Ninjago!!

How did I forget to post this one?  I made these last year, and as a Mom of two little boy monkeys......well, these were a huge hit.  Ninjago.  If you have little boys in your family, you've heard of it (TV show....and a crazy amount of Lego toys).  If you don't have boys.....well then, you may have escaped this one ;)  Both of my boys have been crazy for this series since it first came out, so when a dear friend told me that she was throwing a Ninjago birthday party for her Kindergartener, I jumped at the chance to try to do some Oreo pops of these guys.

What you'll need:

Oreos

lollipop sticks

yellow candy melts

black candy melts

candy melts for each of the colors of the ninjas you want to include, I used:

red candy melts

white candy melts

black candy melts

green candy melts

blue candy melts

plastic squeeze bottles or plastic bags

To do these, you'll start with the basic Oreo Pop technique that How Does She has detailed in a step-by-step.  One you've got your base color (Which ninja did you start with?  The blue and green ninjas are the most popular at our house!), you're going to add an rounded rectangle of yellow for the face, using yellow candy melts.  Next, it's time for the eyes and eyebrows, using black candy melts, or chocolate.  I found that using a little squeeze bottle was easiest to get perfect little dots for the eyes.

Lastly it's time for their head wraps.  You're going to drizzle more of the colored candy melt, just like you do for the Mummy Oreo Pops.  And voila!  You've got yourself a team of ninjas!

Have fun!  And Enjoy!

Happy New Year?

Happy New Year everyone!  Yeah, I realize I'm almost a month late to that party......I have no idea how the month of January has managed to completely fly by!  Once school started back up after winter break, it feels like time just whizzed by, and now it's already time to start planning for Valentine's Day!

Well, here's a cake that could easily be changed up for Valentine's Day!  You've probably seen a cake completely doused in sprinkles somewhere on Pinterest.  I used the post I found at Raspberri Cupcakes for inspiration, and did an ombre layered cake inside.  The great thing about this is that you could use your favorite cake recipe (make sure it's a white cake if you're going to do the ombre effect).....heck you could even use a white box cake mix.....no one will know!

I decided to make this as a belated birthday cake......so after asking what her favorite color was, I did the ombre layers in shades of blue.  Just find your favorite color....divide your cake batter into however many layers you're going to do.....and dye each bowl a slightly darker shade (of the same color) than the last bowl.

Once the cake layers have baked and cooled, top with your favorite frosting.  My favorite is the Dulce de Leche Buttercream frosting from Bakers Royale that I use on the Tres Leches Cupcakes.  The only problem that I had was that the frosting I used has a tan tint to it once the dulce de leche is added to it......you could see that a bit where the sprikles weren't completely covering spots on the cake.  So I'd say to stick with a bright white frosting......it would be a better backdrop to the sprinkles (although possible not as yummy!).

A bit of warning about the sprinkles.....no matter what you do, you WILL get sprinkles everywhere.  Even after a very thorough clean-up yesterday, I still found some sticking to the bottom of my feet this morning.  I went through about 3 of the small bottles of nonpareils to cover this bad boy.  After sprinkling the top liberally with the sprinkles I used my hands to get the sides, and at the end used a spatula to scoop up any remaining sprinkles and slap them on the side.

Surprise them with the inside!

The best park of this cake is that while everyone is ooing and aahing over the outside of the sprinkles (because come on.....who doesn't love sprinkles)......you'll totally surprise them with the inside layers!  Love it, love it!  I'll definitely be doing this again and playing around with the inside (purple for me.....ooohhh, and what about rainbow??).

So get in your kitchen and have fun making a mess!  Check out Raspberri Cupcakes for pictures of her stunning Purple Ombre Sprinkles Cake as well as her cake recipe.....and Enjoy!!

Oreo-Stuffed Red Velvet Crinkles

Did you have a Merry Christmas?  As always, we had a crazy busy holiday.....but full of family, friends and fun!  

One of the desserts I brought to my in-laws on Christmas Eve were these Oreo-Stuffed Red Velvet Crinkle cookies from Sprinkles Bakes.  Any dessert containing Oreos is automatically placed on the "To Bake" list at our house.  But with the red velvet cookie outside, and the layer of powdered sugar outside.....these screamed Christmas to me.  

The cookie bakes up to what the hubby described at a cake/cookie.....which meant he loved it!  Be careful how much cookie dough you put around the Oreo though.  The first few I made turned out big enough to feed a neighborhood!  And remember to do a final roll in the powdered sugar right before you stick these bad boys in the oven.......it'll give you an extra crinkle-y outside!

