Using Stickers In A Pinch (Or Using Them Just Because You Can!)

I don't know about the rest of you cake pop makers out there, but I can't even begin to imagine how people make such intricate, detailed, perfect shapes, animals, etc.  Chocolate is a fussy thing to work with.  It's too liquidity, it's too thick, it's just not my preferred medium (fancy word there, huh?  ;) for baking.  Therefore, I haven't gone too far into the realm of cake pop options, apart from different colorings.  The thing is, though, I'm getting kinda bored of the plain, old round cake pop.

Which brings me to my recent cake pop order.  The theme was "Noah's Arc" (for twins...how clever!) and I was given an invitation for a color guide.  I spent days thinking of what I could do to make them a bit more special without getting into making actual animal shapes I would have to add details to.  As far as skills go, I just don't think I'm there yet.

I went to the craft store to pick up sticks, wrappers and ribbon the day of the project and resigned myself to playing it safe with the ball shape, matching colors as best I could.  As I walked to the register past the scrapbook sticker aisles I thought, "Why not look for some animals to add to the packaging."  It's such a simple, easy addition, but I LOVE the way they turned out!!

Here is a photo of the group with the invitation:

Aren't they CUTE?  I may be a bit more enthusiastic than is warranted, but the amount of time and stress it saved me while, at the same time, playing up the theme makes me want to sing and dance!  ;)

I definitely will only use scrapbooking stickers, rather than flat, one dimensional versions, because they're more visually interesting and polished.  I'm totally going to capitalize on all of the adorable stickers out there and save myself some headaches when I can.  The possibilities are endless!!

Tiffany's - Not Just For Breakfast!

To begin this week I wanted to make something fun, so I chose to bake "Tiffany" blue colored cake pops. For an extra bit of color I made a deep pink strawberry cake for the inside. I love the way they turned out! The only challenge I faced was the consistency of the chocolate. It was too thick to smoothly coat the pops. After some research I found that Paramount Crystals will do a great job of thinning the chocolate, so I will buy some and try it for myself. I'll do another cake pop post once I have them and let you know the results! In the meantime, onto the "Tiffany" pops!

After baking a cake and letting it completely cool, it must be broken down into a sand-like texture. One way to do this is to cut the cake into fourths. Take two pieces at a time and "sand" the cake chunks by rubbing them together. The method I use is taking a fork and gently running it through the cake repeatedly until it turned into fine crumbs.

Next, add frosting. This is a tricky thing. If you add too much the cake does not stay put on the sticks while dipping into the chocolate. If you add too little, the cake will not form into balls and keep their shape. One tip I can share - ADD A LITTLE FROSTING AT A TIME! You can always add more, but you can not take excess frosting out. You may be surprised by the small amount of frosting that goes a long way. For approximately 3/4 of a cake I added about 2 large spoons full of frosting. It was plenty. After mixing (with a spoon to fully incorporate the cake and frosting) you should have a sticky, doughy result that can be shaped into balls.

Proceed to roll the mixture into balls. Some like to use a cake pop/cookie scoop for size consistency. I do it by hand and don't find have any issues. For now, that works just fine for me. Once the ball is rolled place it on a cookie sheet. Repeat until you have used all of the cake/frosting mixture.

Next, you will do one of two things. You can either place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for a few hours, or in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. I can be at times impatient, so I use the freezer method. Beware, however, if the balls are too cold when you dip them, the chocolate coating will crack. It's a fine balance that you will work out through practice, trial and error.

While the chilling is happening, begin the chocolate melting process. I used Wilton chocolate melting discs. You can also use white chocolate bark, and I will be investigating Ghiradelli melting chocolate, which I have read tastes GREAT and has a nice sheen to it. I have many bags of the Wilton chocolate, however, and until it's used up will not be purchasing any more! Okay, so now melting the chocolate (I use the microwave method. An alternative is to use a double boiler):

Pour the chocolate melting chips into a microwavable bowl. Heat at 30 second increments on power setting 2

Stir the chocolate at each 30 second interval. It will appear lumpy and seem like it will never be smooth, but have faith and continue heating!

Finally, smooth, melted chocolate.

Now it's time to add the color. When dyeing chocolate, you MUST use candy dye. Using icing colors will not work, it will cause oil separation and ruin the chocolate. I used Wilton Candy Dye. You can purchase it at craft stores, such as Michael's.

To achieve that classic Tiffany Blue color, add small amount of the blue candy color to white chocolate. Since it was my first time and I was nervous about adding too much blue, I used a toothpick to add the coloring. Once again, you have to just kind of use trial and error to get the color right. Also, again, you can add more coloring, but you can't remove it once it's once it been mixed! Eventually, I achieved the right hue. Be sure to time the melting and coloring of the chocolate so it will be complete at the same time your cake balls are finished chilling. Remove them from the refrigerator or freezer and get your lollipop sticks (can be purchased at a craft store, such as Michael's) ready - it's time to dip!

