Funfetti Pound Cake

When you are in an emergency birthday fix, this is the cake to make.

I've helped with our local Awana organization for years.  It is an evening where kids get to learn verses, compete in games, and get to know kids your age that share a love for Jesus.  This year, I've been a leader for the 3rd-6th grade girls and loved every minute of it.  A couple weeks ago, when we were going around the table and saying the highlights of our week, one of my girls, Kathy, told us her birthday was tomorrow.  Well, that wasn't going to go uncelebrated!  All the girls thought it would be a great idea if Miss Mary Frances would bring a cake next week.  Who was I to say no?  So a cake I was to make.  Instead of hauling a cake pan with a layered cake and lots of frosting (and risk dropping it and making a mess) I decided to make a pound cake in a loaf pan.  The only thing about pound cakes is they aren't really an exciting shape.  And they don't really have any exciting colors.  Or frosting.

Boooooooring.  Not all celebratory. 

When in doubt, pull out the container of sprinkles!  They truly make any dessert eye catching and delicious.  All of us girls enjoyed these slices of thick, buttery, colorful cake while reciting verses and saying sections.  They didn't even complain about the lack of frosting.  That is saying something.

 

 

This cake, wow ... Let me explain.  No, that would take too long.  Let me sum up.  extra points for naming that movie!

 

1. You know a good pound cake when it has a crispy edge that melts into an intensely buttery and thick cake.

 

2. This is a good pound cake.  No, I take that back.  This is a fantastic pound cake.

 

3. It is guaranteed success, even for beginning bakers.  There are only 7 ingredients (counting the salt!) and one bowl to mix in.  No fancy ingredients or measurements or anything.

 

Make it.  Devour it.  It is someone's birthday somewhere!

 

Funfetti Pound Cake

Recipe Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart

Yield: 1 loaf, or 12 slices

 

 

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1/2 sprinkles

 

Cream butter and sugar together.

Add eggs, beating well after each addition.

Stir in vanilla and salt.

Stir in flour, stirring until incorporated.

Gently fold in sprinkles.

Pour into greased and flour 8x4 loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

Let cool, slice, and enjoy!

Sprinkles and MnM Cookies

Does anything say happy like sprinkles and MnM's?  Chocolate, fun colors, buttery soft cookies?  What more could you ask for?

*um, well, a day with nothing going on, but that defers to fun colored, chocolate stuffed cookies*

 

These would be your basic chocolate chip cookies, but there are a couple things that make these extra special.  I added cornstarch, which guarantees soft cookies and I'm all about soft cookies.  Cornstarch is the easiest way to make sure your cookies are the ones that melt in people's mouths when they take a bite. It's a cookie lifesaver!  Then I used more brown sugar then white sugar.  Brown sugar makes cookies thicker and chewier, and combined with the cornstarch, makes these cookies super soft on the inside.  And, you don't have to chill the dough to get these thick and chewy!  The butter is only softened, not melted, and the brown sugar and cornstarch finish the job. 

Also, these are packed, I mean packed, with sprinkles and MnMs.  The sprinkles make these colorful and eye catching. Sprinkles can make any dessert party worthy!  MnMs keep people coming back for seconds. I used mini MnMs so that there would be chocolate throughout the whole cookie.  You get sprinkles and chocolate in every bite, no, make that nibble!  I did make these a little smaller than the average cookie, but we all know that just makes them cuter and lets you eat more than one.  Just saying.  Does anything say happy like two cookies instead of one?  I don't think so! :)

Sprinkles MnM Cookies
Recipe Source: Adapted from Hershey's
Yield: 3 dozen cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2/3 cup sprinkles
2/3 cup mini MnMs

Preheat oven to 350.
Beat butter, sugars, salt and vanilla until combined.
Add eggs; beat well.
Stir in flour, baking soda, and cornstarch.  Stir until all dry ingredients are incorporated.
Add sprinkles and MnMs.  Stir.
Scoop into one tablespoon balls of dough and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 9-11 minutes.
Let cool.
Enjoy!

Christmas Shortbread Cookies

Say hello to my first Christmas cookie recipe this year.

#catchup

Yeah ... I'm slow when it comes to seasonal desserts. These are worth the wait though!  They are super easy and can we talk abou festive?  Because I worked the red sugar sprinkles in a little too much, these turned a little pink and would make perfect peppermint cookies - just add 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract and bam, holiday cookies at their best.

These are buttery and softer on the inside. They still have that crunch characteristic of all shortbread though.  There are subtly sweet and full of sugar sprinkles.  A fast favorite with my siblings!