Check out Sprinkles Bakes for the recipe.....and Enjoy!!

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Have you tried any of the many cookie recipes out there with brown butter?  I've seen chocolate chip cookie, snickerdoodle, and oatmeal cookie recipes all with brown butter in there.  Out of all of those, this recipe for Chewy Brown Butter Sugar Cookies from Cookies and Cups, was the one that screamed for me to try it.  A brown butter sugar cookie that has been rolled in sugar and then covered in a brown butter icing.....sounds delicious!

As you can see from the picture, I ended up not using the icing.  Don't get me wrong.....I'm sure it would be fantastic, and perhaps a little over-the-top for the holidays.....but I really felt like these cookies were sweet and rich enough all on their own.  Oh, and delicious!  Did I mention that these are crazy delicious??!!  The hubby just loved these!  I think these may make a second appearance at our house to leave out for Santa this year :)

Give these a try if you're looking for a new holiday cookie to try.....check out Cookies and Cups for the recipe.....and Enjoy!!

Christmas Treats

Oh my.....I can't believe Christmas is almost here!  Every year it feels like time somehow accelerates once the school year starts, and before you know it......the holidays are here!  So, if you're still looking for something cute to put together for the holidays.....here's some ideas:

How about these fun Oreo Snowman Pops?

Or these cute Oreo Penguin Pops?

Feel like doing cakepops instead of Oreo pops?  How about a little Rudolph?

Or a Christmas tree cakepop?

But what about if you're not in the mood to make pops?  Well, how about some Christmas tree cupcakes instead?

Whatever you end up making, just remember to have fun and relax!  It's just sugar :)

Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with Dulce de Leche Walnut Streusel

Pumpkin pies are a staple at our house during this time of year.  I am not exaggerating when I say that the hubby could eat an entire pumpkin pie in one sitting!  I have my go to pumpkin pie recipe that we love....but I'm always on the look for something different.  I saw this Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with a Dulce de Leche Walnut Streusel from Sprinkle Bakes.....I knew it would be the perfect grown-up dessert for our Thanksgiving dinner!

Let me say right off the bat......do not make this bad boy unless you are feeding a crowd......or some really hungry guys.  Because it is baked in a springform pan (and uses one of the large cans of pumpkins), this is a seriously huge dessert!

While the inside of this pie is a fairly standard pumpkin pie.....it's the topping on this bad boy that really makes it!  A crunchy walnut streusel that is then topped with ooey-gooey dulce de leche.  Yum yum!

Give this one a try the next time you've got some hungry mouths to feed.  Go to Sprinkle Bakes for the recipe.....and Enjoy!

Farewell Hostess

Did you grow up with Hostess stuff in the house?  I definitely did!  As I've said before.....my mom has never been much of a baker....so growing up I remember a lot of Hostess fruit pies (yuck), Twinkies (yum), chocolate cupcakes (yummer), and Ding-Dongs (yummiest!).  Well, with all the talk of the Hostess bakery closing, I couldn't stop thinking about making something Hostess.  I probably would have just gone to the grocery store and bought something, but apparently people decided to make a run on the stores and start selling everything on Ebay (seriously....you can buy Twinkies on Ebay....crazy!)......so, I decided to just do it myself!

I decided that I would make these as my kiddo dessert for Thanksgiving.....I mean, who doesn't love a chocolate cupcake??  Luckily I had saved a recipe for "Faux-stess" cupcakes from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, and believe me.....these did not disappoint!  Every single one of them was devoured!

The best part for me (because I didn't have too much time to do these)?  The recipe uses a boxed Devil's Food cake mix!  Now, I normally would much rather make cupcakes from scratch....and there are some recipes for Faux-stess cupcakes that are from scratch......but I just decided to go with it, since I was under a time crunch.  Then you fill the cupcakes up with a vanilla frosting that I thought tasted a lot like the original.  "Only better", according to the hubby.

And then there's the top of the cupcake.  A can of chocolate frosting!  Seriously!  Did you know that you can nuke a can of frosting, then dip a cupcake in it and voila!  Easy peasy chocolate ganache?  I realize it's not the real deal....but come on!  It tastes just like it!  And it was exactly the right topping for these cupcakes!  Such a great trick to know.......I'll be using that again!

Check out Confessions of a Cookbook Queen for the recipe.....and Enjoy!  Now I've got to give homemade Ding-Dongs and Twinkies a try!