiest recipe I could.  And then I grabbed the holiday chocolate chips we had got a month ago and got to work.  Pork Chop helped out by cracking one egg, then declaring he was done.  I was done too, but I still had cookies to make.  So I mixed them up and told him he had to help put some chips on them.  Then he proceeded to cover the cookie tray in them, and I told him "thanks, I can finish" and I ended up scrapping chips off the tray and onto the cookies.  Bless his heart; I wanted to kill him.

Yeah, its fuzzy and unappealing, I aim to please people!

 I cannot remember what recipe I used, but there was an egg and butter so this one would be close. Anyway they were baked and they were really soft, like so soft when I piled them up they sort of stuck together.  And it made a bunch, and I was not going to my part time job for a few days.  So I took some to the neighbor and then we put out some for Santa. Sad to say a bunch also went into the trash.

  This year Pork Chop said his friends told him that their parents eat the cookies. He says "you don't eat them do you?"  I said no way, I can eat cookies whenever I want, and that daddy hated my baking.  He bought it, I think.  Anyway they were good, but too cakey for me, is that even possible?  I don't know, but I should try it again, when I am not stressed out about pleasing the "Big Man in Red."

Cake Cookies
Found on About.com

-1 cake mix
-1/2 cup butter
-1 egg
-any mix ins you would like

Mix it all together and then bake until set in a 350 oven

They don't look as bad this way, and really they were not horrible.  Santa ate them at least.

Cake Batter Ice Cream

Isn't it pretty? I wrote this post about 3 weeks or so ago, there is still ice cream left over.  I don't think this bad boy is going to get the use I thought it would.  Yikes!  Don't tell Hubby.

 Okay, I finally did it.  I got myself a "real" ice cream maker.  I had been using an old one my Uncle gave to us, which was nice, but you had to turn it by hand.  And I was/am just lazy.  Now I didn't get one of the super expensive ones like a kitchen aid or cuisinart.  I got a cheap one at the Loblaws store for $30.  I figure for the amount of time I am going to use it, that is good enough.

  So I wanted to make ice cream, but I was not going to do anything too fancy, I mean I am lazy and that is how I like it.  So I looked up on line some options, and I settled on cake batter ice cream.  Why you ask, well it had very little ingredients and it was a custard base ice cream, so to me that sounded like a nice place to start.

If you are not grossed out by this picture, well I thank you.  Those of you that are, try not to think about it.

  So here is the recipe link.

Cake Batter Ice Cream
By Ekho on all recipes

-1 cup milk
-1/2 cup white sugar
-2 egg yokes
-2 cups whipping cream
-1 TSP vanilla *
-3/4 cups white cake mix sifted **

*I used vanilla bean paste, because I am fancy like that, I also did not measure because I am also lazy like that

**I used 1 cup as in the comments some people said they liked more, I also didn't measure it properly, so there may have been even more, more is always good, usually

So place it all together in a pan and set it over medium heat.  Now I didn't do the water trick, where you rinse the pot with cold water before putting milk in, to stop it from burning on the bottom.  So I had a bit of burned custard on the bottom, oh well.

I should have like I don't know, swirled it or something.  Like this it just looks gross.

  I used my candy thermometer because that is what the guy said to do, you want to cook it on medium until it hits 160, this was just about the time the stuff started to thicken up like crazy.  You want to keep stirring it to make sure your eggs don't scramble.  Once it hits the right temperature, pour it into another container.  At this point the recipe said to chill it over night in the fridge, but I went one step further and strained it though a fine mess strainer.  Just in case there were any bits of egg or anything lumpy.  It was thick, but just use a spoon or spatula to push it through.

Oh ice cream maker, how I so wanted you.  And how well you will look sitting in your box in the basement.

  Then I let it set over night, it was so hard not to just eat it, it was so yummy smelling.  Anyway the next night I got home as fast as I could, seriously I was so upset I had to work that night too, but I had enough time to mix it up.  So I got out my mix, and stirred it up a bit to get it all ready, then I got my ice cream maker set up.  Not sure about the other ones out there, but you just pop the whole bowl into the freezer and then when you are ready get it out, attach the paddle and the top and then start it and put the stuff in through the top.  It said to let it go for about 20 minutes. Or so I remember I cannot find the instructions.

  Anyway I started it up and had to spoon the ice cream base in, it was so thick!  And I let it go, and then I realized after doing the dishes that I had not set a timer.  So I looked at it and it looked thick but I was not sure, so I I turned it off, and it was thickish.  What do I know, it was not done I don't think.  So I turned it back on, and let it go and then about 4 minutes later it started to make noise.  So I turned it off.  I put it into a container and got as much out of the bowl that I could, but there was a good layer on it that I could not get off, maybe with a metal spoon but I didn't want to scratch the bowl.  So I put it in the freezer; then stood by the sink eating what was left in the bowl with a plastic spoon.  It was so thick I did not really like the texture.

See how pretty it looks?  I think I would like it like this, it got too dense once it was left in the freezer.

