Cheese Cake Balls and Sandwhiches

Sad thing is this is the best picture I got, I was in a bad mood from them not working out how I wanted.  Oh well, there you go. 

  So I have been wanting to make these for ages.  I promised them to a friend at work like 5 months ago, and like everything else in life, I just didn't get to it.  I actually made these a lot a few years back.  They are a sort of mix up and it was not how I used to do it because I forgot how I used to do it. 

  I am going to let you in on a little secret here.  You ready?  So when you are making something and you have it turn out totally wrong, just add more chocolate and it will be all good.  

 Mind blown!  Right?  

 Well see these were supposed to be cheesecake pops, like I had made them all those times before.  But unlike those times before, where I would add lots of extra icing sugar to make them nice and thick, these were all soft and stuff.  So I worked with it, because there was no way I was putting it all back in the bowl and mixing it again.  I am stubborn some times.

  So you will get two different versions out of this, which really if you think about it, works in your favor.  

  Your welcome.

  Anyway, these cheesecake balls are no bake, which is awesome if you are super lazy like me, or just don't want to turn the oven on when it is like 1 million degrees out.  All you need is some cream cheese and stuff and you are all good to go.

I could eat this whole bowl! I would then probably have to go to the hospital, but it might be worth it.

This recipe is actually a cheese ball desert, so you can make it and serve it like that too, with fruit (yuck!) or cookies (oh yeah!)  And that right there, made this post a three way.  ( That's what she said)

 So I will share the original cheese ball version then let you know how I altered it.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ball

From All Recipes

-1 8oz block of cream cheese

-1/2 cup butter

-3/4 cups icing sugar

-2 TBSP brown sugar

-1/4 TSP vanilla *

-3/4 cups mini chocolate chips

-3/4 cups chopped pecans** 

*I used vanilla bean paste because I have it

**you can use any kind of nut, or for a nut free option use crushed graham crackers or more chocolate chips 

Just blend it all together, except you add the chips last, and leave the nuts out, seriously you cannot screw this up.  Well you could if you were me, but I have faith in you.  Then you line a small bowl with plastic wrap, put the good stuff in there, then using the wrap sort of fold it up to make it a ball shape.  Then you chill it for a few hours, then when you are ready take it out, you unwrap it and roll it it the nuts or whatever.

  Can I just say, the phrase "roll it in the nuts" should be like a "aw go %^$ yourself" like phrase.  Like if someone is pissing you off, tell them to "go roll it in the nuts buddy!"  I don't know, I may need to get out more, but that really sounds like a good phrase to me.  Try it out, let me know how it goes over.

  Sorry, anyway this is the basic recipe. To make these into the sandwiches you don't need to change much. 

Cheesecake Sandwiches 

Altered from All Recipes.

-1 batch of Cheesecake ball mix

-whole graham crackers

-candy melts

I put mine in a cake pan, makes it easier to work with.

  So once you have your mix ready, take a graham cracker and put some mix on it, then take another cracker and put it on top, pressing down to spread out the mix.  You can put as much or as little as you want.  I used about 1 1/2 scoops of my little ice cream scoop.

Another picture of the blobs of goodness.

 Then place them in the freezer for at least 45 minutes.  You can also cool the filling first then fill the sandwiches and what not, not a big deal either way.

  Then you melt your candy melts and taking one sandwich at a time, dip it and fully cover it.  Take it out with a fork and tap the fork to ensure the chocolate drips off making sure it covers it all and that there is not too much extra. Then place on parchment.  If you want to top it with some nuts do so as soon as you finish dipping it.  I did nut free as I was too lazy to get them out of the freezer in the basement.  

  So that is one way, this is the way I did it because I was too lazy to add more sugar and the mix was just too thin to hold up to dipping. I even tried to freeze it over night, but no luck. So my cake pops will look like crap, they will taste great, but they look like crap.  And since I'm telling you how to do it right, do as I say and not as I did.  You will thank me.

Cheesecake pops

-1 batch of Cheesecake ball mix

-more icing sugar 

-candy melts

See how puddle like my cheese cake looks, well it was worse as soon as it hit the warm candy melts.

 So you do the basic mix, but do not add the chocolate chips until the end.  So take your mix and add icing sugar, like you will need a few more cups, and add it until your mix is stiff and able to be scooped and hold its shape better.  It will be sticky.  But once you scoop, you chill for about 30 minutes then roll it again, then chill then dip.  I know, lots of words that is basically just babbling, sorry.  So once the mix is thick as you want, add your chocolate chips and form and chill them.

The sad thing is that these are the good looking ones, it was all down hill from here.