These couldn't be easier to whip up. Need cookies for a Christmas party? Crunched for time?  Sugar craving?  These are the answer. You simply cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and add the vanilla, flour, and salt.  Don't forget the sprinkles :)

All you need are six ingredients you have in your cupboard and 10 minutes of hands on time.  These are faster and better than any store bought shortbread cookies you could buy! 

You know, we never have Christmas cookies per se ... we are popcorn, cake, and fudge people. Now, we always have my grandma's Russian tea cakes but those are the only cookies that I associate with Christmas.  These remind me a little if those. Their texture, so buttery and a little crunchy, is similar. 

How about you guys?  Any cookies you associate with Christmas?

Christmas Shortbread Cookies

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

2-1/2 dozen

 

2-1/2 cup flour

1 cup butter 

3/4 cup sugar 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

2 tablespoon red sugar sprinkles

2 tablespoon green sugar sprinkles

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Stir in flour, salt and vanilla.  Beat until combined.  Add sprinkles and stir.  Don't stir too hard or you'll end up with colored dough, not just sprinkled :)

 

Roll dough out to 1/4-1/2 inch thickness.  Cut into uniform circles and place on cookie sheet.  You will have multiple batches.  Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving.

Caramel Funfetti Cake Batter Puppy Chow

As if puppy chow wasn't addictive enough.

 

This is the best puppy chow I've eaten. Seriously. Even better than the peanut butter butterscotch pretzel puppy chow.

The caramel coating is thick, yet the Chex remains crunchy. And you've got to love cake mix and sprinkles. The batch was gone like *that.*  Even Stephen asked for a big serving and he doesn't like puppy chow. Neither does Mom, but they both really liked this. You don't miss the chocolate and peanut butter at all. And that's saying a lot! 

I get giddy over sprinkles. They just, oh, don't they make me happy!  You know what also makes me giddy?  Really good stories. I watched North and South this weekend and just loved it. Oh my goodness, the plot was complicated in the best sense possible. There was nothing predictable about it and I was on pins and needles much of it. It was fairly intense. The main characters are under a lot of stress in different ways. Their feelings are realistic and you come to feel strongly, good or bad, for them. I often felt like strangling Margaret, one of the main characters, although she did what she believed best regardless of  anyone else's opinions.  But she masked her emotions so well, you were like, "just cry or laugh or something!" and she tended to be very shortsighted.  I think it was hard because you felt bad for both the ominous mill owner, Mr. Thornton and the tough worker Nicolas. What I liked most was you came to really respect the characters and the very real social and financial struggles that would've been going on in this period.  And there is the constant question of, you know these two people are going to get married, but how on earth is it going to happen?  They obviously do not like each other:) The end was quite the shocker, but it had to be, because it was tying up half a million loose ends!  North and South was clean, gripping, and I loved every bit of it.  (I feel like my summary is completely inadequate, though) 

The best part was Anna K. and I were massaging each other's backs during it and during tense scenes, my fingers were digging into her poor back!  The best part was even those who had watched it squealed along with the rest of us at scarier parts:)  And of course, laughed our heads off at Fanny. You MUST watch this movie. It is worth every bit of the four hours. Every single one. 

 

We ate puppy chow while watching North and South.  So make this puppy chow and watch the movie. You can thank me later. 

 

 

Caramel Funfetti Cake Batter Puppy Chow

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life

Yield: 8 cups

1 (11 oz.) bag caramels

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons water

8 cups Chex cereal

2 cups cake mix (I used butter cake mix)

Sprinkles (I used about 1 cup)

In a large pot, melt caramels, butter, and water over medium heat and stir until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Add Chex to pot and stir until Chex is coated.  Combine cake mix and sprinkles in a gallon sized bag and add half of caramel Chex mixture.  Toss to coat and then spread on a baking sheet to cool.  Repeat with remaining caramel Chex mixture and cake mix/sprinkles mixture.  Enjoy!

 

Want more puppy chow?
 

 

Popcorn n' Peanut Butter Pretzel Puppy Chow

 

 

 

 

More sprinkles?

 

Pineappple and Strawberry Sprinkles Cake with Greek Yogurt Frosting

 



 

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

 

Strawberry and Pineapple Sprinkles Cake with Greek Yogurt Frosting

Let's talk colors.

What would our world be without them?  Black and white?  Those ARE colors. Clear?  Um, that's just weird. Well, I adore color and color combos and patterns. The possibilities are truly endless.

