The good thing about being able to bake well and turn out quality baked goods is that everyone in your family can depend on you to bring something good to a family function. The bad thing about being able to bake well and turn out quality baked goods is that everyone in your family depends on you to bring something good to a family function. I am not saying that I don’t enjoy baking and making desserts, I’m just saying that once you start, realize that your family will come to depend on you to bring a dessert or two, or three. I usually rely on a handful of tried and true desserts that I like to make because I am familiar with all of the steps.

We had a family function on Sunday and I was asked to bring a dessert, which was fine, except that I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand to make any of my standard desserts. I searched the pantry and came up with a few options, but wanted something that would be decadent. I settled on making a Pineapple Upside Down Cake that turned out to be much better than I expected. The cake was incredibly moist, even though the intended texture of the cake was dense. I followed the recipe to the letter, except for a substitution for the cake flour which I did not have on hand. I found an easy substitute for cake flour by combining cornstarch and all purpose flour. I was pleased that I finally had another use for cornstarch, and that I actually keep it in my pantry.

The cake was super simple. I used a round spring form pan and sprayed the inside with cooking spray so that the cake wouldn’t stick once it came time to release it from the pan. I also placed a sheet pan on the rack just below the spring form pan in anticipation of any leaking from the cake. My foresight paid off, because the sheet pan caught all of the drippings that would have ended up making a huge mess at the bottom of my oven. I actually covered the sheet pan in aluminum foil since I was also not interested in cleaning up the mess there either. This one is definitely being added to my list of desserts I can whip up in no time flat.

I have made these bon bons for the last three years. This was the easiest year by far. I worked out all the kinks during the first two years, and as a result, I have bon bon making down to a science. I call these chocolate bon bons, but have seen them called truffles as well. I don’t think that the name really matters, it’s the end result that people really notice. I like making these because they freeze really well, and can be made well in advance.

I’ve tried a few variations of the bon bon, but ended up making the simplest bon bon, while still being delicious. One year we put maraschino cherries in the middle of the cream cheese ball, and while it worked well, and tasted great, it was too labor intensive for what I wanted to accomplish. We also tried dusting the bon bons with cocoa powder once they had been dipped in the chocolate, again too labor intensive for what I wanted to do. While the variations had great tastes, and texture; I found that making the simple Coconut Cream Cheese Bon Bon was the best route for us to take.

Coconut Cream Cheese Bon Bons

• 2 packages Cream Cheese (softened)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup coconut
• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Here is my step by step on making the bon bons, along with all of my tips and pointers for making the process easier, and more efficient.

Step 1: Blend cream cheese and powdered sugar together with  hand mixer or food processor until all ingredients are thoroughly  combined.

Tip: Allow the cream cheese to soften at room temperature, this  makes the blending process much easier while combining the  cream cheese and powdered sugar, and ensures that all of the  cream cheese is sweetened by the powdered sugar.

Step 2: Once the cream cheese and powdered sugar are  completely blended, add the coconut until evenly distributed  throughout the mixture. This can be done with a fork.

Step 3: Place a sheet of parchment paper (wax paper) onto either  a cookie cooling rack or cookie sheet that will fit into the freezer. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the cream cheese  mixture and drop onto the parchment paper (wax paper). At this point the cream cheese balls can be placed directly into the  freezer.

Step 4: Prior to becoming completely solid in the freezer, each  ball will  need to be hand rolled to ensure that there are no coconut legs,  these are the little pieces of coconut that don’t seem  to conform to  the shape of the ball. Hand rolling allows each ball  to be dipped  more easily into the chocolate, the stray coconut  tends to fall into  the chocolate once it becomes heated.

Tip: The cream cheese balls can be placed, while still on  parchment paper, on some other flat object that will fit into the freezer, like a small plate. Make a flat space in the freezer so that the balls don’t roll off the flat surface.

Step 5: Using a double boiler on low heat, or a glass bowl that will sit  on top of a pot, place the chocolate into the bowl and stir until  completely  melted. This step takes several minutes. Using the double boiler allows the chocolate to  stay melted the entire time you are dipping the cream cheese  balls without scorching the chocolate.

Step 6: Dip the frozen cream cheese balls into the melted chocolate.  Here is the reason they need to be frozen: frozen cream cheese balls add  less moisture to the chocolate than room temperature cream cheese  balls. For anyone who has ever dealt with chocolate, it is a known fact that  adding moisture to the chocolate causes it to become thick and lumpy.  Once the chocolate reaches this stage, it is nearly pointless to continue  on with that batch of chocolate. Hence, the reason for frozen cream  cheese balls.