  Then like with any other pop you melt your candy melts and dip them.  These ones melt faster, so make sure you are only taking 2 or 3 out of the freezer at a time.  That way you will not have a gloppy mess like I did. Also I covered mine in graham cracker crumbs, just to add the crust to them like a real cheese cake.  Yum!

  I also like to make these as just truffles, you know without the stick.  But they are tricky as they are gloppy, so you know, be forewarned they could get messy.

I think the sandwiches were my favorite it is like portable cheese cake. I should patent that!

I am linking up HERE!

Smores On A Stick

I am so sorry that my pictures are horrible.  I used to at least try to get one nice picture.  But after 3 hours of dipping and wrapping these I was just done.

  I have been dreaming about these for a long long time! You all dream about sugary treats right?  Wait, don't answer that, I don't want to know!

  So I have had these on my  mind obviously, and that is because I have been obsessed with marshmallows ever since I first tried to make them a little while back.  Seriously, I think about all the ways I want to make them, and how I want to make lots of them.  So I finally did it.  I made some.  And I am so glad I did.  My pants, not so glad, they are getting a little mad at me.  Oh well, I can always get new pants right?

This is just the first pan,by the end my whole table was covered in icing sugar.

These are the two cutters I used, it is amazing how many more you get with the smaller cutter.  But I loved how big the big ones were, so much good stuff!

  So my motivation for these was simple, I wanted to make s'mores but I hated how messy they are and I knew that there was an easier way to do them.  And the very day before I made these I saw another blog where the person made these with store bought marshmallows.  So I knew it had to be good.

 To start out I made 3 batches of marshmallows. Yes I said 3!  My thinking was, if you are going to do it, do it right, and make enough to share.  I wanted some for both of my jobs, some for the trampoline place we are going to, some for the tutor and if I have some left over, some for me.  Okay who am I kidding, I ate myself silly before they were even dry. And I made these before my self imposed spending freeze.

  To make these I used the recipe from Martha Stewart that I posted about here. I really like this recipe because there are no eggs, and I am getting to the point where I can whip up a batch in half an hour.

If this picture was not so crappy you would be able to see the melted candy melts and the graham cracker crumbs.

  So I made three pans of them, let them dry over night then cut them out.  I have been wanting to make shape marshmallows for a while, but I hate the thought of all the waste, it's not like you can put the scraps together again. And there is only so much I can eat before I get sick. So I did squares, I just used two of my fondant cutters.  I made one pan with the large cutters, I got 24 out of it.  Then the little ones, well I got lots more, I think I got about 40-50 out of each pan.  And their were even a few scraps, so I just dunked them and ate them.  That gave me the idea that I so need to do a chocolate fondue with these home made marshmallows.  I so need to do that!

This is the lollipop stick, I had to hold it in the marshmallow for a few seconds to let the chocolate set and hold it.

  So I cut them all out and then melted my candy melts.  I also added some paraffin crystals as I didn't want too thick of a coating.  I figure thin was better, and I liked how it turned out.  I also wanted to add some graham crackers and could not decide how to do it. I thought a whole cracker would be too much to bite into, then I thought about just crushing them up, but then again, it would be chunky.  So I opted for ground graham crackers.  I just used my small blender to grind them up, if I was smart I would have gotten a box of the crumbs.

  I will never be accused of being too smart.

  Just so you know.

I ended up using a whole box of the crackers for this, I was surprised how much I used.

These were my first two, I was very happy how they turned out.

  So I started by dipping the lollipop sticks in chocolate then putting them into the marshmallow.  I found I had to hold it a few seconds or it would push back out, I figure the marshmallow is like a little sponge and you know, was too spongy to hold the stick.  Anyway after doing that I let it set for a minute then got to dipping.

Another amazing picture or my baby ones.

  I found the marshmallows very soft so I had to be gentle when dipping.  I would dip one, then tap off as much chocolate as I could, then press it into the cracker crumbs. Then onto the parchment paper to dry.  They worked out great!

This is my little army of Smore pops, and that was less than half of them.

These are the large ones, they were so good!

  I ended up running out of crackers and could not convince Pork Chop to go to the store with me.  He is now allowed to play at the park with his friends, so it is going to be harder to bribe him into the car.  What am I going to do when he is older and no longer wants to talk to me or be in pictures and you know be cute?  I may have to have another one, or get a puppy.  Either way.

Anyway, the sprinkle topped ones were great too, just not a smore like great. If that makes and sense at all.

I was too lazy to look for cute sprinkles, so I just took the only non holiday sprinkle I could find on the Wall O' Sprinkles.

  And of  course I just wrapped them up in lolli pop bags.  And I love that they stay nice and fresh as the chocolate keeps the marshmallow nice and soft. I will make these again for sure.

The one on the right, that is for me, the tiny ones, those are for everyone else.  I deserve the biggest!