2012-Year of the Blog

One of my many resolutions in 2012 is to dedicate more time to this blog. Having all of these recipes and restaurant reviews in one concise place is going to useful down the line, and I want to spend time making sure I have a thorough on-line anthology.
So to kick off the 2012 I am going to detail a recipe I got off of Pinterest- thus the return of Pinterest Tuesday! This recipe is not very diet friendly for all of us that are a health kick in 2012- but it is perfect for birthdays and various celebrations, and all health bets are off at those types of gatherings right?

NO BAKE CAKE BALLS

Two words fully explain these little bites of heaven. EASY and AWESOME. I did not even have to go to the real grocery store to get the ingredients, I was able to get everything I needed at Trader Joes. 

Ingredients:
(Batter)
-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 1/2 cups white flour
-1 cup yellow cake mix
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-3-4 tablespoons milk
-2 tbs sprinkles


(Icing)
- 16 ounces almond bark or white candy melts
- 4 tbsp yellow cake mix
- sprinkles


Directions:
-Beat together butter and sugar using an electric mixer until combined
-Blend in vanilla
-Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly
-Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. 
-Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up

-While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted-stir between intervals
-Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely
-Using a fork, dip cake balls into icing and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl, place back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. 

-Chill cake balls in the refrigerator until serving. 

Here is a picture montage of the whole process:

This recipe was really fun and easy to make- the best part is you could easily adjust this recipe to your taste or the occasion. You could make coloured dough or icing by adding food colouring which would make this fun for any and all holidays. You can also adjust the flavour profile by adjusting the type of cake mix and icing used! Next time I think I will make chocolate cake balls with some salted caramel icing(YUM!) This is also a fun recipe to make with younger kids, as it is super easy there are plenty of jobs they can do on their own- it is also almost instant gratification which works well with younger chefs!! 
I am looking forward to 2012 and many more restaurants and recipes to come! Check back Thursday for a restaurant shout-out and cook book recap!