Tip: A fork can be used to dip the cream cheese ball into the chocolate, but for easier coating try an egg dipper (used for dying Easter eggs) made smaller for the cream cheese ball. We use a spiral fork that came with our chocolate melting kit a few years ago, but I am sure these can be purchased separately.

Step 7: Once the bon bons have been dipped in chocolate, they can now  be placed in the freezer, or left at room temperature to set on their own.  After I freeze mine, I place them in Ziploc bags in the freezer until ready  to use. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

The second year that we made Bon Bons I increased the powdered sugar in the recipe, thinking that the sweeter cream cheese filling would make it that much better. Big mistake! The reason I don’t make the cream cheese filling a sickly sugary sweet is due to the semi-sweet chocolate that it is dipped in. Since the coconut also has natural sugars, the combination of powdered sugar and coconut are able to sweeten the cream cheese without overpowering it. Tasting the cream cheese filling by itself makes it seem like it isn’t sweet enough, but once the combination of the cream cheese, powdered sugar, coconut, and chocolate meet, it’s a whole different story. The bon bons can be made without the coconut, but I like the texture that it provides. If the coconut is taken out of the recipe, additional powdered sugar should be added to the recipe to compensate.

I hope that this inspires you to make Coconut Cream Cheese Bon Bons. It’s really not hard. There are a lot of steps, but most of them are quick. The longest step is dipping the cream cheese ball into the chocolate, but with a little practice, it is easy to master.

I accomplished nearly all of what I wanted to with my baking day, but mostly I am just relieved that I was able to get a head start on things so that some of my items are checked off. My list for the day was:

• Butter Cookies
• Haystacks
• Banana Bread
• Bon Bons
• Peppermint Bark

I finished the butter cookies, haystacks, and peppermint bark. The haystacks and cookies are now in the freezer waiting for Christmas day, and the peppermint bark is in the refrigerator. I was able to get four loaves of banana bread finished, but I have enough bananas left for another four loaves to get finished before Christmas. I started on the bon bons, but they are still sitting in the freezer waiting to be finished.

The butter press cookies taste absolutely wonderful, however, I had great difficulty with the press. I will definitely be making more cookies in the future, maybe not before Christmas, to master the art of using the cookie press. The haystacks and banana bread went well with no problems at all, as well as the peppermint bark. I would have to say that on a scale of 1 to 10 for ease of making, both the peppermint bark and haystacks have got to be a 2 (very easy). I still have plans to make more banana bread, and haystacks with marshmallows. I can’t wait to taste the haystacks with marshmallow, I’m sure they will melt in my mouth. The picture has everything I completed with my baking day, minus one of the loaves of bread. It’s just so hard to resist banana bread right out of the oven.

I am making excellent progress for my baking day plans. I already have four loaves of Banana Bread finished, and one batch of Haystacks finished and in the freezer. I have started on the Bon Bons, and Peppermint Bark. I did a little prep work for the Peppermint Bark before my son took his afternoon nap, by smashing the peppermint to tiny pieces, so that I could finish those while he was sleeping. The Bon Bons and pretty labor intensive so I’m waiting for my daughters to arrive home from school to help out a little.

My finished haystacks.

About four years ago when I was still working, a lady from work made Haystacks as part of her gift to everyone. I immediately fell in love with them! They can be made dozens of ways, but these are made using the following recipe:

HAYSTACKS

• 1 cup Butterscotch Chips
• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Peanuts
• 2 1/2 cups Chow Mein noodles

Melt the butterscotch chips and peanut butter over low heat until completely melted. Add peanuts and Chow Mein noodles to butterscotch and peanut butter mixture. Once all noodles and peanuts are completely coated, drop the mixture by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. These can sit at room temperature to set up, or placed in the freezer for faster set up time.

I put mine in the freezer, and after they were completely set, I then placed them in a Ziploc bag until I need them next week. I will be making a second batch of Haystacks, but in place of the peanuts I will be using miniature marshmallows. The trick with the marshmallows though is to allow the peanut butter and butterscotch to cool enough so that the marshmallows don’t melt when you mix them in.

Christmas is exactly a week away now, and I have tons to do before then. I know that I will be busy next week with Christmas cooking, so getting a few things done ahead of time will definitely help me keep the stress levels low. My plan is to start everything around 10:0am so that I can get something accomplished around the house first, and then work until around 5:30pm.

I may add or subtract some things along the way, but this is the tentative plan to start things off this morning.

• Butter Cookies – these are the cookies that are made with a cookie press. I’ve had very poor luck with these in the past, but I am determined to make these work this year
• Haystacks – these are so easy, it’s kind of scary, but they freeze really well ahead of time, so they are perfect for today
• Banana Bread – I can almost make this stuff in my sleep I make it so often. I have some bananas that are ready so these are a must for today
• Bon Bons – these taste awesome, and freeze well, but can be labor intensive on some of the steps
• Peppermint Bark – I have never made this, but enjoy eating it every year, so I thought I would give it a try

I’ll try and update as I accomplish things throughout the day. I can’t wait to get started, and see what the end results are once the day is done.

