Ho Ho Ho.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and Happy Holidays and Merry Eating Fest.

I will try to drop in sporadically from Minnesota and New York and give you updates on what I'm putting into my stomach.  Cause you care?  xo

Spiced Nuts

Look, something without chocolate!  Something spicy - even just a half a teaspoon of Cayenne gives 4 cups of nuts a nice amount of heat - watch out if you're feeding these to kiddos.  My mom always has a bowl of nuts on the counter during the holidays, and this is a fun way to kick them up a notch, as Emeril would say.  It is his recipe, after all.    

Mint Bark

I know I keep talking about edible gifts, and some of my suggestions might be a little time consuming for your taste.  Until now!  (Talking in my commercial voice again.)  Go to your nearest market, pick up some of these Nestle Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels, and follow the recipe on the back for Mint Bark.  It honestly couldn't be easier.  In fact, I would like to challenge you to do it blind folded and drunk.  Ehhh, on second thought, there's an oven involved and I don't want to be sued.

Anyway, all you do is line the morsels on a foil-covered baking sheet and melt them in a 325 oven for 2 minutes.  They will hold their shape when you remove the pan, but all you do is take a knife or spatula and swirl the melty chips until they look all lovely and professional.

Pop in the fridge and then break apart once cooled.  You can add nuts but I didn't feel like it.  I wanted something that closely resembled an Andes Mint in taste, and they did.  

Easy Edible Gift - now you have no excuse.  Unless you're blindfolded and drunk, in which case, you should probably just do nothing at all.  

a moment of silence...

I know it's a little too late, as I already posted about marshmallows today, but I saw this on another blog and wanted to share.  I have no words to add, because I can't find any that make sense.  All I can do, as a mother and a human being, is pray for mercy, for kindness, for love and for healing.    

Peppermint Marshmallows

After making Homemade Hot Chocolate last week, I've been dying to try out these Peppermint Marshmallows.  They were worth the wait and worth the effort.  If you've never made homemade marshmallows before and you think I'm a crazy person for doing so, please hold your judgement until you've tried them yourself.  They are incredibly fresh, fluffy, joyful and relatively easy to make.  As you can see, I dipped some in chocolate and sprinkled crushed candy canes on top because why wouldn't I do that?  Why wouldn't you do that, too?    

gifts...

Nutella Truffles

More homemade edible gifts!  Because we're not worried about Christmas being right around the corner!  No!  We have all the time in the world to BEGIN our shopping!  We don't have a very inquisitive 3-year-old and a very loud 3-month-old!  We have time to make Nutella Truffles!

   

I found this recipe the other day and just about died.  Nutella and Frangelico infused Chocolate Truffles???  Rolled in toasted, chopped hazelnuts... they, are, perfect.  You will be glad you found the time in your day without time to make them. 

Sugar Cut-Out Cookies

After making these soft and chewy sugar cookies the other day, I was craving the other kind - the kind you roll and cut out and decorate like mad.  Only I didn't want to decorate them, I wanted kids to do that for me.  So our nieces came over, and they and Jack made a huge, floury, glittery mess.  If you're going to let kids decorate cookies, you have to accept the mess.  Which is hard for me, but I managed to let go (even if I did follow them around with a broom).

I used this recipe, which was perfect.  Not too sugary - a good thing when you know they will be smothered with icing, sprinkles and other sweet toppings.  It also made enough cookies for a small army.  Or the Duggar family.  Can you imagine buying presents for all of your brothers and sisters if you were a Duggar?  I mean, do you even know all of your brothers and sisters if you are a Duggar??    

6-Layer Bars

Oh 7-Layer Bars, I mean, 6-Layer Bars... you are so good.  So rich, and gooey, and irresistible... you make me want to eat you on a fluffy couch, in slow motion, like in a commercial.  I used this recipe and went with an even number bar due to a nut allergy, but if you'd like to add one more layer just throw some toasted pecans or walnuts into the mix.  I've made similar bars before, but they weren't my favorite (and dear lord look how tiny my pictures were back then).  These are my favorite.  

Smiling is my favorite (name the movie).  

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

As I've mentioned, I'm all about edible gifts, and I just found the PERFECT one.  Something you can make in two seconds, in a VERY large quantity, that people will love.  Hot Chocolate Mix!  Who doesn't like to snuggle up with some Hot Cocoa, watch the movie Elf and celebrate the season like you're something out of an Eddie Bauer ad!?!  I plan on buying cute little treat baggies for one hitters and giving them to everyone I meet.  Thank you for bagging my groceries, Mister, here is a treat.  Oh, don't worry about stealing my parking spot, Lady, I will put a present on your window anyway (talking about this actually).  For my REAL friends, I plan on making some homemade marshmallows next week to pair with the Hot Chocolate.    

