Cake Balls & Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

So, now that you know I have a sweet tooth, let me just tell you how WONDERFUL cake balls are! I had heard about them in casual teacher conversation, but trying them out for myself did them SO much more justice. You should try them out too. It is very easy to make them. Here's how:

Take a box of your favorite cake mix and bake it according to the directions on the box. Let it cool for a bit and then crumble it back into your mixer. Dump into the cake crumbles any can of frosting you like. My personal favorite combination is red velvet cake with cream cheese icing! Mmmmm!! Mix these two together until it turns into dough. Freeze the new dough you formed for a few hours (I think it is best to keep it in the freezer overnight). When you are ready, scoop small pieces of the dough out with a spoon and roll into balls using your hands. It may be best to freeze them on a plate or cookie sheet after doing this because they get kind of soft after being rolled. Melt chocolate in a bowl in 30 second increments. I have used all different types of chocolate (semi-sweet chips, melting chocolate, bakers white chocolate, bakers dark chocolate, almond bark, white almond bark) and the best one so far has been the almond bark and white almond bark. Not really sure why it is even called that because I didn't taste any almond in it! Roll the frozen cake balls in the melted chocolate and place immediately on wax paper to cool. Refrigerate and enjoy--these won't last long because they go so fast!

Then, I ran across this recipe in my Nestle Tollhouse Cook Book for a chocolate chip cookie pie and had to try it. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Get a deep dish 9" pie crust and let thaw if frozen. Mix two eggs until foamy. Throw in 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 1/2 sticks of softened butter. Mix in 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup of finely ground pecans. I thought it needed an extra touch that wasn't in the recipe...vanilla! I poured in about a teaspoon of vanilla and mixed it all together. Using a spatula, pour mixture into pie crust. Bake for 55-60 minutes.

When you can insert a knife in the pie and it comes out clean--you know you are ready to take that bad boy out! Cool on a wire rack and serve warm with...Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla icecream of course!!