Cake Pop Try Outs!

 If you know anything about me it's that I have several different fetishes...shoes, purses, bags, at one time even diaper bags. But my very favorite one of all would be cookbooks! I have always loved reading as a child. My mother was always particular not only about the content of the books I read but also the lay out. There is just something special about a well written book that is beautifully illustrated! I am the same way! When each one of our children were born I joined a children's book club. I looked for cute, practical and meaningfully written books whose pictures would also capture the child's attention and imagination.
  I think that is how I look at cook books.  I really didn't cook much before I was married. I helped my dad in the kitchen mostly....we were like the Lone Ranger and Tonto...we defeated the evilness of hunger with the wholesome goodness of GREAT food!
  I began collecting recipes off of the cans of Campbell soup and tucked them away in a cute little green recipe box...some of which I used quite a bit and others...welllll...maybe one day! I received my very first cook book as a wedding gift. It was a very thick Better Homes and Garden one. I used it so much that it is in segments. Definitely well loved!
  But my collection was actually started by my mother-in-law. One year for Christmas I made several different kinds of homemade cookies and wrapped them in festive packaging, including the recipe for each one along with the gift. the next year Debbie(my mother-in-law) bought me a Pampered Chef  pizza stone and a cook book by the name of 1,001 Cookie Recipes....I was hooked! I loved the colored photos and easy to follow layout! Once she found out, several more cook books followed! I have been collecting ever since!!
  When we lived in South Dakota I had a very small kitchen. I was starving for space! My cookbooks were all crammed in a cabinet. My husband and I brainstormed on what we could do to give me some more counter space. I came up with idea of putting up shelving above our stove to put our microwave...we added a shelf above that and wha~la! I found a new home and a way to display my beloved cook books!
  Now that we have moved to Missouri I am looking for that creative way to display my cook books, again! Right now I have my 'special' ones in a wooden crate on my 'big' counter...eventually I would love to find more crates to add to it so I can display the rest of my books and have them easily accessible.
  My newest addition to my collection is the Cake Pop recipe/how to book by Bakerella! I normally check out the book/magazine isle whenever I go grocery shopping. When I first laid eyes on the cover of her book there was an instant attraction! When I picked it up and looked through it...I was gone...hopelessly in love! The pictures, the layout, the instructions were everything a girl could want in a cookbook (I feel the same way about The Pioneer Woman's cookbook, too...love at first look through)
  I didn't buy it the first time I saw it, or the second, or the third....with 6 children there are just some things that are more important to buy :) But when Barry's parents sent me money for my birthday, I knew EXACTLY what I was going to buy....you guessed it....The Cake Pop book! I have had it in my possession for about 2 weeks now and every chance I get I pore over it...reading about the different techniques and recipes...and her pictures...just SO sweet and cute!! All I needed was the right occasion to make them. Ah! My birthday!! My husband and I have invited several couples to dine with us at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner tonight to celebrate me turning one year older. I got to thinking how funny it is that we go all out sometimes for party favors for children but not for adults. Sometimes it's just good to let your hair down and enjoy life! So I bought cupcake boxes, mini Reeces peanut butter cups,mini M&M's, and Teddy Bear Grahms..all to put in the bottom of the boxes. I got out my book and started making the cake pops (actually balls, without the sticks) I used a butter pecan flavored cake mix and cream cheese frosting. I bought pink and brown chocolate candies that you can melt. The pink candy did not turn out as smooth..some of the balls looked pretty rough...but the chocolate was allot easier to work with. I decorated the pink balls with chocolate accents and the chocolate balls with pink accents. The overall look was very pretty and dainty.
  Now time for the taste testing! I called out to my 6 children...they were game!!! Drum roll, please.....4 out 6 really liked them! I just had to try one...hmmm.....definitely sweet!, not too crazy about the texture though, but I'm weird like that, texture is just as important as the taste...I think I added too much frosting to the mix...but overall they are definitely worth making again!!! Then waiting for the ultimately taste testing judge to arrive home from work...because above all else, his opinion matters most! And he loves them!!!!!