Cool weather food

Check out One More Bite where I posted my chili recipe and another soup that I love.

The Castle Cake

For the last few weeks, I've been debating on whether or not I would a make cake myself for Leland's birthday. I finally decided that I would and there was no question in my mind on what it would be - a pink castle. If there is anything that sums up Leland's last year it is pink and anything princess.

I did lot of Internet research and talked to anyone I could about making and decorating cakes. Now this is my FIRST cake that I've ever done myself. I helped my sister make a guitar cake last fall and that was my first encounter with cake decorating.

Chuck actually did the detail work. He did a GREAT job. My Aunt gave Leland some princess Polly Pockets as a present, so we decided to add them to the top of the cake. They were a very nice addition.
So what did I learn from my first cake decorating experience?

• My cake was DELICIOUS! (Bodell Bistro p.306) Thanks Aunt Pam!
• My icing was a little too thin to use decorating tips to do piping, but still tasted good. (Bodell Bistro p.294)
• Freeze the cake for a few hours before decorating it. That was the MOST helpful piece of advice that I got and it came from a lot of people.
• I NEVER thought I would be so excited to make a pink castle cake. But Leland's excitement made my excitement escalate.

**For those of you who are not a part of the Bodell crew and would like the recipes, check out the food blog I contribute to: One More Bite. I also added detail about the construction of the cake if you are interested.

Recipes

So here are the Recipes of the treats I made. See Holiday Treats Time

Peanut Butter Balls
2 1/2 C Graham cracker crumbs
1 bx powdered sugar
2 sticks butter, melted
12 oz jar crunchy peanut butter

Mix all ingredients. Roll into balls
Dip balls into melted Almond Bark Chocolate (or any candy making chocolate)
Set on parchment paper and let chocolate harden.

Cracker Toffee (Hampstead Ward '05 p. 142)
1 sleeve Saltine crackers
1 C butter
1 C brown sugar
2 C semi-sweet Chocolate chips

Preheat oven 400 degrees
Line crackers on a foil lined cookie sheet
In a sauce pan bring butter and sugar just to a boil. Pour over crackers.
Bake for 5-6 min
Sprinkle chocolate chips immediately over crackers and let sit. The chips will soften and you can them spread the chocolate over the top
Options - Add sprinkles or nuts
When hard, break into pieces

Homemade Oreo's (Bodell Bistro p.262 or Hampstead Ward '05 p.142)
1 bx Devil's Food cake mix
2 eggs
3/4 C shortening
1 t vanilla

Mix all ingredients. Roll into balls.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8-10 min. (balls will flatten into perfect circle cookies while they cook)
Let cool on cookie sheet. When cool spread frosting between 2 cooled cookies.

I just used a container of Cream cheese frosting for the filling. I guess you could make your own if you want. I added green food coloring to the frosting to make them festive. Next year Chuck wants me to try to make the frosting mint flavored.

Have fun!