Checking In

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, but I have reasons!

I was at girls camp for a week, and then I did make something. I made some muddy buddies and got some amazing pictures, but I lost my charger/uploader thingy so I can't upload them.

Until I find it, there will be no posts!

 And school is coming WAY TOO SOON! I'm busy getting ready, and I got the worst schedule. Trying to straighten it out, instead of choir I have PE for two hours, but I'm pretty sure it will get fixed.

Oh, and my best friend is moving. I'm trying to hang out with her a lot, but it's not been much more than normal.

Anyways, just popping in to explain the lack of posts. Come September I should be back on track, with decreased posts since there is like no time to bake when I'm in school.

Cotton Candy Milkshake

 I'm hoping I won't have to work in a fast food restaurant. Because while it would be great, learning all their secret recipes and whatnot, I like being able to say, "oh yeah, tomorrow I'm free, I can totally go to the pool with you" I think I'll have to way step it up on this blog, or teach piano (really hope it doesn't come to this!)

S'mores Gooey Butter Cake

You know how trends go in and out? The way they do is so weird, but it kind of makes sense.

Tigger Tail Ice Cream

Summer is going by way too fast! I go back to school in two weeks, aaaagh!!!

School is not my fave, by the way.

Bites of Craziness #3

Hey guys!

I'm pulling out bites of craziness again. It's kind of my backup for when life get's crazy. Hence, bites of craziness.

Today we're going to do . . . The history of bites and craziness!

Mini Cake Mix Banana Bread Loaf(s)

I try to have variation in my posts. You might not believe this, but I try not to post muddy buddies every day (super tempting though).

Cotton Candy Hard Candy

Once I made homemade suckers at an activity.

They were awesome flavors (watermelon and root beer) and tasted really good.

Rocky Road Muddy Buddies

When I like something, I crazy like it.

Banana Split Pudding

My little brother is teething. Teething does not make a happy kid. We tried to comfort him, but it wasn't really working. Like, he screamed his head off all day long.

Peanut Butter Toffee Apples

 

I have braces. And, I totally completely want them to go die in a fire or something sort of hate them. 

I mean, they don't exactly do wonders for my appearance. 

Cinnamon Roll Muddy Buddies

Have you seen Mallow & Co.? It's a whole site dedicated to rice krispy treats.

Seriously. The whole site is krispy treats! BTS, Mojito, Blueberry Muffin, Strawberry Pretzel Salad, a ton of krispy treats!

Coconut Macaroon Stuffed Brownies

Okay, so just to get this out of the way, these brownies do not have cherries in them. At all. My mom just stopped buying shredded coconut, and I needed something cool for the photo props and . . . 

Bites of Craziness #2

   
I haven't done Bites of Craziness for-ever!

So, just in case you guys have forgotten, this is where I share a couple of recent posts, talk about things that have been going on, products I like, tips, etc.

Let's get started!

How-To: Pin Descriptions

I was going to have this on Bites of Craziness, but it was hugely long. So I decided to do it into a real post.

Just so you know, the pin description above isn't the best. Anyways, let's get to the deets.

So, why would you want to know how to have good pin descriptions? Because it directs traffic.What looks cooler this

Brown Butter Apple Pie by sallysbakingad... - so easy, and delicious, warm & buttery! #recipe #dessert  

or

Brown Butter Apple Pie

I think the first. Knowing how to do this is helpful when adding descriptions to your own images on your site, and also get's people to repin things on your boards, and really let them know you have great stuff and they should follow you. Anyways, the most important thing in this is . . .

1. Keeping it short and simple. No one wants a huge description that takes up the whole thing, they'll just skip it and won't repin. You want to cut corners wherever you can, using & signs and not using every word.

What's in a pin? Let's do a little dissection here.
Titleofthing by whoevermadeit.com - putasupercooldecscriptionhere #hashtag #hashtag
You put the title, who it's from, a cool description, and hashtags.

