As a country girl that was born and raised in a small town, in the North Georgia Mountains that doesn’t even have a Walmart…I never really thought that I would be afforded some of the wonderful opportunities that I have been a part of. I mean really, who would have thought that someone from a place affectionately known as Hicktown would get to spend a day at Paula Deens house. Or go on a book tour with her dear friend. Or travel to Toronto Canada to be on a movie set and get to interview the actors. This list could go on and on and on.
During my travels and adventures I have met some wonderful people, and some of those wonderful folks I am honored to call friend. One of those is my dear dear friend Chef Lewis. The first time I ever met him we immediately hit it off and have stayed in contact ever since. Not only does he work at UNA, he does catering and he is my go to guy when I have an idea for a recipe and need some help on the execution of it. Cause you know, I am not a Chef, he is. I am just a cook. A cook for family and friends, that pretends like she knows what she is doing every once in a while. Chef Lewis comes with a package, he has the sweetest wife and the cutest baby. Little William smiles ALL the time. Look, here he decided to get in a fight with the coffee table, and just look at that smile!
So anyway, Chef Lewis and I were talking the other night and the subject of food came up (as usual). He started telling me about how he created this recipe by a complete accident and how fabulous it was. And, he was gracious enough to allow me to share it with all of you. So, I gathered up all the ingredients and traipsed over to my Mom’s house…she needed to have a dose of me, I could just tell. We got to work and had these babies knocked out in no time.
Now, I have personally never had Marzipan, so I can’t tell you what it tastes like, but I can tell you that these little bites of heaven are simple to make and you can’t eat just one. Ok, so you can’t just eat 2 or 3 either. They are ADDICTIVE! My Mom who has tried Marzipan says these are MUCH, MUCH better! I was worried we might not have any left to photograph because we just couldn’t quit eating them.
This is going to be so good!!
Make the cake according to the directions on the package and bake it in a sheet pan.
Crumble it up real good.
Mix the cake, cream cheese and almond flavoring together until it forms a dough. Now, here is the thing with this step. I added 3 teaspoons of almond flavoring, but I do not like an over-whelming almond flavor, some people (like my Mom) love it. So, I suggest that once it is mixed pretty well that you taste it. If you feel like you want more of an almond flavor, add a little more, one teaspoon at a time.
Roll into balls.
Sprinkle with confectioners sugar just before serving.
OhMyStinkinHeck!!
Yummy!!
REDNECK MARZIPAN
1 box Golden Butter Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make cake as directed)
1 – 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
3 teaspoons Almond Flavoring
Confectioners Sugar
Directions:
Prepare cake mix as directed on package and pour into a sheet pan. Bake at 350 degrees for approx 20 minutes or golden brown. Remember, the bake time will be less than the package recommends because of using the sheet cake pan.
Once the cake has cooled, break it into small pieces and crumble it with a fork. Mix the cake mix, cream cheese and almond flavoring until it forms a dough. We used a stand mixer but you can do this with your hands if you don’t have a stand mixer.
Take small pieces of the dough and roll into balls. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.
