Quick and Easy Dessert Recipes

I love to cook and desserts are among my favorite things to prepare.  I don't get to do it too often because Kevin and Ava don't really like sweets.  This is actually for the best as desserts are my weakness.  I like recipes that are quick and simple and don't require a ton of ingredients.  I thought I would share two of my favorites today.

Oreo Balls 

(Yield 25-35 balls)

1 bag of regular Oreo cookies

2 bars of Philadelphia cream cheese

1 package chocolate almond bark (or candy coating)

1 package white chocolate almond bark (or vanilla candy coating)

Crush entire package of Oreos (I use my mini Cuisinart food processor).  Combine crushed Oreos with cream cheese (I usually use just 1 1/2 bars) and mix in stand mixer or with handheld mixer until well combined.  Scoop walnut-sized balls of mixture onto a plate or cookie sheet.  Place in fridge and chill for at least one hour.  Right before taking balls out of fridge begin to melt 3/4 package of vanilla almond bark on stovetop in saucepan (make sure to cook over low heat and stir often--this will take about 10 minutes).  Once almond bark is melted, remove from heat.  Using a toothpick, dip each ball into melted almond bark until well covered.  Place onto wax paper to harden (this will take about 15 minutes).  While waiting for the vanilla dipped balls to harden, melt 1/4 package of chocolate almond bark following the same directions.  Once balls are no longer sticky and have hardened, pour melted chocolate almond bark into a ziploc baggie and cut a tiny piece off of one of the corners.  Squeeze the chocolate almond bark out of the baggie and drizzle onto the Oreo balls.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

**You can also reverse the chocolate and white chocolate so that the balls are covered mainly in the milk chocolate.  The darker color actually covers a little better, in my opinion.

Strawberry Cake

1 Angel Food cake (bundt style)

1 3oz. package of strawberry Jell-O mix

1 16oz. container of frozen, sliced strawberries

1 8oz. Cool whip

1 container strawberries

Red food coloring

Remove bundt cake from packaging and place onto serving platter.  Cut across the the cake sandwich-style about 1/3 of the way down from the top of the cake.  Place the top of the cake to the side.  Cut around the inside edges of the cake so that you can make a tunnel inside the cake.  Take the pieces of cake that you remove to form the tunnel and place in mixing bowl to the side.  Here is what it should look like so far (sorry, the pic is a little blurry):

Now take the dry Jell-O mix and the now thawed sliced strawberries and mix with the pieces of cake that were placed to the side.  Use the mixture to fill in the tunnel.  Place the top back on the cake.  I like to decorate the cake by mixing red food coloring in with the Cool Whip to make a nice shade of pink.  Then frost the cake with it.  I then take strawberries, cut the tops off, slice in half and place around bottom edge of cake.  Finally, place some whole strawberries in the hole in the center of the cake.  Now, you have a festive, summery dessert!

ENJOY!!!  More recipes to come!!!