not a fan of the cake pop, but i tried...

i'm a pretty good baker. i'm just gonna go ahead and toot that horn for a minute.

i by no means should have a baking blog-have you seen those? they blow anything i can do right outta the kitchen!

i'm not so sure about my first try at cake pops.
i've never had a cake pop before so maybe this is how they are? if they are, i don't like them.
bummer too coz they are such a great invention.
very smart! oh, and the variety you can make from the batter to the chocolate to the decoration, smart.

my pops looked really pretty and my kids loved them (unfortunately that's not a very tough crowd...) but i really didn't.
i don't think my hawaiian liked them either-although he wouldn't ever tell, he is smart, like a cake pop!

i found a site that gave simple directions:

bake a cake.
let cake cool.
crumble cake in bowl.
add a tub of frosting (i only added half)
form into your shape
add stick by using melted chocolate
refrigerate for 30 minutes
dip pop in melted chocolate
decorate

easy.
time consuming, but easy.

here's what i didn't like about my pops. the centers were so creamy that i think it only needed maybe a quarter of the tub of frosting.
i have a secret i do that makes the cake super moist and maybe if i hadn't done that then the cake would have needed more frosting- but a whole tub? i don't think so. i checked a few sites and most said they use a whole tub so it's pretty possible that's just a cake pop, therefore, i'm not a fan of the pop.
if it was more "cake like" i would probably love them, and then we'd have a whole notha problem up in here!!

i will alter this cake pop biz a bit and see what i can do because they are pretty dang cute, i hate to give up on them just yet!



the heart was my fav

why? coz they kicked some butt this week and they needed it from last week

pink sparklies

cupcake pop



don't use the edible pens-they don't work as you can see....

i wish my photos were brighter but here they are in all their cake pop glory!

crisp that makes you go mmmmm....

saturday was "apparently" the first day of autumn.
now maybe in parts of the states that is the case but here in southern cal we are still experiencing 90 degree weather. 

oh, i'm not complaining-this seattle girl will never complain about the sun or the shine or anything of the sorts.

but as i see all the fall decor out in the shops i kinda wanna ride that train too. so i decided to start with an apple crisp. i figure i got all kinds of time for pumpkin stuff (a fav up in my house for sure) and apple just sounded good. 

no, not because it goes with vanilla ice cream. am i that transparent??

when this bad boy was baking my whole house smelled like fall, and well, pineapples, i guess i should change out my scentsy scents huh? oh, if you want some fall scentsy wafting through your home you can get some here (she's my dealer- how thug does that sound??)

 ingredients:

*10 apples- i usually do 5 red delicious and 5 granny smith but if your son breaks the grocery bag open in the middle of the grocery store parking lot and 1 granny rolls under a car then you use 6 red and 4 granny-it happens.....

*4 tbs dark brown sugar

*3-4 tbs of maple syrup (i usually just do 3)

*2 tsp cinnamon

*1 tsp ginger

you can use 1 tsp. of nutmeg too but if you have a daughter that swears she is allergic to the smell (imagine that, a smell allergy?) then you skip it for fear of a major allergy smell attack.

crumble topping:

2 1/3 cups flour 

2 2/3 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup old fashioned oats

1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup room temp butter

preheat your oven to 350.

use an apple peeler (mine is from pampered chef, if you don't have one it is well worth it).

in a large bowl toss sliced apples in the filling ingredients. 

pour into prepared 9x12 baking dish. if you want you can cut all ingredients in half and make in a 9x9 or a pie pan but why would you want less? more i get, but less? 

add all your crumble toppings in a separate bowl. cut in the butter until you have a coarse topping

press topping over the apples

bake for 35-40 minutes

enjoy this:

then heat some up again later-like every 4-6 hours. 
it's totally dr. approved. its got all kinds of apples in it. you know the saying, "an apple a day".....