Mixing Bliss, Ugly Sweaters, Hot Dog Wreaths & Cake Balls

I haven't blogged all of December ... I was on blog vacation I guess!  I had a busy month and figured everyone else was probably just as busy getting things ready for Christmas and if you're busy you don't have time to be reading a food blog anyways.  I baked a lot of cookies, decorated the house and enjoyed hosting a bunch of friends throughout the month.  I must have made the "nice" list for 2013 because Santa left a KitchenAid Mixer under the tree this year.  LOOK OUT!!!!  And even though I had a ton of Christmas cookies at the house I made a new batch of cookies on Christmas day to try out the new mixer.  Can I tell you a secret?? ... as the mixer spun effortlessly through the dough I walked over to the refrigerator to get an egg and walked back to the mixer while still watching it mixing, and as I cracked the egg and added it to the dough I felt as if I was floating on air ... I was somewhat aroused...by a freaking MIXER!  The only thing better would have been Mark Wahlberg sitting on my kitchen counter, lol.  What a great gift for a baker!!!  Then later that day I used it again for sweet potato mash to go with our steaks for dinner.  This mixer is going to be put to great use in my kitchen.  I'm so excited to have this new appliance!

One of my favorite moments of this past month was hosting an Ugly Sweater Party.  If you haven't been to an ugly sweater party yet you are missing out.  They're a lot of fun!!  I made a cake that looks like an ugly sweater as well as a hot dog wreath which I thought was hysterical.  Although the wreath was a joke it was devoured in minutes.  The cake on the other hand was so ugly people were afraid to eat it and I ended up with a full cake leftover thinking what in the world am I going to do with all of this cake???  Then I remembered reading about CAKE BALLS* online.  I cut the cake up into pieces and put it in the new mixer and mixed until it formed into chocolate dough.  Then I made small balls out of the dough and dipped them into melted chocolate ... voila, cake balls!  They're delicious!! Next time you have leftover birthday cake try making cake balls.

Hope all of you have a happy & healthy new year!!  I look forward to sharing more recipes during 2014.

*Cake Ball Recipe can be found here: Cake Balls (any flavor cake & frosting works)

The hot dog wreath is simply a package of hot dogs & one package of crescent rolls.  Cut the hot dogs into thirds and wrap with strips of the crescent roll dough.  Form into a circle and bake at 350' for about 18 minutes or until golden brown.  The bow is a red bell pepper.