You Spin Me Right 'Round

One thing that I've never been able to do is make sugar cookie cut into cut little Christmas shapes. No matter how hard I try to roll out the dough and cut neat little designs... it just doesn't work out in my favor. I will leave the sugar cookie cuttin' to my sister. She's practically a pro and I can always look forward to her delicious cookies at Christmas time.

Despite my inability to make cute little cookies that look like angels and reindeer, I've been determined to find Christmas cookies I CAN make. I like to call that persistance with a dash of procrastination (I wasn't exactly ready for the weekend to end).

As always, I found a blog to save the day! Baked Perfection posted her spin on Hershey's classic Candy Cane Blossoms. While chatting on the phone with my friend Ginger, we decided to bake together from miles away. She oh-so-rudely moved to Orlando and out of my driving zone. Sheesh! I still love her anyway!

Baked Perfection

Candy Cane Blossoms

recipe from Hershey's

1 bag Hershey's Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

Red and Green colored sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields approximately 35 cookies.

My KitchenAid and I seriously had a moment (or two...or three) during this cookie making experience. If you are a reader, you may recall the day I got my KitchenAid. It was a glorious and happy day! Since work/school/life has been so hectic lately, my 'aid has been put on the back burner. Not tonight! We made a mess and had a splendid evening. Ahhh.. Feels good to have her back. 

Etsy

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby!

Warning: Several cake pops were harmed in the making of this post. Including this poor little guy:

Yes, that is the floor. Carpet to be exact. He didn't make it from the fridge to my chocolate pot. Let's try and move past this...

CAKE POPS! I thought these little gems only existed at Starbucks. Apparently, I was waaay-off. They'e all the rage. If you're not eating or making cake pops.. something is wrong with you! Okay, I'm lying. But, they're cute!

See?

Save the Date For Cupcakes

Veronica's Cornucopia

Skip to My Lou

In honor of a friend's bacherlorette party, I decided to embark on a cake pop journey. It seemed like an easy one. The recipe was simple.

Of course, I ran into a few mishaps.

Ready.. Set.. Go!

Funfetti strikes AGAIN! These little cake pops were my first treat using my brand new KitchenAid that I blogged about earlier. I got so excited using the mixer hands free.. I took a few pictures.

Mix, sweet mixer! MIX!

Then, I dropped my cracked egg inside the mixer. While going for the "off" switch, I turned the mixer to HIGH and had to make a mad dash to remove all egg shell from my poor cake. Lesson learned! Be careful with eggs around the mixer. Or maybe the lesson should be... crack the egg and then drop it inside the mixer? Whatever the lesson was (is) ... my mixer is awesome and I'm in love.

My guidance for this post comes straight from Love From the Oven. She gives a fantastic picture-friendly tutorial for creating this poppers. After the egg incident, it was smooth sailing for a few hours. That's only because I had to let me box cake cool for two of them. Then, I destroyed my cake.

Putting the FUN in Funfetti

Next, I added the icing and starting rolling the cake into little balls. I began melting the almond bark and started dipping. This was complicated. Wait, let me rephrase that.. this was frustrating. I lost several poppers to this almond barking. The poppers would crumble and fall apart inside my sprinkles bowl. Errg!

I found my groove with the cake pops and started crankin' more out. I think I made 9. I started getting sleepy and decided I would finish the rest in the morning. My bed, FRIENDS, and my blog were calling my name.

Don't judge, but these are the ugliest cake pops ever. This isn't me fishing for compliments either! They're actually quite funny to see. This little guy has a little bit of a swagger, don't ya think?

Poppin'

Love From the Oven's pops look like rockstars compared to mine!

Love From the Oven

Cake pops... we will meet again. Next time, I will be victorious. 

Etsy

Oh! HAPPY HAPPY DAY!

Cue Lauren Hill singing on Sister Act because that's how I feel today! Just when I thought my brain was going to explode all over my classroom my floor, my dad came to the rescue.  Not only did he bring a truck load of stuff from Sedalia to the Lake, he also brought my Grandma and took us out to dinner! To top off a wonderful visit, he gave me my graduation present.. a KitchenAid Mixer!

No shame after leaving Le Gourmet Chef

Prior to our visit to the oh-so-wonderful outlet mall, we were all in my classroom. After the three of us (grandma, dad, and myself) were chatting with my principal for a few minutes. My principal told me that I had been there for entirely too long on day one and told me I should leave ASAP. He also told me I wasn't aloud to come in at 6:00 AM. I'm a morning person! I can't help it. Perhaps I'm a morning person with a dash of crazy too...

Anyway! My dad chimed in, "Yes! We are going to get something to eat. Plus, Jordon keeps talking about some mixer... she even sends me pictures of them all the time." (Busted)

My eyes lit up!

Needless to say, I'm a lucky girl with a great daddy-o who takes good care of me.

Ahhh, the simple things.

For tonight, I shall just admire the beauty in my kitchen.

Auf Wiedersehen!