ain't no betty crocker!

It all started a month ago when I received an invitation to my co-worker's annual Christmas cookie exchange.  The calendar was clear for the day - so there I was RSVPing :)  

Fast forward to 9:00pm Friday before the Sunday event (I am a bit of a procrastinator).  With not a recipe found nor a thing bought...it suddenly dawned on me, "ask your friend Amy who brought those delish red velvet truffles to a tailgate that you nearly ate everyone."  PERFECT solution.  Within a couple minutes of facebooking Am - there I had it - the recipe! 

Now, I should have taken her advice to follow an easier recipe because she was afraid it would take me alllll day to make 9 DOZEN of these little red balls.  But, on the same post, my friend Krissy commented how simple it would be and that's all I needed to hear. ;)

Saturday, Travis and I were in DC all day leaving me Sunday morning to sleep in (never been much of a morning person), shop, bake, shower and get to the party by 1.  No problemo!

SUNDAY:

10:00am - I am off to the grocery store.   

10:40am - Let the games begin.  (For some reason, I never asked how many balls 1 cake made - hence the 6 dishes below....let's just say I still have two bowls full of batter sitting in our fridge)

 

Things continue to go pretty well and I specifically remember thinking, "I am on a roll here."

 Welllllllll, just as I am 'spatulaing' the last drop into the 6th pan, I realized that I never opened the vegetable oil sitting on the counter.  Oppsie ;)  Turns out you can use the beater in the pans and waahlaah - oil was mixed right in.  We are back on track! 

Now that all pans are in the oven (miracle and a definite squeeze), time to start melting the almond bark.  

YUMM!

Well, I leave the bark melting and check the fridge to make sure there is space for cooling.  Nope!

OH MY GOSH!  FLAMES!!! (and big ones too - full fledged flames).  This is about the time the smoke alarm starts going off and I turn to look at the stove - ahhhhh, my bark!  

Burnt Bark...yep, should be bright white.  What you see below is white with specks of black.  Kind of smelled (and tasted) like a marshmellow that was kept too long in the fire. :)

Once that was under control, it was time to pull the cakes out of the oven.  I feel like I am on a cooking show (only I am my only camera crew - unfortunately).  We are 40 minutes in at this point.... 

 Must crumble cakes (should have let them cool, but no time for that) and mix with cream cheese frosting and cool in fridge for an hour.  Oh, 15 min should do the trick and that will give me time for a quick shower.  

I definitely should have invested in that daggone melon baller, but thought one of these should do the trick.  Ummm - no!  Ending up forming the balls with my hands which became completely stained! haha

This next part was so messy that there were no photo opps available. :(  With Travis being gone, I figured it wasn't worth ruining our $500 camera with googy red gook over a blog post. lol 

Just trust me - it was an absolute nightmare.  The bark was burnt and the balls weren't forming well - that combination is not good.  It's now 12:40 and I am supposed to be walking at the door right this second and here I am standing in a bathrobe with soaking wet hair.  Ughhhhh!  NEVER AGAIN!

Somehow I managed through the ball rolling and dipping and even hardened them by sticking them in the freezer for a few.  When I pulled them out of the freezer - they were all completely stuck together because of the excess of melted burnt bark.  So I try and unstick them - yet another disaster as the balls start to crumble.  

Speaking of disasters.....this, my friends, is one of the MANY reasons I do NOT enjoy cooking/baking or anything of the sorts that involves me being in the kitchen.  

 

All said and done - I pulled into the party an hour late...just in time to eat (good thing)!  Best part - I got to exchange my truffle balls complete with awful memories for 108 new and improved Christmas cookies!! 

it's ok to laugh!

me and my sweet friend, Carolyn, the wonderful hostess!