Merry Christmas everyone! This week I have an extra delicious, fast, easy, and very versatile treat for you. Since I sincerely believe in giving credit where credit is due, I got this recipe from the one and only Bakerella. She has a new cookbook coming out soon as well, entitled Cake Pops.

One thing I love about these treats is you can make them super simple, or glam them up like Bakerella does. You can also make just about any flavor you can imagine! Today I made Chocolate and Red Velvet. If you make up a batch of these and bring them to your next holiday gathering and you will be the hit of the party! These little babies will be the first to go, believe me!

1. Mix up ANY flavor of cake mix. Follow the directions on the packaging, and bake it in a 13×9 pan.

2. Wait for the cake to cool, and then crumble it up. This will seem wrong…and like you are wasting a perfectly good cake….Take the leap of faith and go for it…give it a good crumble. Use your hands though, as you don’t want uber fine pieces.

3. Mix in a can of store-bought frosting. ANY flavor will do. I used milk chocolate for my chocolate cake balls, and cream cheese for my red velvet balls. (And now, I am getting flashes of SNL’s Schwetty Balls...) You can use two forks, or use your hands. I opted to use the forks, and it worked just fine.

4. Now for the messy part…(due to the mess, I don’t recommend doing this with young kids..I didn’t let mine help with this…just too much mess and opportunity to rub squishy brown goo all over things…) Grab a spoonful of the mixture and roll it into a ball. You can use a small cookie scoop if you have one, but my hands worked just fine. You WILL get messy! I made 48 from my cake mixture.

5. Put your balls on a tray, and pop them in the freezer for an hour or two, until they have firmed up.

6. Melt chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet for the chocolate balls, and white chocolate for my red velvet) with just a tablespoon or two of shortening. (It makes it more spreadable, and gives it a nice sheen.) Coat the balls with the melted chocolate. Place them back on a tray, and refrigerate until firm.

7. Take a bite, and enjoy your new favorite treat! These are seriously awesome!

Happy baking, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!