Cheese Cake Bars

 Okay you need to make these now!! Wait, read this first, because I am super witty, but then, go make these!  I made these out of desperation last minute and I can tell you right now, I have made them again already.  These were a last minute treat for my hot Friday night date.  Which is to say, I stayed home with Pork Chop and my friend and her baby came over.  You would have thought Santa was coming the way Pork Chop was acting.  He loves his little cousin so much.  He is always "she is so cute!" "She is my favorite baby ever!"  And when I asked him the night before who was coming he said "Hannah, the cutest baby ever!"  I love how much he loves her.

This is pretty much all you need, but I forgot to picture the vanilla bean paste and the cinnamon.  Just try to pretend it's there.

Anyway, my friend was coming over and we were going to order pizza and let the kids play.  And by play we mean, Pork Chop would totally just stare at Hannah.  He did get to hold her and she was all up in his face.  Literally, poking him in the eye, and pinching his cheeks and what not.  With her little chubby baby fingers you could not say no.  And Pork Chop was not going to stop her, he was in heaven!  Makes me feel bad for not having a brother or sister for him, but then I think about the 9 months I couldn't eat hardly anything and I totally get over it.

 So this was the fastest desert ever.  I looked on pintrest for something easy and quick.  And this is what I found.  It was called a cream cheese square, which is kind of gross.  So I renamed it a cheesecake bar, because that sounds classy.

Here is the link I found.  Basically you need just a few things and it was magic!   I was worried that it would be weird as there were no eggs, and I figured the cheese part would be runny and gross.  I was wrong, but don't tell anyone.

See when I opened the tube I was trying to keep the dough together, the cut lines kept falling apart. If I go to the states I am going to get a whole bunch of the sheets and freeze them and never share.

Cheese Cake Bars
found on Piarecipes

-2 tubes of 8 count crescent rolls
-2 blocks of cream cheese
-1 TBSP vanilla ( I used vanilla bean paste, because I am fancy like that)
-1 cup sugar
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 TBSP cinnamon
-1/2 cup butter (the recipe said margarine but we don't have that so I used butter.)

The filling was thick but easy to spread, sort of.

So this is great, you pre heat your oven to 350.  Spray a 9x13 cake pan with cooking spray.  Roll out and press a tube of rolls into the bottom of the pan, try to get the seams together.  I hear in the states they have the rolls in a tube but it's a sheet you cut yourself.  I need those.

Cream the two blocks of cream cheese, add the vanilla and the 1 cup of sugar.  It will be firm, but spreadable.  Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough.  Be careful to make it even and not smoosh the dough.  Then roll out the other tube of rolls and lay on top.  Do not press it down or you will make a huge mess, just do your best.

Melt the butter and pour it over the top of the bars, then mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle that on.  I sort of globbed it on by mistake, but it was all good.

See how blobby my sugar mixture is?  Well it worked out.

 So then you bake it until the top has become crispy and the butter is no longer really there.  It takes my oven around 18-20 minutes.  Remove and cool.  I then place it in the fridge to help the cream cheese set up, it is very soft when you serve it at room temperature.

See how perfect the top was, even though I made a mess.  It smelled so good, Hubby came in the house and was all "what are you making!" as he ran to the kitchen.  You could see his heart drop when I said cheese cake, poor man, he was hoping for something he would eat.  But it did smell amazing.

So I cut it up and we ate it, and then I got a tummy ache.  So I sent half of it home with my friend.  Pork Chop wouldn't even look at it, but what else is new.  Hannah who isn't even a year old yet was trying to get at the plate, but her mom gave her nibbles of baby cookies.  Which is sort of cruel, but she is too young to know yet.

I really didn't think there was enough filling but it turned out to be the perfect amount.  So good! And so easy to cut, I thought it was going to smoosh.

I think this is the best treat I have made in a while, it was so good, and it lasted well in the fridge.  I can see making this again and again.

Apple Nachos

Yeah I know, not the nicest picture, but you know what, I am at peace with my crappy picture taking abilities.  Sort of.

  When I saw this on Shugary Sweets I knew I had to make it.  Why, well I don't know.  I mean I am truly against any kind of fruit in a desert, no matter how much sugar you put in there, you know there is fruit.  So I pinned it and just sort of forgot about it.

  Then I had plans to have my sister over.  We were going to order take out and watch a movie with Pork Chop.  So  I wanted a desert but really didn't want to make anything.  I had a craving for something though. So this is where I went, I went with fruit. As a desert.  And I am sort of ashamed to type that out.  Please forgive me.  It's actually really good, which I am really happy about.

This is all I used, I could have added sprinkles or something, but I forgot.

  So what Shugary Sweets did was actually an involved process, and by involved I mean she actually did her own sauce and such.  I am way too lazy for that.  I just hit up the ice cream isle and grabbed a few things.

