Cake Pops

{Kelly's cake pop glamour shot}

I helped host a baby shower this weekend and I decided to attempt cake pops. I know this have been a trend out there for awhile, but they are just so dang cute. My sister and I fun making them, but this was definitely a messy project.

You will need:

boxed cake mix

16 oz frosting

lollipop sticks

parchment paper

chocolate to melt

sprinkles

Bake your cake and let completely cool. Crumble baked cake into large bowl and mix in 3/4 of frosting, until sticky. Roll into ping pong shaped balls.Place rolled balls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and chill in fridge for at least 15 minDip sticks in melted chocolate and place in chilled cake balls about half way in; chill again about 20 min. Dip cake balls into melted white or milk chocolate and decorate immediately. I used a flower styrofoam frog to let them dry so that they kept their shape.

And store in the fridge until party.

{Side note: I never want to see another cake pop as long as I live. I'm so over it, not that they weren't delicious, but it was such a mess, I had cake and frosting in some strange places.}

Raspberry Pound Cake

No work, no driving, no leaving my house! We have been couped up in the house for the past few days and I think we are all getting a little cabin fever. I decided to try out a new recipe from my newest Giada cookbook that I got for Christmas. It looked yummy and other than raspberries being out of season and a little pricey, it was fairly easy to make.

{Penny watching the snow fall}

{The picture in the cookbook}

for the pound cake:

1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

1 & 1/2 C all purpose flour

1 tsp baking pwd

2 tsp grated orange zest ( I used a meyer lemon)

1/2 tsp grounded cinnamon

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 & 1/2 C fresh raspberries, lightly mashed

1 & 1/3 C sugar

4 lg eggs

1 tsp good vanilla

for the cream:

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 C heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp pwd sugar

Mix all ing together in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form.

Preheat oven to 350 and butter & flour a 9x5x3 loaf pan

combine flour, baking pwd, cinnamon, and salt

add lemon zest

Place 3 tablespoons of the flour mix into the raspberries, toss until coated.

In a stand mixer, beat butter & sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add eggs 1 at a time. Add vanilla and then the dry ingredient mixer, small amounts at a time.

Gently fold in raspberry mixture

just a side note: this batter is insane, I think I got a little crazy and ate too much.

Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for about an hour. Let cool before you remove and serve with whipped cream.

The final product: Yum!!

{Lemon Bars}

I was in charge of making a dessert for Easter lunch for Chad's side of the family this year. I had found this lemon bar recipe in Southern Living a few months ago, and really wanted to try it out. I thought it would be a perfect Spring dessert. The recipe was very easy and made about 2 dozen. They turned out pretty good, very lemony, which is fine by me! {yum!}




What you'll need:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup pwd sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
4 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp baking soda
extra powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350
line bottom of a 13x9 pan with parchment paper;lightly grease


stir together 2 cups flour and pwd sugar; cut in butter with a pastry blender(note to self: get one of these, little difficult with a fork)

press mixture firmly in bottom of prepared pan

Bake at 350 for 20-25 min until lightly golden brown

Meanwhile, whisk eggs until smooth

add sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest

A long grater like this has come in handy a lot

in a separate bowl, mix the remaining flour and baking powder together;

add to egg mixture

Pour mixture over hot baked crust

Bake on 350 for 25 min, let cool on wire rack for at least 30 min

The parchment paper allows you to pick the baked mixture out of pan and onto rack

cut into bars and sprinkle with extra powdered sugar

Enjoy!

YUM!

My sister and her boyfriend came over on Saturday night to watch SNL(our favorite comedian was hosting- Zach Galafianakis, so funny!) I was feeling a little Giada like and made my favorite cupcakes. White cake with butter cream, SOO delicious!! I will be on that elliptical tonight! I think they turned out pretty cute?!?

Vanilla Bean Scones (like Starbucks)

So, whenever I go to Starbucks, I always get one of there vanilla bean scones, they are so so delicious. Whenever I eat something that I love I always try to replicate it at home. BIG emphasis on the try part. So I went online and found this recipe, if you like scones, you need to try it!

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup of sugar

5 tablespoons butter (cold)

1 cup full fat sour cream

1 lg egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean

For the glaze:

1 1/2 cup pwd sugar

milk, as needed

vanilla bean

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Whisk together dry ingredients

cut cold butter into dry ingredients, until it resembles coarse meal

in separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg yolk, vanilla bean, and vanilla extract

Add this to the flour-butter mixture , stir until mixture becomes a cohesive ball

pat dough into a disk, about i inch high

cut dough into 8 pieces, triangles, place on an ungreased baking sheet

BAKE 15 min or until golden brown

Prepare glaze while scones are baking (mix glaze ingredients until smooth)

using a pastry brush, brush glaze over hot scones; serve immediately or store in an airtight container.

ENJOY!