I bought this bag of milk chocolaty toffee bits the other day.
Then I made the mistake and opened the bag to nibble on them.
You know, just for a taste.
Then I didn’t stop nibbling on them.
Every time I did something in the kitchen, I would pinch a few bits.
So I made myself bake something with them tonight before all my bits were bitten.
Toffee bits and a few basics are all you need for these cookies.
Fluffiness.
Dark brown sugar.
Yumminess.
Butter and peanut butter. Yes and yes.
Creamed.
Eggs and vanilla.
Or eyebrows… depending on which way I flip the photo. : )
After mixed, throw in the bits.
Roll and dip them in more toffee bits.
Then bite.
Easy!
And if you want to make them a little sweeter. Maybe for your sweetie.
Just bake them in a heart shaped silicone pan.
It just adds a little bit of love.
Heathy Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/3 cup (8 oz bag) Heath Toffee Bits
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix flour, soda and salt using a wire whisk and set aside.
In another bowl, cream butter, dark brown sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix until combined.
Stir in toffee bits, reserving some to dip tops of cookies.
Roll cookie dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. Chill for a few minutes to make it easier to roll or use a small cookie scoop.
Dip tops of cookies in bits and place on parchment paper covered baking sheet.
Bake about 10 minutes.
Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.
Makes about 30 2-inch cookies.
Note: I only had almost a cup left of bits to use for these cookies, but I would use the whole bag and possibly even two for these cookies.
I was in the mood to make some red velvet cupcakes this weekend. Red velvet cake is so pretty on it’s own, you really don’t need to do much to decorate it. A luscious cream cheese frosting works just fine most of the time.
But since Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, I wanted to do something simple and fun for the occasion.
So I made some cute cupid’s arrows to adorn them.
To make these love struck cupcakes, you just need to insert a 6-inch lollipop stick through the top part of the cupcake papers.
You can use a toothpick to pierce through the paper on each side to make it easier to push the stick through. Hold the paper on each side as you push the stick through so the paper doesn’t separate from the cupcake.
Then you can cut out sweet little hearts to attach to each end.
Actually, cut out the hearts ahead of time so you’re prepared.
Attach the small heart to one end with a small piece of tape and cut two slits through the larger heart to allow the stick to slide through.
Cut along the white lines on the larger heart for a more feathery look. I decided not to because I thought they looked cleaner this way.
Here’s a pdf if you want to download the ones I made. There’s a pink and a red version of the hearts in the pdf.
Or if you are more prepared, you can look for two different size heart paper punches and some pink or red heavyweight paper and save a lot of cutting time.
Obviously, I wasn’t prepared.
But in a pinch, these hearts work great, too.
To decorate the cupcakes, I used an Ateco Tip #807 to swirl on a mountain of creamy cream cheese frosting.
Nope. Not possible. Not sure there’s such a thing as too much ganache.
I like to eat it by the spoonful, but by the cakefull is even better.
The cake inside is chocolate. And actually the recipe for the chocolate cake in this post is not the actual cake in these pictures.
Why? Well, while it looks nice enough, it just wasn’t satisfied. So I made a few changes and made a better version the same day that I didn’t have time to decorate.
Instead, I’ve just been eating it straight up.
I like the simple look of the decorated one though.
High contrast.
The cake is frosted in buttercream first.
But for the middle layer of frosting, I tucked away a few of these inside.
Buttercream, speckled with miniature chocolate chips for kicks.
Perty!
Then the rest of the cake gets covered in plain white buttercream.
Easy enough.
Then comes the best part.
A reason to lick my spoon.
You’ll want the ganache to set up and thicken before you pour any on the cake.
Thicker, like this.
Oh my! Start pouring in the center, but be careful not to go too fast.
Ideally, you wouldn’t want too much to go over the sides and puddle around the cake.
Yeah, like this.
Okay, I got a little excited.
Ganache does that to me.
Now for the recipe of the second chocolate cake I made. The better one.
