S'mores Pops

Recipe credit: Tip Junkie. Photo credit: Yours truly.

All of the goodies I made for Christmas this year came from Pinterest. I enjoyed making the S'mores Pops  the most because the end result is just so darn cute! They are just like the traditional treat but much easier (and fun) to eat. I don't care for them myself, taste wise, (I am not a marshmallow fan) but I had a ball making them and they were a huge hit.

Last week I made about 100 of them for a bake sale that took place this weekend. I ordered lots of cute sprinkles and sugars from Amazon* and I experimented with tinting the white chocolate coating to make different colored pops. My kitchen was like a Willy Wonka sweat shop but instead of Oopma Loompas keeping me company, I had a 19 month old and a three-legged dog in a sweater. (Cut me some slack on the dog sweater. It's winter, he's a Chihuahua and cold is his Kryptonite. Besides, it makes him look smart.)

Here's a run down on the process:
 

Lay out the graham crackers on a baking sheet. Put marshmallows on half of them and about 10 chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips) on each of the others. Keep the chips in the middle of the crackers so that when you assemble the pops later the chocolate will stay sandwiched inside and not ooze out all over your hand or the lollipop stick.

A close up shot of chocolate never hurt anyone.

Place them in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes until the marshmallows puff up and begin to brown a bit. This happens very quick. For my oven, it was exactly three minutes. You might want to experiment with just a couple of them at first to see how they do in your oven (temperatures can vary from oven to oven) and adjust the time accordingly. If the marshmallow doesn't soften enough, inserting the stick won't go very smoothly. You will have a big solid lump of marshmallow poking out the side your sandwiched crackers. A chocolate covered marshmallow tumor does not make for an attractive S'mores Pop.

Once they are out of the oven, jump right in! Put the stick into the marshmallow and place the cracker with the chips right on top. Push down a bit and level out the crackers. I push the stick in so that it almost, but not quite, comes out the other side in order for it to anchor well. Since it's cold out right now, I sat the pops on my back porch to help them set up quicker.

Next is the fun part: dipping and decorating. I have no action shots of this process because it is very messy and, well, made my kitchen table look like this:

Notice I made this picture very tiny.

I buy the candy bark that comes in its own tray since it makes melting and clean up so much simpler. (Kroger has their own brand.) I tinted some of the white coating with food coloring to make pink, light blue and pale yellow. (Here's a tip: spoon the chocolate over the pops rather than dipping them in the chocolate.) Once I coated the pop, I shook off as much excess chocolate as possible, laid it on wax paper and immediately sprinkled or poured on the embellishments.

After they set up, I put them in cellophane treat bags and tied them off with ribbon.

The bake sale was a huge success and all but 6 of the S'mores Pops sold! They make great birthday party favors or Valentine's Day treats. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section!

*Amazon has a great selection of sprinkles, treat bags and lollipop sticks. I have Amazon Prime which gives me free two-day shipping so I buy there, but I know WalMart and Target sell candy and cake decorating items, as well.

We Were Meant to Be

I am having a hard time concentrating today and this is why:

Isn't it fabulous?! I have always wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer but could never justify the cost. I mean, how much would I really use it? Before now, not much. But since I have decided to seriously learn more about baking and cake decorating, this gorgeous piece of machinery will  come in handy for all the practice in my future. I look at it as an investment, really.

This past weekend I visited a super fun kitchen store in Pigeon Forge and as I left the lady said, "Here is  a $10 off coupon and you can use it online." (Everything about that sentence was awesome. Coupon? Yay! Online? I LOVE online shopping. Amazon and their free shipping keeps me out of WalMart.) So last night, I checked out their site and found a selection of refurbished Kitchen Aid mixers for almost half the price of  brand new ones and in every color imaginable. When I came across the beauty above, I squealed like Ned Flanders. Not only is it reminiscent of a classic T-Bird, it is also the exact color of my kitchen walls. I have not been able to take my mind off her since. (Yes, I have decided she is a girl. Though I feel it only appropriate to wait and name her once she gets settled on my counter. As the great Phil Collins once sang, "you can't hurry love," folks.) 

So get ready, little lady. You just might be my birthday present from the hubby. Hope you like The Wiggles and three-legged Chihuahuas named Hank.

Johnny's Cake

Johnny's birthday was in November and I made his cake. The picture is not great  (bad lighting and focusing) but  I just wanted to post one of my first endeavors. Keep in mind, I am new to all of this!

I dare you to look at those sprinkles and frown. Can't be done.

There are some techniques I have been practicing with. First, I love the clean look of a nice, flat, level cake (like the professionals do) so I leveled off the roundness of each layer making it  more flat. Makes it easier to ice, too. This picture makes it look more round than it is, plus, I need to get a cake leveler instead of eyeballing it. I can draw a straight line all day without a ruler but when it comes to 3D straightness, I am no good.

Second, when I heard about crumb coating I wondered why I had not done it all these years. There is nothing quite like trying to put white buttercream icing on a decadent chocolate cake, only to have big black crumbs (or chunks if the cake is extra moist) muck up your icing. Crumb coating is the process of putting a thin first layer of icing on a cake (and then often time refrigerating it) before you put on the final layer. That first layer locks in the crumbs and keeps them in their place.

I have seen several fabulous rainbow cakes all over Pinterest* and I have been dying to experiment. I didn't want to be too ambitious so I only did one colored layer for this cake.

I just went with blue since we are UK fans and well, he's a boy. Duh.

I am anxious to try out some piping since I just got my bag and tips, so that will be my next project. I am watching plenty of instructional videos on You Tube (how handy is the internet?) and I can't wait to put what I am learning into action.

I finished the S'mores Pops and have lots of pictures. That will be my next post. See you then!

*If you don't know Pinterest you need to check it out. Ask anyone who is on it. They will tell you that it's super fun and totally addictive. You have to be invited to join, so shoot me an email if you have questions or want an invite.

Under Construction

I apologize for the time away. I sort of lost interest in my blog and just didn't enjoy posting. I thought I would abandon it altogether until just last night, I got an idea...

I have had a love of baking since I was young and my interest in learning to decorate cakes has really blown up over the last year. I made lots of fun and tasty treats over the holidays and the whole process truly gave me peace. I am an artist at heart and I realize baking is my ideal outlet. Just last night I spent three hours making S'mores Pops for a bake sale this weekend. (Yes, I said "S'mores Pops." They're pretty stinking cool. Don't worry, I will fill you in and you will be glad I did!) It's hard to put into words how much I enjoyed every minute of those three hours.

I got my first cake decorating kit yesterday and I cannot wait to try it out. Over the last few months I have bought books, watched demonstrations online, made lots of sheets cakes and other desserts. Soon I hope to get a new lens for my camera that will help me to take better indoor pictures. I have decided to put my love of baking and photography to good use and begin documenting my journey into cake decorating and a bit of candy making as well. It will be somewhat arduous, so please bear with me. I will be posting some pretty elementary creations for sure, but this is all about the learning process.

So be patient as I get the new blog set up and looking pretty. And thanks for hanging in there during my absence.

P.S. In a few days you will be directed to my new domain. It's www.tobakeornottobake.com. Be sure to save it in your favorites!