We made another trial run for our Christmas cookies and candy practice. This time around it was Christmas cookies using a sugar cookie recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook, and some Christmas cookie cutters. The cookies had a good flavor and texture, but need more work in the design department. This is one of the only times I have to use Cream of Tartar in the kitchen, and I’m sure I’m past my expiration date on this little container, but don’t tell anyone. It’s also one of the rare times I use my Almond extract, but I think both are key ingredients in the cookies, so definitely can’t leave them out.

I used plastic cookie cutters with detail imprints on the inside of the cutter. I think this may have been part of the problem since the dough has to not only be the right temperature, but have the right amount of flour, and be rolled out to the right height for everything to work out perfectly. It took me several times to figure out how to get the cookies to maintain their shape, again because of the height of the cookie. If the cookie was too tall it would rise and spread out. I had a hard time with the plastic cookie cutters because the dough would stick, probably not enough flour.  The first chance I get to find some open cutout cookie cutters, I’m jumping on them, and the plastic cookie cutters are going away. Far away!

My three year old helped during the entire cookie making process so we had a good time cooking and making messes. My last batch of cookies after many failures would be just fine, , but I think they could be a whole lot prettier, hence the need for new cookie cutters.

I am ready for the Christmas candy! For some reason I only feel completely inspired to make candies and cookies in the mass quantities when it gets close to Christmas. It must be something in the air. Whatever it is, I enjoy making all the sweet stuff. My kids do too! I don’t have my list completely set on what we’ll be making, but started a test run on a batch of Haystacks. The main thing I remember about Haystacks is the butterscotch flavor. Haystacks can be made a variety of ways, but I’ve eaten them with chow mein noodles, and potato sticks. I think either one tastes good. I’ve even had one variation with marshmallows. They were all great variations.

I thought I would be adventurous and try out some Ramen noodles in place of the chow mein noodles or potato sticks. The Ramen noodles were okay, a bit too crunchy. I thought that the hot butterscotch chips would soften them a little, but they kept most of their crunchiness. Why Ramen noodles? I had nothing else on hand, and I’m all about experimenting. I’ve messed up plenty of things in the past, so why not Ramen Haystacks. Let’s just say that I’ll put that in my “Don’t try this again” file. It was okay, and edible, but not melt in your mouth delicious.

I used a simple recipe of 1 cup butterscotch chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter, and will use about one to two cups potato sticks on my next try. I did learn that these freeze really well. Freezing actually helped to speed up the process for them to set-up or harden. They are quite soft and melty though at room temperature, even after setting up. On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty, I would rate these as a 1.5 for ease of making, and clean-up. After melting the peanut butter and butterscotch chips in a pot, all that is left to do is stir in the potato sticks or chow mein noodles, then spoon onto wax paper. The wax paper allows you to easily remove them, and makes it extremely easy to clean-up. This is a definite keeper on my list of candies to make for Christmas.

Well I am a glutton for punishment. I just finished baking four loaves of banana bread by mistake, and wound up purchasing this bag of bananas for $.99 at our local Homeland grocery store. For curiosity I weighed the bananas, and it was just shy of 7 lbs (about $.14 a pound). I normally pay about $.59 a pound for bananas, so the $.14 was a pleasant surprise. Too good to pass up, even if I did have three loaves of banana bread left at my house. Most of the bananas were still fine, and some can be used for banana bread. The bananas I don’t immediately make into bread can be put in the freezer (skin on) and used later for banana bread.

Earlier this week I had planned to make two loaves of banana bread so I doubled the ingredients as I added them to the bowl. About half way through the ingredients I noticed that the bowl was exceptionally full, looked at the yield on the recipe, and realized that oh my, I had done it. I was in the process of making not two loaves, but four.

It actually turned out to be a good oops. Every time I make Banana Bread one loaf is quickly devoured shortly after being removed from the oven, while the second loaf only lasts usually until the next day. Making four loaves of bread was just as easy as preparing two loaves of bread. The task of making Banana Bread was never daunting, but the thought of making four loaves seemed overwhelming. I use Betty Crocker’s Banana Bread recipe. If I don’t have any Buttermilk on hand, I add about a teaspoon of vinegar to the milk and it works just fine.

I am really getting a knack for this bulk cooking, especially baked goods. It definitely saves me time in the kitchen since it takes about the same amount of time to make one batch as it does two batches. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for ripened bananas in the future. I’ll just have to be in the right place at the right time.