You can cut down on the title too by putting hashtags there. Instead of doing Apple Pie #dessert #pie, do Apple #Pie by person - yummy #dessert. This way you cut down on numbers. 

With who it's from, put the website, like crazyforcrust.com. This will cut down on size, because it will show up as crazyforcrus... plus it adds a link to the site, which is critical with pinterest's new design. The only time you wouldn't do this is if the site is longer than the name, or different than the name. An example is my site. The name is Occasional Indulgences Handbook, but the site is beccabrownies.com , so you would just put my site name. Another thing, use the word 'by' instead of 'from'. Instead of Apple Pie from Cookies & Cups, put Apple Pie by Cookies & Cups, because every little bit helps! Another thing, you'll often find it say www.somethingswanky.com, but you can just do somethingswanky.com, and it will still have the link, and it isn't as long.

The description is the most important part, it's what really sells the people on the recipe. You can either describe what's in it, or why it's so great.
Saying, 'carrots in a creamy ranch sauce' is nice, but 'this is so easy, and so good, my whole family was asking for more!' will really convince the person they want it.
 Cut down on things by putting & signs, just like in other places, and delete unnecessary stuff. No one needs to know about the thing caramelizing ten times.

Hashtags are really important, but sometimes can take up too much space. Having hashtags make it so anyone who clicks on the link can go to other recipes that sound the same. So if Dorothy from Crazy for Crust put a hashtag for #bread and I put that on my pin for Banana Split Bread, then anyone who clicked on her hashtag could go to mine, letting more people look at my stuff, and more people look at hers!
But hashtags can sometimes be too long. You only want two hashtags, and you want them broad. Instead of #cinnamon #slushie, you want #dessert #recipe.

The most important thing is shortness, so if your pin is too long, get rid of the hashtags, and if necessary get rid of the site. Your description shouldn't be more than 2 sentences, 1 is actually best. Because as nice as the standard pin outline (title, website, description, hashtags) if it's too long, no one wants it. 

By following these tips, your descriptions will look a lot better, people will repin things, and you'll get more followers! It's not too hard, the key points are
*keep it short
*tell them why THEY want this recipe
*have a title, who it's from, description, and hashtags

Anyways, happy pinning!

Vacation

 Hi guys!

I'm on vacation with my grandparents for a week, so I won't really be posting. Because none of my photo stuff is here. I might try once or twice (I've got some ideas involving macaroons) but for the most part there won't be any posts until next Monday.

I might pull out some tutorials, and I'll try to get 2 posts in this week.

Remember how I said around the 4th of July I'd try to bump my posts back up to 3 times a week? Well, I did it! And . . . it's harder. But I'm going to keep trying. There definitely won't be 3 posts this week, probably only 1 and maybe 2.

Anyways, just wanted you to know I didn't desert you! 

Hopefully I'll have lots of fun, I might check in a couple of times, and either way I'll come home with lots of recipes.

Happy 4th of July!

Cake Batter S'moreos

Do you remember in February, the Oreo people made a birthday cake oreo?

When I heard about it, I went crazy. Obviously, I have to try this Oreo, and the fact that it's limited makes it even more so.

I pleaded with my dad to pick some up for me when he got home from a wrestling match with my brothers. I ran to the door and grabbed the box only to see . . .

Berry Burst Ice Cream Oreos.

Don't get me wrong, they were good, but certainly no birthday cake Oreo. By the time I could get to the store, they had been replaced with chocolate mint triple something.

So, I had to wait another year, and then I tasted it. And it was awesome. The only thing was, the cake flavor wasn't too strong because the chocolate cookie sort of overpowered it. So, I thought, wouldn't it be cool if they had a golden oreo with this filling in the middle? I was going to blog about it, but never could actually do the experiment.

And then? The Oreo people got smart and stole my idea. But it was okay because now I wouldn't have to do Oreo surgery or buy two boxes of Oreos.

