Bailey's Filled Truffles

Although I'm a quarter Irish, the real reason I look forward to St. Patrick's Day each year is the excuse to bake with Bailey's.  Last year I made Bailey's Cupcakes and I still have dreams about that absurdly delicious frosting.  Bailey's on the rocks is one of my favorite guilty pleasures and I sneak it into my coffee whenever appropriate (aka not on school mornings before taking a drill to a patient's face,of course).  So when I saw the idea of a liquor bonbon a few months ago, I knew I wanted to try to recreate them with Bailey's in time for St. Patrick's Day.  As a true Bailey's aficionado, I loved these truffles and couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the 2nd best holiday of March (behind my birthday, duhh!).  

What's so great about these is they're not just chocolate truffles infused with some Bailey's, they're actually chocolate shells with a liquid center.  The amount of liquor included in each truffle depends on how thick you make your chocolate shells and the shape of the molds you chose.  Some of my friends that sampled these thought they were a bit strong, but those that love Bailey's as much as I do thought the amount was just right.  So you'd have to judge the tastes of your crowd and make them accordingly.  Erring on a thicker chocolate shell is probably a better choice anyway though - it limits the amount of liquid inside but also is more protective against leaking.  Either way you make them, remember to tell your guests they have to pop the whole thing in their mouths at once or they'll end up with a big mess in their hands!

I used the same mold as my Birthday Cake Jello Shots, but there are a whole variety of candy and truffle molds out there that would work (this one would definitely work, and here's the link to the one I used.) I decided to decorate them by piping white chocolate drizzles and then sprinkling them with crushed up Health bar to dress them up a bit.  They're a little on the messy side rather than elegant, but I guess that's to be expected for a truffle filled with booze.  If you're making these for St. Patty's, a healthy dose of green sprinkles would be great too!





Bailey's Filled Truffles
Recipe adapted from Testado, Provado, e Aprovado - she has a great tutorial, check it out!

2 bags chocolate candy melts
Bailey's liquor (or whatever kind of liquor you like)
White chocolate for drizzling
Crushed up Heath Bar or sprinkles for decoration
Candy mold (like this one)

Please refer to these photos while following the recipe instructions below:



1. Lightly grease each well with cooking spray or vegetable oil.  Melt chocolate candy and use a spoon to drop some chocolate in each well and spread it up the sides.  You have to be very meticulous to cover the entire thing in chocolate and ensure there's no red (or whatever color your mold is) peaking through.  I would recommend doing one coat, letting it set in the freezer for a few minutes, and then adding another coat

2. While you're waiting for those to dry, find a circular object in your kitchen (the top to a bottle of vodka was the best size for me) that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the candy wells.  Trace the circle repeatedly on a piece of blank paper.  Slip this paper under a sheet of wax paper.  Melt more chocolate and transfer it into a piping bag.  Pipe the chocolate onto the wax paper to make saucers, staying within the lines you traced.

3. Fill the chocolate wells are 3/4 of the way with Bailey's liquor.

4.  Place the dried chocolate saucers on top of the Bailey's - you want the saucers to be sitting slightly above the liquid so the two don't touch.

5.  Finally, melt more chocolate and pipe another layer to cover the entire top of each saucer-covered-well to secure the edges and make sure there's no leakage.  Let them set completely in the fridge before working to remove truffles from wells.  Serve cold and enjoy!

Recipe yields 30 truffles of the size I made

Striped Cake Pops

A few weeks ago I posted cake balls in the form of chocolate covered strawberries, but nothing can quite beat the cuteness of a cake ball on a stick - aka the cake pop.  I made a batch of white cake pops with pink stripes for my blog banner a few years ago, but since I only made them for color-coordinating decoration purposes, I never wrote a post dedicated to them.  Recently I've received a number of emails inquiring about the cake pops, so I re-created them for this post and brought them to a friend's bachelorette party which worked out perfectly since her wedding color is fuchsia too :).  

Since I still haven't gotten around to investing in a large block of styrofoam to dry my pops, I've made these stand upside-down.  But they still have a handle, and that's the best part of eating a cake pop!  Although I'm no expert in making and dipping cake balls, I have picked up a few tips along the way that I thought I would share to help you get a nice and smooth coating:

• Rather than freezing the un-dipped cake balls for a few minutes to firm them up, take the extra time to place them in the fridge for a half hour instead.  I've found that if the cake balls are too cold and the candy coating is too hot, the chocolate will seize.
• After you've melted your candy coating for the second interval of 30 seconds, mix vigorously for at least a minute to see if you can melt any solid pieces this way before popping it back into the microwave again.  If you overheat the candy coating, it will become too thick to work with.
• Add a dash of vegetable oil to your candy coating to help make it less viscous. 
• After you've dipped your cake pop, have a few toothpicks handy to help push away any excess that may pool at the bottom.  

