Red Velvet Cinnamon Truffles

Many people really enjoyed my post about Oreo Peppermint Truffles so in the spirit of American Heart Month (and Valentine's Day), I saw this post about red velvet truffles and wanted to try them with a hint of cinnamon on top. Now let me point out this recipe is in no way heart-healthy, I'm simply associating it with American Heart Month because it's red. So, with that being said, let's get started!

You can either make the red velvet cake from scratch, or you can buy mix from the store like I did and save yourself some time and energy. Along with that, you'll need:


* Cream cheese (original post calls for 3oz. but because I bought a cake mix, I used 8oz.)
* White chocolate coating (original post calls for 12oz. but I used 16oz. of vanilla candy coating)
* Powdered sugar (original post calls for 1/2 Cup but I used 2 Cups)
* (optional) Cinnamon imperials for the top of the truffles


Make your red velvet cake first. It doesn't matter how it looks because you're going to be breaking it up into crumbs later. So don't worry if you try flipping the cake onto a cooling rack and you accidentally tear off the bottom of the cake that's still stuck to the pan... like some people... ahem...

Once your cake is baked and cooled, start to combine your cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl.

Next, crumble up your cake and start to add it to the bowl.

Using a Tablespoon, scoop out some mix and using the palms of your hands, roll into balls and place onto a plate. Note: your hands are going to get very messy!

Now the original post says to put them in the fridge for at least 4 hours... well, I did 30 minutes in the fridge and about 20 in the freezer and they were fine. During this time, melt your chocolate so it's ready by the time you take your cake balls out. Shouldn't take too long to melt at all.

Dip your cake balls into the chocolate and place on a plate.

If you like, you can decorate each with three cinnamon imperials. Note that even with 16 oz. of chocolate, I was only able to cover 28 of the 45 truffles.

Place back in the fridge to harden and take out when you're ready to devour!

TOTAL COSTS: About $13 to make 45 truffles (all prices are from Vons)
$1.99 for cake mix
$1.99 for powdered sugar
$1.99 for Cream cheese
$4.49 for CandiQuik
$1.99 for cinnamon imperials

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 2 hours, 45 minutes
35 minutes to make the cake
20 minutes to let cake cool
40 minutes to make balls
30 minutes to let balls harden in fridge
20 minutes to let balls harden in freezer
20 minutes to put chocolate and cinnamons on balls

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 2 out of 5
It's practically a cake walk (har har) - the only "difficult" thing is to keep an eye on the chocolate so it doesn't burn. Other than that, they're as delicious as they look!

Red Velvet Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Valentine's Day is just a week away and maybe the way into your significant other's heart is through their stomach... or maybe you're celebrating Single's Awareness Day and want to treat yourself! Either way, I highly recommend making these red velvet cookies with white chocolate chips (I just starting writing and I've already had 3... and I don't even like white chocolate!). The recipe comes to us from this post by The Recipe Critic.

Now check your cupboards because this calls for a lot of ingredients:

Not pictured: sugar and eggs

* 2 1/4 C of flour
* 2 1/2 T of cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 t of cornstarch
* 3/4 t of baking soda
* 1/2 t of salt
* 8 T of butter (or 1 stick)
* 6 T of vegetable shortening (Crisco)
* 1 1/2 C of sugar
* 1 egg and 1 egg yolk
* 1 1/2 t of white vinegar
* 1 1/2 t of vanilla extract
* 1 T of red food coloring (I used 1/2 T)
* 1 1/3 C of white chocolate chips (divided)
* Parchment paper

Whew! Ok, once you have all your ingredients, preheat your oven to 375 and mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl - the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. The salt is going to give it a nice added flavor, you wouldn't expect it. And try to get all the clumps out of the cocoa powder... I didn't do a thorough job and some of the clumps ended up burning in the oven!

Next, in your mixer combine the butter and vegetable shortening until it's fluffy. Then add in the egg and the egg yolk until they're combined.

