Cranberry Butter

I know that most of you have already completely planned out your Thanksgiving feasts, which is why the recipe I'm sharing today is something really quick and easy that you can whip up to add to your spread in 10 minutes: cranberry butter. With less than 24 hours to go until most of us are eating The Big Meal, it probably doesn't sound like the wisest idea to add yet another item to your list, but trust me: You should definitely make this. It's sweet and tart and so much more interesting than plain old butter on your rolls. Best of all? It's absolutely delicious. I snuck a little bit of the batch I made last night to put on my toast this morning, and it was divine. It's going to taste even better on homemade rolls tomorrow!

Cranberry Butter
source: Fun Foods on a Budget!

3/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup chopped fresh cranberries

2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

1. In a small mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and honey until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add cranberries and walnuts; beat 5 minutes longer or until butter turns nice and pink.

2. Transfer to a sheet of plastic wrap; roll into a log. Refrigerate until chilled, then unwrap and slice to serve.

Halloween Week: Halloween Pumpkin Bars

I know, I know: I missed yesterday's Halloween-themed recipe. But this week has been long and stressful, and I've decided the only way I can cope is to take some of the pressure off of myself. On Wednesday night, that meant eating fast food for dinner and resting on the couch instead of cooking dinner and making chocolate-caramel apples (I know, don't those sound good? I'm definitely keeping them in mind for next year). But yesterday I did muster up the time and energy to make these adorable treats for a work potluck today:

Aren't they cute? They were so much fun to make. I think the guys on the right look like Easter Island statues. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Halloween Pumpkin Bars
source: inspired by Taste of Home and ...and a cookie for dessert

Baked pumpkin bars (use Taste of Home's recipe, or this one, which is truly the best)
Cream cheese frosting (canned will work, but homemade is much better)
Yellow and red food coloring
Candy corn
Black decorating gel

1. Bake pumpkin bars according to recipe directions; cool.

2. Meanwhile, tint frosting with yellow and red food coloring to make orange; spread over cooled bars. Cut bars into squares.

3. Using candy corn and decorating gel, make a face on each bar.

Halloween Week: "Scream" Cheese Swirl Brownies

It's day three of Halloween Week! Today, I'm so excited to share these "scream" cheese swirl brownies with you.

Honestly, who doesn't love brownies swirled with sweet, tangy cream cheese? In this Halloween-themed version, the cream cheese mixture is tinted orange with food coloring to make them fun and festive. These are made with boxed brownie mix, which makes them even easier. And the best part? They taste AMAZING. In fact, I can't wait to go home and indulge in a couple of them tonight!

"Scream" Cheese Swirl Brownies
source: Betty Crocker

For the filling:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
4 drops red food color
4 drops yellow food color
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the brownies:

1 box (1 lb 6.5 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 13 x 9-inch pan with shortening or cooking spray. In small bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, stir brownie mix, pouch of chocolate syrup, oil, water and eggs until well blended. Spread 3/4 of brownie batter in pan. Spoon filling by tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter. Spoon remaining brownie batter over filling. For marbled design, pull knife through batter and filling in wide curves; turn pan and repeat.

3. Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until set. Cool completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until chilled. For brownies, cut with plastic knife into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Halloween Week: Monster Eyeballs

For day two of Halloween Week, behold: monster eyeballs.

Pay no attention to that guy on the left. He's a little...lazy.

These treats caught my eye because basically, they're nothing more than Buckeyes with miniature M&Ms stuck in the top to serve as the pupils. Buckeyes are my favorite holiday dessert without question, so I'll take any opportunity to get a jump on eating them. (Here's a question: Are Buckeyes as popular a dessert outside of Ohio as they are within the state? I'm just wondering how much of their popularity here has to do with our football team.)

After I'd already assembled these, I thought how perfect it would have been to melt some white chocolate and paint that over the exposed peanut butter section. I think I may do that if I make these again to make them look even more like real, honest-to-goodness eyeballs. Regardless, these are an easy and irresistibly delicious treat.

