Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Cake Pops Really are a Tasty Treat

Cake pops have become a very popular sweet with an easily festive presentation. Several months ago, my husband had a lady bring some cake pops to taste in hopes of the opportunity to sell them in our deli. Unfortunately, they did not taste like cake at all, more like the uncooked cake batter.  I decided to give them a try because of their versatility, and they can be made for so many different occasions.
This is the way I made my first cake pops.
Ingredients:
Yellow box cake mix
white icing
Vanilla wafers
First, I cooked the cake as instructed on the box and let cool. Then I crumbled the cake and added a small amount of icing. Not too much, just enough to be able to form the balls. This is the reason some cake balls taste too gooey, because there is too much icing added at this step. Next, form small, 1 inch balls onto a cookie sheet. After the balls are formed, let them cool in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes. Pull the cookie sheet of cake balls out and start to heat some of the vanilla wafers. I prefer to melt my wafers in a microwavable safe bowl at 30 second intervals until the consistency desired for dipping. Dip the tip of the pop sticks into the melted vanilla wafers about half an inch. Then put the sticks into the cake balls and put back in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes. Once the pop sticks have set into the cake balls, melt the rest of the wafers and put into a container deep enough to dip the cake balls, and not have to twist them. Twisting the cake pops might result in the cake to crumble (cake pop catastrophe)! After the cake pop has been dipped into the melted vanilla wafers, place the stick into a foam ball to decorate, or simply let set. I used a red cookie icing to decorate these, but plan on using different decorating methods in the future. Sprinkles would be a great additive, or even adding food coloring to some of the left over melted vanilla wafers to make my own icing decorations is another idea.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

French Texas Toast

French toast is one of my favorite breakfasts to make, because it is simple and delicious. I prefer to use Texas Toast rather than regular, plain, white bread to make the meal more filling. Sometimes, I will top the French Toast with fresh, cut strawberries for a bit of a healthy start to the day.
Ingredients:
Eggs
Whole milk
Vanilla extract
Cinnamon sugar
Confectionery sugar
Texas Toast
I start by deciding how many eggs to use, generally going by a 1:1 ratio of eggs to bread slices. Since I have four young children, I often have to cook at least six french toasts.
Directions yielding serving size of 6 Texas French Toast:
 
Crack 6 eggs into a large bowl, add approximately 3/4 cup of whole milk, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Whisk until well mixed, then turn on oven top to medium to high heat, and grease a flat iron griddle with either PAM or lite butter. Once the griddle is hot, start dipping the Texas Toast into the mixture, and place onto the griddle. After the French Toast is cooked on both sides, put on the plate and sift a teaspoon of confectionery sugar on the top. Placing fresh fruit such as strawberries, or blueberries, adds color to the plate, and plenty of flavor to the dish.