Funfetti muddy buddies

Birthday treats are continuing with these funfetti muddy buddies.  Interestingly, this is the 3rd installment of my birthday treats, and it's also the third sprinkle-laden treat of my birthday treats (and the 4th birthday treat, if you include B's birthday galaxy vanilla fudge!).  I guess #sprinkles(reallydo)makeeverythingbetter -- even more so when they're fancy sprinkle blends!

Just be warned: These muddy buddies are HIGHLY addictive.  Like insanely can't-get-my-hand-out-of-the-bag, walk-back-into-the-kitchen-even-though-I-walked-out-because-I-needed-to-stop-eating-them addictive.

Go ahead and make them.  Just don't say I didn't warn you....

Funfetti Muddy Buddies
A JulieBakes original!

Ingredients:

6 cups chex (I used all rice chex, but any plain chex flavor, or a combination, would work)
12 oz vanilla candiquik
4 Tbsp sprinkles/sprinkle medley
3 Tbsp nonpareils, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Place cereal in a large bowl.

Melt CandiQuik in it's tray (or a microwave safe bowl) and microwave in 30 second increments.
Stir.
Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted.

Pour melted CandiQuik over cereal.
Stir carefully to coat it.

Immediately 4 tablespoons of sprinkles and 2 tablespoons of nonpareils.
Toss/Stir to coat.
Next, toss on the powdered sugar and mix until coated.
Toss last tablespoon of nonpareils.

I placed mine on a wax paper lined baking sheet so that the CandiQuik could dry.

If you feel that yours need a little more powdered sugar, add 1 tablespoon at a time until all of the muddy buddies are coated in powdered sugar.

Funfetti sprinkle cookies

When something isn't broken, you really don't need to fix it.  But play around with it a little, make some modifications, and make something different-but-similar?  That's totally OK!

See, I loved the flavor and texture of those heavenly chocolate chip cookies I made a week or so ago (and also a few months ago...you can read about it here), but I wanted to make something a little more *festive* for my upcoming birthday (although I'm not so excited about the actual day...you can read about that here).  So I thought FUNFETTI!  But, although I've seen recipes for chocolate chip funfetti things, I didn't want chocolate chips to overpower the flavor or pretty colorful specks of sprinkles.  So I opted for a funfetti/sprinkle cookie, and left the chocolate chips out.

The only question?  How much many sprinkles should I use?  A cup seemed way excessive (but it's only half the volume of the chocolate chips), but I definitely wanted a pop of color!  So I started with 1/3 of a cup of sprinkles and went from there...eventually I ended up with 2/3 cup sprinkles.

Funfetti Cookies
modified from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sprinkles

Directions:

Stir melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined.
Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
Mix until light in color.
Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and the bottom really well to ensure the batter is well mixed.

Hand stir the sprinkles into the batter.
Let dough stand for 20 minutes to let the flour soak into the rest of the batter.

Preheat the oven to 325 while the dough is resting.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop cookie dough onto prepared pans using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop.

Bake 10-11 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking (I totally skip this step.....shhh!).
When you take the cookies out of the oven, they will look cooked around the edges and undercooked in the center.

Leave the cookies on the hot baking pans for 5-7 minutes or until you can remove them without falling apart.  I let mine completely cool on the baking trays.
Place onto cooling racks.
Cool to room temperature before storing in airtight containers.

Funfetti marshmallows

I made those adorable little ice cream cone marshmallows yesterday, but I was left with a TON of leftover marshmallow batter.  I mean, I probably had used only a few tablespoons at best to fill the ice cream cones.  So what to do with leftover marshmallow batter?  And a 6-lb tub (ok, ok, I've used some....maybe I'm down to 5.75 lbs?) of rainbow sprinkles?  Funfetti marshmallows seemed like the perfect answer!

And how festive to bring to my friend's birthday celebration last night, a movie in the park?!

I made my regular go-to vanilla marshmallows, and then at the very end added in a few handfuls of rainbow sprinkles (I have small hands, people, it wasn't quite as much as it sounds like).  I poured the marshmallow batter into a prepared pan and then let them set.

When it came to coating the marshmallows, I debated using some regular marshmallow coating.  But then I thought "what if I just coat one marshmallow in rainbow sprinkles, just to see what it looks like?" -- and as you can imagine, once I did that there was no need for regular marshmallow coating!

(P.S. I packed them up in a mini cupcake tin for easy transport.  Such a good and clever idea, if I do say so myself!)  I also got better about cutting the marshmallows smaller, which I'm super happy about!  Check out how cute they are!

Funfetti Marshmallows
Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 cup water, divided

3 Tbsp. + 1 1/2 tsp. unflavored powdered gelatin (3 envelopes – envelope is 1/4 oz. each, for 3/4 oz. total)

2 cups granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. fine salt

2 Tbsp. pure vanilla or vanilla bean paste -- I cut this down to 1 Tbsp and still found them overly vanilla-y...I'd go down to 2 tsp next time

Rainbow sprinkles -- about 2 cups

Directions:

Spray a 9x9 or 7x11 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper (Recommendation: cut to fit flat on the bottom, with the edges of the paper over-hanging the sides. The ends are fine just sprayed.)

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, pour in 1/2 cup of the water and sprinkle the gelatin over.

Let stand.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, stir together the sugar, corn syrup, salt and the remaining 1/2 cup of water.

Stir until sugar dissolves and mixture begins to boil.

Stop stirring and once mixture comes to a rolling boil, continue boiling for 1 minute.

Remove from the heat. (Recommendation: the original recipe said that they like to carefully pour mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring cup, to make it easier to pour into mixer.  I did this and found it extremely helpful!).

The mixture is very, very, very hot.  Be extremely careful!