So, I immediately bought them. We were at my grandparents house and roasted marshmallows. I had the idea . . . the cake batter s'moreo!

So, I tried it and . . . it was amazing. Like, super duper amazingly mind blowing out of this world delicious.
                   
It was so so so good, and I couldn't wait to blog about it at home. I saved the box all through the drive home. 

I was totally ready to redo the cake batter s'moreos, and then . . .

My little brother attacked. He ate the whole box. True, there were only 3 left, but I'm sure I could have made it work.

But, I knew that you guys needed these in your life, so I bought another box.

It was the right choice, don't you think?

Cake Batter S'moreos
 An American classic with a twist. A s'more turned s'moreo get's changed up with the golden cake batter oreos, delicious!
Ingredients: 

• Golden Cake Batter Oreos
• marshmallows
• milk chocolate squares

Directions:

1. Take apart the oreos. 
2. Toast the marshmallows. You can do this lots of ways, over a fire, in an oven, or my favorite, over a stovetop with roasting sticks. 
3. Put the toasted marshmallow on the oreo. Add the chocolate. Smoosh it, and bite into heaven. 

 
I've actually done cake batter s'mores before, during cake batter week.

I personally like these a lot more because . . .
Those have homemade marshmallows, which were insanely delicious and was like eating bites of heaven, but required lots of work. Which isn't exactly my favorite thing.
The marshmallows melt a lot easier, and I just like oreos a lot more than marshmallows.

These are super easy, insanely crazy good run to the store right now for the ingredients delicious, and festive!

Go make them!

Seriously!
      

And just because I love hand shots . . .
                            

Unmeltable Red White & Blue Popsicles

So, Popsicles are awesome.

The only bad thing about them, is they melt.

So, lots of people have come up with solutions like this.

Buuuuut, think of all that wasted juice in the liner? If you love popsicles as much I do, you don't want any wasted juice stuff.

So, I've invented . . .

unmeltable popsicles!

Genius right? You just use jello! I came up with this because I had some strawberry jello that needed to be used up, and it would be perfect for the 4th of July. And summer=popsicles, perfect!

It's just strawberry jello, blueberry jello, and white stuff. The white stuff is sweetened condensed milk and unflavored gelatin. These are super good, and so thrifty!

Desserts aren't really 'thrifty' things, but these are really helpful. I mean, hello, you can eat them as long as you want and they won't melt. If you left them out for an hour or something they might get soft, but definitely won't melt.

Anyways, I'll stop talking (typing?) because I need to go do some 4th of July stuff.

Make the popsicles!

Unmeltable Red White & Blue Popsicles
Popsicles that can't melt? Too good to be true! Almost, these are unmeltable and perfect for the summer heat, and patriotic for the 4th, perfect!
Ingredients:

• small box of red jello
• small box of blue jello
• 1 packet unflavored gelatin
• 1 1/4 cups (1/2 can) sweetened condensed milk
• water

Directions:

1. Follow the directions on the box of red jello. Pour it into popsicle molds, about 1/3 of the way in. Put in the sticks, and freeze.
2.  Bring 1 1/2 c. of water to a boil. While the water is heating, sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. Allow to stand for about 4 minutes. When the water is boiling, pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over the dissolved gelatin and stir to combine. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Allow to come to room temperature, then pour on top of the red jello until it is 2/3 full. Be careful not to hit the popsicle sticks or else they will get sticky.
3. When the popsicles are set up (it doesn't have to be frozen, just set up) prepare the blue jello by following directions on the box. Pour on top of the white jello until it's almost full. You don't want it to spill over.
4.  Freeze the blue jello until the whole pop is done. Don't run it under hot water to get it out, that makes it soft, just let them sit out for a little bit until you can pull them out. Or if you don't care about looks, just pull them out immediately.

