Super delicious birthday cookies

A year ago, I might not have written this post.  I had let my Sam's Club membership expire.  I'll be honest.....we went in 3 times a year and bought beer and giant boxes of potstickers.

Then, last month, I was offered a tour of our newly remodeled Sam's Club.  I was impressed.

First, the store is much more open.  They added a center aisle and there are no more trampolines hanging from the ceiling.  (Those things always scared me.)

Second, they started listening to shoppers like us.  Moms, bloggers....people coming in for personal shopping, not stocking a concession stand.

The result....the produce section has doubled in size.  You want apples?!?  They have seven kinds!  Including my beloved Honeycrisp.

And vanilla extract with NO ADDED CORN SYRUP!!!  Yay!

Pumpkin shortage? What pumpkin shortage?!?

Now, this was when I decided to renew my membership....
Ghiradelli Chocolate for dipping and candy making.  Hello, cake balls!  (Or cake truffles...whatever you prefer.)

I used it to make some Pink Velvet cake balls and really preferred it to candy melts.  It's super smooth and dries shiny!


And an idea for the leftover chocolate...

Oh. And then there is this.
Yeah. Sam's carries this Cheesecake Factory Red Velvet Cheesecake.  Let me break it down for you:

Red Velvet Cake,
Cheesecake,
White Chocolate.
Stick one in your freezer and always be prepared for company.  Or PMS.


Do you belong to a Membership Club?  What is your favorite item to buy there?

When the in-laws were in town, I decided we needed some cake truffles to have around for snacking. :) I went with what I think of as "the original," red velvet.



I used some extra white candy melts from making monograms to make toppers to go on the cake truffles. They're made just the same as monograms...pipe the shape, then add on the sprinkles. For more details, click here.


I thought it would be fun to make all lowercase "e's" for our last name, but they ended up looking like blobs, so I made a mix of E's and dots and stars and hearts. (Hope you can see in the picture.) To some, I just added sprinkles.


And then, there was the extra chocolate. It just seemed wrong to waste it. SO, I dipped graham crackers. Oh man, were they good! I'll be doing that again!


Want more? How about:

• mint chocolate chip cake truffles
• pumpkin spice cake truffles
  

Yes, St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, but we're still celebrating. I can't seem to find the energy to take down my decorations, but I did manage to make some Cake Truffles! :) Plus, we like to bring some goodies to the volunteers at the Food Pantry when we work...showing up empty-handed during a holiday week was not going to happen!

The trouble started when I accidentally bought these....

Our parish has a fall festival every year and I just came back home from dropping off some goodies for the bake sale (and previewing all of the other good stuff being delivered). :) This is something we look forward to every year; one reason being that we get to eat some of the best tamales ever!
Although I really wanted to try out my new tombstone and coffin cookie cutters, I went with pumpkins. Maybe I'll get to those next week. :)

I tried a new flavor of cake ball....chai-spiced. While I wasn't crazy about them, my husband who "tested" 3 for breakfast yesterday loved them, as did my son, so I was over-ruled. I used vanilla almond bark instead of candy melts this time, so that may have been why I didn't like them as much.

For the cake balls, I used a white cake mix and substituted a strongly brewed chai tea for the water. I also used 3 eggs in place of the 3 egg whites called for on the package. The flavor was really subtle....I added a touch of cinnamon, ginger and cardamon to the batter as well and might even add more if I try them again.

The instructions for putting them all together are here. If you've never tried them before, I recommend starting with the Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls.
Last, but not least, Toffee Blondies!!! Now, these, I AM crazy about! They are super easy and really, really good! I used a bench scraper to cut them. (My dad gave me this one from Sur La Table; I love the ruler along the sides!) It make cutting brownies, blondies, etc. so easy.
Toffee Blondies
(adapted from Everyday Food)

1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, melted
1 c packed light brown sugar (I've used a combo of dark & light, too)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla (the first time I made these, I was out of vanilla...the horror!...so I used almond extract. I've made them that way ever since)
1/4 tsp salt
1 & 1/2 c flour
1 c toffee bits (this time I could only find the chocolate covered toffee bits, both taste great, but I think the plain ones make for prettier blondies.)

Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottom and side of an 8 inch square pan with foil, leaving an overhang on 2 sides.

Cream butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla and salt, scraping down sides.

Add the flour on low speed until combined. Stir in toffee bits.

Spread batter into prepared pan (an offset spatula helps). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.

Lift the blondies out of the pan using the foil overhang. Cut with a bench scraper or serrated knife.

Delicious!!!

So, here is my project from yesterday....Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls. These are originally inspired by Bakerella. If you haven't been to her blog, go now! (I'll wait!) :) Months ago, I bookmarked her Red Velvet Cake Balls and added them to my "must make" list.

A few weeks later, I got an email from my girlfriend, Terri, about making cake balls. Then, last week, my sister emailed me with two other sites, here and here, on making cake balls. I thought this must be a sign, I needed to make cake balls!

This time of year, I really have a thing for pumpkin....I cannot get enough, so I made Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls. Mine are nowhere near as pretty as Bakerella's; I'm going to call them rustic. :) I added some chocolate jimmies because I had them on hand. They were such a hit. My son & I took them to a group we meet every week. I had 4 requests for the recipe within 1 minute!

See the "rustic" crack and cake showing through? :)

The possibilities are endless! I can't wait to try these again with other flavors. Let me know if you try these...I'd love to see your combinations!

....my son really had a good time helping to make these as well; this is a fun and messy project for kids!......

Pumpkin Spice Cake Balls

1 box French Vanilla cake mix (or yellow or plain vanilla)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 can cream cheese frosting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
chocolate candy melts or almond bark

Beat everything together (ending with the eggs) according to the package instructions and bake in a 13 X 9" pan. Make sure the cake is completely baked (no gooey middle) before removing from the oven. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Crumble the cake apart in a bowl and add most of the can of cream cheese. Using your fingers, mix together until the cake holds together when formed into a ball. Add more frosting of necessary. Roll into balls of about a 2 bite size. This should make about 50. Place on cookie sheets lined with wax paper and refrigerate several hours.

When ready to dip, melt the candy melts (I used two bags of melts total) a 1/2 bag at a time following the directions on the package. Roll with a spoon and place on another waxed paper lined sheet. Scatter on sprinkles if using while the chocolate is still wet. Store at room temperature.