Monster Eyeballs
source: Epicurious

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 (1-pound) package confectioners’ sugar (about 4 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
2 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening
1 (3-ounce) package miniature M&Ms

1. Blend the peanut butter with the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl.

2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with wax paper. Roll the peanut butter mixture by teaspoons into small balls and place on the baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up the eyeballs.

3. Put the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave-safe bowl and melt the chocolate in the microwave: Heat on high for 60 seconds, and then stir well. If it’s not quite smooth, heat in two or three 10-second bursts, stirring well after each burst. (Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate, stirring frequently, in a double boiler, over just-simmering water. Avoid overheating, which can cause chocolate to seize up into a stiff mass.)

4. Take the sheet of balls from the refrigerator; use a fork or a toothpick to dip each one most of the way into the chocolate, leaving a round or oval opening of undipped peanut butter on top. (This opening in the chocolate will be the cornea.) Hold each ball over the chocolate to catch the drips, and then return to the wax paper, cornea side up.

5. Place an M&M in the center of the peanut butter cornea to make an iris. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Store the eyeballs in the refrigerator or freezer and serve chilled.

Halloween Week: Vampire Cupcakes

Welcome to Halloween Week! This week I thought it would be fun to highlight some quick, easy, and festive Halloween desserts. Halloween is a holiday I'm enjoying a lot more now that I have a little one (and another little one on the way). Everything seems so fresh and fun again -- the candy, the pumpkin carving, the costumes.

For today's recipe, I present to you these vampire cupcakes that I actually made way back in September, for the finale of my favorite TV show, True Blood. How fun are these?! I adapted the recipe from Baking Bites, but made the cupcakes a lot simpler by using boxed cake mix and canned cream cheese frosting (something I probably wouldn't do again, since store-bought cream cheese frosting in no way compares to the real thing). I've never made a white cake from scratch that wasn't dry, but have always had good luck with boxed white cake mixes, and this time was no exception. The bloody cherry center helped make these nice and juicy, too. These cupcakes are delicious and festive, and would be a fabulous addition to any Halloween party.

Vampire Cupcakes
source: adapted from Baking Bites

1 box white cake mix
Oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 can cream cheese frosting (or make your own)
1 can cherry pie filling

1. Bake cupcakes according to directions on box. Cool.

2. Meanwhile, puree cherry pie filling in a blender until smooth.

3. Using a paring knife, cut a cone out of the center of each cooled cupcake. Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set circle aside to use later and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.

4. Spoon about tablespoon or so of the cherry pie filling into each cupcake cavity, filling it almost to the top. Top off with the flat circle of cake you just removed to seal the hole and hold the “blood” filling in place.

5. Frost cupcakes. Dip a wooden toothpick or skewer into some leftover cherry pie filling and poke two fang-holes, about 3/4 inch apart, in the frosting on one side of the cupcake. Dribble a little extra filling from the holes for effect. Repeat process with all cupcakes.

St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I've never been a big celebrator of this particular holiday (and when I say "celebrator," I mean I've never been one to go out to bars and drink green beer all day), but I'll take any excuse in the world to make some kind of festive treat!

The idea for these cupcakes came from the website Amazing Moms; I thought the idea of using Dots candies as shamrock leaves was so clever! I was going to decorate some of the cupcakes to look like the Irish flag using orange and green Dots, but I got tired of slicing candy after a while.

For the cupcakes, I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe -- Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" chocolate cake. The cream cheese frosting is my grandma's recipe, which is probably similar to most cream cheese frostings; the recipe is provided below. These cupcakes were so simple to decorate, and they're so incredibly moist and festive and delicious. Erin Go Bragh!

Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: my grandma

1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla. Add powdered sugar gradually, until frosting reaches spreading consistency and desired sweetness. If not using immediately, refrigerate.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

I printed out Southern Living's recipe for red velvet cheesecake ages ago and filed it away to bake sometime in the future, and like so many recipes it got lost in the shuffle. Thankfully, Peabody posted about it a couple of months ago and reminded me. I meant to make it for Christmas, but time got away from me, and again the recipe went to the back burner. And then Annie posted about it a few weeks ago, and then I just knew I had to make it. I decided it would be the perfect finish to our indulgent Valentine's Day dinner. And it definitely was.

