This year Thanksgiving has to be extra extra special, being away from family for so many months due to Social Distancing, so many parties canceled throughout the year… the biggest holiday in the USA and we are still here, with distance or not WE MUST CELEBRATE!!! For me its a very emotional time, and this month I will make the best of it… count on me if you need helping you create your party.
I also created a video on my youtube(still need major work) but I would like to share. In the video, I visited Hobbylobby and I put together a mini apple picking party ideas with some props from their shelves, just to show you that is possible to create something cute on a budget
In this tutorial, I will feature two alternative ways to create this pop. The first will feature the use of cake pop dough. The second (my preference) will feature the “faked” cake pop, baked in a pan. So let’s get to it!
Apple Pie Cake Pops – What You’ll Need:
cake mix – I used vanilla
eggs
milk
oil
apple pie filling
melting chocolate
cake pop sticks
any decorations you want
optional: cake pop pan/mold
optional: apple corer
Apple Pie Cake Pops – Version One – Cake Pop Dough:
Step One: Prepare and bake the cake as per the box instruction. Crumble and add frosting until you reach a playdough-like consistency.
RAMBLE: Now, I am not the authority on cake pop dough! I am still working on perfecting my cake pop dough recipe to share (i.e., with actual measurements). Annoyingly, like our grandmothers of old, I must confess that when I prepare my cake pop dough, I work more with the feel of the dough (to know when it’s ready) rather than knowing the actual quantity of icing used. I don’t like my dough too mushy so I try to work with the cake as soon as it’s cooled and do not use any of the brown pieces to make sure my dough is extra fluffy. BUT… I know this is a tutorial so generally if you use one box of cake mix (520g) and have one container of ready-made frosting (455g), I would add ¼ spoons of frosting at a time until you get a smooth consistency. You should not need more than ½ of the container of frosting or your cake balls will be too sticky and not hold to the treat stick.
Step Two: Section and roll the cake pop dough into a palm-shaped ball and flatten. Mince your apple pie filling into small chunks and portion a small amount into the middle of your flatten dough. You’ll be tempted to add a lot of filling but avoid this as it will lead to seeping and a mushier pop that won’t hold.
Step Three: Take the flatten dough and close your hands around the apple pie centre, sealing and securing the filling within the cake pop dough. I’ve never made one, but I assume this is similar to how you would make a meat or veggie potsticker.
Step Four: Roll the cake pop dough (with the apple pie centre) into smooth balls and place into the fridge to set. You can prepare several of these prior to dipping, just make sure that your cake ball and melted chocolate are of similar temperatures before dipping or your cake pop will crack.
Step Five: As with usual cake pop making, dip your cake pop stick into melted chocolate and then insert the dipped stick into your cake ball. Let the stick and naked cake pop set/dry. Once set, dip your whole cake pop into the melted chocolate and decorate, as desired.
Apple Pie Cake Pops – Version One – Pan Baked Cake Pop:
Step One: Prepare the cake mix as per box instructions and pour the batter into your cake pop pans/molds. Bake as instructed – depending on your pan or mold, instructions will vary. Let the cake balls cool.
Step Two: Once the cake balls have cooled, you may need to do some trimming. Some pans leave your cake ball with a Saturn-like ring around it. To ensure your pop is smooth, take a paring knife and smooth off the excess rings. Next, take your apple corer and push it into the top of the cake ball – about ¾ of a way into the ball. Removed the cored section and cut it leaving a ¼ of the top section that you will use later.
Step Three: Mince your apple pie filling into small chunks and fill the cake ball cavity with apple goodness, leaving enough room to cork it with the ¼ cored cake piece from Step Two. Often to secure the cork – and this is something I’m still trying to figure out – I will smooth some melted chocolate around the edges of the ¼ cored cake piece to make sure it holds to the filled cake ball. Once the cored cake piece and the filled cake ball are secured to one another, you can move onto Step Five above to dip and decorate as you like.
