Any excuse to bake!

I got two new recipes and decided to welcome Fall with some yummy cookies.

First, I tempted Bakerella's cake balls. I was thinking about making some for Hudson's birthday party so I wanted to give them a whirl. Instead of red velvet, I did French vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting and I dipped them in white chocolate or semi-sweet. They are okay - I don't think I like the store bought frosting. Next time, I may try them with homemade frosting.

(If you want to know the best way to make these, here's what worked for me. I baked the cake in a 9x13 pan on Thursday. I crumbled the cake and mixed it with the frosting on Friday. I put it in the fridge for a few hours then rolled the balls on Friday night. I let it freeze overnight and dipped the balls in chocolate on Saturday)

For some reason, blogger keeps rotating this picture, but you get the idea.

I had alot more success with Jaime's pumpkin pizzelles. These are much more cakey than traditional pizzelles. For example, you can fold them and they will bend, not crack. I wasn't sure I was going to like the texture. Then I rolled a few, filled them with maple frosting, and sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice. Now we have a winner!!

I used my Aunt Coll's frosting recipe and just added a few squirts of maple syrup. If you're trying to recreate this, just make a basic icing and add as much syrup as you think it needs to have a maple flavor. I probably added 3-4 tablespoons.

The perfect "side" to a great cup of coffee on a cool Fall day!