These bite-sized balls are reminiscent of a holiday cookie my family always makes called buckeyes which are essentially sweetened peanut butter balls covered in chocolate. I'm not one for peanut butter so I never really got into this recipe but it brings back fond memories of baking with my Grammy as a kid. As an adult, I'm free to substitute anything I want into so I decided to go with my favorite cake - red velvet.
The recipe is simple enough. Bake a red velvet cake from scratch, or cheat like I did and use a box mix. After the cake has baked and cooled, use a fork to break up the cake into crumbs. Then add a tub of cream cheese icing and stir until it's evenly distributed. Roll the mixture into 1/2 inch balls and put them in the fridge overnight (or freezer for an hour or so) to set. Then melt chocolate in a double boiler and coat each ball completely. Set them on wax paper to set and keep refrigerated.
Sounds easy right? Well it was until I got to the chocolate coating. I don't own a double boiler so I created a makeshift one using a pot and a pyrex glass bowl. It worked like a charm and the chocolate melted smoothly. I used a bag of milk chocolate and only got through about half of the balls before I ran out. I had half a bag of white chocolate in my cabinet for I figured I'd give it a try.
A word of caution - white chocolate is a bitch to melt. It fluctuates between seizing up and being too running and the second you remove it from the heat it solidifies into globs that never look even on the balls. I did about 6 balls and realized it was a lost cause and gave up for the night. I packed up all the remaining balls and stored them in the freezer until I could get to a store for more chocolate.
I did some research the next day on how to properly melt white chocolate and found a recipe online that suggested using candy coating instead of chocolate. I figured I'd give it a try and set out to find some. 3 stores later I finally found vanilla candy coating and brought it home to try. It was the easiest thing in the world. I melted it in the microwave the tray it came with and it covered cleanly and left a beautiful even coat. I'll never use anything else.
When I brought the balls to work today they were a massive hit. Several people suggested I quit my job as an attorney and go into baking full-time (I'm not sure whether to be offended that they think I'm such a lousy attorney or pleased that they love my baking). I also received three marriage proposals (two from men and one from a girl I work with.)
I think I may have found a new stand-by recipe and possibly the best way to land a man in 2011 :)
No comments:
Post a Comment