TIP: One way to get around any difficulty with the cake pop stick is to omit the stick altogether and just turn this treat into a cake ball. Simply dip your filled cake ball in chocolate and decorate.
2. Apple decorated Cupcake
by lifeloveliz.com
APPLE DECORATED CUPCAKES
INGREDIENTS Cake:
1 box White Cake Mix + box ingredients
Red Cupcake Liners Frosting:
1 cup softened Butter
3 cup Powdered Sugar
3 tbsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
Red Food Coloring
Red Sparkling Sugar
12 Tootsie Roll Midgees
Green Fruit Roll ups or Green M&Ms
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven and line muffin tins with paper liners.
Prepare batter according to box directions.
Fill liners 2/3 full and bake according to box directions for cupcakes.
Allow to cool completely.
Whip butter and vanilla for until fluffy.
Gradually add powdered sugar.
Add milk until you reach desired consistency.
Add food coloring to achieve pink/red color.
Frost each cupcake.
Sprinkle with red sparkling sugar.
Insert Tootsie Roll in middle to make stem.
If using Roll-ups, cut 2 leaves for each cupcake and put in place,
If using M&Ms, place 2 M&Ms to represent leaves.
3. DIY Candy Apples
by intimateweddings.com
DIY Candy Apples Recipe
Ingredients
12-15 small apples
2 cups white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups water
Red food coloring (I used 16 drops. To create a rich ‘candy apple’ red (the type you see at fairs), you would have to add several more drops. I used regular food coloring, but I would have used natural food coloring if my local grocery store carried it.)
a few drops apple or cinnamon flavor oil (optional…. I used apple because I had some on hand.)
12-15 sticks (I gathered poplar tree branches from my back yard.)
A candy thermometer is necessary for this recipe.
Cut your sticks to desired length and whittle one end of each stick into a point. This will make it easier to insert into the apple.
Wash and dry apples. Remove stems. Insert stick approximately two inches into the core of each apple. Set aside.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine sugar, corn syrup and water.
Heat to 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads. This took about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in food coloring and flavor oil. Holding apples by the stick, dip in syrup and swirl until evenly coated. You have to work quickly; the syrup does not take long to seize.
Place candy apples on parchment paper to harden.
Add thank-you tag if giving as favors. Enjoy!
Yum!
It’s impossible not to have a Halloween tradition every October. Last year I did a cute little monster party, cause my baby girl was almost a year old. So I wanted something cute and not scary. She is still a baby, maybe toddler now lol, definitely in her “terrible twos”. OMG, not easy, lots of meditation lol.
So for this year’s Halloween tradition, we should maybe we should create a “MAD SCIENTIST PARTY” in honor of the nightmare of a year 2020 covid-19. Maybe that would inspire some children to be future scientists and change the world? We never know!!!
You can actually make rice krispie treats any color you want. When you’re stirring together your rice krispie cereal into melted marshmallow and butter, add in several drops of whatever color food coloring you desire. Neon food coloring should give you the bright colors!
To make the molecule balls, wait until the mixture is cool enough to touch (but not completely cool) and grab a small handful. Roll it into a ball and store it in a Tupperware container until you’re ready to put them on display. *Warning: you’re going to get sticky!* You can attach them together like the folks did in our inspiration photo, but make sure you use sticks sturdy enough. Toothpicks don’t work very well.
MAD SCIENTIST TREATS
by blog.etsy.com
Mad scientists of all ages will love concocting their own creepy treats in petri dishes — especially around Halloween season. You’ll need just a few ingredients for this project: fruit juice, unflavored powdered gelatin, and a variety of hard candies (protective goggles and lab coats optional!).
You can find unflavored powdered gelatin in the baking aisle near the flavored gelatins and boxes of instant pudding; disposable petri dishes are available for purchase online. Some of my favorite sweets to use in this recipe include nonpareils, gummy laces, and candy buttons, which conveniently resemble clusters of growing bacteria.