If you like red velvet cake, there's no way you won't love this dessert. It tastes exactly like its more traditional counterpart, and the cream cheese just makes it all the more, well, velvety in texture. And the cream cheese frosting? Genius! And awfully delicious, too.

The bright red color makes this cheesecake so pretty and so dramatic. This dessert is definitely worthy of any special occasion. I think it's going to become an annual Valentine's Day thing in my house, because despite its richness, Joe still managed to eat quite a bit of it all on his own!

Red Velvet Cheesecake
Source: adapted from Southern Living via My Recipes

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

For the filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
2 (1-ounce) bottles red food coloring

For the frosting:
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish: cocoa powder

1. For the crust, stir together cookie crumbs, melted butter, and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; press mixture into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

2. For the filling, beat 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese and 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar at medium-low speed with an electric mixer 1 minute. Add eggs and next 6 ingredients, mixing on low speed just until fully combined. Pour batter into prepared crust.

3. Bake at 325° for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 300°, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until center is firm. Run knife along outer edge of cheesecake. Turn oven off. Let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Cover and chill 8 hours.

4. For the frosting, beat 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese and 1/4 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth; gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla, beating until smooth. Spread evenly over top of cheesecake. Remove sides of springform pan. Garnish, if desired.

Valentine's Day Dinner for Two

Joe and I have never been huge celebrators of Valentine's Day, but this year more than any other year I wanted to do something special for the two of us. I didn't really feel like going out to eat, because everyone does that on Valentine's Day, and anyway it was probably the worst night to try to find a babysitter for our little man. So I decided to make dinner for us at home. And I'm so glad I did; it was probably one of the best Valentine's Days we've ever spent.

We started out the meal with goblets of champagne with strawberries, and while everything was cooking we snacked on crusty sourdough bread dipped in olive oil and herbs:

I served a simple salad of baby spinach, strawberries and goat cheese, sprinkled with salt and pepper and dressed with store-bought strawberry balsamic vinaigrette (and FYI, this salad may sound simple, but it was sooooo delicious. Joe proclaimed that it is his new favorite salad, and I plan to serve it at our son's first birthday party in May):

I also made roasted asparagus that I slathered with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic powder and cooked in the oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. The other side dish was caramelized onion mashed potatoes. I prepared the onions just like I do for my French onion soup, then added them to mashed potatoes along with cream cheese, a touch of heavy cream, and a bit of butter. All that sweet onion flavor really came through in the potatoes, and the cream cheese made them so rich and creamy. They were so good!

For the main event, we had chicken breasts with champagne cream sauce (the recipe is below), which were very, very good. The flavor of the champagne really came through, and the shallots and mushrooms were such a nice addition to the sauce. Letting the chicken poach for a bit in the sauce made it so tender and juicy. Sorry the picture is so out of focus, but I was ready to start our romantic dinner for two!

Chicken Breasts in Champagne Cream Sauce
Source: adapted from Cooks.com

2 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
1 shallot, chopped
Half a package of fresh sliced button mushrooms
2/3 cup champagne
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Add chicken breasts to the pan and cook about 3 minutes on each side, until golden. Remove chicken to a plate; cover and keep warm.

2. Add the shallots and mushrooms to the skillet and cook until shallots are translucent. Pour in champagne and cook over medium high heat until it is reduced by about half. Add the cream and salt and cook until the sauce thickens slightly. Whisk in the butter. Add chicken back to the pan and cover so chicken can finish cooking in the sauce. Arrange chicken on plates and top with the sauce.

Sweet Strawberry Cookies with Chocolate Cream Filling

The first Valentine's Day that Joe and I spent as a couple was in 2001. I wasn't much of a baker at that time, but I still decided that I wanted to bake some cookies for Joe for Valentine's Day. I came across a recipe for some cookies called "pink pillows" that sounded simple to make and very tasty. It was the first time I'd ever tried to bake cookies without my mom's help.