That said, I welcome any of your chocolate cake suggestions. I’m looking for the best homemade chocolate cake ever. Got one? Know of one? Care to share? This one’s good! But I’m not done searching.
What fun would that be anyway.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Frosting …and a good amount of ganache!
Chocolate Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water
Chocolate Ganache:
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
For the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans. Then place parchment paper cut to size on the bottom of each pan and grease paper. Dust pans with cocoa.
Sift dry ingredients together and place in a large mixing bowl.
Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and beat for a couple of minutes until combined.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add hot water and mix together.
Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 28-30 minutes. Batter will be very liquid.
Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
For the frosting:
Beat the butter in a mixer until smooth.
Add vanilla and mix until combined.
Add the powdered sugar in several additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
Add milk a tablespoon at a time and mix together until you achieve a smooth consistency.
Note: If you want your frosting whiter without using shortening, add a little white icing color to tint.
For the ganache:
Heat cream and butter in a saucepan until melted and remove before it starts to boil.
Place chocolate morsels in a small bowl and pour cream on top. Let sit for a few seconds and whisk by hand until completely incorporated and smooth.
Let cool until thick and pourable.
The ganache can take a bit to thicken. You can make it before the buttercream, to save time. Just use a wire whisk to stir it every few minutes and keep it smooth
To assemble: trim tops off of cake layers with a long serrated knife so they have a nice, flat top. Place one layer bottom side up on cake stand. Mix about 2/3 cup morsels with about 1 cup of the frosting. Spread frosting on top of bottom layer. Place second layer on top. It helps to have a crumb coat on the outside of your cake first. Simply apply a thin coat of frosting to the entire cake to catch andy excess crumbs. Then place cake in freezer for a few minutes to firm up frosting and cover the entire cake again with a thick layer of buttercream. This will help you keep all those crumbs from getting caught in your pretty work. Slowly, pour ganache over center of cake. Pour just enough to start dripping down the sides.
It’s been a year of kidneys and cake pops and I have a heart full of thanks.
This is an extremely long post. And just to warn you up front it involves a couple of pictures of blood and things that might make you cringe a little, so if you’re squeamish about that kind of thing, you probably don’t want to keep reading.
But, if you’re not, and you’re interested – it’s kind of a wrap up of 2011. Not of recipes from the blog, but of some things that made this year special.
And of course, it involves cake pops. How could it not.
The year started off pretty normal, or rather I was trying to keep things up as normal. But in the back of my mind was the knowledge that my transplanted kidney was starting to fail.
But I was hoping for the best. Hoping to just maintain whatever functioning it had left. Hoping to keep living the status quo.
In February, I had what was supposed to be the beginning of a few more book signings that would take place through the spring.
I started out in San Francisco and as soon as I saw your smiling faces, I managed to forget all about feeling bad. I want to thank you for that.
Because in March I had to cancel the next book signing in Minneapolis.
I couldn’t be there because I was very sick and in the hospital with an infection in my bloodstream and transplanted kidney.
Needless to say, my already weakened kidney could not handle the extra stress and I had to go on dialysis while I was in the hospital.
There are some pics in this post that I normally wouldn’t put out there, but I hope they help someone who might be going through something similar. It’s tough stuff.
This machine reluctantly became my new best friend. The only thing to keep me from eventually dying.
This was probably the hardest thing for me. I never wanted to go on hemodialysis. Just the thought of being hooked up to a machine and having my blood removed, cleaned and returned to my body, freaked me out. The first time my kidneys failed, I did peritoneal dialysis. It doesn’t involve your blood and it allows you much more freedom. So I was prepared to go on that kind of dialysis again if I had to. But not for an emergency port to be placed for hemodialysis. Peritoneal dialysis requires a scheduled surgery and planning. But hemodialysis doesn’t. So I had a procedure to have a temporary port placed in my chest and by the end of the very same day, I was having my blood move through those tubes on the machine.
Let’s just say my mind was not prepared. The first time I was on the machine, I can’t even describe what it was like. I just felt numb. Numb that it was happening this way. Scared that I didn’t know what would happen next. Upset that I couldn’t stay well for just a little while longer while we waited to see if my mom could be a donor.