Fruit juices served in test tubes and beakers make cute accompaniments to these colorful jellies, and all together are perfect for a mad scientist–themed Halloween party.
12 disposable petri dishes (I used the 100 mm x 15 mm size)
Step 1: Pour fruit juice into a large, microwave-safe measuring cup. If the fruit juice is pale in color (such as white grape juice), stir in food color until a vibrant hue is achieved. Quickly whisk in the gelatin. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute at 100% power; stir well. Heat for an additional 30 seconds, or until the mixture is steaming. (Stir well after each heating interval.) You may also heat this mixture in a saucepan on the stovetop if you don’t own a microwave oven.
Step 2: Let the mixture stand until it stops steaming, about 5 minutes. Place the petri dishes on a large baking sheet, then fill each one 3/4 full with the gelatin mixture. If using gummy candies, add them to the dishes now, partially or completely submerging them in the liquid gelatin.
Tip: As long as you have enough petri dishes, you can make several colors of gelatin mixture at once; 2 cups will fill about 12 petri dishes.
Step 3: Refrigerate until the mixture has set, about 2 hours. The consistency of the set gelatin will be denser than regular gelatin (think Jell-O Jiggler consistency). This density helps ensure that candy add-ons won’t melt away over time.
Step 4: Decorate the petri dishes with the leftover candies — or allow your young scientists to add their own ‘bacteria’ candy to the dishes.
Step 5: Place lids on the petri dishes and stack them high for a colorful display, or arrange them on a large serving tray with mini spoons.
Note: You can easily double and triple the above recipe. We wanted to make a rainbow of rock candy colors, so we ended up using 10 cups of water and close to 30 cups of sugar. As long as the sugar to water ratio is close to 3:1 the rock candy will grow.
Method
Combine equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until all of the sugar is dissolved.
Then, slowly add more sugar and mix, slowly adding more sugar and mixing until the sugar will no longer dissolve in the water.
The water should start to look a little cloudy. That is when you know that no more sugar is dissolving and the perfect sugar-saturation has been reached.
The short version is that you are creating a saturated sugar solution, or a solution in which no more sugar can dissolve at a particular temperature.
The amount of sugar verses water used should be roughly 3:1. You can easily double & triple the recipe as long as you mantain a 3:1 ratio.
Add candy flavoring if desired, and then continue to heat the water until it comes to a simmer.
Remove the sugar-water from the heat and allow it to cool.
Preparing the Candy Sticks
Cut the skewers to a desirable size for the jar(s) that you are using. Then, dip the sticks in water and roll them in sugar.
Set the sugar-coated sticks aside and allow them to dry.
Prepping the Jars
Once your sugar-water is cool enough pour it into jars, using one jar for each color of rock candy that you wish to make.
Once the sticks are dry carefully place them into the jar(s).
You want to make sure that the sugar-coated sticks are completely dry before placing them in the jars.
The rock candy needs the sugar on the sticks to grow, and if the sugar isn’t dry it will dissolve in the water.
It is also important to make sure that the sticks are not touching the bottom or sides of the jar.
The Experiment
It is now time to sit back and observe the jars! Rosie and Jewel loved checking on their jars each day. This is what our rock candy looked like after just one day.
After day three we could really see growth!
By day 5 my girls were dying to actually eat rock candy, haha. But, this was a great lesson in patience.
After a week our rock candy was almost ready! Just look at those beautiful jars!
Enjoying Your Rock candy
After a week your rock candy can be removed from the jars and enjoyed.
You can extend the fun and grow your rock candy longer if desired.
Once you and the kids are ready remove the candy sticks from the jar(s), and then place them on a clean surface to dry.
Its time to go back to school, some of you may be happy, some not. How do you feel about that? What emoji would represent your answer??? Probably is not going to be the most positive emoji lol.
Sad face???
