Sugar Cookies and Cake Balls

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful Mommy's! For my family, we celebrated with a family party, my grandparents came into town and all of my Aunt's and Uncle's and cousin's came over. We had a cookout with lot's of yummy food. I chose to make these cute little sugar cookie and cake ball flower bouquets. I found the cake ball recipe from Bakerella's blog. These little balls of deliciousness are very, very popular all over the internet and on blogs. They were a bit time consuming, but all of my cousin's enjoyed them and I thought they turned out so cute and they are very versatile...you can use any kind of cake mix and frosting you want! I got the sugar cookie recipe from Kim at Lovin' from the Oven and it was called a no fail sugar cookie recipe and they turned out really great and had a very great taste. I made mine pretty thick, so they were nice and chewy on the inside with crisp edges. I used a royal icing for the cookies and I didn't like it very much, so, next time I will stick to a vanilla buttercream that we usually use.I have been having trouble with the sugar cookie recipe that my family always uses, so I wanted to test out a new one and these were wonderful. I will definetly keep on making these ones!

Cake Balls: (Bakerella)

-1 box any flavor cake mix, cook as directed on the box for a 13x9 pan (I used funfetti cake mix)

-1 (16 oz.) can frosting (I used funfetti frosting)

-1 package chocolate bark (regular or white, I used white chocolate chips and added about a tablespoon of shortening)

-sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

1. Make cake according to package directions and cool completely. After cake has cooled, crumble the cake into a large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can of frosting.

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on a cookie sheet.

4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting them in the freezer.)

5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package. (Since I used chocolate chips, I melted them over a double boiler with about a tablepoons of shortening.)

6. Roll balls in chocolate and sprinke with sprinkles if desired and lay on wax paper until firm.

No Fail Sugar Cookies (Lovin' From the Oven):

Ingredients:

-6 cups flour

-3 tsp. baking powder

-2 cups butter, softened

-2 cups sugar

-2 eggs

-2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring

-1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for at least 1 to 2 hours.

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 350 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3" cookies. (I halved the recipe and made mine pretty thick, so, I got about 16 big sugar cookies.)