But I was also thankful. Thankful that things like this exist. Thankful that even though there isn’t a cure for kidney disease, that there are options for treatment to prolong my life.
Thankful.
But still freaked out.
I was in the hospital for 18 days. And if I hadn’t been there so long, I probably would have come back home and kept baking as if everything was ok.
That was the plan anyway. But then I was there another day and another day and after a while I felt I needed and wanted to share what was going on because I had been absent from the blog so long.
And I was overwhelmed by your comments and thoughts and prayers. I still am. I get teary-eyed even now thinking about it as I write this.
I will forever cherish your words and kindness. I read them while I was hooked up to that machine and it made it all better. Thank you.
Flowers from new friends made it better, too. Thank you P is for Party, Anna and Blue, TomKat Studio, Pizzazerie, and all the other party planning friends that brightened my stay. I would list you all but I can’t find your letter at the moment. Forgive me. It was so sweet of you all to send flowers, especially since we haven’t even met. Hugs.
And surprise visitors made it better, too.
Ree, it meant so much to me that you came by to visit. Miss you lots.
Oh and did I mention that while I was in the hospital that I gained 16 pounds in the first two days. Sixteen pounds of fluid that they pumped into me to help fight the infection.
I was miserable and swollen all over, but so happy to see family and friends like Ree, and Julie, Zoe, Danny, Monica, Amy, and Kerry and Robyn who visited during my transplant stay.
So, there were definitely good things mixed in with the bad.
Like when I got back home, this was waiting for me. A dutch version of Cake Pops!
And in May, I was able to spend time with friends that were attending Blogher Food. (Photo from kevinandamanda)
Thank you guys for making that a great day. So, fun things happened too while I was still on dialysis. And that helped. A lot.
This is the clinic where I spent many hours over the next few months. I would get off work and come here four hours a day. Three days a week. And then go home and go to bed because I was still so tired. I have so much respect for the nurses, technicians and staff that work in dialysis clinics. They see a lot of sadness every single day. The beds were always full, unlike this photo I managed to take in between patients arriving. You walk in for your appointment and as soon as someone is done with theirs, they clean the bed, change the sheets, clean and prepare the machine to get ready to connect the next person. It’s a constant cycle of patients, many that were much, much sicker than me, coming here to stay alive. It has to be hard on the people that work there to see that everyday. And especially hard when someone suddenly stops showing up for their appointment because they are in the hospital or even worse.
It was definitely not somewhere I looked forward to going to. On the good side, I was very tired everyday, so I did get to lay down and rest and watch TV – as long as I didn’t get the bed that had the broken TV.
(Warning: Blood stuff coming up next.)
And then if I got bored, I would take pictures of myself to remember what being on dialysis was like.
Here I’m trying to tell myself how much fun I’m having. Woohoo!
I have a bunch of sad pics too, but I promise you don’t want to see those.
The white bandage near my neck keeps the area where the port is, covered and clean. It would get changed and the area carefully cleaned every time I had a treatment. The big sheet was just to keep my clothes from getting any stains. The port had two lines. One would remove my blood and the other would return it. Good times.
This was a temporary solution though. The area where the port goes in is an extremely high source of infection because there is a direct line to my heart and an opening at the end of the port where you connect for treatment each time. And the area couldn’t get wet, which made taking showers a real pain. I would cover it with these large plastic adhesive sheets which were so big that it made my right arm immobile. If I lifted my arm, it would create a gap in the covering and allow water in. Washing your hair with one hand is hard. And showering each day was filled with worry that I would get it wet and get an infection. And prolong my chance of a transplant.
If I had needed to stay on dialysis permanently, I would have had to have a permanent fistula made in my arm as an access to circulate the blood for hemodialysis. Or either plan a surgery to go on peritoneal dialysis again. So I tried to delay either of those happening as long as I could, waiting on my mom’s test results to all come through and hoping she would be able to donate.