  I got chocolate sauce, because that is classic.  I was going to get caramel but wanted something richer, I mean we had fruit to cover.  So I got dulce de leche.  It's good, trust me.  Then I got marshmallow fluff, I have never actually eaten that stuff before. But for the sake of my sister I was willing to try it.  And apples, you need apples, or else you are just making a sugary soup, which come to think of it, would not be a bad thing.

This is a great thing to have if you eat apples a lot, as it is I is another one of those things I had to have and use once in a while.

  Anyway I got granny smith apples as they are really sort of tart, and I figure that would allow me to put more sugar on it.  It's a scientific fact that you can eat the same amount of fruit and sugar, and there are no calories in the sugar.  Look it up, I swear.

  Okay so what I did was made my sister and I each our own plate.  Only because I don't like to share, and we would make less of a mess on ourselves this way.  Also I tried to get Pork Chop in on this, but he was not having any of it.  He likes apples, but only when we don't have them in the house.  He was all " I want green ice cream!"  And I was all " I don't have that!"  And he was all "Your the worst mom ever!"  But he said it with his eyes, which is way worse than really saying it.  So he ate popcorn and was fine.

See how easy?

Then into a bath of water and lemon juice, and slice them in half  so they are more nacho like.

  So I used my apple cutter thingy.  I got it a while back from pampered chef after seeing someone else I know with it.  I washed my apples then used the tool to cut them.  I left the skin on the apple because that is where all the healthy stuff is.  According to my mom anyway, and I might as well let her be right about one thing.

  I also got a bowl with cold water, and added some lemon juice, about 1/4 cup to about 2 cups water I guess.  Who knows really, I just eye ball things.  Then I took each apple slice and cut it in half to make it thinner.  Then I put them in the bowl of lemon water and sort of tossed them.  Then I laid then out on a plate all pretty like and we were ready to go.

I first put them on a smaller plate, but there was so much so I did this, way less chance of making a mess.

 Now if you want to be really fancy you could have chopped nuts or chocolate chips or something, but you all know I didn't do that, so I won't even pretend that I did.

  I tried the marshmallow fluff and it was just like my home made marshmallows, before they dry out.  So I could be really fancy and do this with fresh ones, but you all know I won't right?

And the money shot, it tasted way better than it looked.

  So it was really good, and I cannot believe how full I got off of one apple, I couldn't even finish it all.  My sister said it was good, and that I could write that on the blog.  So there you go, we both liked it.  And it was mostly fruit.  Maybe we are getting sick, who knows.  I just know I need more chocolate soon, no more of this fruit stuff.

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Cake Pops 101 and Star Wars Pops

May the Baking Force be with you!

  Hey all this is a post I did for a lovely blogger at Whisked together and thought I would post the full tutorial here since it was my first time working with edible images on cake balls.  They turned out okay, not thrilled, but you know they were cute.

 So here is my cake ball 101 and Star Wars cake balls.

I had Hubby make my cake because I was working.

So I always start the same way, with a cake and a plan.  I use a box mix and canned frosting usually.  My reasoning is that it is easiest and most cost effective.  And I figure I am crumbling it all up so you know, why not.  But you feel free to use whatever kind of cake and frosting you like.  For this I am using a chocolate cake and frosting.

I also usually do my cake balls over a few days. I do this because I am usually making a large amount and I never have a day just for baking.  I work too much don't you know; well at least that is what I tell hubby.

My baking goes like this.

Day 1- bake your cake

Day 2-mix and shape your cake balls, and leave in the fridge

Day 3-decorate your cake balls

Makes it so easy for me to do a little each day, but you will figure out what works for you.

Here is the mix, see how it is like a dough now, that is because I was careful not to add too much icing.

So to start bake your cake and let it cool completely, if you are in a rush just pop the pan in the fridge or freezer.  Once cooled you crumble it up.  Bakerella does it by hand from what I can tell, but I am lazy.  So I crumble it up into my kitchen aid then with the flat paddle just finish crumbling it up.  Then I add frosting by the spoon full until it all comes together.  If you add too much you risk the mix being too soft, and this will cause problems when you try to shape and dip the balls later.

I used a spoon for the first one so my hands would be clean enough to use the camera.  For the rest I just used my hand to scoop out some dough into the fondant cutter I used.

Once you have your mix ready you can shape it however you like.  Traditionally you want a ball of some sort.  I use all different sizes of ice cream scoops, from my tiny itty bitty TSP one, to my large 2 TBSP one.  Just depends on what you want to make.  For the Star Wars cake pops I actually used another technique.  I am sure I am not the first to do this, but I figured it out by myself and thought I was smart.  Feel free to think I am smart too if you like.

Make sure you press it down to make it full and as even as possible.

Then just push the shape out, it should not be too hard to push it out.