Turn the mixer to low and mix the gelatin a bit to loosen.
Very slowly and carefully add the hot sugar mixture by pouring it gently down the side of the bowl.
Continue to mix on low until all the sugar mixture is added.

Turn the mixer to high and whip the mixture for 10 to 12 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.
If you have a smaller mixer bowl, you may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently to avoid the batter overflowing as it grows.
Stop the mixer, add the vanilla, and then whip briefly to combine.  When I added the vanilla, mine thinned out a bit.  Just an FYI.
Throw in a few handfuls of sprinkles

Place the mixture into the prepared baking pan (a silicone bowl scraper works like a charm for this) and use a spatula or bench scraper to spread the marshmallow evenly in the pan, pushing it down into the corners.
Work quickly, as the marshmallow becomes more difficult to manipulate as it begins to set.

Spray a sheet of plastic wrap liberally with cooking spray and lay it across the top of the marshmallow, sprayed side down.
Using you fingers, smooth the plastic wrap on top of the marshmallows a bit to seal it smoothly and tightly against the mixture.

Leave the marshmallow to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours or, even better, overnight.
The marshmallow will be too sticky and soft to cut if you try too soon.

Place the rainbow sprinkles in a bowl or shallow pan.

When marshmallows are ready, grab the edges of the parchment and lift the marshmallows from the pan.
Remove the plastic wrap from the top and fold down the parchment on the sides.
Using a pizza cutter or a large knife, cut the slab into 1x1 inch squares.
Roll each of the freshly cut marshmallow squares in the sprinkles.
Put them on a baking sheet to dry slightly before packaging them up (about 30 – 45 minutes).

Birthday week treat #1: Funfetti Rice Krispie treats

I never need an excuse to bake, but sometimes it's nice to have one.  It started with a simple question on the juliebakes Facebook page, "My birthday is less than a week away and I'm trying to decide if I should bake something for my birthday, and if so, what I should bake. All suggestions welcome :)"

One person suggested funfetti.   Funfetti is definitely celebratory and birthday-esque, but I had just made a funfetti cake for my sister when she went to Thailand.  I tried to think of a new funfetti recipe and then it came to me.  Funfetti Rice Krispie Treats!

So I made regular old Rice Krispie treats (which are totally awesome on their own), but added loads and loads of colored sprinkles.  Because, honestly lets face it, the only thing that really makes anything funfetti is rainbow sprinkles!

And at work today, I decided that since I'm being overworked at work, the only thing I could do was to attempt to make a birthday treat every weekday of my birthday week.  Because I still find baking relaxing.  So this is the first installment of my "birthday week treats."  Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up all week!  Stay tuned for more fun treats!

Funfetti Rice Krispie Treats
(adapted from the Jet Puffed bag)

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp butter or margarine
40 Large marshmallows (I used Jet Puffed, since that's what they had at the store)
6 cups of Rice Krispies
"Loads and loads" of rainbow sprinkles (actually, 2/3 cup to be exact)

Directions:

Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  My preference is Pam, but you could also brush it with some melted butter.

Measure out the cereal. 
Add the sprinkles and toss to mix.

Microwave the butter in a microwavable bowl on high until melted (about 45 seconds).
Add marshmallows and toss to coat.
Microwave for 1 minute 30 seconds or until marshmallows are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after 45 seconds.  I recommend using a nonstick spatula or a spatula sprayed with Pam.

Add the cereal and sprinkle mixture immediately, and mix well.
Press into the greased pan.
Allow to cool completely.

Cut into 12 squares.  Honestly, 12 squares will be HUGE Rice Krispie treats.  I recommend cutting them into about 24 squares (4 by 6).  But that's just me.

Funfetti cake with funfetti icing

One of my sisters is going on a trip.  A looooong trip.  And she actually made a baking request before she leaves.  I say "actually" because my sisters generally don't like sweets (I know, they're not normal), and with the exception of Oreos, I don't think my sister has ever asked me for dessert.  So when her request came in for a funfetti cake (...correction, a funfetti cake WITH funfetti icing), I know I had to oblige.  Of course, besides sprinkles in the cake, I don't know what makes a cake "funfetti."  From my limited knowledge of boxed cake mixes, it appears to be a vanilla yellow cake with....colorful sprinkles.  So that's what I set out to make.  I used my regular yellow cake, upped the vanilla a little bit, and threw in a giant handful TON of colorful sprinkles.

Funfetti icing proved to be a little more difficult.  Simply because she wanted vanilla funfetti icing (which I guess makes sense, right?), and I don't have a go-to vanilla icing.  Ultimately, I decided on a vanilla buttercream with....yup....a giant handful TON of rainbow sprinkles!

Funfetti Cake
Based on a recipe for yellow cake from one of my favorite cooking blogs ever, Smitten Kitchen.
This recipe gave me two very nice 9 round layers PLUS 11 mini cupcakes.  I usually half the recipe when making cupcakes or mini cupcakes because this makes a lot of batter.

Ingredients:

4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (I upped the vanilla from the original recipe)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles, plus another small handful for good measure

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up -- I used Pam for baking....it's wonderful, and my cakes popped out of the pan perfectly!)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition.
At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled).
Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
Add sprinkles.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.
Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan.
Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

Funfetti Icing

Ingredients:

6 egg whites
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 pound unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature
vanilla extract, to taste, I used about 2 tsp
colored sprinkles

Directions:

Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer.
Place over a double boiler and whist constantly until the mixture is hot to the touch and all of the sugar has dissolved
Whip on high with the whisk attachement of an electric mixer until thick, fluffy, and cool to the touch.
Add vanilla.
Switch to paddle attachment.
Begin adding the butter, a few tablestooms at a time, until completely incorporated.
Add sprinkles, a little at a time, until desired amount of sprinkles have been added.