I used this Martha recipe because, especially these days, I'm a fan of minimal ingredients.  This has THREE!  Good cocoa powder (I used unsweetened), sugar and a touch of salt.  Enjoy!  

Meatball Muffins

Yeah, that sounds kind of gross, doesn't it?  But let me explain.  The other day I was all set to make fancy pants meatballs.  You know, with grated carrots, sautéd onions, fresh garlic and herbs, homemade bread crumbs soaked in milk and blah blah blah.  And then I remembered... OH, I have two kids now and OH, my baby only likes to be held during the evening hours and OH, grating carrots SUCKS.  At that point I happened to glance over at the Highlights magazine my son was "reading" and I saw a recipe for 'Meatball Muffins'.  They consisted of ground beef or turkey, a package of onion soup mix, ketchup, bread crumbs and one egg.  I also added some Parmesan.  Roll into 12 balls, place in a greased muffin pan, and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350.  Took me all of 5 minutes to make and can I tell you something??  They were so good.  

Crispy brown on the outside and perfectly cooked inside.  I threw them in some sauce, served them over pasta, dinner done.  If you're too good for the kiddie magazine recipe, or you just love grating carrots WHY, WHY DO YOU? then make your fancy pants recipe but at least try baking the meatballs in a muffin pan.  So easy.  The End.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

This time of year, I go to the market and I literally buy out the baking aisle.  Right now in my pantry I have bittersweet chocolate chips, semi-sweet mini chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, mint chips and a large bar of dark chocolate.  You guys, I have to be prepared for every possible scenario.  If the zombies come they're going to want baked goods, preferably in the form of holiday treats.  At any given moment I need to be able to whip up bark, or truffles, or cookies, or fudge.  Like this Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge, made with 4 simple ingredients.  Easy as can be, and guaranteed to keep zombies from eating your face off I think.    

Christmas Cookie Ideas

If you're like me, you love to gift cookies this time of year (how cute are these tags?).  Because it's a nice thing to do but, let's be real, it's also an excuse to bake every single day for an entire month.  What do you mean having fudge and peanut butter balls and gingerbread men and truffles and (fill in the blank with 8 more things) is too much to have around the house THEY ARE GIFTS FOR PEOPLE YOU MONSTER.  See, win-win.  You get to bake, you get to eat, you get to gift.  Here are some of my favorites from last year - and please look forward to my month of December madness coming up...

cranberry pistachio cookies

peppermint meringues

chewy ginger cookies

christmas chocolate chip cookies

homemade almond roca

bittersweet chocolate fudge with sea salt

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

If you put a chocolate chip cookie and a sugar cookie in front of me, I'll always go for chocolate.  However, these are hands down the best sugar cookies I've ever put in my mouth.  And I meant that plural because I've had more than one, in fact, I just put one in my mouth for breakfast.  Perfectly buttery, with a crisp cookie shell and a soft and chewy finish.  I altered a Martha Stewart recipe by adding more butter (what) and substituting vanilla extract with vanilla bean paste (my new favorite thing).  Do you see these little flecks...

You might have to wake up your eyes with more coffee and look closely, but they're there.  And the subtle flavor they add to the cookie make them unreal.  We chose to roll them in sanding sugar before baking, but you could icing if you wanted.  

Although, in my opinion, that would only take away from the gloriousness that is this cookie.  Is "gloriousness" a word?  Sometimes I put lots of letters together and hope for the best.

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

(Makes approx. 2 dozen)

Printable Recipe

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup sour cream

Sanding sugar or sprinkles (optional)

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy - about 3 minutes.  Scrape down sides with spatula.  Add egg and vanilla paste and mix until combined.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.  Add half to wet ingredients, mixing on low speed.  Then add sour cream, combine, and finally rest of dry ingredients.  Mix until a dough forms.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350.  Roll dough into golf-ball sized balls (or slightly larger) and dip one side in sugar (if using).  Place sugar-side up on parchment-lined baking sheets, a few inches apart.  

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until edges start to brown slightly.  

Perfect buttery bottom.  That's not potty talk.

Ombre Cake

My niece celebrated her 7th birthday over Thanksgiving break - and I volunteered to make her a cake at the very last second.  Boxed everything (I'm sorry, Martha).  But to make it more fun and slightly more creative, I decided to divide the cake batter into 3 bowls, and to add varying degrees of red food coloring for an ombre effect.  In case you're unfamiliar with the word/trend, it means "having colors or tones that shade into each other."  You're welcome for your morning lesson of learning.

Heart Shaped Ombre Cake...