Notes: 
* don't run it under hot water to get it out. 
* small boxes work best for this because you don't need a lot of extra jello.  
   

 These are easy and delicious, and they're also super versatile! You can change them for different holidays and make lots of different flavors. 

The only thing is you want these to not get soft. You don't want to run it under hot water (how I usually get popsicles out) 

Anyways, these are just awesome desserts. I mean, what kid doesn't love popsicles? And, a popsicle that's unmeltable, too cool!

So, you should be convinced by now that you need to make these. So I'm gonna leave now. 

Bye!

Patriotic Skinny Cake Batter Dip

So, I've made this dip before.

A lot.

Because it rocks.

Let me count the ways . . .

1. it's easy
2. it tastes like cake batter
3. it's only 3 ingredients
4. it's skinny.

Those are pretty dang awesome reasons.

First off, I love cake batter anything. I even dedicated a pin board to it (now that's true love)

And, pretty much anything you find on this blog is going to be easy.

I hate doing hard desserts! It's just not worth it. Well, sometimes it is, but think about this. Would you rather have a beautiful cake that tastes like fondant, or some muddy buddies that look like a diaper, but taste like little nuggets of heaven?

I'll go with muddy buddies.

So, I've made this tons of times. And since my parents started being healthy and buying greek yogurt all. the. time., I've been able to make it a lot more.

It's pretty much just greek yogurt, cool whip, and cake mix.

So yummy and delicious, but so stinking easy!

This literally only takes 1 minute to make. And only 1 more minute to gobble the whole thing down.

Plus, it's skinny. (for those of you who don't know what that means, look at this and you'll get a pretty good idea.)

Which means you can eat as much as you want and it won't count.

Right?

Right.

This dip is really smooth and creamy, and it tastes just like cake batter. Which is pretty much reason enough. It also comes together in a snap. And, you can change it up with sprinkles for any holiday. Like I did. You can also use lots of different cake mixes for tons of flavors. Butter pecan anyone?

My family loved this. Meaning, me and my sisters. Because it was so good, we really didn't want to share.

Come on, you can trust a five year old, right?

Yeah, of course you can.

Patriotic Skinny Cake Batter Dip
3 ingredient cake batter dip that's skinny! This dip is super versatile, easy, and crazy addictive!
Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons white cake mix
• 2 tablespoons greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lite cool whip
• sprinkles

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Serve, or keep refrigerated.

Notes: 
*sprinkles are optional. don't use nonpareils because they bleed. 
* you can use fat free yogurt, or fat free cool whip if you can find it (I couldn't) 
   

So, did you read the directions?

1 step people! 1 step! All you do is mix cake mix, greek yogurt, and cool whip. Bam. Happiness.

And just in case you were wondering the best possible way to eat this.

Get graham crackers. Dip it. Put m&ms on top. So good! This is the perfect way to use stale graham crackers, they were really soft and went perfectly with the dip! They don't have to be stale though, Nilla Wafers are another great excuse to make this dip.

But really, how many excuses do you need?

Patriotic Red Velvet Cream Cheese Muddy Buddies

Have you ever thought of something, only to find out that people have already done it?

This happened to me a lot during Valentines Day last year. I even talked about it on the blog. Back then my head was sort of exploding with muddy buddy ideas.

Similar to now.

I was thinking of all the possibilities, any mix, pudding, cake, cookie, and any chocolate, could make a totally different muddy buddy!

I really wanted to make red velvet ones.

I even put it in my journal. That's serious people.

But then I found out that everyone had done it. Seriously.

So I put it off for later. Yesterday I got a serious muddy buddy craving. I was gonna make something with the cinnamon chips I got, but then I got on the computer.

Oh my gosh guys! The 4th of July is next week! So I got really bored and racked my brain for ideas.

I'm good at coming up with ideas when I have a flavor. Color combos, not so much. Then, I saw this. Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes, that got all jazzed up for the 4th.

