Popcorn Balls

Sorry for the extremely long gap in between these posts. My life is kinda busy with school and all, but I've been able to make a few new recipes. One of them includes the oh-so-delicious popcorn balls!
I have made about 5 batches so far, the first one a complete disaster. The first recipe I tried called for sugar, water, and corn syrup to mix in with the popcorn. It didn't work that well, because the sugar hardened before it got evenly mixed, so they were extremely hard to bite.
We tried a different recipe the next time. and it was so good I made it 3 more times! Instead of using sugar and corn syrup, this recipe called for a cup of marshmallows! I LOVE marshmallows! So my mom and I made the first batch, formed the popcorn into balls, and let them cool. I packaged them up for my friends at school for my Christmas present to them. Then we made more just to eat.
I think that this was my best cooking experiment yet! As you can see, your hands need to be well-buttered so the gooey mixture doesn't stick. I hope you can try out the recipe and be engulfed in marshmallow-y goodness!

• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 2 teaspoons cold water
• 2 5/8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup marshmallows
• 5 quarts plain popped popcorn

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the corn syrup, margarine, cold water, confectioners' sugar and marshmallows. Heat and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Carefully combine the hot mixture with the popcorn, coating each kernel.
2. Grease hands with vegetable shortening and quickly shape the coated popcorn into balls before it cools. Wrap with cellophane or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

Cake in a Cup (But Not a Cupcake)

The actual recipe is called "5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake," but to me that seemed a little boring. So I improvised! It was quite fun to make, and about 5 times more delicious. In a mug, you mix milk, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, sugar, flour, egg, chocolate chips, butter, and a pinch of salt we decided to add.

The prep time is about 2 minutes, and then you actually MICROWAVE it for 3 minutes. Our youngest chickens (who are considered "chocolate" egg layers) have started laying eggs now, a deep brown color (like the egg in front).

I decided to use one of those, and I'm glad I did. Fresh is better than store bought. We mixed all of the ingredients together in a hot cocoa mug, and put it in the microwave.

At first, I couldn't see it rise. But that was only because the mug we put it in was too tall and wide. But, it worked out just fine!

French Macarons

My friend Morgan and I made French Macaroons today. They look like tiny little hamburgers! The tops were made from egg white, sugar and almond flour, and you could choose which fillings to put on the inside. We squirted the tops and bottoms out of a pastry bag, and then we would bake them. We tried five different types of fillings: strawberry cream cheese, buttermilk frosting, rhubarb jam, grape jelly, and chocolate mint. The mint won. We did most of the macaroons with the mint, and we did the rest grape jelly. They were really good!

(Green Bay) Packer Pops

Well, since the Superbowl is coming up, I thought we should make something for the party. So, using my new Cake Pops cookbook, I invented something called a Packer Pop.

You start by crumbling a baked yellow cake and mashing in a can of butter-cream-frosting.

Then you make balls out of them.

And insert a lollipop stick that has been dipped in melted candy coating.

Then we dipped them in yellow candy coating and the top in green chocolate and finished it with a white chocolate G. Go Pack Go!

Homemade Nutella

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a long time, but with school and all, I hope you'll understand. Today is a Sunday, and I have tomorrow off from school. My brother and I have been in a Nutella phase lately, so I decided to make this. It was quite simple and very fun. It called for peanuts, but because we didn't have any, we just used cashews, which was fine by me. We roasted and pureed them.


We mixed the cashews, powdered sugar, salt, cocoa, and coconut oil in a food processor.

Then, after a while, it turned into our very own Nutella. The texture or taste is not quite the same, but I loved it anyway.

Chocolae Covered Caramels with Sea Salt

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time, but with school and all, it gets kinda busy around here.

We've made some new friends at the St. Croix Chocolate Co. They brought me some chocolate to practice my tempering. They also brought my mom a box of chocolates, and I tried the salted caramel chocolate, and I loved it so much, I decided to make my own with the chocolate they gave me.

We had made caramel yesterday for dipping apples, and there was a lot of extra. We figured it would be a good reason to use it up. My mom helped me temper the chocolate and dip the caramels, and I sprinkled the salt on top.
We had to set the caramel outside in the freezing cold air to get it hardened up enough to handle, and that worked way better than any freezer. They all turned out pretty and tasty! The caramel inside was all nice and gooey!

Vanilla Pudding w/ Banana & Nilla Wafers

My mom bought a box of Nilla wafers for a camping trip, but we never ate them. So there was a recipe on the side for this vanilla pudding with bananas and Nilla wafers, so we decided to try it out. First, we made a pudding of vanilla, sugar, four, salt, and milk.

Then, we poured it into a glass dish, put Nilla wafers down, then sliced bananas, and repeated the process a few times.

For a finish, we put whipped cream and some wafers sticking out of the top. It was delicious!