Easter Cake Pops

I've baked a lot of cakes and cupcakes, but I hadn't yet tackled cake pops. They are all the craze and now every Starbucks offers them in three flavors. I'm an avid follower of the Bakerella blog (I know, I wish I'd claimed that name first) and recently bought her Cake Pop book.  For my first try, I made these Easter cake pops and have to say that they tasted fantastic.

It does take some time, but they are really quite easy to make. You basically crumble up a cake and add the appropriate amount of buttercream frosting to make what seems like a cookie dough texture to form into the cake pop shape of your choice.  I chose eggs. Add a stick and it's a pop!

I made some oval ones to attempt decorating like eggs and some round ones because, well, that was an easier shape to do.  It took me a few times, but I started to get the hang of how to dip them in the chocolate coating. I definitely wasn't freezing or chilling them in between dipping in the chocolate and that certainly would have helped.

I think it was a fantastic idea for how to decorate the "eggs."  You used a small brush with corn syrup to put on the frosted egg and add your sugar or sprinkles.

This was way too many cake pops to have at home, so I placed them in a little Easter basket to deliver to the office.

Cinnamon Chip Scones

It was a chilly Sunday morning.  We were getting ready to head to the White House Spring Garden Tour and had a relaxing morning at home baking scones, watching some cartoons and taking our dog for a walk.  I knew they smelled good, but when we came back after our walk, the smell of warm cinnamon was amazing.

I usually like making the traditional English scones that are filled with raisins and cut out with a biscuit cutter. Usually these huge triangle scones in the bakeries and cafes all seem to be dry and covered in huge chunks of sugar. I tried this recipe to take some scones into the office a few weeks ago though and loved it. They were not all crumbly and dry and while best warm from the oven, they were pretty good after they cooled as well.

So, I made a cup of tea, poured a glass of milk for little A and we enjoyed our lovely Sunday morning with a nice warm cinnamon scone.  It makes quite a big batch, so we just baked a few and froze the rest of the dough for when we have family visit.

It was quite difficult to find mini cinnamon chips anywhere, even in metro DC.  So, I actually ordered some mini cinnamon chips from King Arthur.  I know, I'm the baking dork that actually special orders baking supplies!  They taste quite strange on their own, but much better melted inside sugary dough!

I did see the regular sized Hershey cinnamon chips a few places, but I think the larger chips are too much.  The mini ones are perfect for these, especially if you want to make the smaller scones.

Instead of using the Kitchen aid, I like to use my old fashioned pastry cutter to blend in the butter.

While I like the scalloped edge biscuit style scones, this is nice as you have no wasted dough and you can just roll it out once and cut them out of a little round.  I made the round about 6-7 inches and then cut it in wedges.

I originally cut it into eight pieces, but then started cutting them in half as they are so big.

YUM. Fresh from the oven and ready for the taking.

With these melted cinnamon chips, you don't need butter, jam or anything on these. They're perfect just as they are.

Recipe for Cinnamon Chip Scones

Makes 8 large or 16 small scones

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. fresh ground nutmeg

3/4 cups unsalted butter (chilled)

1 cup buttermilk

1 t. vanilla

3/4 cup mini cinnamon chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In large bowl combine the dry ingredients. Cut in butter until it forms coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla. Fold in cinnamon chips. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.

Put in one large 7 inch circle and cut 8 wedges (or cut each in 1/2 to make 16) or divide dough in half and pat into two 7 inch round circles. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes, turning halfway through.