Yummy Pop

I do my best to stay on top of current trends but this one totally slipped past me for some reason...I went to Starbucks today (shame on me) and was offered something I just couldn't refuse - a cake pop! I should have been sticking to my New Years diet but there was just something about a 20 inch picture of a cake pop that spoke to me...like corndogs, popsicles, & lollipops some things just work great on sticks! (and well my drink was soy with no whip so it all balanced out!)

Spring Cake Pops by Bella Bites Cake Pops on Etsy

Then I became totally intrigued by cake pops and started googling them, looking on Etsy, checking for recipes...cake pops are everywhere! How did I not notice them before? Anyhow, I also found a recipe & how-to on Etsy by Bakerella for Cake Pops! Have any of you tried making your own delicious cake pops? I can't wait to try it!

Food Love : Virginia is for Lovers Glazed Sugar Cookies!

Baked these delicious little cookies last night for the BF, who happens to love grocery store smiley face cookies. I'm not sure if all grocery stores have these but locally, we have a grocery store named Giant that sells these big sugar cookies with old fashioned glaze frosting and they are delicious! So delicious, I had to hunt down some comparable recipes and try to make them myself, its really difficult to eat just one! I got the VA shaped cookie cutter at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello when I visited there over the summer. It's pretty neat, check it out if you're ever in the middle of VA. Honestly, you won't find much else in the middle of VA so you might as well. Or actually, check out Madison's Montpelier instead, its bigger and there's an indoor bowling alley.





Here's the recipe:


I found a no-roll sugar cookie recipe over at Bettycrocker.com that is delicious, so you can just roll the dough into balls and then smash with the bottle of a glass, or you can chill the dough & roll it...I rolled these last night and it worked just fine! The glaze recipe was also found on the net but I can't remember where - I recommend doubling or tripling the recipe for enough frosting for an entire batch!


No Roll Sugar Cookies:

1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Powdered
1 Cup Buttery or Marg. Softened
3/4 Cup Vegtable Oil
2 Tablespoons Milk
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 Eggs
4 1/4 Cup Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt


- Mix wet ingredients until creamy and then add dry ingredients until well blended, Cover, & Chill until dough is firm. Roll dough out or (Shape Dough into balls and roll in sugar, if you just wanna make delicious sugar cookies, skip this step if you use the glaze frosting), cut & place on ungreased cookie sheet (and if you don't decide to roll the dough, flatten to 1/4 inch thick with bottom of glass), Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 13 minutes.


Delicious Glaze Frosting (like Grocery Store Smiley Face Cookies):

1 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Teaspoons Milk
2 Teaspoons Corn Syrup
1 /4 Teaspoon Vanilla
Food Coloring of Choice

Stir Powdered Sugar, Milk, Corn Syrup, & Vanilla until it is smooth & glossy, if it is too thick add more corn syrup. I added about 2 more teaspoons to this recipe to get the right consistancy.

Food Love : Banana Crumb Muffins!

I meant to post this recipe for my last Etsy Bloggers Carnival but since I was x-mas slammed, I didn't get a chance to post it until now! These are the most delicious banana muffins ever - great for breakfast or any time really. I stole the recipe from allrecipes.com!

What you'll need:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

3 mashed bananas
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup melted butter

optional: nuts

optional: Delicious crumb topping (highly recommended)

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespons flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon of butter

(I don't really go by this to do the crumb topping, I just pinch and eye ball it!)

The specifics:

Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, ready when toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 10 big, fluffy, and delicious muffins.

(Don't try to get 12 out of the batter, you'll end up with smaller, less fluffy and delicious muffins - for more just double the recipe!)

Here's how to make the most delicious muffins ever:

1. Gather above ingredients and vintage Pyrex since its so cute and awesome for baking.

2. Sift dry ingredients, melt butter, lightly beat the egg. Put your banana, sugar, egg, & butter in the same bowl.

3. Mash together bananas, sugar, butter, & egg. I like to use a potato masher, works great! Keep mashing until your ingredients are well blended and banana pieces are roughly the size of peas.

4. Add banana mush to your dry ingredients and stir.



5. Optional Crumb Topping: gather together ingredients & use pastry cutter to blend topping.

6. Fill baking cups with batter almost to the top, or roughly 3/4 full. Sprinkle with Crumb Topping and bake! I like to use an ice cream scoop, makes things super easy!


7. Bake 18 to 20 minutes. Cool. Then eat majorly delicious muffins!

Etsy Bloggers Street Team : Blog Carnival : Get Ready for the Holidays : Recipe!

I absolutely love baking and usually have something yummy and delicious around for a snack! I also have dreams of owning my own cupcake store. But cookies are deliciously too, so I thought I'd share my secret family recipe for chocolate chip cookies for this weeks Blog Carnival: Aunt Mary's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!

Aunt Mary's World Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Mix wet ingredients together:

1 cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat & add 2 Eggs

Sift dry ingredients together then Add to Wet Mix above:

2 cups floor
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Add as many chocolate chips to mix as desired!

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet @ 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes


I generally mix the wet ingredients together with a hand mixer, then sift together the dry ingredients, stir dry mix into the wet ingredients, then blend with a mixer again. If you bake the cookies around 10 minutes and take them out they'll be soft and chewy, if leaving them in for the full 12 minutes they will turn out crisp and crunchy!

(Tip: If you don't have one of those ice cream scoops, you should really get one - I think my Moms stole the idea from Martha but its super handy for cookie dough, cupcake batter!, and all sorts of things other than ice cream!)