Fudgy Cake Pops

The Year of Bessemer Food

I've still been cooking (and politicking) and just haven't had much time for blogging.

But these cake pops were a hit, so I thought I would share.

First you need a cake pop pan. This one is made by Nordic Ware and available at Target (in a variety of colors).

Here is the pan, with some fresh-baked cake balls.

Notice the silver colored keys that keep the bottom and top pieces of the pan tightly secured.


Fudgy Cake Pops

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cocoa
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
24 lollipop sticks
Chocolate and white chocolate coatings (available for dipping fruit and such)
Sprinkles

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour pan (or use a baking spray with flour), set aside.

In medium saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate chips and butter together, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and pour into medium bowl (or mixer bowl).

Add egg.s one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Add flour and salt and stir until blended.

Spoon batter into bottom half of pan (the half without holes) filling each well so it mounds over the top of the pan (the batter is pretty soft, if you let it sit for a few minutes it isn't quite as runny, something I discovered because it takes two batches to use it up. Don't try to mound it up in a ball, though, just a little more than level is OK).

Place top half on top and secure with keys.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes until toothpick inserted into hole comes out almost clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan, remove cake balls from pan and allow to cool completely on wire racks.

Trim cake balls as necessary.



Melt chocolate coatings according to directions on package.

Insert lollipop sticks into cake balls, and dip balls into melted chocolate, and turn to allow excess to drip off. Use spoon to assist in dipping. Decorate with sprinkles as desired. Place on parchment paper to set (can cool in refrigerator).

Makes about 24 cake pops.

Rich Cocoa Crinkle Cookies

The Year of Bessemer Food

I had numerous requests for this recipe. I made these cookies for a couple of events this week and they were gobbled up quickly.

The recipe comes from a Hershey's cookbook.

Rich Cocoa Crinkle Cookies

Chicken Soup (not your grandma's)

The Year of Bessemer Food

The Birmingham News printed some chicken soup recipes today so I thought I would throw mine into the mix. This chicken soup is good for the soul, but even better for the palate. It combines some flavors that you may not be accustomed to using together.

It might appear complicated at first, at least compared to opening a can of that brand name kind, but it's really not. Start the chicken. While it's in the oven, prepare the rice, and after the rice is on, slice the veggies. If you do not want to use wine in the recipe, substitute apple juice or diluted cider vinegar.

This soup will chase away the blues, clear your head, and make you feel all warm inside. Normally it would be cold outside this time of year and we would need something like this. It's described as the ultimate comfort food. But it is good on a warm January night as well, so try it.

Chicken Soup (not your grandma’s)

A cooking lesson

I love the smell of cooking Cajun or Creole foods. The seasoning mixture, the onions, peppers and celery cooking in olive oil, a bourbon pecan pie, fresh from the oven (and fresh from John Besh's cookbook, featured in the Birmingham News yesterday).

I use Emeril Lagasse's Creole seasoning recipe. Let me stop here for a minute. I am not a purist. Cajun and Creole foods are often confused, and I make no attempt to keep it straight which foods are which. So my Cajun pork tenderloin, for instance is actually seasoned with this Creole seasoning.

Anyway, I made up a batch of seasoning this morning. Here are the ingredients. They are: paprika, fresh ground black pepper, cayenne red pepper, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and salt.

Here is the finished product. Yum!


This can be used in a lot of dishes, but I especially like to coat pork or chicken with it. Pork tenderloin can be brushed with melted butter, then rolled in the seasoning (or sprinkle it on). Line a shallow pan with aluminum foil (for easy cleaning), and place the tenderloins in, separating by 1/2 inch or so, and roast at 375 for 1 to 1.25 hours. This smells so good while cooking, but tastes even better.

Or, take some boneless chicken breasts and wash them, then cut into strips about 1/2 inch wide, and skewer them on wooden skewers that have been soaked in water. I skewer the strips by folding them back and forth, like an "s" pattern. Then sprinkle generously with the seasoning mixture. Grill for a few minutes (depending on your grill and such) until done. Yummy.

You can also skewer peeled shrimp, brush with melted butter and season with this mixture and grill them.

1. Iowa 2. Creationism 3. Recipe for left over ham

1. The big winner in last night's Iowa caucus was...the Democratic Party!

Barack Obama walked away with 38% support, and John Edwards followed with 30% and Hillary Clinton with 29%.

Clinton would have like to have won, no doubt, but this is not a death knell for her candidacy. Look at history, in 1988 Richard Gephardt won the Iowa Caucus, but fizzled after that, and Michael Dukakis became the nominee. The results were so close, that any one of the three leaders could go on to secure the nomination.

But the Democratic Party attracted over 220,000 participants, compared to only 114,000 Republicans. This was almost an 80% increase in the number of particpants for the Democrats, compared to an increase of about 30% for the Republicans. The White House will be painted Blue in 2008! Figuratively, don't worry.

The Democratic Party also showed that in conservative (60% of Republican identified as evangelicals), white (>90%) Iowa they are not afraid to support a minority candidate. This is in a system where your vote is not secret...you stand in a corner with like minded voters and somebody counts heads. You wouldn't see this in the Republican party, that's for sure.

And here is a reason Hillary's third place finish is not as significant as it looks. As an example of how the Democratic caucuses work, CNN took actual numbers from the first round of a caucus, then showed how those with less than 15% of the votes had to drop out, so their voters had to re-align with other candidates. In the example they showed, Clinton had the most votes in the first round, but of the re-aligned votes, she got none, so Edwards and Obama benefitted. As Bobby said, Obama won in a state where people get to vote twice. If in Iowa everyone got to vote just once, Clinton probably would have won.

If anyone felt the death knell, it was Mitt Romney. Good. He is so lame, here is what he said trying to explain his lie that he once saw his father march with Martin Luther King, Jr. "You know, I'm an English literature major as well. When we say, 'I saw the Patriots win the World Series,' it doesn't necessarily mean you were there. Excuse me, the Super Bowl."

The Patriots play at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro in Romney's home state, and he can't even keep it straight what sport they play? Romney thinks his looks can get him elected, but if looks were all it took then Tom Brady would be running as Massachusetts' favorite son:

from Most Beautiful Man

But even this didn't just happen. Here's Brady's NFL Scouting Combine picture from 2000:

from The Big Lead

How quickly the focus can shift from politics to...

2. Science, Evolution and Creationism. This is the title of a new book published by the National Academies that was featured on NBC nightly news last night and is being released today. The book explains why Creationism or Intelligent Design should not be taught in Science classes, although it may have a role in other subjects in schools. Read the Summary Brochure or view or buy the book here .

Read my post on Intelligent Design is not Science here.

3. Tired of leftover ham. Ham or other parts of the pig are commonly served on New Years Day, and leftover ham sandwiches get old. Try this soup. I cooked it last night and got good reviews. Of course, the cornbread I made to go with it helped.

Ham and Bean Soup.

1 pound dried Great Northern beans

6 cups of water

1 1/2 pounds cubed cooked ham

2 tsp salt

1 tsp dried thyme (whole or powdered)

4 peppercorns

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

2 cups water

4 potatoes, peeled and quartered

3 carrots, scraped and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 medium onion, chopped

With the beans, sort and wash and cover with water and let soak overnight, or do like I did and bring to a boil and gently cook about an hour or so. Drain. Then add 6 cups of fresh water, and the ham and the next 6 ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat and simmer about an hour or so, then add the remaining water and vegetables. Cover and simmer about 30 more minutes until the veggies are tender.

If you need the cornbread recipe, let me know. Yum