The Odds Weren't in My Favor

OK, so for the last couple of days I had this idea to go see a movie by myself.  I had to walk about a mile and a-half to the theater, but I'd done it once before.  I knew it was doable.  I was going to see The Hunger Games again. 

My trip was delayed about a half hour or so because we'd had rain this morning.  I finally left and was about twenty minutes into my trek when I realized.... I'd dropped my phone.  Usually I have it tucked in "backwards" in my pocket- with the belt clip facing out and clipped on the pocket, but it must have worked its' way out because I'd had my shoulder bag on that side.  So I walked about a couple of "blocks", retracing my steps, and THANK GOD I found it about at the intersection close to where I'd started from.  Phew. 

About forty-five minutes later I got to the theater.  Had to wait another half an hour for the box office to open.  But it was okay.  I bring a book with me for such emergencies.  (Well, usually I bring a book with me everywhere I go, but anyway....)

So I asked for a ticket for the next showing: "Do you want one for one o'clock?" "No, that's okay." I didn't mind waiting because of said book. 

Went in the auditorium and waited.  Would this be a private showing? Groovy!  Alas, another person came in (smile). 

All right, here we go.... we had the previews (Breaking Dawn 2!).... intro, the reaping, meeting Cinna, the tribute parade, and the trainin--

Huh?  The projector and lights cut off.  The other occupant stood up and walked out.  After a minute, I did too. 

Other patrons were filing out into the lobby.  The power had gone out, and it seemed, so did that block.  A woman who must have been the manager, was busy giving out passes. 

Since I had no idea when the power would be back on, I just ended up walking back home.  Putting two and two together, it wouldn't have been a good idea to go to that earlier showing, because I would have been right in the middle of that movie during the outage. 

Oh well.  I'll try it again in another week.

Cake Pops Bombed

This week I'd had the bright idea to make cake pops, after having some great ones at Starbucks. 

I guess there's a reason they have theirs shipped in. 

I used french vanilla cake mix with vanilla frosting.  One recipe I used said to use 1/3 cup frosting, so I did.  It didn't seem like enough, so I doubled that.  This was probably my first mistake.  I mixed the two together, let it chill, and used about a tablespoon of "dough".  You then roll them into balls, and let them chill again in the fridge.  Finally you dip them into the melted chocolate/candy, etc., and harden in the fridge again. 

The next to last stop was where I got frustrated.  (This is not a recipe for the easily frustrated.  And I get easily frustrated.)  I guess the cake balls were too heavy, and the candy coating was too thick, and when I *really* tried to dip the pops into the coating, they came apart.  (And yes, I pre-dipped the sticks).  I just finally gave up and rolled them- without the lollipop sticks- in the coating. 

They do taste good, though.  But they're kind of a hassle. 

Brownies vs. Marshmallows

"What a marshmallow!"- Jacob Black, New Moon

(Ha ha.)

The newest recipe that I have tried most recently involves brownie mix.  It was based on taking cookie dough, putting it in muffin tins, and when it was pretty much baked, you put in a Hershey's Kiss, mini peanut butter cup, etc.-- thus creating a "cookie cup."  So I wondered: can it be done with brownie mix?

It can.  Sort of.

It depends on what you want to put in it.  Peanut butter cups work beautifully.  Marshmallows don't, so much.  Those are the two variables I tried.  Both items I put in before the brownies were baked.  The marshmallows just seemed to float, melt, then simply toast on top.  The peanut butter cups just remain in their chocolate beds, slightly melting.  There's probably some good news for the marshmallow camp- the marshmallow develops an almost taffy-like consistency after it comes out of the oven.

[And now, an official disclaimer from Mom: she's making me say that I used one large marshmallow per tin.  I should have just mixed up mini marshmallows in the batter.] 

I'd like to try these in mini muffin tins.  The brownies came out soft and fudgy; I tried not to overbake them. 

Next up on my baking list and blog: the new bake-your-own "twinkies" that you may have seen in grocery stores.

Southern... Toffee?

I had wanted to make this saltine cracker toffee candy for a while.  Paula Deen has a recipe of it, but the one I used was from http://tammysrecipes.com/easy_saltine_cracker_candy .  It's pretty easy to make, all you need is crackers, brown sugar, butter, nuts, and chocolate chips.

You combine the brown sugar and butter, and bring it to a boil.  Okay, done.  Pour it over the crackers that you've laid out on a baking sheet.  Pop it into the oven for a few minutes, put the chocolate on it, let that melt, then put the nuts on top.  Let cool, then put it in the fridge to solidify.

There was one problem.  I probably should have doubled the recipe for the toffee, because it didn't really make enough to cover the crackers.  The mixture wasn't quite liquified enough, and thus, was not that "pourable."  I quickly learned that I didn't have enough chocolate chips on hand.  I tried to make do with a remnant of a chocolate bar.  The semisweet chips didn't melt that great.  Paula uses chocolate bars.

All in all, if you need a sugar fix, this is it.  One other thing-- Mom suggested putting the nuts on after the toffee, instead of on the chocolate.  (Some of the nuts had fallen off) 

If I try this recipe again, I would do a little bit of tweaking.