  Then the next night I got to finally try it.  I wanted to try it the night I made it but they say you have to let it set up at least for two hours.  So try it I did, and it was really nice!  I was thinking of mixing sprinkles right into it but some people don't like that, so I just put some on top, and yummo!  I can see making this again, for sure.

  I will say it is a very rich ice cream, like Ben and Jerry's rich, so a little goes a long way.  I will be eating this for weeks I think.  No sharing either, because I was too lazy to scoop it out when I first made it and now it is way too hard

So this is a few weeks old, I am going to have to throw it out, I have not touched it and Hubby and Pork Chop would not even look at it.

Also thanks for the kind comments and emails, I am doing well.  Some times I just have to let it out.  Hubby is awesome, Pork Chop?  Well he has been extra sweet, giving me hugs and all.  Gotta love that.  I have plans to get back to my baking next week.  My mom and Hubby are taking me to a huge sweet and desert show this weekend, it will be like shopping for shoes;  just way better.

Cake Mix Review, and Cupcakes in a Jar

How can you beat a cake mix that looks that good?

  So it's about that time again.  The time to make a box mix cake, and review it so it makes me feel better about using box mix.  You know, I love a box mix, but some people don't.  I really like finding new ones so I can try something different out without the hassle of a real recipe.  So here you go, and I promise you will love it.

  I found this at the larger grocery store last week, we usually do our groceries at Walmart, but we were there for something else so I got it.  I have no control, I see it, I want it.  Now this mix cost almost $5, but it was all chocolate so it was worth the gamble.

This is the fudgy filling, I was very good and didn't lick the bowl.

  Just like the other two I have tried out, there were two pouches in this mix.  I did not read the box, like usual, and did not realize that there was no icing glaze.  The mix was cupcake mix then a fudgy middle, so you know not all bad.  I even had one tub of icing left over, so I was all good.

  So to start I wanted to make cupcakes, but wanted something a little different.  My friends at work have not had my cupcakes in a jar, I don't think.  I cannot remember, really my life is one big blur.  So I got out the canning jars I have and washed them.  Then I got to baking.

  I mixed up the first pouch, which was the fudge filling.  It was not too hard to do.  Then I mixed the cupcake mix.  It said you can bake it in a 9x13, but I ended up with about 16 cupcakes.  I wanted them a bit bigger as I was only going to put one in each jar.

See I hardly slopped any on the muffin pan.

 Firstly I filled my cupcake liners with the cake mix.  I always use liners so it is easier to get the cupcakes out, and it saves you lots of time in cleaning.   Once that was done, I went back and put a TBSP full of the filling in the middle.

The fudge didn't really sink into the cupcake.

  The box did not have directions for making cupcakes, which is fine.  I just did my own thing, but the box said to swirl the filling into the cake batter.  So I did, but it was so sticky it really didn't do much.

But it did when I tried to swirl it all together.

 They baked in a 350 oven for about 13 minutes, then I let them sit to cool in the pans for a while.  I took then out and let them finish cooling.

At this point, they look gross.  This is the real reason we use frosting, to cover the ugly cupcakes.

  I wanted this to be like chocolate over load, like sex in a jar.  If there is such a thing, and if there is, I so don't want to know.  Anyway, when I was thinking about icing, I needed enough to do a nice swirl in each jar, but I only had one tub of icing.  So I mixed it with a cup or so of Nutella and a bit of icing sugar to thicken it up.  I put a bit too much icing sugar as it was way too hard to pipe, but it turned out to be like a nice thick ganache.  Yummy!

The cupcake tops sort of pulled a bit going into the jar, but I didn't care, I had frosting.

  I also wanted to add some texture, so I used three types of chocolate covered rice crispy pearls.  I have a huge bag of milk chocolate ones and a little bag of vanilla and dark.  So I just took the wrapper off the cupcakes, pushed the cupcake into the jar. Then put a big swirl of icing.  And then covered it with chocolate pearls.  If the cake was not so rich and did not have filling I would have layered another half cupcake on top.  But as it was, this was plenty.

I managed to frost all but one before my stupid plastic pipping bag exploded.  Lesson learned, less sugar, or just use an ice cream scoop and the back of a spoon to spread it around.  Oh and sprinkles, lots of sprinkles.

 I think this mix was well worth the cost, although I would have liked the picture on the box to not have shown the cake with the chocolate glace.  Because I bet most people like me won't read it until they are home.

See, all those chocolate pearls and you cannot even tell I did a nice swirl.

  So to take them to work I just got some plastic forks, because I was out of spoons, and tied them on.  Pork Chop even got in on the action and tied one on.  And no I don't mean he "tied one on"  he tied a fork on the jar.  I may be a bad parent, but I am not that bad.

Getting ready to "Tie one on"  

  So the verdict at work was good.  The few people that I know that don't like sweet things just avoided them.  The girl who hates chocolate actually liked it, and one guy told me that "that cake in a can was good."  And there you have it people, cake in a can.

 Sigh.

