Cake Pop Experiment

I've been busy experimenting with chocolate, cake and frosting. This is dangerous work. I rarely am tempted to eat a cookie but chocolate gets me. I've even started eating the cookies again after I dip them in chocolate. Ack! The real purpose of the chocolate is to make the perfect cake pop. What is a cake pop? It is cake and frosting mixed together, formed into a ball, stuck on a stick and dipped in chocolate. Take a look at the 1st run:

All kinds of problems: chocolate cracking, pops jumping off sticks, ugly drizzle. But still yummy. Very yummy. So I kept trying and eating. How about the cake and frosting in a chocolate mold instead of a stick? The first of those. See those sad cake pops in the background?

These are fun to make and fun to eat and really fun to decorate. In case you are wondering they are white cake and strawberry frosting dipped in chocolate. Kind of like a chocolate dipped strawberry but with absolutely no nutritional value at all. That's why they taste so good. Here are some all dressed up and ready to go:

And now back to cake pops. I think I've got the cracking problem figured out. The last batch were good enough to send to work with Danny.

Cake pops have not taken over the kitchen. I'm trying to figure out ways to package cookies that allows people to give them as a gift. I am not entertaining cookies on sticks. Cake on sticks, yes. Cookies on sticks, no. These cookies found a home in a 1lb. candy box with a clear lid. So instead of boring candy for Valentine's Day you could give them a box of delicious cookies.

Can you tell I got a new camera? I love it! It's not super fancy, just has a big zoom. Check it out:

Big, old Mr. Alligator at Blue Springs.

Cute mommy and baby manatee. The animal that evolution totally missed.

These 2 wild monkeys were running all over the place disturbing the peace.

Late Xmas Cookies

Happy New Year! I love the idea of fresh starts even if it comes from just the turning of a calendar page. My fitness resolution is to run a 5k each month. And by run I mean cross the finish line on my feet. I've picked my 1st race for the last Saturday of January and they allow for a 20 minute mile which means I am almost guaranteed to finish. That's mall wander walk speed.

I have some xmas cookies to share but most are stuck on my camera. My computer is so full that it can't accept one more picture. My new computer is on it's way from China as I type (I love online tracking tools). I also have a new fancy camera headed my way from Georgia. Fancy for me means a 26x zoom. Both due to arrive tomorrow so by tomorrow night I'll be super mad that I've spent all day with electronics and still don't have them figured out.

For our dog groomer:

For a client who had these delivered to the hospital for the nurses:


Christmas morning before they were allowed to touch anything. Mom and Dad need coffee before chaos.

Hope you all had a great Christmas. Stay tuned. I'm working with chocolate and cake for my next new products. Which leads right back to the top and my fitness resolution.