Valentine Popcorn Cake/Balls

My friend, Susan, is staying with me for a bit and she always raves about her mother's recipes. Her Mom, Sarilyn, is a great Texas cook and a Live Bake Love follower, which we love!  So Susan kept talking about this popcorn cake her mom used to make for them when they were young.  Well, after a bit of research we found a similar recipe which her mother said was close to the one she used to make.  

OKAY... now I see what she was talking about. This stuff is addicting! Sweet and salty with the right amount of chocolate to satisfy any craving!  If you need a quick treat for your love this Valentine's Day, give this recipe a try.  This one gets the Live Bake Love seal of approval!

Valentine's Day Popcorn Cake/Balls

Serves 12

Ingredients:

12-13 cups popped popcorn

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons salted butter

1 bag of mini marshmallows (16 oz)
1 1/2 cup Dry Roasted Peanuts
1 1/2 cup of pretzel sticks cut into 1" pieces
1 1/2 cup Holiday M&M's (we used Valentines
3-4 tablespoons of Holiday sprinkles
 Vegetable Oil or Coconut Oil Spray

Directions:

If your doing the cake you will need a Bunt pan (make sure you grease the pan)
If your doing the balls you need saran wrap and ribbon

Prep: You will need a large glass baking dish, I used a 10x14 one.  Spray with vegetable oil till fully coated

1. Place marshmallows and butter into a glass baking dish. Place in the microwave and cook for 1-2 minutes until butter and marshmallows have started to melt.  Stir.

2. Once butter and marshmallow are melted, add popped popcorn and stir to combine then add peanuts and pretzel sticks. Stir to combine.

3.  Allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then add M& Ms and sprinkles.

4.  If  you're making the cake, spray a bundt pan heavily with cooking spray and a place the popcorn mixture in the pan making sure to press into all the crevices of the pan. Allow to set for about 5 minutes. Once slightly hardened, carefully invert onto a plate. Allow to harden over night.

5. If you're making popcorn balls, spray your hands with non-stick cooking spray.  Mold the mixture with your hands into baseball size balls and place on baking pan. Once all balls are done, refrigerate for about 10 minutes to set.  Once set, press balls together to compress them into tighter balls. Quickly wrap in plastic wrap allow to set for a few hours or over night.  

ENJOY!

White Chocolate Cherry Coconut Blondies for The Leftovers Club

For this month's Leftover's Club I was excited to be paired (for the second time) with Shaina from Take a Bite out of Boca. Shaina has a great blog with lots of recipes and restaurant reviews. Shaina and I have been in the Leftover's Club for quite a while and we both love it. Who wouldn't want to trade goodies each month with a fellow blogger? If this sounds like fun to you (and why wouldn't it?), I encourage you to sign up at Food Ramblings!

 

After reading through Shaina's Blog, I discovered she likes cherries so I decided to make these delicious White Chocolate Cherry Coconut Blondies. White chocolate on its own has a tendency to be pretty sweet so the tartness of the dried cherries really complimented the sweetness of the chocolate. The unsweetened flaked coconut really adds to the chewy texture.

 

 

 

To me, these flavors are perfect for Valentine's Day so I decided to bake the blondies in the shape of a heart, cuz you know... hearts are just cute.

 

I hope Shaina enjoys the blondies and I hope you give them a try too!

White Chocolate Cherry Coconut Blondies
Makes approx. 15-18 bars (depending upon size)

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup melted butter, slightly cooled
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chunks (I used Ghiradelli White Chocolate Bars)
1 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped if they are large
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (I used Let's Do Organic Coconut Flakes which is large flakes)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350f. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with non-stick aluminum foil (or use regular foil sprayed with non-stick cooking spray).

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and light brown sugar until well combined and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition.

Add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the white chocolate chunks, cranberries and 1/2 cup for the coconut flakes.

Dollop the dough into the prepared baking pan and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut flakes.

Bake at 350 for approx. 25 minutes or until the bars are set and the edges and top are lightly golden brown.

Remove and place on a wire cooling rack to cool. When bars have cooled, cut into squares.

Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

An InLinkz Link-up

How LIVEBAKELOVE does Valentines day , plus basic SUGAR COOKIE recipe.

Valentines Day has always been a fun time for Faye and I.   We have been hosting Valentine cookie parties for a few years now.  This year was especially fun.  We did a craft project in addition to our usual cookie exchange.   

 Our craft this year was Valentine Day mugs filled with homemade teabags and homemade cookies.  Aside from looking beautiful , they are a delicious treat for anyone receiving them.  

For lunch, Faye cooked us up a traditional Southern Menu of Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Blackeye Peas that had been slow simmered with ham hock until it was falling off of the bone, Collard Greens with bacon, Cornbread with Honey Butter and to finish off, Peach Cobbler with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.  Let's just say we had an amazing Valentines day for us girls.  

