American Flag Truffleballs

This year, like the past couple of years, we had the chance to celebrate the 4th of July by showing a foreign exchange student what it's like to be an American. It is the third year in a row that we have hosted a student - our first hailed from Châteaurenard, France; our second from Lille, France; and our third from San Sebastian, Spain. My sister and I became quick friends with all three of these girls so we look forward to one day coming to visit them (fingers crossed).
Anyway, to celebrate our American pride, this Independence Day we went to the Hood Canal, where my boyfriend's family has a beach house. We swam in the Puget Sound, watched TV, played some soccer, shot off fireworks, and, of course, ATE. To show our gratitude, my sister and I made skewers of fruit, marshmallows, and brownies. But the real hit were these American Flag Cake-batter Truffleballs. The recipe comes from Six Sisters Stuff. I only made very slight changes to the recipe.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour 
1 cup + 4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix (separate) 
1/2 cup softened salted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-6 Tablespoons milk Sprinkles (for this design I used the sugar crystal sprinkles, but other more solid sprinkles would likely work better)
1 package of white candy melts

Recipe: First, using mixer (electric or manual), beat together the sugar and butter until they are combined.
Then, slowly add in 1 cup of yellow cake mix, all of the flour, vanilla, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Next, add in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it has reached the consistency of dough.
Then add in sprinkles by hand until you feel you can actually see the sprinkles throughout the dough (I used red and blue sprinkles for this design).
Next, roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.
Then, chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. It was a very hot day and we were pretty busy elsewhere, so we chilled them for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
Just before taking the dough out of the refrigerator, melt the candy coating in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Be sure to stir between intervals and not to overcook, as this can burn the chocolate, which is not desirable.
Once the candy coating has been melted, you can add in the 4 remaining Tablespoons of yellow cake mix.
Now, you can take out the chilled balls and dip them in the melted candy coating using a fork. Be sure to coat entirely, but leave some for the rest of the dough balls.
After you have dipped all of them, you should place them in the fridge until you serve them. Since we were making these at home, we opted to freeze them for 2 hours and then bring them to the party. This was a bad idea, though, because the candy coating started to melt while we were transporting them to the party. This recipe makes 24-30 truffleballs. I highly recommend doubling the recipe, as they go quickly.

 

I loved this recipe. They tasted so good and were such a hit. They really did taste like cake batter. I especially liked that the candy coating, which usually doesn't taste all that good, was actually an enjoyable part. I highly recommend making these if you have the chance. However, be sure to do it for your own party, where you don't have to worry about transporting them without having them melt.


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Candy Graduation Caps

My sister graduated from high school the other day! But this recipe can be used for any type of graduation. High school, college, preschool, what have you. Our high school colors were blue and silver (they were navy blue and cyan when I was a freshman, though, so I like to say that our colors are blue and blue), but this can be done with any school color. In a few years, I see myself making this with purple (the color for University of Portland).

Making these candies is a lot simpler than it looks. It does, however, require two shopping trips: one trip to any craft supplies store, and one to your regular grocery store.

Ingredients:

12 chilled but not frozen Reese's Cups

12 chocolate squares

12 M&M's of your school's color

1 colored licorice rope of your school's color

12 candy sticks (the kind used for lollipops)

Candy Melts (chocolate is probably the best idea. I used Vanilla, but mistakes show very easily with this one).

Recipe:

First, cut the colored licorice into about two inch sections. Then, either pull the licorice apart or cut it apart so that you have a thin two inch rope, which will look like a tassel.

Next, melt the candy melts. Follow the instructions on the package, but generally this is done by melting in the microwave, on defrost or half power. You won't need the whole package. Just a handful should do. If the candy melts harden while you're working, just microwave it again. That's the best part. You can always go back and reuse. It's not really that time sensitive.

While you melt the candy melts, unwrap your chocolates and Reese's cups.

Once you've done that, take one candy stick and dip the end into the melted candy melts. Take this end and insert it into an upside down Reese's cup.

After the candy melt has hardened so that the sticks are firm in the cups, coat the top of your Reese's cup with melted candy melts and place a chocolate square on top. Let this harden, too, so that it looks like a graduation cap and is firm in its shape.

Next, stick the "tassel" (licorice rope) on the top using melted candy melts as glue. I used the tip of a sharp knife as my paint brush. Be sure to make the line as thin as possible (or even better, paint half of the licorice rope and then place it firmly on the top of the cap.

