Homemade Butterfingers, Fake-Out

Our soccer got rained out, so I thought I would pull this one out of my personal archives and blog about this one. It's a favorite fall treat using up some of that fabulous candy corn. I first found this recipe through Plain Chicken (someone I follow on Facebook), and they got it from a Taste of Home blog. I am trying to give everyone the proper credit here because this so isn't my original recipe. I make it a lot during the fall and I give it away as much as I eat it. :)

They are not quite exactly Butterfingers in taste and texture, but they remind you so much of them, you can't believe it is only 3 ingredients.

Candy Corn (about 1 pound)
Peanut Butter (about 16 oz jar)
Chocolate Candy Coating, such as Almond Bark or Wilton Candy Melts

You pretty much use equal parts of candy corn and peanut butter, but honestly if it isn't exact, it really isn't a big deal. . . It's just downright tasty however you do it. Someone once suggested using a "honey roasted" Peanut Butter. . . Skippy had one at one time. . . I honestly didn't think it did anything to it, but you can definitely use what you want. I'm not certain about other types of butters (Almond butter, sunflower butter, etc) because we don't have peanut allergies at our house, so I have never had to try them. I am not certain how they would turn out on either taste or texture.

Here is what I do:

I get one large glass bowl and dump my candy corn in it. I microwave for 1 minute. . .then I stir as best as I can. I place it back in the microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again, at this stage it is still a little tough to do. I place it back in for an additional 30 seconds. Most often by this time it is pretty good to go. Each microwave is different, so you might just have to play around a bit with your times. Once that is melted completely, I stir in my peanut butter. Again, this takes a little effort, but it is definitely worth it. I will line my pan with foil or parchment paper. Depending on how thick I want to make them and how many I want to serve, depends on what pan I put it in. Most frequently, I put it in a 11 x 7 pan, I think I get 24 when I do that. Honestly, whatever you have will work fine. I let this set up for a while. You could probably finish these up in an hour, but I generally let this sit overnight and finish in the morning. (I personally like the texture a little better, but it is totally a personal preference. It works fine either way.) I cut this into little rectangle shapes. Then I melt my candy coating according to the package directions and I dip my little bars in the candy. I place them on waxed paper to let set up. And then you are ready to eat some yummy goodness!

I hope you are enjoying my little break from cupcake blogs! It's fun to do something a little different from time to time.

Cake Leftovers?! Make Cakeballs!

I am slowly trying to get back into the "blog-o-sphere."  When the kids take the summer off, I have to take the summer off. Now that school is back in full swing. . . as well as soccer. . . I get to play in the kitchen. I have been making a few more cakes lately. When I make a cake I will level it off or cut it into a shape. I really need to do something with all those leftovers that have been removed. On a white cake once, my mom used some of the leftovers for a strawberry shortcake. I decided that I needed to make some cake balls. I've made an entire cake before with the sole purpose being to make cake balls, why can't I just use my leftover cake.

To make cake balls you need very few ingredients.

• Cake--one you make at home from scratch, a mix, store bought, or leftover cake
• Icing--your choice of homemade or store bought
• Candy Coating--Wilton Candy melts or Almond Bark are excellent options

I take my cooled cake and throw it in my mixer. Then I add my icing and mix together. Once this is finished, I shape it into balls (or whatever shape you really want. .  I did a strawberry flavor and shaped them into that shape), and then I place them into the freezer. Once they have solidified a bit, I follow my package directions on the candy coating, and I dip my cake balls into the candy and place on wax paper to set up. These will refrigerate for a while. I have even had some friends freeze the finished product. If I don't have time to complete all of them, I keep my cake balls, frozen in a ziploc baggie, and I can pull them out to finish them whenever I want. Great for a quick fun dessert.

You can do this with white, chocolate, or other fabulously flavored cake, and combine it with an amazing icing. I made some Cookies and Cream Cake balls (Pictured below). Those came about because I didn't have enough white cake, and so I threw in some crushed Oreos (which was reminding me of the Oreo balls I love to make). I didn't add my full container of icing because of the filling in the Oreos, and I followed my same procedures

Cookies and Cream Cake Balls

The other ones I made, I used leftover chocolate cake (I had made a moose shaped cake) and I found this delicious chocolate caramel icing made by Hershey's that I combined with it.

Chocolate Caramel cake balls

Hopefully I can the the time to blog about some of my other fun foods. . . not just cupcakes! :)