Still hard to grasp 2020 schools are so uncertain, some kids have classes twice a week, most of the classes are still online… well let’s keep it positive, at least try.
Trying to keep it positive was the reason I chose this theme for September DIY. We all use emojis all the time, every day when we text. Became part of the new culture of people that are addicted to texting. Trust me there is an emoji for everything, if you are sad or happy you name it. Emoji became part of our everyday communication and an extension of our vocabulary.
happy face???
So tell me? if you have to choose an emoji right now… think fast, what would it be? probably confuse lol, I am a horrible writer. I can explain, I was born and raised in Brazil. English is my second language, and in Brazil, the grammar structure is very different. Very difficult when you already have engraved in your brain a “default” way of learning, to fix it. At least that’s my excuse…
Hope face???
Anyhow, base on Emoji as the theme I chose for this month. I am going to display here some really cool items from Amazon, to help you decorate yourself. This is my perspective of an emoji party, hope you enjoy it. Don’t’ forget, we have to continue celebrating cause we are still here! Be safe!
STEP 1: Using fondant cutters, punch out red hearts for eyes and/or kisses, teal/blue tears, and black mouths and teeth. Using red fondant, you can just directly punch out the hearts. The set linked above has various sizes so it makes it easy to pick the right size for your Oreo pops. To make the tears, I punched out ovals an then cut edges on one side to make them look like teardrops. For the black mouths, I cut circles out of black and then cut them in half. I cut a thin strip of white to make the teeth. Once it had been laid across the top of the mouth, I just trimmed the sides. Easy peasy. Set the fondant aside and let it harden while you complete the next steps. (You can buy fondant in the desired colors, or mix the white fondant with the food coloring. The above food coloring set is perfect!)
STEP 2: Melt yellow candy melts following the directions on the package. Be careful not to over heat the melts or the consistency gets funky. Using the Oreo mold, fill the mold halfway to the top with melted yellow candy. Open up the oreo and gently press the lollipop stick into the cream filling. Close the oreo and press it into the yellow chocolate mold. Be careful not to press the cookie all the way to the bottom or you will see the oreo on the top of the pop. Fill the remaining space around the oreo with yellow candy. Place in the fridge to set the chocolate.
STEP 3: Once the chocolate is solid, remove the oreo pops from the mold. Using a very small amount of leftover melted yellow candy as glue, decorate the oreo pops with the fondant pieces and draw details on with an edible marker. Candy eyes can be used to make the flushed emoji face like below.
DIY EMOJI BIRTHDAY PARTY COOKIES
MATERIALS:
Sugar Cookie Recipe or Mix
Circle Cookie Cutter
Black Edible Marker
Fondant
Food Coloring
Candy Eyes
Fondant Shape Cutters
STEP 1:
Using fondant cutters, punch out red hearts for eyes and/or kisses, teal/blue tears, and black mouths and teeth. Using red fondant, you can just directly punch out the hearts. The set linked above has various sizes so it makes it easy to pick the right size for your Cookies. To make the tears, I punched out ovals an then cut edges on one side to make them look like teardrops. For the black mouths, I cut circles out of black and then cut them in half. I cut a thin strip of white to make the teeth. Once it had been laid across the top of the mouth, I just trimmed the sides. Easy peasy. Set the fondant aside and let it harden while you complete the next steps. (You can buy fondant in the desired colors, or mix the white fondant with the food coloring. The above food coloring set is perfect!)
STEP 2:
Make sugar cookies dough using your favorite recipe or a mix. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick and cut the dough into circles. Bake per recipe directions. While the cookies are baking, roll the yellow fondant out to 1/4 inch thick and use a circle cookie cutter to cut into circles. Because the cookies spread a little while baking, I find it best to cut the fondant with the next size up cookie cutter from the link above than the cutter used for the cookies. Allow cookies to cool before adding fondant.