As far as adding stripes, there are a few options.  I first dipped my cake balls in Wilton's pastel color burst candy melts and let them dry completely.  Then you can either put the melted candy coating into a squeeze bottle to pipe stripes or use a toothpick to "draw" on lines.  I started off with the squeeze bottle method but my tip kept getting clogged, so I later opted to draw lines with a toothpick dipped in candy.  Since candy melts dry rather quickly, I would suggest just piping half of the cake ball at a time and adding the sprinkles as  soon as possible.  Finer grain sprinkles like sanding sugar are best for this type of decorating because you don't want the sprinkles weighing down the candy melts.  And make sure to put a small plate or bowl underneath so you can reuse the sprinkles that fall!      

Cake pops are a great dessert to make for a party - they travel well, are single-serving, and super fun!  I chose to make lemon cake for these since that is Caitlin's favorite, and even decorated a few with C+V (her and her fiance's initials) and some hearts.  The possibilities are endless with cake pops, and I think this stripe design is great for a blog header, bachelorette party, or just because!

Lemon Cake Pops

1 box cake mix (I used lemon)

1/4 cup canned vanilla frosting

2 bags Candy melts (I used Wilton's color burst pastel)

Colored sanding sugar

Lollipop sticks

- Bake cake according to package's instructions and allow to cool completely.  

- Crumble baked cake with your fingers and mix in frosting until a malleable dough forms.

- Form dough into balls, place on a wax-paper lined cookie sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  

- Melt a bit of candy melts and dip ends of lollipop sticks in the candy before inserting into cake balls.  Return cake balls to fridge for another 10-15 minutes.  

- Melt the rest of the candy melts in a deep bowl.  Submerge each cake pop in the melted candy and gently tap the stick on the side of the bowl to help shake off any excess coating.  Invert cake pops onto a wax-paper lined surface and allow to dry completely.

- To make stripes, dip a toothpick in the melted candy and draw the stripes around the ball (I suggest drawing only 1 half-circle at a time since the candy melts dry quickly).  Cover with sprinkles immediately and continue decorating as desired.

Let me know if you have any specific questions regarding cake pops and I'll do my best to help you out!

New York Style Coffee Crumb Cake

I think streusel-topping should be its own food group.  I love it on top of muffins, cakes, and even just on its own.  This is not hard to believe since it's a combination of butter, sugar, and cinnamon with flour, but there's just something magical about these delicious coarse crumbs.  So it should not come as a surprise that I LOVE coffee cake - the absurd amount of streusel piled on top suits me perfectly, and I was very excited, and a little nervous, to try baking it at home.  I've made coffee cake muffins before, and even blueberry coffee cake, but I was ready to try the true classic this time around. Thankfully the result came out wonderfully and I was obsessed with the look and taste of the topping as well as the cake.  

I really did love this recipe - both sides of my extended family hail from the Empire State, so I've had my fair share of NY-style coffee cakes and this one was right on par.  My Grandma is famous in her small town for her coffee cake recipe, so it's safe to say my expectations for this cake were high.  But I as pleasantly surprised with my results - the cake had a dense crumb but also seemed light and moist and had a great taste.  When I first took my cake out of the oven, the crumbs were a little crunchy - I may have cooked the cake a little too long - but after the cake sat overnight, the crumbs softened up perfectly.  I couldn't help myself from immediately eating any crumb that fell off after cutting, moving, and photographing these delightful cakes. I may or may not have purposefully treated them a little rough to free off some extra crumbs along the way :)  

I often bake for group meetings, get-togethers, and parties, so I really prefer preparing single-serving baked goods that are easy to grab and share.  This is the reason you see a lot of cupcakes, cookies, and muffins on my blog that feed a lot of people without the hassle of cutting and serving.  Coffee cake would normally be considered a bit annoying to cut and serve during class (and also pretty messy with all the crumbs), but I avoided this by cutting up the cake ahead of time and placing each serving in a cupcake liner.  So when I passed around the coffee cake, everyone simply grabbed a piece and used the liner as a mini plate! 

New York Style Coffee Crumb Cake

Recipe adapted from Smells Like Home

For the crumb topping:

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and still warm

1-3/4 cups cake flour

- In a medium bowl, whisk together sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter to combine.  Add flour and stir until mixture forms a thick, cohesive dough.

- Set aside to cool to room temperature (about 10-15 minutes).

For the cake:

1-1/4 cups cake flour (don't use AP here, it makes a difference!)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces (softened, but still cool)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup buttermilk

Confectioner's sugar for dusting (I forgot this step, whoops!)

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

- Line a 8x8" dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil (allowing excess to overhang the edges) and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

- In the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  With the mixer still on low, add butter one piece at a time until the mixture resembles moist crumb with no visible butter chunks remaining.  

- Add egg, egg yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. 

- Transfer batter to prepared pan and use a rubber spatula to smooth the top into an even layer.  

- Break apart the crumb topping into large pea-sized chunks using your fingers and sprinkle evenly on the batter.  

- Bake until crumbs are golden and cake tester comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes.  

- Cool cake completely until cutting, at least 30 minutes.  Dust with confectioner's sugar just before serving.