Stressful.
At the clinic, my nurse, TiTi would take care of me each time I came in. She was comforting even though she didn’t talk much. I developed an attachment to her. I didn’t want anyone else to connect me to that machine or clean my dressings. I trusted her and even though I was so happy to leave, I cried with her the last day I left the clinic as she prayed for me. And I felt bad for the patients I was leaving behind. The nameless faces I had seen every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I wanted them to feel better, too. It reminded me how grateful I am for my mom. Many people live the rest of their lives on dialysis. Not everyone is eligible for a transplant or has someone close willing or able to donate.
If you’ve thought about organ donation before, please think about it again and the people laying in those beds. It’s a gift that can help so many.
And if you are already a donor. Thank you. Generosity like yours gave me 19 years of life.
On the lighter side, during dialysis treatments, I was also trying to finish up a couple of projects for the Cake Pops Kit that came out this year. Not fun when you don’t feel good.
But even though I wanted to be able to do more new pops, I think the rubber duckies and penguins came out pretty darn cute.
Then, Cake Pops made it onto the iBookstore. I thought this was really cool. Probably because of my love for all things Apple.
By the way, Cake Pops was one of the iBookstore’s top ten Cookbooks in 2011! Crazy! CRA-zeeee!
I had a recipe published in Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Cupcakes. Thank you, Betty!
And I also had a recipe published in the book, Home Baked Comfort.
Things like this, and especially all of your emails and messages and comments on the site really made dealing with being sick a lot easier.
By the way, dialysis stinks when it comes to eating, too. Your diet changes drastically because your system is so out of whack. The machine basically does the functioning of your kidney for you. But since it doesn’t do it all day, everyday, you have to be really careful what you eat all the time. I couldn’t eat cake pops. I had to stay away from foods that contain phosphorous and potassium and eat foods with very low sodium. A high phosphorous level can make your bones weak and brittle. Potassium is monitored closely to avoid heart problems, nausea and loss of consciousness. And sodium is avoided to help control fluid retention and blood pressure. That meant no potatoes, no chocolate, no cheese, no milk, no sauces to speak of, no beans, no sandwich meats, no bacon (ugh), no nuts, no ice cream, no orange juice, no bananas. Basically, nothing fun. And because my fluid intake was restricted, I could only have 32 ounces of fluid for the whole day. Boring!
I’m so glad that didn’t last long.
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After a few months on dialysis, we finally found out that my mom was able to be a donor. Such relief and excitement for us both!
And on June 14th, my mom and I both went into surgery. That was the hardest part – knowing we were both being operated on at the same time, but I had complete confidence in the surgeons.
Especially mine. Because Dr. Larsen performed my first surgery in July of 1992 and again this year. He’s great.
I don’t know if I could ever put into words how much he means to me, but I am so thankful for him and his talent and kindness over the years. I just want to give him a big hug every time I see him.
The entire staff at Emory is wonderful. Everyone at the transplant clinic and the transplant floor of the hospital. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for taking care of me the last 20 years.
Oh and see that white bandage on my neck in the pic above? Yep, the port is still in.
They leave it in to make sure the kidney works before removing it.
The port isn’t pretty. I made them take a picture of it for me because I never saw it unbandaged.
Scroll by real fast if you get grossed out easily.
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Yuck. And by the way that’s not blood on the port, it’s betadine where they would clean it.
I was so relieved to have this thing out of me.
And so grateful for my mom. I know she would do anything for me, but I would have never asked her for such a gift. She is amazing and my best friend.
Okay, this was something else really fun and a little unexpected. Say hi to Pop Star Jill in Illinois.
I received an email from Jill’s husband, Luke. They live in Chicago and he explained how much she enjoys the blog and cake pops and wanted to surprise her with a signed book or maybe even a lunch. So I said, sure and if they found themselves all the way in Georgia, then of course, I would go to lunch. Well, he did just that. He told her they were flying somewhere fun for her birthday, but didn’t tell her where until the day they flew. I’m sure when he told her Georgia, she was thrilled. So exciting, right?! But he explained it off by saying they were going to see and stay with some friends for a getaway.