Major duh moment! Just use red velvet and cream cheese. That already gives you the red and white part, all that's left is blue! Which can be easily solved with sprinkles, candy melts and food coloring.

So, I decided to make Red Velvet Cream Cheese Muddy Buddies. Perfect, who would think of muddy buddies at 4th of July?

I'll tell you who. Someone else before me! Sigh. Being a dessert blogger isn't easy.

Buuuut, I didn't want to have to change my mind after already buying the ingredients, so I just went with it.

I should go with it more often, dontcha' think?

So, people often try to do different flavors of muddy buddies, but they mess up. Classic muddy buddies have peanut butter in them. It gives it a certain softness that makes it really good. It doesn't allow the chocolate to ever fully harden. When people make it, they just leave it out, and you have white chocolate and something muddy buddies.

Ashton from Something Swanky had the idea of using frosting in place of peanut butter. It has the same soft texture! Plus it gives you a lot more flavor options. So, I figured I'd do something similar.

Most cake batter muddy buddies have the cake mix added with the powdered sugar. I did that too, but for an extra flavor boost I put some in with the white chocolate. I was thinking about using a red velvet bark in place of white chocolate and then thought, why not just put some cake mix in with the frosting goop?

It makes it look sort of pink, but it doesn't really matter because it all get's covered up with cake mix and powdered sugar.

Frosting muddy buddies have a different texture/flavor than normal ones. They're really sweet, I'd probably add a pinch of salt next time, and they're really soft. Normal ones are crunchy/soft. These ones are soft. These are chewier in a way. It's like chewy and soft got morphed together. I like normal muddy buddies when they're still warm, but these ones tasted a lot better the next day. The flavors blend and complement each other better, and it's crunchier, but with a soft texture. It's kind of hard to describe, but it's cool.

Really cool.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Muddy Buddies
Muddy buddies get a new twist in this delicious patriotic treat! In place of peanut butter is cream cheese frosting, which then get's smothered in a red velvet powdered sugar mixture. The result is a soft sweet treat that you can't resist!
Prep Time: 10 min.   Total Time:10 min.   Serves: 6
Ingredients:

• 4 1/3 cup chex cereal
• 1/2 cup white chocolate
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup cream cheese frosting
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon red velvet cake mix
• 1/2 cup red velvet cake mix
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Measure the chex and pour into a large bowl. 
2. Microwave white chocolate, butter, and frosting. Take out and stir about every 20 seconds. After 1 minute, add vanilla and 1/2 tsp red velvet cake mix. Stir, and microwave until smooth. 
3. Pour frosting mixture over the cereal. Mix it until coated in the mixture. 
4. Pour powdered sugar and 1/2 cup cake mix into a gallon size zip-loc bag. Seal and shake together until mixed. 
5. Use a large spoon to scoop the cereal into the bag. Seal the bag and shake until coated. 
6. Serve. This is good at any stage, but I prefer it the next day when the flavors sort of blend and it get's crunchier. 

Notes:
*if you want the patriotic version of this, follow all of the directions. Divide the muddy buddies in half and add a lot more powdered sugar to one. This will make it white. Roughly toss the white and the red together, then drizzle with blue candy melts
*you really just need 1/2 cup cake mix, and 1/2 tsp cake mix. There really is only 7 ingredients, not 8, I just added that for clarification.
*these are really sweet, you can add a pinch of salt to the white chocolate to tone it down a little
*I used canned frosting because it's a little smoother and easier to melt, but you can use homemade if you want.  

 These muddy buddies are different than the original. I like them both equally, but in different ways. 

The red velvet has almost a salty/sweet taste because sometimes the cream cheese shines through. 

The original is crunchier, but the red velvet is chewier/softer. It literally melts in your mouth. They both have a lot going for them, and I really recommend trying this version, it's super yummy. 

So, I have 2 title photos. They just both looked so good! Feel free to pin either one (or both, or all of them, I'm good!)