Alas, because of my relative baking inexperience, I did not know about a little thing called "carry-over cooking." So when the 10 minutes were up and the cookies didn't look quite done, I just left them in the oven instead of taking them out to finish baking. I think I ended up baking one batch of cookies for 30 minutes. Ya'll, I was a novice.

I still remember Joe's face when he tried to bite into one of the cookies. (Yes, I still gave them to him. I knew the bottoms of the cookies were burnt to a crisp a little bit brown, but I thought they might still be all right.) But Joe could barely bite into them, they were so hard. When he finally got a bite off, I watched his face crinkle up as he mumbled, "They're delicious." I remember being so touched at his sweetness that I actually cried a little bit. Mostly, though, I think the tears were from sheer embarrassment.

Joe mentions those cookies every Valentine's Day and teases me about them mercilessly. I kept the recipe and I've been meaning to redeem myself for quite some time now. This year was the year.

To make the cookies more special, I decided to make little strawberry cookie sandwiches with chocolate cream filling in the middle. These cookies are such a sweet treat for Valentine's Day. These are very cakey cookies and don't spread when they're baking, so next time I think I'll flatten them before baking so they're not quite as thick. I do think they're awfully cute, though, as they are; they look like little scoops of strawberry ice cream. I doubled the cookie recipe, which gave me 25 cookie sandwiches.

I have officially redeemed myself. Joe loves these, and so do I. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Sweet Strawberry Cookies with Chocolate Cream Filling
Source: cookie recipe adapted from Meals.com; chocolate cream filling recipe from Baking Delights

For the cookies:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Nestle Nesquik Strawberry Flavor Powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs

For the filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
3 tablespoons sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375º.

2. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, Nesquik and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

4. While cookies are baking, prepare the filling. Cream butter and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Beat in melted chocolate and sugar, scraping down the sides as needed. Place filling in a plastic bag; snip one corner of the bag.

5. Pipe the filling onto the bottom side of 25 cookies. Top with the other 25 cookies, pressing cookies together firmly to adhere filling. Refrigerate.

Salty-Sweet Butterscotch Cookies

There are only a few types of Christmas treats that I make every year -- Buckeyes and Nutter Butter Santas being the two most notable examples. Generally I try to switch up the types of cookies I make each year, just to keep things interesting. And this year, the new cookies I've tried have really been wonderful. And the cookies I'm sharing with you today are no exception.

These cookies have a fabulous texture and the perfect balance of flavors. They're nutty and salty and sweet in equal parts. If you like the flavor of butterscotch but want an alternative to oatmeal scotchies, if you like nuts in cookies but you're sick of using the same old walnuts, this cookie is for you. I know I'm posting this kind of late, but seriously, if you're still baking for Christmas (like I am; I'll be in the kitchen again tonight), I would strongly encourage you to give these a try!

(Also: Since this recipe calls for less than a cup of cashews, I didn't want to buy an entire tub because they're just too expensive! So I went to our local convenience store and picked up a couple of the individual serving-sized packages. It was the perfect amount!)

Salty-Sweet Butterscotch Cookies

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 cup coarsely chopped salted dry roasted cashews
2/3 cup butterscotch-flavor pieces

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in cashews and butterscotch pieces.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool. Makes about 48 cookies

Egg Nog Cream Cheese Ice Cream Pie

This recipe comes from Fun Foods on a Budget, one of my very favorite food blogs. I love Stephanie's food philosophy, and her blog is always full of scrumptious recipes that aren't expensive to make. When I saw this pie, I knew I had to make it. After all, it combines my culinary love (cream cheese) with my husband's favorite holiday drink (egg nog).

Stephanie calls this the most delicious frozen pie she's ever tasted, and I have to say that I agree with her. This pie is ohhhh so good. We both loved it. And what's even better is that it literally took three minutes to make. It's so creamy and decadent and rich; I just can't rave enough about it. Definitely try this one! I didn't make my own crust (a graham cracker pie shell works just fine for this), but I've included Stephanie's crust recipe below. Warm mulled cranberries would be delicious on top of this, and would make it a perfect holiday dessert!