Then, paint the "M" half of the M&M with melted candy melts. Place this in the center of the top of your cap.

And now you're done. You have candy graduation caps that, once the candy melts have hardened, will stay together and be enjoyed by all your graduation party guests. Do be sure to clean up your mess as quickly as possible. If your candy melts have hardened in your mug, melt them again before you clean, which will make it significantly easier to clean.

These candies were a hit at my sister's graduation party. They'll be a hit at yours too. They're a lot more personal than candies you might find at the grocery store, but a lot easier than other graduation-themed treats that you might make for your party. I found a similar candy on Pinterest but it didn't come with a recipe. So, I used ideas from this How To. There are several different ways to make this candy, but this is, by far, the easiest. And it can be done in a dorm kitchen. All you need is a mug and a microwave, as well as all the ingredients.

Happy graduation to all the graduates out there!

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Scat on a Log

I don't remember who in my family decided to name this snack. It was probably my sister. Anyway, Scat on a Log doesn't actually taste like scat. Or logs. But it does kind of look like scat on a snowy log, I guess. Based on Ants on a Log (or Bran on a Log like I made back in August), Scat on a Log is simple to make.

You will need:

Celery

Cream Cheese

Sliced Black Olives

First, wash your celery. You may want to rinse the black olives, too, since canned olives tend to have unnecessary salt added to them.

Then, cut the celery into lengths about the length of your index finger.

Next, spread cream cheese along the pieces of celery. Place slices of olives firmly in the cream cheese, along the length of each piece of celery.

Finally, eat, enjoy, and clean up the mess. The cream cheese will start to smell if you leave your dishes unwashed for too long.

This tasted pretty good. The cream cheese is rich, the olives are salty, and the celery is healthy. What's not to love with this snack?

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Topped Ramen: Number 3

In the last Topped Ramen post, I tried the Oriental Flavor Top Ramen. I didn't really like the flavor. However, I had another package of the flavor leftover. So, I decided to try something new: making Ramen without the flavor packet. Essentially, this Topped Ramen involves Ramen stir fry.

To make this, I first chopped vegetables. I used baby carrots and regular celery, slicing in 1/4 inch pieces.
While I chopped the vegetables, I soaked the ramen noodles in boiling water.
After all the veggies were chopped and the ramen was soft, I mixed them with two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. Then, I let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.
After a couple hours, I put the mixture onto a hot frying pan with just enough oil to keep it from sticking. I stirred constantly while it cooked, until the noodles darkened.
Finally, I put I ate, enjoyed, and cleaned up the mess.

It ended up tasting really good this way. I'd never made stir fry before, and I have a lot to learn, but for an experiment, this recipe turned out pretty well. I would recommend trying this recipe. The only change I might make to it is possibly steaming the veggies first, as the carrots, especially, were a bit too crunchy.


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An Update

It has been way too long since I posted last. I apologize. There's really no good excuse. I just got busy and sidetracked and just never seemed to have both the time and the heart to blog. I also didn't have much to blog about. I haven't really had too many cooking experiences. I had to spend a lot of food points at the cafeteria and I didn't really feel up to doing much cooking (or eating) either. Anyway, here's what you've missed in my life since I last posted (I'll be posting recipes and food-related content soon, I promise):

• I turned 18!
• I went home multiple times.
• My parents bought a condo on the Oregon coast (so I'll be visiting the coast quite a bit in the future).
• I survived finals.
• I made the dean's list (my biggest and hardest to reach goal for this semester).
• I went home for the summer.
• I had surgery! (I had my gallbladder removed. It was pretty damaged, apparently, but had absolutely no stones, so that's good. And it doesn't look as though I damaged my liver, which was a concern since I'd been sick for so long by the time I was able to have the surgery. They also discovered that I've had multiple appendicitis attacks in the past...how did I not know that?! They didn't do anything about it, though, and apparently it does not mean that I'll have any other attacks in the future, but now I know what an appendicitis attack feels like...which, for me, is almost nothing. It's been two weeks since my surgery I've been feeling pretty ok, getting better everyday.)

That's pretty much all that you need to know about the past couple months. I promise to start posting recipes right away.