Every girl's favorite shade of blue!

Unfortunately, with only two hands (and both were busy dipping), I could not photograph the process of making cake pops, so I'll have to describe the last few steps. First, take a lollipop stick and dip about an inch and a half into the chocolate. Insert the stick inside a cake ball approximately 3/4 of the way up. Next, dip the cake ball into the chocolate and make sure the entire ball is covered and the bottom is sealed with chocolate. If you don't seal the entire ball the cake will ooze out. Once you've gotten reached this point in the time consuming process, you don't want small openings in the chocolate  to ruin your pop! Once the pop is coated, let the chocolate set by placing the it into a piece of styrofoam to keep it upright (pre-poke holes in the styrofoam before dipping into the chocolate). Here is an example of "setting" cake pops:

And there you have your cake pops! Here is a finished Tiffany pop. I love it:

Add a plastic wrapper with some ribbon and you have a beautiful party favor, dessert offering, or snack!

They are quite time consuming, but worth it. If you have a few hours you can set aside, try making cake pops yourself and enjoy!!

P.S. Tiffany did not compensate me for this mention. I just LOVE everything Tiffany!  Who doesn't?  :)

I shared this recipe on:  Things that make you say Mmmmm....Monday

Recipe Roundup

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies: Prettier in Pink!

I wanted to make something simple and fun after the golf course, so I chose these adorable cookies. I first saw these cookies here: http://dailynibbles.com/2011/02/01/in-the-kitchen-pink-peanut-butter-hugs/, and immediately fell in love. Pink is my favorite color, they mimic the hot pink/zebra combination that is so popular right now, and they just make me smile. Turns out, as is often the case with baking something for the first time, it wasn't so easy! Coloring these correctly took a few tries...3 batches of dough later I was finally pleased with the result.

To make these cookie you will need the following things:

Your favorite Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, pink sanding sugar, Hershey Hugs, neon pink gel food coloring, and red gel food coloring (optional). I have a Peanut Butter Cookie recipe I have been following forever and I love it so much I would hesitate to even think about using another one. Here it is:

Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer Reese's Peanut Butter)

1/4 cup shortening (I prefer Crisco baking sticks, butter flavor)

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

1 egg

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cream together the butter, shortening, and peanut butter. Mix in sugars, egg and milk. Add the remaining ingredients. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 - 2 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet at least three inches apart. Using a fork make a crisscross pattern by pressing down on the cookie. Dip the fork in flour between cookies to prevent the dough from sticking. Bake between 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool several minutes before removing them from cookie sheet.

Since I was making pink cookies, I added a few drops of AmeriColor's Christmas Red gel food dye. I read this would make a terrific shade of hot pink. I used a hand mixer to incorporate the color; doing it by hand proved to be impossible for me, I am not strong enough to evenly mix it completely.

I had some issues with coloring the dough, which I will explain in a moment. Once the desired color is mixed into the dough, roll it into 1 1/2 - 2 inch balls, dredge through pink sugar until fully coated, and bake:

After the cookies are finished baking, immediately place a Hershey Hug in the middle of the cookie, pressing it down about 1/2 way. The Hug will keep it's shape as long as it's not touched (the chocolate will half melt from the heat of the cookie). Once the cookie and the chocolate cool completely, the Hug will become solid again and the cookies can be packaged or placed in an airtight container to store.

Voila! Adorable hot pink zebra strip peanut butter cookies! Now, let's go over coloring the dough.

For the first batch I mixed up, I didn't think it was possible for it to turn pink with only a few drops of Christmas red, so I added some neon pink. I baked them and was not pleased. So, I mixed up another batch and mixed in the neon pink, still was skeptical of how they would look baked, panicked and added some red. This was close, much better, but still too dark for my taste. After thinking about it, and not ready to give up, I decided to mix up a third batch of dough and split it in two. In one half I mixed in only Christmas red dye. In the other half, I mixed in only neon pink. Here are the results of all four trials:

From Top to bottom: Uncooked dough, baked cookie with no sugar, finished cookie with sugar and hug.

The first column is the mostly red dye with some neon pink added. The second column is mostly neon pink with some red added. The third column is red dye only, and the fourth neon pink only. I had to use my judgement on how much dye to add. I was almost ready to stop at my second attempt (second column), but I'm happy I experimented with only using one color. Here is a close-up of column two and column four finished cookies, the two I decided were closest shade of the hot pink I was trying to achieve:

Cookie on left is neon pink and red dye, cookie on right is neon pink dye only.

The cookie on the left had a bit too much of a red hue and in certain light did not appear pink enough. So, the cookie on the right is the winner! I mixed approximately 6 drops of food coloring in one batch of cookie dough. I may add a bit more to darken the pink a bit, but three batches of cookies later I finally achieved my goal and I'm happy!