Smith Family Weblog

I recently made red velvet balls, and I have to say, I was completely underwhelmed. I did use a cake mix, so perhaps that was part of the problem.

The batter–which is just crumbled cake and a jar of cream cheese frosting–was incredibly sticky.

The recipe suggested using chocolate-flavored almond bark–which I find to be great for a lot of things–but in this recipe it was cloyingly sweet. I think a dark chocolate coating might be a better balance.

They looked pretty, but I actually only ended up dipping about a half dozen. They just didn’t live up to my expectations–especially given the work involved. Has anyone else attempted these? What did I do wrong?

Last year, I baked 10 batches of Christmas coookies in advance of the holiday. I shared them with coworkers, friends, neighbors and family.

This year, the number on that list has grown to 24, and I seem to have found I have less time on my hands than while on maternity leave last year.

So, I decided to pare down a bit, switching over to candy instead of cookies. I made six recipes–all very easy and surprisingly fast. It probably took more time to construct the two dozen boxes then it did to finish the contents.

These are all recipes from the Martha Stewart Homemade Holiday Candy collection. Clockwise, from top left: Walnut fudge, peppermint bark, fleur de sel toffee, sour cream and bourbon praline, peanut butter cup and a Chambord truffle.

The toffee was my favorite–I love anything that’s both salty and sweet–though I did overcook it a bit. The peanut butter cups were very easy and very good, too. My pralines looked nothing like Martha’s, though I guess by now that shouldn’t surprise me!