STEP 3:
Using a very small amount of water (very, very small) as glue, decorate the yellow fondant circles with the fondant pieces and draw details on with an edible marker. Candy eyes can be used to make the flushed emoji face like below. Add the fondant circles to the sugar cookies! Eat and enjoy!!
To make this delicious cake pop you need the following: A cake (Chocolate in my case) Icing (I made cream cheese icing with ancho chilli and cayenne pepper) Candy Melts (yellow) Wilton Food Markers Lollipop sticks
First step is to break your beautiful cake into crumbs.
Then incorporate the icing, one tablespoon at the time, you don’t want to make them too wet, so stop when you see you can form a ball.
Then use a tablespoon to make sure all the cake balls are about the same size.
Get your candy melts and lollipop sticks ready as your cake balls are chilling in the fridge (for about 25 minutes).
Start melting the candy melts, as usual, I used my Wilton melting pot. Thee don’t need to be fully melted, just enough to dip the tip of the sticks, then proceed to stick them into the cake balls. And chill in the fridge for half an hour.
While they’re in the fridge, let all your candy melts “melt”. Take out of the fridge your little cake lollipops, the candy melt used to attach the stick to the cake ball should be hard, dip the whole cake ball in the melted candy melts… And to the fridge again, for another half an hour.
Time to decorate! I used Wilton food markers and they worked pretty good.
That’s right , covid-19 is here and been spoiling all the summer fun, like sour. Let’s fight back with the cutes idea for a Summer party at home!!! Lemon is such a cute theme, for toddlers girls or boy.
Perfect for a drive by party… Here are a few items and ideas to rock this theme. What to purchase, cake idea and diy desserts. Get ready and share with us your results, would love to see what you made.
And for the homemade lemon buttercream frosting, you’ll need:
Butter
Lemon zest and juice
Powdered sugar
Heavy cream
Vanilla extract
Lemon extract
How to Make Lemon Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift both flours into a mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt, then whisk and set aside.
In a food processor, pulse together granulated sugar with lemon zest until finely ground.
Whip together butter with lemon sugar mixture until pale and fluffy.
Mix in egg, then mix in egg whites one at a time, adding in vanilla with second egg white.
Add the rest of the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
Bake cupcakes until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean.
Prepare the simple syrup by whisking together the lemon juice and granulated sugar. Brush mixture over warm cupcakes.
Make the lemon buttercream frosting by whipping the butter with the lemon zest until very pale and fluffy.
Mix in powdered sugar, then blend in lemon juice, cream, vanilla extract and lemon extract.
Pipe or spread frosting over cupcakes.
Lemon Curd
by justapinch.com
Ingredients
6 Tbsp
unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 c
sugar
2 large
eggs
2 large
egg yolks
2/3 c
fresh lemon juice
1 tsp
grated lemon zest
How to Make Lemon Curd
Step-by-Step
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. (Once it was completely melted, mine thickened and reached 170º in just a few minutes, so watch it closely.) It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don’t let the mixture boil.
3. Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.
STEP 1: Choose a round cutter of your choice. Now choose a cutter directly one size up or down. Using the bigger of the two cutters, cut out a piece of white sugarpaste—this will be the base on which you will build upon.
STEP 2: Again, using the bigger of the two cutters cut out a piece of yellow sugarpaste. Using the smaller cutter cut the center out of the circle. Glue the yellow ring onto the edge of the base piece—this is the peel of the lemon.
STEP 3: Cut out a white circle using the smaller cutter—this is the center of the lemon.
STEP 4: Roll out a piece of yellow sugarpaste. Using a rose piping tip, gently leave imprints all over the sugarpaste—this will be the pulp.
STEP 5: Using a teardrop cutter, cut out a few holes in the white center piece. These are the cavities for the yellow lemon segments. Using the teardrop cutter, cut out segments from the yellow sugarpaste. Insert into the cavities in the white center piece. Let it sit for a few minutes.
use a bunch of them tied next to the dessert table on one side opposite to the garland 
