Cake Truffles, a.k.a. "Cruffles"

I'd heard rumors of such things, but never actually experienced these elusive "cake truffles" before. They go by many names, cake truffles, cake pops, cake drops, cake balls, and on and on. I like Cruffles, so that's how they will be referred to from now on by me.

The ingredient list is very short, unless you want to get into the more complicated flavors (which are not as simple as they seem. I attempted Chocolate Raspberry in addition to the ones in this post, however, they were a MAJOR fail. They will never be spoken of again.)

1 boxed cake mix
3/4 container frosting
Melting Chocolate

Yes, folks, thats it. The up side is that you don't have to use prepared frosting, or boxed cake, but trust me, these babies are enough work on their own, and making frosting and cake from scratch adds very unnecessary effort and time consumption.

So here we go! Bake the cake mix, as directed, in a 13x9 inch pan. Or whatever cake pans you have. It doesn't matter, as long as the cake bakes mostly evenly. I used a Betty Crocker Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix.

It figures that the one time in my whole life that the cake comes out completely clean from the pan is the one time when it doesn't matter. Step two, after the cake is cool, is to break it up into small pieces. I pulled my cake apart when it was still slightly warm, next time I think I will let it cool overnight and even dry out slightly. My truffle filling was a little mushy, and I think allowing it to cool more and dry out a bit would make it lighter. Or it could turn out complete crap. Who knows.

As you can see, the cake filled my monster mixer bowl to the brim. I have to say, I had a mini panic attack before turning it on. I envisioned little pieces of cake flying all over my freshly cleaned kitchen, and tears streaming down my cheeks. Luckily, Bailey was visiting Grandma & Grandpa for the day, so at least I didn't have to worry about him eating the flying cake particles.

Strangely enough, no cake flew out. I'm not sure how I can put in 1 cup of sugar and it flys all over the place, but fill the bowl with cake pieces, and its like they are magnetized to the inside of the bowl. ANYway... "whip" the cake pieces briefly to break them up to more uniformly sized pieces. Then begin scooping in frosting. I used Betty Crocker plain Chocolate Frosting. Start with only about half the container, and add in spoonfuls while mixing until it feels right. Make sure you scrape down the sides a few times, the frosting chunks like to hide up there.

Here is my truffle batter. Its super heavy, but smells amazing. I tasted a little piece at this point, and that assured me that no matter what, at this point, these were going to be awesome.

I cheated and used a cookie scooper to get uniform-sized balls. I highly recommend this utensil, I can't imagine doing this without the scooper. I rolled each one briefly in my hands, to make them more spherical. I think I got almost 60 from the entire recipe, but I only did half as plain chocolate. I reserved half the truffle batter to do as raspberry, but like I said before, you won't be seeing those here.
Throw them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. While they are chillin', melt the chocolate. I HIGHLY recommend Merkin's Brand Melting Chocolate. I've used them for a number of years making chocolate covered pretzels and candies with my mom for Christmas. You do need Cocoa Butter to melt the chocolate more smoothly, and to thin it out so you get more truffles covered with less chocolate.
Use a dipping bowl that has a smaller base rather than one that has a wide bottom. The chocolate will be deeper and you won't have to roll the truffles as much to get them covered. I used a spoon, but a dipper set would probably help if you had one. Dip each truffle, place back on the silicone sheet or onto wax paper. This will make removal later exponentially easier than if you place them directly onto a pan or cookie sheet.
Dip 2 or 3 truffles, then add any toppings, otherwise the chocolate will harden and the toppings won't stick. I used chocolate jimmies.
Once the tray is done being dipped and topped, put it back in the freezer for about 10 minutes, just to harden the chocolate. You can also put it in the refrigerator, for maybe a half hour. Pull them out, and enjoy!!

Darryl models the first bite... mmmmmmmmm!!! He didn't want his hands in the photo, he said he needed a manicure first. sigh.

Here's the finished product. I plan to make other flavors for Darryl and my work on Friday. I'll let you know how that goes. (:

Sauteed Pork Chops in a White Wine Reduction

I found this recipe while trying to use up some leftover pork that I didn't want to freeze, or go bad. The original recipe can be found here on the How To Cook Everything website. This is really very simple, and turns out delicious!

~4 pork chops, about 1 inch thick
~Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
~2 tablespoons olive oil
~1/2 cup dry white wine
~1 teaspoon minced garlic
~1/2 cup chicken stock
~1 tablespoon butter
~1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
~Minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish

1. Sprinkle the chops with salt and pepper. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the 2 tablespoons olive oil; as soon as the first wisps of smoke rise from the oil, add the chops and turn the heat to high. Brown the chops on both sides, moving them around so they develop good color all over. The entire browning process should take no longer than 4 minutes, and preferably less.

2. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the wine and the garlic and cook, turning the chops once or twice, until the wine is all but evaporated, about 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of stock, turn the heat to low, and cover. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, turning the chops once or twice, until the chops are tender but not dry. When done, they will be firm to the touch, their juices will run just slightly pink and, when you cut into them (which you should do if you're at all unsure of their doneness), the color will be rosy at first glance but quickly turn pale.

3. Remove the chops to a platter. If the pan juices are very thin, cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced slightly. If they are scarce (unlikely), add another 1/2 cup of stock; cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced slightly. Then stir in the butter over medium heat; add the lemon juice, pour over the chops, garnish, and serve.

I served the pictured Pork Chops with Long Grain and Wild Rice, which went well. Happy Cooking!

PS - I've been informed that certain individuals will only "follow" my blog if I post gluten-free recipes... so be warned... gluten-free is coming!!

Better Than Olive Garden's Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Well, I might as well start this blog with the best I've got...

As soon as Olive Garden came out with their Chicken Gnocchi Soup, I rushed over to try it. It was so delicious, I HAD to figure it out. So I came home and immediately scoured the internet for a copycat recipe. No one had figured it out yet. So I locked myself in my kitchen until I came up with this. What I now present to you is my version of Chicken Gnocchi Soup, which I think tastes better than Olive Garden's!

Katie's Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut to 1" cubes

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup carrots, julienned

1/2 cup fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped

2-1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sour cream

1 chicken bouillon cube

cracked black pepper

(1) 12-18 oz. pkg Gnocchi

• Warm dutch oven over MED heat. Add EVOO, until covers about 3/4 of the bottom of the pot. Let oil warm up for a minute, add garlic and carrots; saute, stirring constantly, for about 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and cook through; stirring occasionally to lightly brown meat on all sides.
• Add flour and mix thoroughly. Pour in chicken broth. Add bouillon; mix. Add spinach; mix. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until thickens slightly, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in heavy cream and sour cream. Add gnocchi and stir until gnocchi is cooked, about 2-3 minutes.
• Garnish with parmesan cheese if desired. Enjoy with garlic breadsticks and green salad!

Let me know how your batch turns out! Happy cooking!

Welcome to my new Blog!

I want to share my thoughts/ideas/manic ramblings with the world! Everything here will revolve around the kitchen, so look forward to recipes, "Gotta-Have-It Gadgets", Tips & Tricks... and whatever else I come up with in my kitchen! Thanks for following me!