Egg Nog Cream Cheese Ice Cream Pie

Source: Fun Foods on a Budget

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons melted margarine or butter

For the filling:

1 package cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup eggnog

1/2 cup butter pecan ice cream, softened

1. Combine crust ingredients and press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.

2. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggnog and ice cream. Pour into crust and freeze until firm. Remove from freezer 10 to 15 minutes before slicing to soften the pie. Return any uneaten portion to the freezer.

Nutter Butter Santas

Joe's grandma makes these adorable little treats for her Christmas Eve feast every year, and a couple of years ago I asked her for the "recipe." I thought these would be the perfect snack to take to work for my coworkers during the holiday season; they require very little effort, but they're so yummy and festive. Who can resist a Nutter Butter by itself, let alone one covered with white chocolate, sparkly sugar and chocolate chips? No one, that's who. My coworkers love these, and they've come to expect them every year. I'm happy to oblige; these take no time at all to put together! (And as you can tell from the picture below, I couldn't resist snacking on one of them this year!)


Grandma D's Nutter Butter Santas

2 packages white baking chocolate, chopped
1 package Nutter Butter sandwich cookies
red colored sugar
32 white chocolate chips
64 miniature sweet or semisweet chocolate chips
32 red hot candies

1. In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt white chocolate, stirring occasionally.

2. Dip one end of each cookie into melted chocolate. Place on wire racks. For Santa's hat, sprinkle red sugar on top part of chocolate. Place one white chocolate chip off-center on hat for pom-pom; let stand until set.

3. Dip other end of each cookie into melted chocolate for beard, leaving center of cookie uncovered. Place on wire racks.

4. With a dab of melted chocolate, attach semisweet chips for eyes and a red hot for nose.

5. Place on waxed paper until chocolate sets.

Buried Cherry Cookies

I've never been a huge fan of chocolate-covered cherries, but it turns out that if you take out that white creamy stuff inside and plop a chocolate cookie underneath, I actually love them. Who knew? This is another cookie for our holiday bakesale at work, and let me just say this: It's a good thing I only had to bring a dozen of them and that the recipe makes 40 cookies, because I just can't seem to get enough of these. They're absolutely succulent, and so cute too! To me, this is the type of cookie that epitomizes Christmas: decadent and irresistible, the kind of treat that just makes you happy. These are awfully rich, so be sure to have a tall glass of milk nearby. (And I'm already scheming about other ways to use this technique; you could put caramel and pecans inside instead of cherries to make a turtle cookie, or put a dollop of peanut butter mixed with vanilla and powdered sugar under the frosting and have a buckeye cookie! The possibilities are endless, and delicious.)

Buried Cherry Cookies

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries (42 to 48)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk or low-fat sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain cherries, reserving juice. Halve any large cherries. In a medium mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in cocoa powder and as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press your thumb into the center of each ball. Place a cherry in each center.

3. For frosting, in a small saucepan combine chocolate pieces and sweetened condensed milk. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons reserved cherry juice. (If necessary, frosting may be thinned with additional cherry juice.) Spoon 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover.

4. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes 42 to 48 cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cranberry and white chocolate is another one of those classic recipe combinations, and it's one that I absolutely love. The balance of sweet and tart is just so wonderful. I've had this particular recipe bookmarked for quite a while, and a Christmas cookie exchange at work gave me the perfect opportunity to try them. And I love them. And the best part? You can eat them for breakfast! They're just like a granola bar, with the oats and the dried fruit. (Okay...I am totally just trying to justify the fact that I had three of them this morning. So sue me.) I added a few ingredients to the cookies which worked very well, and they're reflected below in purple.


Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Source: Allrecipes

2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 1/4 cups dried cranberries
2/3 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate (I used a full cup of white chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add vanilla. Combine oats, flour, salt, baking soda and orange zest; stir into butter mixture one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate.

3. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Christmas Cookies

Oh, food blog, how I have neglected thee. Thanksgiving came and went, and I did some cooking, and my dad's 60th birthday party came and went, and I did some cooking for that, but nothing seems to have made it up here lately.

