Eye see you!

Our neighbors were hosting a Halloween party last Saturday and the invitation said to bring a "creepy treat" so I had to do some thinking to figure out what a "creepy treat" was but I came up with the perfect idea! Cake truffle eyeballs! They were just the basic Bakerella cake ball recipe then I used gummy lifesavers for the iris and then a upside down chocolate chip for the pupil. I put the lifesaver on immediately after dipping the ball in the almond bark so it would stick. Then I used red piping gel to draw the veins. I made the balls a bit bigger than usual so they would fit the lifesaver. I used on bag of lifesavers and that was enough for one batch, but I did need three of those little red gel tubes you get at the grocery store. Of course I had to use red velvet cake for the inside so it was red when you would bite into it. They were a big hit and I'll have to remember this for future Halloween parties.
Here's the link for the basic cake ball recipe.

Monkey Cupcakes!

I made these for Oliver's first birthday and they were perfect for him! I call him my monkey because he's always climbing on things and he's such a goof. These reminded me of banana bread but much fluffier and sweeter! Plus they're jumbo size so one cupcake really fills you up.

1 box yellow cake mix
1 1/2 C mashed bananans
1/2 C water
1/2 C veg. oil
3 large eggs
1 t. ground cinnamon
(I also like to add a splash of nutmeg)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place liners in 12 jumbo size cupcake cups. Mix cake mix, bananas, water, oil, eggs and cinnamon in bowl. Blend thirty seconds on low then 2 more minutes on medium. Spoon 1/2 C of batter (for the large cups) into each cup. Bake till golden and spring back when lightly pressed on. Let cool before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream cheese frosting

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese at room temp.
4 T stick butter at room temp.
3 C confectioner's sugar
1 t ground cinnamon (again I also add a dash of nutmeg)

Mix cream cheese and butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar a little at a time till well incorporated. Add cinnamon then increase speed to medium and blend till fluffy.


To decorate the monkeys frost whole cupcake first. Use two brown M&M's for the eyes and one in the middle and on it's side for the nose. With some brown piping frosting (you can buy it in a ready to pipe package at any store) pipe a half circle for the smile. Use a red M&M on each end of the smile. Use two mini oreos for the ears then use brown sprinkles around the edge for fur.

Christmas Candy

This year for our Christmas goodies I did the same peanut butter white chocolate fudge I did last year. I tried two new recipes though, peppermint truffles and turtles. I wanted to keep everything really simple and quick this year so all these were very easy recipes.




Easy Turtles
20 square pretzels
20 rolos
20 pecan halves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Arrange pretzels on cookie sheet and place one rolo on top of each pretzel. Bake in oven for 2-3 minutes (just till soft). Then gently push a pecan half on top of rolo.

I refrigerated these but I liked them better when I left them on the counter and they were soft.


Peppermint Truffles (courtesy of Heidi)
4oz cream cheese
1 t flavoring (I used peppermint this time but you can do others, like coconut, almond, etc.)
1 C melted chocolate chips (I used white)
3 C powdered sugar
1 package almond bark

Mix cream cheese and flavoring till smooth. Then add melted chocolate chips. Add powdered sugar till it reaches cookie dough consistency. I put the mixture in the freezer for about 10 minutes to harden it. Then you scoop the mixture into small balls and place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. I put them back in the freezer just for a few minutes while I melted the almond bark. Then dip the balls in the almond bark and set on wax paper to harden. I also sprinkled crushed candy canes while the bark was still wet. You could try different flavors combination too like I did coconut flavoring in chocolate almond bark with coconut on top and those were delicious!