Long Time No See!

Hey gang!  Sorry for the radio silence but with the new job and lack of funds there have been no new projects for me to share.  Right now we are working on a plan to make a shelf in the laundry room and a bookcase in the study but until we have the funds to get all the materials those projects are waiting in the wings.  Its not really a bad thing though because my creative juices havent really been flowing lately and I havent been inspired by anything either :(

What I have been doing is cooking...probably too many desserts but who cares!!  To make up for the absence...(well not really since its just one dessert post, but its a good one) I want to share with you a cookie I made a while back and have been waiting to post about it.  These are tasty and light and not too terribly bad for you...as far as cookies go that is.  I think this is more a holiday time cookies, but I dont think any cookie (save eggnog cookies for obvious reasons) should only be made 1 time a year!!  I hope you try these and love them

Lemon-Coconut Snowballs

(A Myrecipies.com recipe)

Servings: 2dozen   Prep Time: 25min     Cook Time: 20min      Cool Time: 35min   Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

·         1 cup unsalted butter, softened (if you only have salted butter just leave out the salt!)

·         1/2 cup powdered sugar

·         1 teaspoon coconut extract

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon rind (I used jarred since I dont keep fresh on hand and it worked fine)

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, lightly toasted

·         1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and extracts, beating well. Add flour, lemon rind, and salt, beating until combined. Stir in coconut. Cover and chill dough 30 minutes.

Shape dough into generous 1" balls; place 1" apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden on bottom, but pale on top. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool 5 minutes.

Place 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar in a bowl, and roll warm cookies in powdered sugar, coating well. Cool cookies completely on wire racks. Roll cooled cookies in powdered sugar again, coating well.

My husband took these to work and they liked them...not as much as my fantastically awesome sugar cookies but they did like them.  My problem when I made these was I cooked them about 2 minutes too long so they were a little dry.  In my opinion its better to cook a little less, you can always add more time later.  I also used my silicone baking sheets rather than the parchment paper so the bottoms didnt brown.  Nothing wrong with parchment paper I just prefer the silicone baking sheets for a more even color.  

I hope you enjoy these!!

-Rachael 

Foodie Friday #27

Im so happy today is Friday because that means I get to share my awesome Mother's Day dessert with you!!  I was so happy to make this for my mom because its light, fresh, and as close to healthy as a dessert can be.  My mom isnt a big fan of sweets so this was the perfect one to make.  I think the lemon and raspberry help tone down the sweetness and thats just fine because its the perfect blend of happiness in your mouth.  Great summer dessert too since summer berries are now fully in season and wont cost you an arm and a leg to buy!  Truth be told I forgot to add the Cool Whip and berries on the top but I remembered for the picture so thats what counts.  You can serve without the topping but it does seem like its missing something.

You could probably go crazy with the flavor combination but I love lemon so that will always be lemon.  I did sub blackberry preserves for the raspberry and it tasted great too.  Just make sure if you are going to sub you use preserves, jelly doesnt have the same consistency as preserves and wont set the same.  Now on to the dessert!!

Lemon-Raspberry Mousse Squares

(A Kraft recipe)

Servings: 12      Prep Time: 15min    Cook Time: 0     Cool Time: 4hrs    Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

·         48 NILLA Wafers, divided

·         3/4 cup  boiling water

·         1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Gelatin

·         1 cup  ice cubes

·         1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

·         1/4 cup  sugar

·         2 tsp. lemon zest

·         1 tub  (12 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

·         1/3 cup raspberry preserves

·         1-1/2 cups  fresh fruit (blueberries, raspberries, sliced kiwi, sliced strawberries)

Instructions

  

STAND 16 wafers around edge of plastic wrap-lined 8-inch square pan. Add boiling water to gelatin mix; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in ice until melted. 

BEAT next 3 ingredients in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually beat in gelatin. Whisk in 2 cups COOL WHIP. 

POUR half the gelatin mixture into prepared pan; cover with 16 wafers. Microwave preserves on HIGH 15 sec. or until melted; brush onto wafers. Top with remaining gelatin mixture and wafers. 

REFRIGERATE 4 hours or until firm. Invert dessert onto plate; remove pan and plastic wrap. Top dessert with remaining COOL WHIP and fruit.

I love this dessert its so light fresh and delicious.  I hope you enjoy it too!

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Foodie Friday

Im trying not to be lame but you know I have the Friday song running through my head right now but I will spare you since it seems to be my go-to opener on Fridays :)

Im sad to say this but I havent been crafty this week, this waking up early business is really throwing off my chi but I have been cooking and eating some pretty amazing food.  Ok by amazing I mean easy and if its quick and easy then it awesome by me.  However I have been craving berries this week so I'm going to share with you a trifle recipe that I made (not easy by the way) from the Food Network that is awesome and delicious and you wont want to stop eating.  Check it!

Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries

(A Food Network recipe)

Servings: 6       Prep Time: 30min    Cook Time: 10min    Chill:3hrs     Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

·         6 large egg yolks                                                  •1pint fresh blueberries

·         1 cup sugar                                                           •1pint fresh blackberries

·         4 lemons, zested and juiced                              •2c whipped cream

·         1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter in chunks    •1 prepared lemon cake, sliced

·         1 pint fresh strawberries, halved lengthwise • ¼ c limoncello or grand marnier (optional)

·         Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

Instructions

 

To make the lemon curd: Bring a pot of water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a metal or glass heat-resistant bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl over the simmering water, without letting the bottom touch, and continue to whisk. Keep working-out that arm and whisk it vigorously for a good 10 minutes, until the curd has doubled in volume and is very thick and yellow. Don't let it boil. Remove the bowl from heat and whisk in the butter, a couple of chunks at a time, until melted. Refrigerate until the custard is cold and firm.

To build the trifle: put the berries in a mixing bowl and toss them together so they are evenly distributed. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled lemon curd to lighten it up into a mousse. Line a glass trifle bowl with pieces of pound cake to fit. Drizzle or brush the cake with the Limoncello, spoon a layer of the lemon curd over the cake, and then a layer of mixed berries. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used up, the last layer looks best if it's the berries. Chill before serving. Garnish with fresh mint. 

This dessert is so tasty and so refeshing and not heavy at all.  The lemon curd was a little hard for me only because Ive never done anything fancy like that before and I was so proud of myself for it.  So go try it out and let me know what you think, I hope you love it just as much as I did!

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Foodie Friday

Happy Friday people!  I could NOT be more happy that today is Friday and the weekend is coming up...I mean seriously happy that today is Friday, you have no idea.  Anyway, less talk more food right?!  Well today I have decided to share my cake ball recipe with you guys.  I made this for the first time ever for Christmas and they were a huge hit at home and at work, people scarfed these babies up!  Im not going to lie though, these are very time consuming and if people didnt love them as much as they did I would never consider making them again.  But since they were such a huge hit how could I deprive people of the magic that is a cake ball!!  So without further ado, here it is...LEMON CAKE BALLS

Paula’s Cake Balls

(Adapted from a Smithfield.com recipe)

Servings: 36  Prep Time: 10min Cook Time: 20min  Freeze Time: 1hr Cool Time: 2hrs Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package cake mix (I used lemon but at the bottom I have other combos)

• 1 (16 ounce) container prepared cake frosting (I used lemon)

• 6 ounces of chocolate flavored confectioners coating disks or bar (I used white but you can use whatever you want)


Instructions

Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box.

When cake is finished baking allow to cool for 30 minutes. Crumble the cake into a large bowl using a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Add the frosting and mix until well combined. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Line a baking tray with wax paper. Use a melon baller as a scooper to form balls with the cake mixture. Place on wax paper. Once you have used all of the cake mixture, place the baking tray in the freezer for 1 hour.

Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl of the microwave, stirring every 5-10 seconds until smooth. At this point you can add a bit of food coloring if you are using white chocolate.

Remove the balls from the freezer. Using one toothpick, pick up the balls one at a time and dip in the chocolate. Use a second toothpick to slide the ball off the first toothpick onto the wax paper lined baking tray.  We used bamboo skewers and those seemed to work well but if you find that the balls are falling off the toothpick put the balls back in the freezer so they can set longer.

Once you have covered all the balls in chocolate coating place the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate coating is set. At this point you can drizzle other chocolate on the balls for decoration.  I know mine dont look that pretty, but thats beacause we used a shallow dish for the dipping.  You want a tall skinny dish to melt the chocolate in so that the whole ball gets coated and you dont have a top that doesnt have chocolate.  Also if you find that the chocolate is too thick for dipping (this white chocolate was) then you can add 1tbsp vegetable shortening at a time to thin it out.  This really helped and I was shocked!  I was all ready to add water or oil and those are 2 of the things the package of chocolate said not to add so vegetable shortening saved the day here.

Because I forgot to take a picture of the final pretty ones, here is the source for this picture

Other Combinations:

Red Velvet Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting and dipped in white chocolate coating


Strawberry Supreme Cake/Strawberries and Cream Frosting - Dipped in Chocolate Coating

White Cake/Wild Cherry Vanilla Frosting - Dipped in Dark Chocolate Coating

French Vanilla Cake/White Chocolate Almond Frosting - Dipped in Chocolate Coating

Dark Chocolate Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating

Spice Cake/Cream Cheese Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating

Confetti Cake/Vanilla Frosting - Dipped in White Chocolate Coating


So there you have it...cake balls!  They are pretty easy but its a lot of waiting around time and those are my least favorite kinds of recipes I want my food NOW dang it!  What is your favorite variety of cake balls?
 
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