We hope you enjoy the photos and recipes! Wishing everyone a wonderful Valentines day from LiveBakeLove.

Faye and Yvonne-

Basic Sugar Cookie
Makes

Ingredients
 1 1/2 cups Sweet Butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, room temp
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Zest from one lemon
Juice from 1/2 lemon
5 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


Prepwork:
1. Zest lemon (since I do not own a zester, I use my mini grated. Works just as good.
2. In a medium bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Use your Wisk to mix together. Set aside


Directions.
1. Cream softened butter with sugar.    ( I use my kitchen aid, but you can use a hand mixer also)
2 Add eggs , one at a time.
3. Add vanilla, lemon peel and lemon juice.
4. Gradually add in flour mixture until incorporated. Do not over mix.
5. Divide dough in half, form each half into a disk and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hr (or can leave overnight).
6. Once dough has chilled, working with one disk at a time, roll onto a floured to about 1/4 thick. Cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. I used a heart shape with a small cut out designed for placing on the rim of a mug or tea cup.
7. Bake for 6-7 minutes. Cool on cooling rack before decorating.

Icing:
Mix together 2 cups powder sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon corn syrup and 2 tablespoons milk.  If too thick add more milk, if too thin add more powder sugar.   Should be the consistence of a thick syrup.  Add any food color you like.

                               HOMEMADE TEA BAGS

        RED VELVET WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

                      FINISHED VALENTINE CRAFT 

                              HAPPY PRECIPITANTS 

                               FAYE'S SOUTHERN LUNCH

Valentine's Day Cookies & LBL Apron Give Away

Valentine's Day is all about showing love to the special people in your life. Yvonne and I are both blessed to have some very special people in our lives; Yvonne's boyfriend, Earl, and my husband, Mike. This year we wanted to make sure we showed our love and appreciation to some other VIP's in our lives - those who have supported our blog, read our posts, commented on them and tried the recipes.  And if you are reading this right now, that includes you!  

 

To show our appreciation, we are giving away 2 of our LiveBakeLove aprons!

To win, enter a comment at the end of this post telling us what your favorite Valentine's Day dessert is. We will randomly select 2 winners this Tuesday, February 12th. Winners will be notified by email and aprons will be mailed to you.
 

 

Good luck!

 

Embroidery by Jump Girl

 

 

Now onto the cookies! Last year, we hosted a Valentine's Day Cookie Exchange. Check out that post here. 

 

This year, we decided to do something different; we had a Cookies & Crafts day!

These adorable Valentine's Day Cookie jars are filled with 4 different types of cookies - Meyer Lemon and White Chocolate Shortbread, Chocolate Cherry Kisses, Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam Hearts.

 

 

 

 

Here are the links to the recipes we used to make the Chocolate Cherry Kisses, Chocolate Sugar Cookies and Peanut Butter and Raspberry Jam Heart Cookies.

 

And here's the recipe for the Meyer Lemon & White Chocolate Shortbread Hearts. I'm a big fan of Meyer Lemons and love it when they are in season. Meyer Lemons are sweeter than regular lemons, kind of like a cross between a lemon and an orange. You can substitute regular lemons in this recipe, but I prefer the sweetness of the Meyer Lemon.

 

 

Meyer Lemon & White Chocolate Shortbread Hearts
Makes approx 3 dozen 2" cookies

 

Cookie Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon meyer lemon zest

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

4 ounces white chocolate finely chopped

1 cup butter softened

 

Glaze Ingredients:

1 teaspoon meyer lemon zest

2 tablespoons meyer lemon juice

1 - 1/4 cups powdered sugar

 

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees f

Line baking sheets with parchment paper

 

Add granulated sugar and lemon zest to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using an electric hand mixer). Using your finger tips, rub the zest and the sugar together until very fragrant.

 

Add the flour and white chocolate and mix at low speed until combined.

 

Add the butter and mix on low speed until combined, then increase speed to medium and continue to mix until a dough is formed.

 

Dump the dough out onto a lighty floured surface and knead a few times and form into a disk shape. Roll the dough to 1/2 thickness.

 

Using a cookie cutter in the shape of your choice, cut the dough into shapes and place on the parchment lined baking sheets spacing about 1 1/2" apart.

 

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until very lightly browned.

 

Remove from oven and place on cooling racks to cool.

 

While cookies are cooling, make the glaze -

 

Place all glaze ingredients in a bowl, and mix to combine. Add additional powdered sugar or lemon juice to reach desired consistency.

 

When cookies are cool, dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze and return to the cooling racks to allow glaze to set. Tip: Place parchment paper underneath the cookie sheets, to catch the glaze drippings for each clean up.

 

Store in an air tight container for up to 2 days.