So. I feel like if I post this (because writing anything on one of my blogs is like writing it in stone, of course), I will actually buckle down and force myself to get baking. Yes, I am totally in denial that Christmas is almost here. Without further ado, here is the list of Christmas cookies you can keep an eye out for coming up soon:

• oatmeal cranberry white chocolate chunk cookies
• tiramisu cheesecake bars
• buried cherry cookies
• grasshopper squares
• Mom's Buckeyes
• Irish creme delights
• salty-sweet butterscotch cookies
• oatmeal cinnamon chip cookies

I have some other holiday desserts planned, too, plus some baking to do for a co-worker who just had his first baby, but I think if I pace myself I'll be fine. Look for the first two recipes on Monday, since I've committed to baking two dozen cookies for our holiday cookie exchange at work.

Yummy Mummy Cheese "Ball"

My experience with cheeseballs has been that, at most parties, they sort of just...sit there, ignored in favor of something fancier or more scrumptious. Whenever I've taken a cheeseball to a party or family gathering in the past, there's always at least half of it left over. That is, until I took this particular cheeseball to a Halloween potluck at work two years ago. This one definitely got eaten, and it won me first prize (a cheap little witch flashlight that cackled) in our Most Festive Dish contest to boot.

I was inspired by this recipe from Taste of Home, but I decided to swap out the port wine cheese logs in favor of my go-to cheeseball recipe (the ingredients of which looked more like the mummy's guts, muahahaha). This is delicious, and so much fun to eat at Halloween!


Yummy Mummy Cheese "Ball"
Source: inspired by Taste of Home, cheese ball recipe by Cassie

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup green onions, chopped fine
1 small jar pimientos, drained and chopped (reserve 1 pimiento strip)
3/4 cup sliced corned beef (Buddig brand works best)
Dash hot sauce
1 tablespoon milk
2 peppercorns

1. In a large bowl, combine 2 packages of the cream cheese with the cheddar cheese. Stir in onions, pimientos, corned beef and hot sauce. Wearing disposable, latex-free gloves, shape the cheese mixture into pieces for the head, body, arms and legs of the mummy and arrange on a serving plate.

2. Combine the third package of cream cheese with the milk. Place in a plastic storage bag and nip the tip to create a make-shift pastry bag. Pipe rows of cream cheese across the mummy, creating bandages. Add peppercorns for eyes and the pimiento strip for mouth. Chill until serving.

Strawberry Margarita Cake

¡Olé! My office celebrated cinco de mayo on Friday with a Mexican-themed potluck, complete with tacos and fajitas and all the fixins. I knew I wanted to make something, but I kind of had a lot going on last week and I didn't want to commit to anything too labor-intensive (such as the margarita cheesecake I originally signed up to make...I didn't really feel like messing with a "water bath" or any such thing; I'll have to save that one for another time).

Betty Crocker to the rescue! On the very day I needed to do my shopping for the potluck, I got my weekly e-mail from Betty Crocker, which included a recipe for strawberry margarita cake. I couldn't think of a thing that sounded more delicious and festive, and it looked really low-maintenance. And, it was alcohol-free...which meant that little old pregnant me would be able to enjoy it, too.

I'm so glad I decided to go with this recipe! It was so simple to make; I'd forgotten how convenient boxed cake mixes can be sometimes. Everyone at work raved about how delicious this cake was, and it was gone before I could even get picture of it! It offered the perfect balance of sweetness from the strawberry margarita mix and tartness from the lime zest, and it was really moist, just like the cake mix box promised! A definite winner, and one I'll probably be going back to every cinco de mayo!


Strawberry Margarita Cake
Source, recipe and photo: Betty Crocker

3/4 cup bottled strawberry-flavored non-alcoholic margarita drink mix
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix
Vegetable oil and egg whites called for on cake mix box
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
1 container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Strawberries, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350° (325° for dark or nonstick pan). Grease (or lightly spray with cooking spray) bottom only of 13 x 9-inch pan. Add enough water to drink mix to measure 1 1/4 cups.

2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, drink mix, oil and egg whites on low speed 2 minutes. Pour into pan. Bake and cool as directed on box.

3. Gently stir peel into whipped topping; spread over top of cake. Garnish with strawberries, if desired. Store covered in refrigerator.