4th of July Extravaganza!!!!!

    CAKE POPS!!!!!

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13X9 cake pan)

1 can frosting (16 oz.)

Wax paper

Any color candy melts (1 lb. pkg.)

Lollipop sticks

Edible ink pen or sprinkles (optional)

1.     After cake is cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

2.    Mix thoroughly with 1 can of frosting. (I use my fingers to mix together. But be warned, it gets messy. Also, you may not need the whole can- add more if you need to.)

3.    Roll mixture into quarter size balls & place on wax paper covered cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50)

4.    Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)

5.    Dip top of lollipop stick in melted candy and insert into cake balls (little less than halfway.)

6.    Place in the freezer for a little while to firm up.

7.    Once firm, carefully insert cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick rotating until covered. Once covered rotate until excess chocolate comes off. Don’t tap to hard or the cake ball will fall off too.

8.    Place on styrofoam block to dry.

9.    For sprinkles, don’t wait until entirely dry to roll on. For edible ink pen, wait for the pops to dry all the way to draw. Next, just wait for the ink to dry to eat!

10.  Adapted from Bakerella

                                

      Mini Cheesecakes!

Makes 28

Basic cheesecake crust

1 ½ cup of finely ground cookie crumbs ( the famous chocolate wafers)

3 Tbsp. sugar

4.5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Cream cheese filling

1 ½ cups sugar

32 oz. (4 pkg.) cream cheese, room temp.

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 large eggs, room temp.

Chocolate syrup

For the crust

• Preheat oven to 325*. Line muffin tins with liners

• Crush cookies in Cuisinart. Add sugar and pulse. Add butter pulse until cookies feel wet

• Spoon 1 Tbsp. cookie mixture in each muffin cup. Use ¼ measuring cup to push down cookies

• Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Let cool

For the cream cheese filling 

• Put softened cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer, using paddle attachment. Beat until you don’t see any visible lumps. Add sugar and pinch of salt and beat until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time until all incorporated 

• Pour about ¼ of mixture ( I use a large ice cream scooper), not to exceed ¾ of the way up the liner

• Pour a quarter size blob of the chocolate syrup and mix on the top with a toothpick to create a cool swirl design

• Bake for 18-20 minutes. You don’t want them to crack.

• When cool, refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

• Eat what you want and then wrap in Tupperware and freeze for up to one month

Adapted from The Urban Baker