Cake Truffles

I have made lots of chocolate chip pumpkin breads in the past, but this year I found some really cute tin buckets from Target in the $1 section so I wanted to fill them with some goodies. I found this recipe on another Shauna's blog, which was originally adapted from Bakerella's blog (she is crazy talented) and I am SO glad I made these cake truffles.
I have never had such a positive response to my cooking or baking. Ever. I literally had teachers coming to my classroom the entire day and next several days seeing if I had any leftover. I also had a teacher tell me that her day wasn't going very well until she ate one of these truffles. I promise you I am not exaggerating with you, people loved them so much that I started calling them crack truffles instead of cake truffled (yes, I have a weird sense of humor).
Anyway, I will definitely be making these for years to come and I like this recipe because 1. It's easy 2. It looks hard and 3. You can make so many different variations of it.

Here is the recipe from Foodietwoshoes' blog

Cake Truffles

adapted from Good Things Catered, originally from Bakerella

1 box of cake mix (I used red velvet for one batch, and double chocolate for another)
1 can of frosting (I used cream cheese frosting with the red velvet, and chocolate with the chocolate)
1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 bag of dark chocolate morsels
crushed almonds for sprinkling on top

Prepare a 9×13 baking pan and bake your cake according to directions and let cool completely.

Slightly crumble your baked and cooled cake into a large mixer bowl, add the frosting and almond extract, stir to combine completely.

Take small amounts of cake mixture and roll into 1-inch balls, placing onto a parchment or wax paper lined

baking sheet.

When all cake balls are rolled, place baking sheet into fridge overnight (this will form a crust around the edges and make the cake mixture much easier to work with)

In a double boiler, heat the chocolate morsels until they are completely melted and smooth.

Line a backing sheet with parchment or wax paper. For each truffle place a small dollop of the melted chocolate on the paper, place the cake ball on top of the chocolate and then spoon more chocolate over the top of the ball so it drizzles down the sides. Sprinkle crushed almonds over the top. Continue this proce

ss with each cake ball.

When finished, place the pan in the refrigerator until the the chocolate is completely cooled and set. You can then remove them from the paper and serve.

And here are my little cake truffle gifts for my coworkers...

Halloween Festivities!

On the night before Halloween this year, we hosted a party at our home and invited several friends and coworkers. We had about 25 people show up and I made some treats for everyone which were gone within about 2 hours. Since the party didn't start until about 8pm, I mostly made finger foods. My dishes were -- crockpot meatballs, mexican dip, brie and raspberry puffs, and pumpkin cream cheese brownies.

Crockpot meatballs

Ingredients
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
1 can of cranberry sauce, with berries
1 cup of orange juice
1 bag of frozen meatballs (I buy the Armor brand)

Directions
Pour all ingredients into crockpot (including frozen meatballs - no need to thaw). Mix around and make sure all meatballs are covered. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, and stir a few times every couple of hours if possible.














Mexican Dip

Ingredients
1 can refried beans (I use non-fat)
1 16 oz tub of sour cream (I use low-fat)
2 ripe avocados
1 packet of taco seasoning
2 large tomatoes
1 bag of mexican cheese
1 small can of black olives sliced (optional.. I opted out because most of my friends do not like black olives)

Directions
Mix sour cream with about 1/2 packet of taco seasoning. Mash up avocados with fork in separate bowl. In 8x13 dish, layer ingredients in this order: beans, mashed avocado, sour cream mixture, cheese, and chopped tomatoes.
~For spider web design, I put aside about 2 spoonfulls of sour cream and put it in a small zip lock bag. I cut the corner of the bag with scissors, and then squeezed it out into the spiderweb design.














Brie and Raspberry Puffs

Ingredients
1 can of crescent rolls
Raspberry preserves
Brie cheese

Directions
Rolls out crescent roll dough. It is already cut into triangles, so simple cut each triangle in half to make 2 triangles. Put a very small slice of brie cheese in the middle with a small dallop of the jam. Then take the corners of the pastry dough and fold them over, basically wrapping it like a present. Try to crease edges so that the pastry is sealed. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until puffs are slightly browned.














Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies
(Adapted from Lowfatcooking website)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 13-16 ounce box Brownie mix
  
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (pure pumpkin, not pie mix)
• 1 egg
• For the topping:
• 4 ounces fat-free tub cream cheese
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I did not use this)
  

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Place brownie mix in a large mixing bowl with canned pumpkin and egg. Beat with an electric mixer until batter is smooth. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice until smooth and creamy. Drop spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture on to brownie batter. Swirl with a knife.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. (I had to cook 40 minutes for it to be done with a toothpick test)

Makes 16 brownies.

Per Brownie: Calories 118, Calories from Fat 10, Total Fat 1g (sat 0.2g), Cholesterol 14mg, Sodium 95mg, Carbohydrate 24.9g, Fiber 1g, Protein 2.1g

















Roast Beef Pinwheels

I've seen a lot of variations on this, such as using herb cream cheese and chopped vegetables. I did roast beef pinwheels since I know we had a lot of meat eaters coming. But if meat isn't your thing, this recipe can be adapted with basically any ingredients.

Ingredients
Large tortillas
Sliced deli meat (I used roast beef)
Whipped cream cheese
Boar's head horseradish sauce

Directions
Spread cream cheese and a few drops of horseradish sauce onto tortilla (only a few drops because horseradish is pretty strong). Then spread 1-2 slices of deli meat, and roll up tortilla. Slice rolled up tortilla into small rounds. Secure with a toothpick. You can also make these ahead of time for a party and put them in the fridge, then slice up right before the party.

Too good to Passover.. Chocolate Kiss Cookies

I completely forgot to post this recipe a few weeks ago when I made it for Passover. So B and I are not the most religious people, I'll admit. But we do appreciate our Jewish culture and our roots, and I happen to be a big fan of some of the food (matzoh ball soup, noodle kugal, challah, etc.).

After my mom converted to Judaism 20-something years ago, she went to a Jewish cooking class because she loves to bake and wanted to learn some recipes she could make for holidays. She has been making these chocolate kiss cookies for years and they are really yummy. They are very rich and chocolate-y. Even though they are specifically made for Passover (because they don't contain flour or yeast), I think they are delicious for everyday entertaining as well!

The key is making sure you don't let the cookie dough be exposed to the air very long and that you spoon them quickly and bake right away.














Passover Chocolate Kisses

1 small package chocolate chips
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. salt

Melt chocolate in microwave according to directions on package, and cool. Beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each. Continue beating until mixture stands in stiff peaks. Add vinegar and vanilla, beat well. FOLD in coconut, nuts, and melted chocolate. Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Do not overbake.
Makes about 30 cookies. Takes appx. 20 minutes total.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread!

What better way to kick off my food blog than with a holiday gift recipe?? This is one of my faves, I give these little bread gifts to coworkers and friends because it is budget friendly, cute, and also thoughtful!

I found this recipe online a few years ago while searching for a simple bread recipe to fill these ceramic mini loaf dishes I bought in the Michael's $1 section. (Michael's has been selling these little loaf dishes every holiday season and hopefully they will continue to do so because it's a great deal) When I came across this recipe I just had to try it because it sounded so different. It ended up being delicious and now my friends can't wait for me to make it again each year! It is also one of the easiest recipes I have ever come across, so even if you are not a baker you should be able to pull this off and impress some people. :)

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN BREAD

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 1/4 cups oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° Grease mini loaf pans.

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. In another bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil. Stir into dry ingredients until moistened. Then add chocolate chips.

Pour into pans.

Bake approx 45 minutes to 1 hour. (toothpick test to make sure they're done)














I like to wrap the dishes in cellophane, tie with some nice ribbon, and then add a little something. Last year I attached little holiday candles. This year I did a little ornament.