So I always work on wax or parchment paper.  I put the cookie cutter I want to use down then fill it with cake ball mix.  I press it down to make it flat then lift the cutter up.  Then I put the shape on a flat pan or cookie sheet covered in wax paper and put it in the fridge for a few hours or the freezer for about 20 minutes.

This is how I put them in the freezer. If they are going to be in there any longer than an hour I wrap the pan in plastic wrap to stop them from drying out.

While the cake balls are cooling get your stuff together.  You will need something to dip your cake balls in and then whatever else you want to decorate them with.  When I do just normal cake balls, I use my favorite chocolate candy melts and either sprinkles or a different color chocolate to drizzle over them.  For these Star wars ones, it will be different but the same.

I set up my dipping station, lots of wax paper gets used in my house.

When dipping a cake ball, I use the candy dipping tools I got at Micheal's, you can use a fork or spoon or whatever feels right. Also only take a few cake balls out of the fridge at a time so they do not get too soft.  Then dip your cake ball, tap off the extra chocolate and put it on a sheet of wax or parchment paper to dry.  Then decorate, if you are using sprinkles I suggest putting them on as you dip the cake balls.

Always dip the stick in melted chocolate that gives it something to stick to the cake pop filling.

If you are doing pops you can do this a few ways.  To have self standing pops, dip the stick you are using in the melts, then put it into the cake ball, dip the ball and set it on the wax paper to dry with the stick facing up.

If you are doing traditional pops, instead of standing the ball up, stand it up with the stick in Styrofoam or a block of some sort.

When you dip, try not to move the pop around too much or bits of it break off making the chocolate all chunky.

For these flat shape pops I just dip the cake pop on the stick, drag some of the chocolate off the back and then just lay it on the wax paper to harden.  I usually leave then for at least 30 minutes, this allows them to come back up to room temperature.  And as they do they may crack.  I am not sure if it is because of the chocolate being hot, or the middles being too cold, or what.  I just know that I end up double dipping mine to cover the cracks, it's easier than trying to figure out why I cannot get a good crack free coating in one go.

And that is how they look once dipped.

So once they are all dipped I let them dry, if you are doing regular cake balls, you don't need to double dip really.  I will used another colour of chocolate and drizzle it over to hide the cracks.  And with regular round cake pops, same thing as these I double dip usually.

And this is how they look as they are drying, some of them are cracking, as as you can see one fell off it's stick.  I always make extra for this very reason.

See the crack, you are going to cover it in chocolate then the image.

While the cake pops are drying I get my decorations all set up.  Depending on what you plan to do you get it all set. This was my first time making cake pops with pictures on them.  As I was going to cover them I did not need to double dip to cover the cracks.  So I started by getting Hubby to put some pictures together for me.  Since our computer at home is broken he just got them printed out on regular paper.  Then we scanned them on my edible printer and printed them out.  If I was smart I would have cut them out and put them all on one page to save the icing paper.  But I am not smart and do not think of these things until after the fact.  

This is the icing sheet, you can see part of the fondant cutter.  It is just like a paper cutter, just cooler.

To start I cut out my pictures, I have a fondant cutter from Wilton, I never used it before, but it worked great.  You just have to push on the blade a bit, but it was much faster than trying to cut it all out with scissors.  Then I put them in a baggy so they would not dry out.  The paper dries out so fast!

I keep them in a baggy so they don't dry out.

As this was my first time doing this I was not sure if I should use melted chocolate or maybe corn syrup to attach the image.  I tried the melted chocolate and it worked great.  It also made it easy to fill in all the cracks with chocolate.  So I just used a pastry brush and brushed on the chocolate then stuck on the image. You need to make sure your hands are clean  and dry, as you need to press the image out to make it stick and wet hands will tear the paper.

I used the left over chocolate to brush on and stick the pictures to.

So once the images were all on, I went back and painted the rest of the pop and dipped it in white decorating sugar.  This allowed me to cover all the rest of the cracks and sparkle up the pops.

Don't worry too much about the edged, they will be covered in sugar later.

It is hard to see but there is coarse white sugar all over the sides and back of the pops.

When I was all done I put them in little sucker bags and tied them with ribbon.  I also curled the ribbon.  Something I never do when just giving my treats to friends.  This was for a party so that is why I got all fancy don't you know.

And here they are all wrapped up and ready to go.  I do not put them in the fridge as they will get condensation on them and make the pictures bleed.

So have fun, and remember there are so many ideas on line, just google for what you want and chances are you will find something.  And if you want to do images but not buy a printer you can usually get them at your local bakery by the sheet.  I think my printer has been one of the funnest things ever.  Also my kid loves to eat the paper I don't use, so you know there is that too.

Hope this has given some of you some ideas and maybe even the push to try it out yourself.