Fancy this, Jackson...

Growing up in a small town in north Mississippi, visiting Jackson was always a special occasion. Granted, this was before you could www your way to having anything you needed (and didn't) delivered to your doorstep within 2 days. Before all this convenience, visiting a big city like Jackson was a highlight because there were so many things readily accessible. Shopping, restaurants, recreation - there was so much more of it in Jackson than where I was from.  For lack of a better word, everything in Jackson just seemed a little bit "fancier."

Fancier parties,

fancier dining,

fancier cars,

fancier houses,

fancier neighborhoods,

fancier purses,
fancies shoes...

I suppose I have lived here long enough to now call myself a Jacksonian, but something about the small town girl inside me still feels the need to step up my "fanciness" whenever showcasing our city to locals or visitors. The lovely photographs in the book that is debuting today at Lemuria capture perfectly images that made Jackson seem so fancy to me as an outsider.  So as we open up Banner Hall and Fresh Ink today for the book signing party this afternoon, we had to serve one of my favorite fancy party treats - red velvet cake truffles!

Keep in mind as a mother of two school-age children, and business owner, this culinary endeavor is short on time but very long on fanciness.  Enjoy the recipe!

Red Velvet Cake Truffles

1 box of red velvet cake mix, cooked, crumbled, and best dried out and processessed to crumbs.

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 can of vanilla frosting

1 package of white chocolate chips

2 packages of white candy coating (in disposable tray - from Kroger)

I continually over-cook cakes when baking, so this is one of my favorite recipes.  After over-cooking a red-velvet cake, I crumbled the un-usable un-iced layers and threw them in a zip lock in my freezer for several months until they were needed for this recipe. Took the pieces out of the freezer and threw them in my kitchen aid mixer.  Add cream cheese and frosting, and mix until dough-like.

Using a small cookie dough scooper (like a mini-ice cream scoop) make uniform size balls and freeze them on a cookie sheet on wax paper.

Spread out 2 pieces of wax paper when ready to candy-coat.

Melt candy coating in microwave according to package directions.

Your instinct will be to roll the balls in the coating, but that will make a mess.

Instead, drop one of the spheres into the tray, and spoon the melted coating over it.  Then lift the truffle by the sides to the waiting wax paper.

Repeat until complete.

You can make the frozen truffle balls ahead and just roll them in the candy coating the day of.