Then, the next day, I was waiting at the restaurant and when the hostess brought Jill to the table, the look on her face was so priceless. And boy was I glad. It would have been a real bummer if she didn’t know who I was. But she did and it was a blast and she had absolutely no idea. We had a great time. I think it was as much fun for me as it was for Luke to surprise his wife. Hi guys. Hope you two are doing great.
And thank you both for such a memorable day.
These are meds I take twice a day. Everyday. They’re different medicines from the ones they were giving to patients almost 20 years ago, but they still have to give them to suppress my immune system so my body doesn’t try to attack my mom’s kidney as something foreign to my body. That would stink. So I take these medicines to help avoid that.
Even though I feel great now, it’s always on my mind every morning and night.
By October, I felt good enough to continue with the book signings I had begun back in the spring.
Of course, I had to visit Minneapolis first. It was such a good feeling to be there, seeing all your sweet faces. Happy smiles are like magic.
After Minneapolis, I visited San Francisco for a book signing and to work on the video for this kit.
Here’s a clip from the video. Cool.
While I was there, I visited the FM offices. They handle ads that show up on my site. They arranged a Halloween cake pop contest with a few bloggers and some of their employees. And man, they did a good job. Very creative and everyone was so sweet. Thank you for having me.
Here’s a slideshow of all the fun.
I also attended a San Francisco Authors Luncheon with my publisher, Chronicle Books to benefit the National Kidney Foundation. It was so nice of them to donate money and invite me to attend with them.
If I haven’t said it enough before. Chronicle is great. The people. The company. Their books. I love them.
When I returned home, I had a routine kidney biopsy. Everyone that has a transplant has one at around 5-6 months after surgery.
That’s my new baby. My mom’s kidney. In me.
Kind of unbelievable.
Kidney biopsies aren’t as bad as they look when you consider the needle they use. Yeah, that thing in the upper right hand corner. Yikes! And I think that’s the new shorter one they started using. Don’t worry. They only go in as far as they need to depending on how much body tissue they have to pass through to reach the kidney. Thankfully, they didn’t have to go too deep.
The test showed everything with the kidney was doing great.
So I felt confident enough to continue on with the book signings. Or kit signings since by this time, those had been released.
Seeing this poster in the Orlando Barnes & Noble really made me chuckle. Me and Bill Clinton, signing books days apart.
A little birdie told me the secret service was there the day I was, scoping out the place and one of them even bought a book. Maybe it was for Bill. : ) But I doubt it.
While we were in Orlando, we made it to Disney World for a little while.
The place where dreams come true. Except ours already had.
It was my mom’s first time and my second.
At most of the book signing cities, we stayed at normal nice hotels. But In Phoenix, we stayed at the nicest or most unique of al the cities. To give you an example, this guy was taking us to our casita in a golf cart. You couldn’t drive to your room by car. To get around the property, which was beautiful by the way, you had to call for someone to come pick you up or walk there. We called. And they would take you to the pool, or one of several restaurants or shopping nearby. Where ever you needed to go. The room was fantastic, too, with a deck, living room, fireplace, and walk in closet. We did not want to leave. Ever.
But we did. And headed out to the next book signing in San Diego.
While we were there, I received a super invitation from Sarah who follows the blog and came to the book signing in Costa Mesa the previous year. Sarah invited me to come see her world. Sea World, where she works with some of the animals.
Including this amazing, cuddly creature.
I never knew a sloth could be so cute.
My mom and I made some new friends for sure. We learned a lot, too.
Thank you Sarah for showing us around and sharing your knowledge of these amazing animals.
Here’s a slideshow of some of the fun.
Before leaving San Diego, we decided to stop and get some breakfast at a place called the Hash House.
We ordered just two pancakes.
Yeah, just two.
We obviously didn’t know what we were doing. I just had to share this pic. I have never seen anything like it.