Finally, add in the rest of the wet ingredients - the vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring. I only had enough red food coloring for 1/2 Tablespoon and at first I was afraid I was going to end up with pink cookies. However, the color changes in the next step!

Mixer is red - the ingredients looked might pink!

Next, add your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Once they're combined, mix in 1/2 C of white chocolate chips. Now here's where I made a mistake: I didn't think 1/2 C was enough, so I added in 1 C of chocolate chips and didn't have any extra chips. Ideally, you want to set aside some chocolate chips to put on top of the cookie dough balls before placing in the oven, but that's entirely up to you.

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper and start to add your cookie dough balls. I've found the best method for scooping out cookie dough comes from my mother - get a glass of water, dip a big spoon into the water, then scoop out some cookie dough and place it on the sheet. Dip the spoon back in the water, and then scoop out another spoonful. By dipping the spoon in the water, you're less likely to have any clumps of dough on your spoon and you don't have to use your finger to get any off!

At this point, grab 5 chocolate chips and place them on top of each mound of cookie dough. I did this for some but not all.. I was getting hungry, what can I say? Put them in the oven for 8-9 minutes (10 minutes burned the bottom of some but again, that was partly the cocoa powder's fault), then let them cool on a rack before stuffing your face.

How pretty some might turn out:

And how realistic some might turn out:

Either way, I can assure you they're delicious and they all look the same once they're in your stomach! Enjoy!

TOTAL COSTS: Free! 

However, I had all the ingredients on hand already

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: A little over an hour to make 3 dozen cookies

40 minutes to make the dough

8-9 minutes in the oven/batch

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5

Pretty straight forward, wouldn't you say? This would be a cute activity to do with your little ones on these snow days!

Killer Cleaver Cupcakes

I was invited to a pumpkin carving party and thought, "What would be a good, easy, and cheap dessert that would impress but also scare folks?" And then I came across this post and thought, "Those cupcakes are AWESOME! I can do that!" And so can you. It's a lot easier than you might think!

I may have cut my finger one too many times...

Here's what you need:

#1 - Red Velvet Cake Mix

#2 - Cream Cheese Frosting (either store bought or you can make it from scratch - I used this recipe)

#3 - Meat cleavers (found on Amazon - they were $7.99 when I bought them, now $10.11)

#4 - Red food coloring

I couldn't find any website that explained how to make the blood splatter so I had to improvise... I used my breath. After frosting all the cupcakes (I made 2 dozen), I dropped 1 drop of food coloring onto the middle of the cupcake and blew in whichever direction the drop wanted to go, and then blew in the opposite direction to keep the bead of liquid going.

One suggestion? Put the cleavers on AFTER the "blood" is on, otherwise you'll be blowing around it and the design won't be as cool (you can tell by the photo which were successful and which weren't).

The success of these cupcakes has gotten me involved in a decorating contest provided by Duff's Cakemix ("Ace of Cakes", anyone?). If you have Pinterest, please oh please repin my cupcakes (I'm not hesitant to beg!) - http://www.pinterest.com/duffscakemix/halloween-online-decorating-contest/



TOTAL COSTS: About $17.50
Ingredients = $7.61 at Vons in Los Angeles ($4.79 for 16 oz. cream cheese, $2.82 for Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix, and all other ingredients I already owned such as butter, oil, powdered sugar, eggs, and vanilla)


Foil baking cups = $1.93


Meat cleavers = $7.99 on Amazon



TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 1 hour
This includes the 25 minutes of baking time for the cupcakes, the making of the frosting from scratch, and the decorating!

EASY-PEASY SCALE: 1 out of 5
This is super easy, especially if you're not making the cupcake mix from scratch. Heck, you don't even have to make the frosting from scratch if you don't want to! Grab your friends, your kids, that stranger in the creepy house, and make these creepy cupcakes that'll definitely make an impression for Halloween!