All done, and no need to put it in the fridge, as they keep great and were moist for a few days after.  Well so I would think,they really didn't last that long.

The Easiest Cake Balls Ever

  

I love how cute these cake pops turn out, considering I didn't really try.  And then the ones I try really hard to make cute, well those are not as cute.  Figures really.

 Before I get started I wanted to say thanks to you all for the very kind and fun comments.  I get suck a kick out of reading them, the ones where you share your funny comments or support really make my day.  And I love to read each and every one of them.  Thanks so much. I plan to have a little give away coming up soon to say thanks for that, nothing huge or mind blowing, but it is cute and involves cupcakes.  So it cannot be all bad right? Oh and have a happy Canada Day fellow Canadians, and for the peep's from the USA, have a great Forth of July!

 Okay back to the regular blog stuff.  

So this is not going to be a very wordy post.  

  Your welcome.

 Okay I take that back, there are going to be a lot of words, but most of it will be babbling.  How that is different from my other posts I don't really know, but you know, at least I am honest.

  Basically I wanted to share some of my super easy cake pops, they are nothing I invented obviously, but you know, I think they are great, so you need to see them.  Also I took lots of pictures, and I will try to make witty comments for each of them.  But no promises, I cannot always be on people.

  Also, Pork Chop is now out of school, on his way to grade three next year, which I cannot believe, I mean I had him when I was 3, so how did I get so old?  And what does that have to do with cake pops?  Well he sweetly asked me to make him cookies for his principal who was leaving this year.  Of course he asked me this minutes before bed on the last Sunday  night of the school year.  I had plans to make cake balls on Tuesday so asked if he would like cake pops.  He said sure.  Then I stupidly asked him what kind.  And he said "teacher cake pops."

  What the hell does that even mean!? 

Try to ignore the fact my table is covered in cupcakes and stuff.  I don't even remember what those cupcakes were for.  

 So I just ignored it and got Hubby to bake me two cakes the next night while I was at work.  ( And yes he cleaned the bowl afterwards this time, he is learning.)  And on Tuesday as I picked up Pork Chop from daycare and I asked him again what kind of cake pops he wanted, and he again said teacher cake pops. 

  So I asked him what those were and he said "you know, make them look like her."  

  And while I tried to not crash the car, I tried to think of ways to get out of it.  So as any good mother would, I steered him towards what I wanted to do.  

See how good I am getting at my pictures?  See how much sarcasm was in that last sentence?

  I told him that we should make cake pops for the three teachers too, and since I was not sure what they all looked like, what if we used all different kinds of sprinkles.  He was so excited.  So was I, until he picked out the sprinkles.  

These are my most favorite sprinkles ever.  I loaded up at Valentines day.  Then I made the mistake of taking  them to the cupcake class I taught and the kids poured them out like the were nothing.  And I couldn't keep them after the kids had touched them all.  I have issues, and I may be addicted to sprinkles.

  So I tell him to pick out 4 kinds, he goes for red and green non parelis, red sugar, pink sugar and some other red chunky glittery stuff.  I told him that was sort of Christmasy and was able to switch the red and green stuff for multi coloured ones.  Then he was adamant the other colours were perfect.  Then I kicked him out to play and changed them to the colours I wanted.

See how cute and they are so simple!

 What?  They were going to be in a bag, he would never see them.  And even if he did I bet he would forget what he even picked out.

I just tried a bunch of sprinkles from the Wall O Sprinkles.

  So to make cake pops like this you need, cake pop stuff.  I know, crazy right?

And these right here, they are imported from Disney.  And they cost a fortune, like $3 for a tiny little container, I got four of them, so they better last until I win the lottery and can go there again.

 So you need a cake and icing in any flavor you like.  And you prepare the cake pop filling and scoop it out and roll it in any size you like.  Then I put them in the freezer while I melt my candy melts.  I would use white chocolate so the sprinkles show more, but I hate melting white chocolate more than going to the doctor.

Jimmies are so fun.

  So once you have that you get your cake pops out, and dip your lolli pop stick in the chocolate before putting it in the top of the cake ball and then let them set a few seconds.  Then dip the whole ball,  tap off most of the extra chocolate and then over a coffee filter sprinkle most of the pop until you have it covered how you like. Don't bother with the bottom, it is not going to be seen anyway.

I may or may have not found this cake plate for $10 and needed it, then felt bad and had to use it right away so I felt better about my spending.

  Then you just set them on a sheet of parchment and let them dry.  Easy peasy people.  Then depending on how they are going to be served you can just set them out or put them in little bags and tie them up.  I love doing them this way as you don't need a cake pop stand of any kind.

These are the nice gift bags I got for the teachers, I just put 6 in each, they are larger cake pops, and the bags are so sturdy they were well protected.

  I am making these for a friends wedding too,  they are going to be her favors with tags on the lolli pop stick.  So fun, cannot wait to make those.

And this is Pork Chop, who said "take my picture!"  So I did, then he was all "are you going to show that to people?"  And well, you know the answer.