One of the reasons this cake is my favorites is because of the sprinkles. All those gorgeous colors!  So fun and whimsical. Ah, I just love sprinkles!  

Rainbows are also full of color. The other day, I was walking, like I do almost every morning, up and down our driveway (it's long:)  I almost didn't because it was sprinkling hard (or raining lightly, take your pick.)  I did however, and coming back, I saw this huge rainbow. You could only see it once you walked almost the whole way down. It arched over our house and I could see the entire thing. I ran back (I do not run first thing in the morning and that "run" definitely solidified that in my mind!)  My dad and one of my brothers were up and I ran all the way back to tell them and all they said was "Cool."

Cool!?  How often do you see an entire rainbow?  It was gorgeous and my shadow looked so small underneath it. It was such an awesome reminder of God's promise to Noah and also His promise for me. I also thought of how I would've missed it had I let some rain drops stop me. 

Sometimes, we have to walk through the rain in order to see the rainbow. Sometimes, it's the storms in life that bring us the most beautiful moments. Those moments can be quick; the rainbow was fading minutes after I saw it. By the end of my walk, it was gone. Don't let those rainbow moments in life fade without us appreciating them. 

Strawberry and Pineapple Sprinkles Cake with Greek Yogurt Frosting

Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life. Cake from Averie Cooks. 

Yield: 12 slices 

Cake:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (+ 1 tablespoon for tossing with frozen fruit)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
 heaping 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup frozen pineapple, (I used chunks and I did cut them into smaller pieces)

3/4 cup frozen strawberries, diced 

Greek Yogurt Icing:

3/4 cup plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup powdered sugar 

1/4 - 1/2 cup sprinkles 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour an 8 inch cake pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the next 5 ingredients.

Add the wet mixture to the dry, mixing lightly with a spoon or folding with a spatula until just combined. Don't overmix !

In a small bowl, toss the fruit with 1 tablespoon flour. The flour helps to prevent the fruit from sinking while baking.

Gently and briefly fold the fruit into batter.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-45 minutes.  Baking time will depend on your oven and batter, so check periodically after 30 minutes.  Mine took about 35.  Let cool before frosting.

For frosting: Strain yogurt using same method as in the tzaziki.  (I only did mine for 30 minutes, not 4 hours)  Once strained, gently stir in powdered sugar.  Frost cooled cake with frosting and sprinkle with the sprinkles.  Cut and enjoy!

 

 

Fudgy Walnut Butter Sprinkles No Bakes (with homemade walnut butter!)

Hello everyone!  Happy Wednesday!  We just got back from our 11 day trip!  Dad drove us until midnight last night instead of spending the night halfway and driving the rest today.  It was so wonderful to be home.  I slept in until after 9 (a first in my life!) and just lay there, relishing not being in a hotel bed.

The trip was special and fun, don't get me wrong, but mornings at the hotel were probably my least favorite of the whole trip.  They really weren't that bad, but for me, having to get out of my pjs and brush my hair before going down to breakfast became really hard after the first week.  Since we had some sick people halfway through, we got up at different times and even though I got to go eat when I got up vs. when everyone was up, there couldn't be any lights.  So even if I wanted to do my hair and makeup (which like I said, by the last couple days, sounded like total work) it couldn't happen.  If you have every tried to put mascara on in the dark, you know the nightmare that is.  Seriously, don't wait until you are sleeping with five other people, one two years old, another throwing up, and another addicted to sleep, in a hotel room to try that.

Anyhoo, while I was laying in the bed at hotel rooms, I had lots of time to think about what I wanted to make when I got home.  I wanted it to be fast, I wanted it to be something I had never done before, and it needed to have chocolate.

I was going to do brownies, because, people, I didn't have a brownie for 11 days.  Just think about that.  By the end of the trip, I needed a brownie.  Falling asleep was so hard because I always have something chocolate after dinner and we only brought cookies (which were gone pretty quick) and no way am I buying a $5 brownie that I know won't taste like I want it too.   So I waited and was craving it something serious.

So when we got home, at midnight, I carried in my bag, flipped on the lights and found a three week old brownie on the counter.  It was pure bliss.  And belive it or not, it was still soft and chocolaty.  I'll share the recipe with you soon, because it is a winner. 

Where was I going with all this?  Oh yeah, so I had my brownie.  I was free to make what I had been dreaming up for the past two weeks.

Fudgy Homemade Walnut Butter Chocolate Chip Sprinkles No Bakes.  And they are plain awesome.

