Baking day..

My first attempt at making cake pops.

basically cake pops are a baked cake and frosting mixed together then dipped in chocolate. They need to harden to keep shape so, put them in the freezer. There are quite a few cake pop books and even a machine where you can make your own,but I always like to try doing things the "hard" way before going to get a machine to do the work. You can get baking chocolate (usually in bar form) or just get some chocolate chips. You can put them in microwave as well to get it to melt. The "proper" way is over a double boiler.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_boiler

If using white chocolate, be careful.  Due to the high amount of cocoa butter and butter fats contained in the milk fats, white chocolate is extremely heat sensitive. You must be extremely careful when melting-white-chocolate because the fats all melt at different temperatures. Cocoa butter melts at a higher temperature, while butter fats from your milk solids melt at a lower temperature. Also, milk proteins are heat sensitive and will clump if overheated.

Use any kind of decorations for your cake pops. I had some left over edible glitter that I bought from a store specializing in bakery products. They can be a bit pricey so, if you decide to use items like edible glitter, be sure to figure out what colors you want before hand or you might end up leaving the store with a lot more money spent and a lot more items than what you originally wanted or needed.

I also made some chocolate chip cookies. Best recipe ever uses butter (not oil or shortening) and I use vanilla instant pudding for a boost of extra softness and flavor. The taste of the cookie can be changed by using a different flavor of pudding and/ or flavored chips. I'm not one to spend extra time sifting flour. I usually just throw it all together and it turns out alright. I am not a professional baker or pastry chef though so it's really up to you.

Chocolate Chip cookies

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto a  ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. 

The other dessert I made was cream puffs dipped in caramel sauce. If you do not want to mess with making caramel sauce, then go ahead and buy some. The timing and clean up alone will make you want to scream or cry. Caramel can harden pretty fast so it's urgent to get a pot soaking immediately after use. Cream puffs are made using a pate a choux dough recipe..It contains only butter, water, flour, and eggs. You can fill the cream puffs with a filling like pudding or of whipped cream and sugar.


I use brown sugar, water, butter, vanilla, and a dash of cinnamon to make caramel sauce. Then, watch it and stir constantly, while it is reducing. There are quite a few different recipes though. Make sure to let your caramel sauce cool down before you start dipping or eating it will be very hot. Another handy tip, is to use wax paper. :)

Health note of the day --- I try to use as much cinnamon as possible since it does have quite a few health benefits.. Such as it helps regulate your blood sugar, its a anti-clogging effect on blood, It is a great source of manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium. It is also known to help with digestion.