Nutella Truffles

I have been incredibly lazy about cooking lately. I went to Sam's Club at the beginning of this month and bought a ridiculous amount of prepared food. My fridge is stocked with breakfast sandwiches, turkey and veggie burgers, country fried steaks, brown rice, and random assortments of vegetables. AND IT ALL CAN BE MADE IN THE MICROWAVE! ...Except the rice. When I tried to cook rice in the microwave I caused a small kitchen fire that fill the house with smoke, twice.

After such a long affair with the microwave, I knew there was only one ingredient that could make my oven forgive me. It had to be the patron saint of all things delicious, Nutella.

I know I just posted Nutella Bites, and these aren't really truffles, more like cake balls really, but I'm still writing about them because they are that good.

Don't take my word for it, go and make them yourself!

What you need 1 box of brownie mix and whatever the box says you need to make the brownies 1 jar Nutella 1 box confectioners sugar Assorted sized chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to the temperature suggested on the box

Follow the box to make the brownie batter. Mix in as many chocolate chips as you'd like (I put in maybe a full bag)

Bake the brownies until a tooth pick comes out almost clean. You want it to still be gooey, but not so gooey that it still has the consistency of batter.

Let the half-baked brownies cool, at least until you can comfortably touch them. You can let them cool down all the way, but I'm not patient enough for that.

Remove the brownies from the pan and place in a large bowl. Crumble up the brownies until you have a bowl and delicious chocolate-y crumbs.

Start adding Nutella to the bowl and mix in into the brownies. You are going to be rolling these into balls, so you want enough Nutella that the truffles are dense, but not enough that they can not hold their shape.

Once the Nutella and brownie crumbs are mixed, start rolling the mixture into balls and set on a seperate tray to cool (if you didn't let the brownies cool earlier).

This part gets messy... Roll the balls in confectioners sugar so they are completely covered. I poured the sugar into a medium bowl to make it easier to coat the Nutella balls. Before you put the sugar coated truffle back of the tray shake off any excess sugar. If you didn't let the balls cool before coating them, the sugar may start to dissolve. If this happens, just roll them in the sugar again to add another coat.

Cake Mix Cookies

Finally, we are getting some snow in Baltimore. I think it is the perfect excuse to start a fire and bake all the things that I pinned and then forgot about. The first thing I want to make is cake mix cookies. I tried making red velvet cookies last year for valentines day, but my friends and I got impatient waiting for the oven to heat up and we ate the batter instead. The only thing I have to do today is sit by the fire and watch every episode of 30 Rock before the season finale next week; that should keep me entertained and relaxed enough to resist the glorious cookie dough.

Okay, these  cookies are totally worth waiting for. Not only are they colorful bites of joy, but they taste exactly like cake batter. What could be better! Now I am going to go back to sitting by the fire and enjoying this cold weather before the temperature gets back into the 50s. Mother Nature is one crazy betch.

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix

• 1.5 teaspoon baking powder

• 2 large eggs

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix together dry ingredients (minus the sprinkles) and the wet ingredients in separate bowls by hand. Once each bowl is mixed separately, add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the flour and baking powder. Stir together until all the dry clumps of cake mix are broken up and the dough is mixed thoroughly. Fold in the sprinkles. Do not stir the sprinkles in, or they will dye the dough. Roll small balls of dough (1 inch think) on the baking sheet about 1 - 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Remove parchment from pan and let cool. Put a new piece of parchment paper on the pan and bake another batch until dough is gone. Enjoy!

Check out this blog!

Update: Will passed away on February 2, 2015. He shared some of his artwork on his blog for two years, and my family is selling items featuring his artwork to raise money for JDRF and scholarships in his name at McDonogh and Rollins. Please visit the Hello Darlings Shop if you are interested in purchasing something!

 You can also make a donation in Will's memory to JDRF by clicking this link.

 I also started a bravelets page, and $10 from each sale will be donated to JDRF in memory of Will.  

Original post: 

Hey everyone!

My brother just started a blog to share his artwork. He is posting everything from T-Shirt designs to murals. Be sure to check it out here, wlhart.org! 

Lilly Letters

Now that it is 2013, I have no use for my 2012 Lilly Agenda. I felt bad throwing it away, but I don't have a use for it and it is filled with homework assignments and test schedules that I really don't need to be reminded of. Before throwing it out, I obviously took out the sticker pages. I may not be a kid anymore, but that doesn't mean I stopped loving stickers or don't need a lollipop after I get a shot at the doctors. I'm actually quite upset that my doctor thinks she can stick a needle in my arm without the promise of a sugary treat.  I also went through all the prints for each month of the year and realized they were way too cute for the trash. I saw an instagram picture of Lilly patchwork letters and thought this was the perfect way to use the patterns that the Lilly print designers are so great at making. So if you are a fellow Lilly Lover and need something to personalize your room, or rep your sorority, or just want to craft, try making your very own Lilly Letters!

What you need:

-Wooden letters from Michaels.

-Old Lilly planner, or 12 patterns printed out.

-Mod Podge

First, decide what size patches you want. Make your stencils 1/4- 1/2 an inch larger than the actual size you want so the patches can overlap and you won't have any gaps between the patches. I used normal sized post-its as stencils.

You can either glue the patches directly onto the letters, or glue the patches together, let dry, and then glue the patchwork onto the letters. I chose the second option because it made it easier to put the middle patches on.

After they are both dry, you can outline the patches or paint fake stitch marks between the patches. Finally, put a coat or two of mod podge on the letters. Use a sponge brush to avoid streaking.

Let dry.