Homemade Sno-balls

When I was little, I loved Hostess Sno-Balls. They were so good and gooey, so when I saw a recipe for a huge one in the Food and Family magazine I was thrilled to make it. I made two small ones instead of one big one. I wanted them to be more like the original. I used a ball pan for the two halves. It turned out really good and tasted very nummy num!

Homemade Sno-Balls

1 package devil's food cake mix

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese

1 egg

2 tablespoons sugar

1 package (3.4 ounces) vanilla instant pudding

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup cold milk

2 cups thawed Cool Whip

1 cup coconut

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake batter in 2 1/2 quart OVENPROOF bowl, as directed on package; scrape side of bowl. Beat cream cheese, egg and sugar until well blended. Spoon into center of batter in bowl. Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in bowl for 10 minutes. Loosen cake from bowl with a knife. Invert onto wire rack. Remove bowl and let cake cool completely. Meanwhile, beat fry pudding mix, powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl with a whisk about 2 minutes. Stir in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until ready to use. Place cake on plate; frost with pudding mixture. Cover with coconut. Keep refrigerated. (you can also tint your coconut pink for a more authentic looking snowball)

Homemade Frosted Animal Cookies

These little buggers were a pain in the b-hind! First the recipe was way weird so I had to convert it before I could make the cookie dough. Then when I was trying to roll out the dough to cut out the shapes, it was too sticky so I had to start over by flouring the parchment paper. After all of that it went pretty smooth. I think they look and taste just like the ones I remember when I was a kid. The shapes are kind of hard to make out but that is all part of the fun. "Is it a tiger or a dog?" Who knows. I just like to eat them!

Frosted Animal Cookies

I'm writing the recipe as it was written and in parenthesis I will write the measurements I used.

12 ounces unsalted butter (3 sticks)

8 ounces sugar (1 cup)

1 pound all purpose flour (3 1/2 cups)

1/4 ounce baking powder (1/2 tablespoon)

1/8 ounce salt (1 1/2 teaspoons)

1 3/4 ounces whole egg (2 eggs)

1 ounce milk (2 tablespoons)

1/2 ounce vanilla (1 tablespoon)

8 ounces of white chocolate (1 cup)

colored sprinkles also called nonpareils

On low speed, cream butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then add eggs, milk and vanilla. In another bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. On low speed add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in three parts, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Blend just until incorporated. Divide the dough and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Roll out dough until its 3/16 inches thick. Cut out animal shapes. Transfer to parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 300 degrees or until the cookies are golden and slightly browned on the edges approximately 6-8 minutes. (I cooked mine for about 15 minutes!)

Allow to cool. Once the cookies are cool, dip them in melted chocolate and then sprinkle with nonpareils.

TIP: It is better to use candy colors to tint chocolate because other colors are water based and the candy colors are oil based.

Potato Chip Cookies

Sounds weird right, but trust me they are good. It's that whole salty/sweet thing. Here is the recipe. I halved it.

Potato Chip Cookies

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter-soft

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups crushed potato chips (I used Lays)

3 1.2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 packages (14 ounces each) candy melts or you can use almond bark or chocolate chips

additional potato chips-crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add potato chips; mix until combined. Add flour and stir just until combined. Scoop dough to form 1 inch balls; place 2 inches apart on prepared pans. Flatten to 1 1/4 inch thick.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from pan and cool completely. Dip part of the cooled cookie into melted chocolate and then into crushed potato chips. Allow to set.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies

Pecan Tassies (or as I like to call them-Baby Pecan Pies)

For the holidays I made an assortment of cookies. Pecan Tassies were one of the cookies I made and they are fantastic! (if I do say so myself) I'm not even a huge fan of pecan pie but these cute little guys are so good, and very easy!

Pecan Tassies

2 refrigerated pie crust (get the rolls of pie crust to make it easier to cut)

3/4 cup firmly-packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter-melted

1 egg-slightly beaten

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

1/4 cup of chopped pecans (I used slightly more)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray mini muffin pans with vegetable spray. Roll out pie crust 1/8 inch thick. Cut 2 inch circles; press into bottom and up sides of prepared pan cavities. IN small bowl combine sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and salt. Mix well. Stir in pecans. Spoon 1 teaspoonful of mixture into pie crusts. (Don't over fill) Bake 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove to cooling grid and cool completely. Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Christmas Cookies

I was really happy with how the snowman's hat turned out. After using all types of different sprinkles and glitter and sugars to decorate the cookies, I had a big pile of all the leftovers that I was going to throw away. I decided to try and use it so I dipped the snowman's hat in it and it turned out so cute. So don't throw away your "trash". Use it for something else.

It's

really hard for me to decide what designs to use on Christmas cookies. I have about 100 ideas floating in my brain. I thought that some of these came out cuter than others but all and all I'm happy with them.

Almond Joy Cake

Ok I took it to work and everybody said they liked it (although they could be lying to be nice). I thought it tasted good but it is very rich and thick. I tend to like my cakes a little on the "fluffy" side so this cake wasn't my favorite. If you have every had Coca-Cola cake it reminds me of that.

The Captain where I work is always giving me recipes because he knows I love to bake. Well this is one of the recipes. His birthday is tomorrow so I made him this cake. A couple of things though....It calls for chocolate cake mix (which is what I used) but I think for it to be more like a true Almond Joy you should use coconut cake mix. I just couldn't find it at the store so I used chocolate. The recipe also says to use a 10X15 pan. I didn't listen for some stupid reason and I should have. I used a 9X13 and it wasn't big enough. I'm thinking it's going to be a really rich cake. I will let you know how it tasted.~side note, I realize that the writing on this cake is horrendous but my icing wasn't working with me.

Almond Joy Cake

1 chocolate cake mix

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

24 large marshmallows

1 (14 ounce) package of coconut

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or 1 stick

12 ounces butter

12 ounces chocolate chips

1 (3 ounce) package sliced almonds

Prepare and bake cake mix according to package directions for 10X15 inch cake pan. Bring 1 cup evaporated milk and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in marshmallows until melted. Add coconut. Pour mixture over warm cake. Sprinkle almonds on top of that layer. Bring 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1 1/2 cups sugar to a boil in saucepan. Stir in butter and chocolate chips until melted. Pour over coconut layer.

Perky Peppermint Penguins by Sandra Entrican

This cute little guy was entered into the Dallas Morning News Cookie Contest in the decorated category. Of course he won! The lady who made him enters this contest every year and~surprise she wins every year. Here is the recipe if you would like to make a fun bunch of penguins for yourself.

Perky Peppermint Penguins

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and flavorings. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until thoroughly combined. Wrap and chill dough until firm, at least one hour. Roll out dough on floured board and place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes. Cool. Frost with glaze.

Glaze

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Enough water to make a spreading consistency.

Decorate as desired. (She made a recipe of white chocolate "plastic" or as some people call it-modeling chocolate and cut the pieces from that to decorate the penguin)

White Chocolate Plastic

9 ounces Wilton candy melts

4 ounces glucose or corn syrup

Melt chocolate and add slightly warm glucose. Mix until combined and wrap in plastic. Let set overnight. Knead dough and roll. Cut into desired shapes.