Snowballs revisited

I had another opportunity to make the Dirty Snowball cookie dough this past weekend for my friends and their children. Just like last time, the cookies disappeared off the cooling rack before I could even move all of them. My kids complained how they missed out so I made another batch. This time I rolled them in confectioners powdered sugar. Fancy results - a very pretty cracked chocolate cookie! The biggest difference, aside from being visually pleasing, was that the powder residuals make your fingers sticky. My niece Bianca added white chocolate chips to her dough and said they turned out awesome! This is one of those excellent basic cookie doughs that you can do so much with =)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever had the pleasure of eating an Oatmeal Chipper cookie from Paradise Bakery? It was my sweet indulgence when I worked at the Great Mall while going to SJSU. I haven't found a recipe that comes close (they must put some secret ingredient in there!), but here's one that still satisfies the sweet tooth. And you can claim it's healthy since there's oatmeal in there!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
  
• 1 cup sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  

Directions:

• Cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl and beat in eggs and vanilla
  
• Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture.
• Stir in oats and chocolate chips
  
• Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

I found that these cookies tasted even better the more they sat. Days later, they were super tastier than when I baked them =). This dough also made about 48 cookies - it was a lot of dough!

I now understand why people pay just a smidge more for the bigger mixer. I had to mix the oatmeal and chips in by hand because it was too much dough for my mixer. But lookie here! I had one of my little helpers in cow pj's to ease the burden!

Dirty Snowballs

My niece Bianca gave me this easy-peazy boxed cake mix cookie recipe. She was right when she raved about how pretty they looked with their cracked topping, but she didn't push how super scrumptious they would be! The first dozen I baked were gone from the cooling rack immediately! Ben's mom and grandmother each had two and loved them. Reese said they tasted like brownie cookies... mmmmmmmm

Ingredients:
- Box of Betty Crocker Super Moist Devil's Food Cake Mix
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- Small bowl of sugar (to roll cookie dough in)

Directions:
* You will not be following box instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Pour cake mix, oil, vanilla extract and eggs into mixing bowl. Mix until dough forms

- Shape dough into 1" balls and roll in sugar. Place dough on ungreased cookie sheet (I line all my cookie sheets with parchment paper)

- Bake for 8-10 minutes (I baked some smaller portions since they were disappearing, which took 8 minutes).
- Allow to cool, but my family ate them before they could =)

Enjoy with a glass of milk!

Pretzel Turtles

OH EM GEE! Ben's cousin Margie introduced me to this delectable sweet treat on Christmas. I can't believe how easy they are to make. I just love the sweet/salty combination. I brought some to the Yamat Christmas celebration, and some family members couldn't place the chewiness of the caramel - but what a winner!

Ingredients:
- package of rolos
- package of small pretzels
- package of pecan halves

Directions:
- preheat oven to 350 degrees
- unwrap rolos
- place pretzels on parchment or foil lined cookie sheet
- place a rolo on top of each pretzel
- bake for 2-3 minutes or until rolo is soft (but not totally melted)
- remove from oven and gently press a pecan half on top of each rolo
- allow to cool and set

It's crazy how divine these are! Another easy crowd pleaser!

Cake Bites

Photo by Ben's cousin Jasmine G.

Merry Christmas! My gift to you is my favoritest "almost home-made" super easy decadent and fabulous looking cake bites!

It's exactly just that, a cake bite. A pefectly sized tasty morsel of cake, frosting, and candy coating. It's the lazy version of Bakerella's cake pops.

Ingredients:
- Box cake mix (and ingredients as directed)
- Cannister of vanilla frosting
- Packages of chocolate and vanilla Wilton candy melts (can be found at Michael's Craft store and Joanne Fabrics) or Almond Bark (can be found in baking aisle)
- Sprinkles

Directions:
- Bake cake as directed. Once cake is cool, crumble cake until fine.
- Mix about 1/3 to 1/2 of the frosting until the cake has a doughlike consistence (start with less rather than more since some cakes are more moist than others)
- Form "cake dough" into 1" balls and place on wax paper lined tray. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Melt candy melts as directed (I usually do it by microwavie - ultimate laziness)
- Dip balls into melted candy and make sure that it is thoroughly covered. Tap off excess and place on wax paper to set.
- If using sprinkles, add them right after dipping so that they stick on.
- Drizzle vanilla candy melts on the plain ones (I place a few vanilla candy melt pellets in a plastic ziplock, melt in the microwave, cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag, and drizzle over the cake bite in a zig-zag pattern).




Cakepop variation:
- Dip lollipop stick tip in melted chocolate then insert into cakeball
- Gently dip and roll cakepop in melted chocolate, tap off excess
- If adding sprinkles, add immediately
- Place cakepop on plastic wrapped styrofoam to set

My favorite cake/candy melt combinations are chocolate devils food cake with milk chocolate candy melts and lemon cake with vanilla candy melts.

This is such an easy and fun process, and the results are pretty. I'm so craving a chocolate one with a cup of coffee now... ;)

Baking Party!

What a wonderful way to spend the day with girlfriends catching up!

I spent the afternoon with my high school girlfriends Gail and Michelle baking holiday treats. We had a bunch of recipes, but it took us some time to decide which to do first. Next time, we need a timeline! Here are a few of the treats we created while spending quality time.

Chocolate Fudge, Whoopie Pies, Magic Cookie Bars, Peanutbutter Cup Cookies, Peppermint Bark Snowflakes (not pictured)