White Chocolate Toffee Doodle Pudding Mousse

Have you heard about pudding mousse?

I always knew about it, I just didn't know what to call it.

Ashton from Something Swanky coined the term.

What it is is a mixture of cool whip & pudding that has a light and fluffy texture, similar to a mousse.

Only pudding mousse is way waaaaaaay better. For one thing, it is so ridiculously simple, essentially it's only 3 ingredients. And there are so many different flavor combinations. You can take any pudding, any milk, any add-ins, any cake mix and make a totally new dessert!

So, this sort of inspired by these White Chocolate Toffee-Doodles. Don't they sound yummy? I love doodle anything, cocodoodles, snickerdoodles, pumperdoodles, and now toffeedoodles.

I had a box of white chocolate pudding laying around, but I didn't know what to do with it. When I saw those cookies, my mind jumped to that pudding. Except for I didn't have toffee.

My dad took me to the store to buy ingredients (he paid for them, awesome right?) and I made a bee-line for the baking isle. By the way, in case you were wondering, baking stuff is in a totally different isle than the candy section. I spent a long time aimlessly wandering around looking for cinnamon chips.

Anyways, these were so worth the wait. It was amazing! It was really easy and tasted super good. It was creamy and tasted just like a mousse, you couldn't tell a difference in texture at all. The flavor was awesome too, just like a snickerdoodle with a hint of white chocolate flavor.

The only downside was the toffee bits. Now, don't worry, they were fantastic and tasted all toffee-ish and caramelly, but I had just gotten my wires for my braces switched. Quite violently in fact. (P.S, it involved lasers and buttons) My teeth were really sore, and the toffee was like a bittersweet ending, awesome flavor, but crunching it killed me.

This doesn't mean sugar hurts your teeth. Because carrots hurt it too. Just putting it out there for any dentists, moms or sugar haters (you guys are crazy, who can hate sugar? Or this?)

My whole family loved this, even my healthy mom ate it! And my little sister literally licked the bowl clean. You guys just HAVE to try this, it's amazing.

And easy and crunchy and snickerdoodley and creamy and fluffy and just make the darn mousse!

White Chocolate Toffee Doddle Pudding Mousse 
This dessert is light and fluffy, and so simple! It's packed with snickerdoodle flavor, with crunchy bites of toffee in between, heaven!
Ingredients:

• 1 small package of white chocolate instant pudding mix
• 1 1/4 c. milk
• 8 oz. tub of cool whip
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tbsp. flour
• pinch of cream of tartar (see notes)
• 3-5 tablespoons toffee 

Directions: 

1. Whisk together the milk and pudding mix until thick.
2. Whisk in cool whip. Use a rubber spatula to make sure all of the pudding from the bottom of the bowl has been incorporated.
3. Whisk in the cinnamon, flour and cool whip.
4. Stir in toffee. Chill if desired, or serve immediately.

Notes: 
*you only want a tiny amount of cream of tartar, if you add just a little too much it will ruin the whole thing with a sour/bitter taste. Add about 1/16 of a teaspoon, just get a 1/4 teaspoon and add a fraction of it, you really don't need too much because it has a strong flavor.
*you can add more or less toffee until it gets to what you want
*you want room temperature cool whip, or just cool whip with a normal consistency. Do not microwave frozen cool whip, it can turn out really bad. If you do, take it out every couple of seconds and stir it, watch it really carefully.
*this will stay good in a fridge for about 2-3 days if covered. If you got spit in it (eew) by double dipping, etc., then it will only be good 1 day. 

Adapted from Something Swanky

 We watched some little girls the day I made it. They were awesome photo helpers!

They held up the blanket and held spoons for a couple of pictures.

Although I've never had such a wiggly background, it was fun to have others than my family like what I made.

And if you can't tell, the pudding mousse made them smile.

And if you make it, I'm pretty sure you'll smile too.