Big name for little cookie, I know, but if you were to describe me in my name, it would fill a dictionary.  Good thing we don't name our children the way we name recipes.  (I shortened it a little for the actual recipe, but not much as you can tell from the title of this post.)

Gosh, I am all kinds of distracted today!  And I even got eight hours of sleep!  Back. to. subject.  No bakes.  Okay, so we have had a huge tin of unshelled walnuts from my aunt's walnut tree and I told mom I wanted to make walnut butter with them.  The next morning, I see Dorothy's Walnut Butter recipe and know, thats the one I am going to use.  Unfortunately, we left too soon for me to try it, so I waited until today to do it.  But I had lots of time to think about it.  While I was laying on the hotel bed, I thought, why not make no bakes with it, using it like peanut butter?  A couple nights later, I knew I wanted to add oats and sprinkles.  Sweet dreams, indeed.

These are seriously good.  The walnut butter is subtle and adds a wonderful nutty flavor to the chocolate chips.  Sweet, chewy and so fun with the sprinkles (I had to celebrate the end of our trip someway!) I have found my new favorite no bake.  Not overly nutty or oat-y, these are perfect for those with peanut allergies and those who like easy recipes.  Seriously, all you have to do is press a button, turn on a stove, and voila!  You have delcious no bake cookies!

My chocolate melted a little and that is where the fudgy part comes in.  So fudgy - the walnut butter and the slightly melted chocolate chips - mmmm yum.  But you still have some chunks of chocolate in there to keep the oats and sprinkles company.  Even my mom liked them, and she doesn't like nuts.  Or no bakes.  Like I said, just plain awesome.

So here it is.  The culmination of several weeks worth of thought and only about 15 minutes of effort.  You're welcome.

Fudgy Walnut Butter Sprinkles No Bake Cookies
Recipe Source: The Sweet {Tooth} Life
Yield: 20 cookies

2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup walnut butter
1/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup oat flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup sprinkles

Melt coconut oil in a small pot on the stove.  Add brown sugar and stir.  Add walnut butter, milk, and vanilla and stir until smooth.  Add oat flour and oats and stir until combined.  Remove from heat and let cool for a couple minutes.

 Add chocolate chips and sprinkles and immediately scoop into balls.  Place on wax paper and store at room temperature or in refrigerator. 

Walnut Butter:
2 cups (5 oz.) walnuts
1 tablespoon honey or pure maple syrup

In a food processor, grind walnuts for1-2 minutes or until fine crumbs.  Add honey or pure maple syrup and process until smooth.  (Mine was dark and just a tad crumbly.)

Did you make it through that post?  I applaud you!  Thank you all for reading and commenting, it really does make my day.  Don't forget to share it if you liked it!

Snickers Birthday Cookies

Happy Birthday!

I'm sure it is someone's birthday . . . somewhere. Just not in my family. But you can celebrate whatever you wish with these cookies. They're fun to make and have that amazing flavor a Snickers bar packs without actually putting a Snickers in a cookie.  Chocolate chips get an upgrade with some peanuts and the cookies remain delightfully chewy and soft due to the caramel sauce even days afterwards.

And aren't they cute?  I love sprinkles.  They make everything fun!

Snickers Birthday Cookies
Yield: 15 cookies

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
6 tbsp applesause (or 3 tbsp applesauce and 3 tbsp. coconut oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 2/3 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

chopped salted peanuts*
chocolate chips*
caramel sauce*

Mix first three ingredients and then beat in sugars.  Add eggs; beat well.  Stir in flour, salt, and soda.
The dough will be really soft, so stick it in the fridge for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle.  Preheat oven to 350.

Take out the dough and roll some into a large circle.  Layer the chopped peanuts and chocolate chips, the drizzle with caramel.  Roll up the sides and cover the top, adding dough if needed.  You don't want to see any peanuts or chocolate chips peeking out:)  Bake for 11-13 minutes.  They will spread a lot!  Cool and transfer to cooling rack.  These are really good warm out of the oven.

*The amount of filling needed will depend on how much you put in your cookie.  I probably put about a 1/2-1 tbsp. of chopped peanuts and chocolate chips, each, and 1 tsp.- 1/2 tbsp. of caramel sauce.  But it is completely up to you.  If you like more chocolate, go crazy with the chocolate chips.  Want more crunch?  Add more peanuts.

I'll still be working on these as I didn't want them to spread out, but they were so soft and chewy and sweet and different than any other cookie I've ever made, I decided to post them anyways.

Whats your favorite candy bar?   I would have to go with Snickers.  But Reeses and Twix take close second.  And I can't forget about Almond Joy!