After San Diego, I visited Book People in Austin for the last book signing of the year.
I’ll miss seeing all of you guys… until next time that is ; ) . Thank you all for coming out and sharing your love for cake pops. This year would not have been the same without you, whether you made it to a signing, or simply said hi on the blog. I love you guys so much. Big hugs and a little dork wave.
Georgia is something special and has just recently released her second book, Girl Hunter. It’s a fascinating read that follows her adventures on a quest to find out more about where her food comes from. And it takes her straight to the source. Here’s a video by the talented White on Rice Couple to give you a glimpse of what the book is about. And here’s a great post of our weekend by Georgia.
Check out the book, Girl Hunter if you’re interested in the journey of knowing where your food comes from, too.
Here’s a slideshow of the really great time we had.
Once back home I received another nice surprise.
Cake Pops, translated in Japanese and another version in French, too. Can anyone tell me what it says in that circle? I’m trés curious.
Well, that’s just a little bit of some of the things from this past year that you didn’t see on the blog.
Thank you for listening. I just had to get that all out and get ready for a brand new year.
Like I said in the beginning. It’s been a year of kidneys and cake pops.
And my mom and I would like to thank you all for helping make it one we will never forget.
So thank you and here’s to a great 2012 for all of us.
I have shared my love for Biscoff cookies with you before. Remember these cheesecake bars I made with a certain cookie crust? Delta gives these cookies out on their flights and when the flight attendants make their way down the aisle, I get excited like a little kid waiting for a snack. It’s gotten to where one little two-pack isn’t enough when I’m traveling so sometimes I even buy my own package to bring along. It’s a problem.
Recently I tried them dipped in coffee for the first time.
Oh. My. Cookies.
I don’t really drink coffee unless it’s with dessert, but I may have to start a new habit just so I have something to dip these cookies in.
If you haven’t tried it before. Don’t. And save yourself a little addiction.
Speaking of new addictions, Biscoff also makes a spread that tastes like their cookies.
I’ve tried to avoid it for my waistline’s sake, but it finally got me.
And, it’s so good. I think I’m in trouble. Big Biscoffy trouble.
I decided to try making some fudge with it the other day so I wouldn’t end up eating the entire jar in one sitting,
I usually make Peanut Butter Fudge during the holidays, but I thought it would be fun to try this kind. too.
Off to a good start.
Getting better.
Full rolling boil. Beautiful.
And the star of the show.
Biscoff spread.
You can see why I thought it would be a great replacement for peanut butter.
Creamy. Dreamy.
And on it’s way to delicious.
Throw in some marshmallow creme.
Mix it all together…
And throw it in the pan.
Spread it right away because it doesn’t take long to set.
And, if you want a little crunch, throw in some crumbled Biscoff cookies for good measure.
Or just do half if you’re indecisive like me.
Press the cookie pieces in pretty good or they will fall off.
Yum! Yum!
Biscoff Fudge. Make some.
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 Tablespoons margarine
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Biscoff spread
3.5 oz. or half a jar of Marshmallow Creme
Combine sugar, margarine and evaporated milk in a medium pot.
Bring to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling for 4 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
Remove from heat and stir in Biscoff spread until melted.
Add marshmallow creme and vanilla. Use a mixer to beat in the pot until well blended.
Pour into greased 8 X 8 pan.
Let cool and cut into small squares.
If the fudge gives you any trouble, it’s usually one of a couple of things for me. Getting the sugar mixture too hot and the fudge turns out kinda crumbly or not hot enough and it doesn’t quite set as firm. I’ve had both happen on occasion. You also want to make sure you have the right amount of marshmallow creme. I usually eyeball it. These are borderline crumbly, but still so good. I suspect I got it too hot, but I also wonder if it has something to do with the Biscoff itself. Guess I’ll have to make it again one day soon to see.
I do have to admit, the Peanut Butter Fudge is still probably my favorite, but these are good for a change.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an opened jar of Biscoff and a spoon waiting for me in the kitchen.
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