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Cookie Dough Cupcake Fail

So, as I said before, I was entering a baking competition with one of my friends. I did most of the baking, while she did most of the decorating. It was a perfect team. Except for one thing, I failed miserably at making our star cupcakes. I was inspired to make these cupcakes by a variety of cookie dough filled cupcakes I found on Pinterest. In fact, Cupcake Project's cookie dough cupcakes were my first pin on Pinterest. More inspiration came from Chef in Training's cookie dough cupcakes with cookie dough buttercream frosting. The recipe I ended up choosing, however, came from Frosted Bake Shop's chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. In hindsight, I should have followed the recipe exactly as it was given, but I got carried away making substitutions. I ran out of eggs so I did a little research and saw that you can replace eggs with a combination of baking soda and water. This was wrong. Especially when making cookie dough cupcakes, since cookie dough already has baking soda. The cupcakes ended up exploding, made quite a mess, and tasted disgusting.

Since this isn't exactly what anyone wants to eat, I recommend following the directions given by Frosted Bakeshop, adapted slightly in order to accommodate dorm baking.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cups softened butter
1/4 cup regular sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips (regular chocolate chips will work if you don't have mini ones)
1 box white cake mix (yellow cake would work, too)
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Recipe:
The first step is to prepare the cookie dough. Beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth (you can use a manual mixer, if you have one, but if you're only using a spoon, it will be much harder). Then, add in the egg and the vanilla, mixing well until blended.
Next, slowly mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt until it is doughy.
Then, fold in the chocolate chips. Form the dough into small balls and place on a baking sheet (covered in parchment paper if at all possible). Freeze the dough balls for at least 2 hours.
After at least 2 hours have past, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl (the one you previously used will work fine), mix together the box of cake mix, water, vegetable oil, and eggs. Do not make any substitutions for the eggs.
Next, pour batter into a cupcake pan lined with baking cups, as you would any other cupcakes. Place frozen dough balls in the center of each unbaked cupcake.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, then allow to cool before removing from the pan and frosting the cupcakes.
Finally, clean up your mess and enjoy your cupcakes.

I wish I had followed these instructions more precisely, as I'd been looking forward to these cupcakes for so long. Next time I try these cupcakes, I'll be more precise. And, just like the other cupcakes I made, I have learned that I need to test recipes well in advance. Because a mess like this the night before a competition is the LAST thing I needed.
But, when life gives you extra cookie dough, make extra cookies. Homemade chocolate chip cookies fix every problem in life.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes with Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting

Well, that's a mouthful, isn't it? I made cupcakes with one of my friends for our school's baking competition. Our original plan was to make two types of cupcakes, but as you will see in my next post, that didn't work out too well. But these ones were successful enough to enter into the competition. We did learn a lesson, however. Always test your recipe well in advance of entering them into a competition or using it for an important event. Also, using a boxed cake mix is not the best plan when entering cupcakes into a baking competition.
These cupcakes were inspired by the Dangerously Decadent Cupcakes on The Something Shiny Blog. We did, however, make quite a few alterations.

Ingredients:
1 package of Betty Crocker chocolate cake mix
1 1/3 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
24 of mini Reese's cups

Recipe:
First, unwrap about 24 mini Reese's cups and place them onto a baking sheet. Put the sheet into the freezer and freeze the Reese's cups for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven, following the directions on the box for the chocolate cake mix.
Shortly before removing the Reese's cups from the freezer, prepare the chocolate cake mix as directed on the box (by mixing water, vegetable oil, and eggs).
Next, scoop the batter into a cupcake pan lined with baking cups. I did not use baking cups because I was out of them. This was my first mistake.
Just before placing the pan into the oven, place frozen Reese's cups in the center of each unbaked cupcake. Do not press them all the way down into the pan. This is where ours went wrong. The cupcake batter is very thin if it comes from a box, so the cups would have sunk a lot on their own. But, I pushed them all the way down, which meant that the peanut butter cups were touching the pan. Bad idea.

Next, bake according to the instructions on the side of the box apx 20-25 minutes.. After baking, allow to cool before removing from the pan and frosting using Chocolate Hazelnut Frosting. Decorate as you please.

As you can see from the pictures, the cupcakes turned out beautifully. My baking companion is a fondant genius and created those beautiful roses you see on top, as well as a little banner that says "City of Roses," which is accurate since Portland is, in fact, the city of roses. Plus, she taught me a better and much cleaner way of frosting cupcakes, which I appreciate.
These cupcakes didn't win any awards, but they were still pretty good and I'm proud of how they turned out. Take the lessons I have learned from this, though. Try a new recipe well in advance of using it for a competition or large event. And always use baking cups when making cupcakes like these.


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