Snow pop copycat

So, I read this cutesy little dessert recipe called snow pops over on MckMama's blog. Aren't those adorable? Emily was reading over my shoulder (which she gets in trouble for, often!) and then asked bugged me incessantly to make them for several days. So finally we did and I took pictures to share with all of you.

First step- make a cake mix according to the directions. She used chocolate, we had vanilla in the pantry.
Make some frosting. I didn't have her ingredients so I threw a few together in a bowl and completely impressed my 9 year old daughter with my off-the-top-of-my-head frosting. I might add that is was mighty tasty! What did I put in it? If I can remember right, it was somewhere around 3/4 stick of butter, 1/2 tub of soft cream cheese (no bagels to put it on anyway), a dash of vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make it thick. Stir with a whisk until you think your arm might just fall off, and then stir a bit longer. Remember, it's a good burn.


When your cake is cooled, cut it up and somehow get it into crumbles. MckMama used a food processor. I used a freshly hand-washed 9 year old who had just told me for the 100th time "I'm so bored, I have nothing to do" in her bestest voice.

We mixed in some frosting to make it a good consistency for forming balls, then formed it into balls. Refrigerate until firm and then get ready to dip.

Again, I don't do many things by a recipe so I didn't have any white chocolate to make pretty colors for dipping. But, I do have a coat in each of her favorite colors, do I win a prize for that?


What I did have was a half-used up container of the Bakers dipping chocolate so we used that instead. Insert your lollipop stick, dip and rotate then refrigerate until firm.

The kids loved them, but when have you found a kid that doesn't like anything made of cake, frosting and then dipped in chocolate? For me? I thought it tasted quite similar to a coma-on-a-stick. Despite that I seemed to need a taste each time I opened the refrigerator.

All things pumpkin

In the span of a week we have made (and eaten) three pumpkin-containing, baked goods. The first was an easy pumpkin muffin kit that was dessert after dinner and breakfast the next morning. The second was a pumpkin pie. Why pumpkin pie already? Well, because Matthew came home from school with a paper saying it was his favorite fall dessert. What does a mother do when you learn your child's favorite fall dessert? Make it, of course.

I also had the realization that our oldest child, Jacob, is a mere 7 years from the flying the coop age and that means I have a very small window between the age of him wanting to be in the kitchen with me and learning to cook and then reaching the all-knowing, he-never-hears-a-word-I-say age, so I must get busy on teaching this child to cook. Where do we start on learning to cook? Dessert, of course. So Jacob and I made a pumpkin pie in the middle of last week, just because. I bet money on him making pumpkin pie early in his courtship in a few ahem, 20 years.

After hearing the jealousy rage in the house over Jacob making the pumpkin pie and listening to comments such as "why did you let him do it? why didn't you wait for me (or us)? that is so unfair!" it was quickly decided that another baked good containing pumpkin must be baked. Thankfully, I remembered a recipe that I made several times last year around this time that was delicious. Here is the recipe we made up thoroughly followed, more variations are listed below.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 box spice cake mix
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 egg (actually, I was lazy and dumped in a bit of Egg Beaters)
1 15oz. can pumpkin

Mix this all together, either by a mixer or with a whisk (if you're trying to find toned arms under the flab, like me.) You can bake it in any kind of pan you'd like; we chose a bundt pan. Bake at 375 until you think it's done a tester inserted comes out clean. We put ours on a pretty cake stand to make it seem like it was a lot more work than it truly was and drizzled with some leftover vanilla tub frosting from the fridge homemade icing.

Variations:
-Add only 1 can of pumpkin to the cake mix; the batter is thick but it still turns out wonderfully. (This is actually the Weight Watchers recipe. We made it this way last year because I was on more of a diet kick...well, diet with a cake mix.)
-Add 1 cup of water instead of 1/2 water, 1/2 milk.
-Leave out the egg (or Egg Beaters) all together.
-Add applesauce instead of the eggs; maybe 1/4 cup or so.

Making it the way we did or making it with any of these variations will turn out about the same. Omitting the liquid will make it more muffin texture (which is our next "cooking lesson") and making it with more liquid and egg will make it more cake-like texture.

Mini made-to-order

If your house is anything like ours, a full cooked-to-order breakfast is the very last thing on your mind on weekday mornings. No, instead something like "comb your hair, did you brush your teeth?, get your bag ready, find your shoes, THE BUS IS COMING" is more like what happens daily around here. I just need to get a tape recorder and place it at the bottom of the stairs; maybe even add a countdown and then I just have to push play at the same time each morning. Hmmm...maybe I need to work on an invention.

Anyway, I can't take full credit for this idea but that doesn't stop me from sharing it with you. You know those yummy breakfast casseroles/quiche/souffle' thingermajigs? Whatever you call them they usually consist of eggs, a bit of milk, cheese and a meat; and if you are over the age of 12 you might throw in some onions and peppers. Well, I heard of the idea of making these casseroles in muffin cups and then freezing them. My children were so excited to try something other than frozen waffles, cereal, and instant oatmeal that I had to keep them from eating all the egg cups in one morning; pace yourself young grasshopper.

Disclaimer: I'm not an exact measure type of cook. No, I'm more of an "open the cabinet and throw in whatever looks like it isn't beyond the expiration date" type of cook. I did measure out what I included in these souffles but next time it might be totally different. Adapt this to your liking.

Ingredients

6 eggs
4 oz. sausage (cooked)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used colby-jack but use whatever kind of cheese you have in the fridge)
1/3 cup milk
salt
pepper

1. Cook your sausage and then let it cool on a paper towel. This will soak up a bit of the grease and allow it to cool enough so you don't scramble your eggs prematurely.
2. Add all the ingredients together and stir. Pour into greased muffin cups. (I made another batch with bacon to fill up the muffin pan)

3. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes. (If you use a metal pan or fill the cups less they may cook a bit quicker.) When you remove them they will be all inflated and beautiful looking. They will deflate when cooling and won't be as pretty but they taste the same. If you think they are ugly, blindfold yourself for breakfast (or your kids.)

4. Remove from pans when slightly cool (you like your fingerprints after all, no need to singe them off now) and place on a cooling rack. Once cool transfer to a freezer Ziploc and freeze.

Warm up your mini cooked-to-order breakfast in the microwave until hot.

Note: If anyone in your house is trying to lose weight like I am you can also make these with Egg Beaters. I made some yesterday using Egg Beaters and added some onions and peppers and they turned out well. Of course, Egg Beaters doesn't mean much when you eat ice cream daily. I wouldn't know anything about that though.