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Fudge

I just love Fudge! It’s one of my favorite holiday treats. I make it every year in December. The only thing about fudge, I like chocolate and my husband likes peanut butter. Actually, wait, that’s not a problem. I get to eat all the chocolate fudge myself. Well, this year, I don’t. My 7yr old discovered my fudge and she likes it too. And of course, she prefers the chocolate.

I’ve played with my recipe over the years, and finally found something that I like. It’s easy, virtually fail-proof, and tastes great!

Chocolate Fudge

2 Cups Sugar
2/3 Cups Milk
1 8oz jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (I used half semi- sweet and half dark chocolate)

1. Grease a 9×9 cake pan with unsalted butter. Set aside.

2. Combine sugar and milk in a pan on the stove. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture reaches 236 degrees F (soft ball stage). Stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallow creme, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips until completely combined.

4. Pour into a greased 9X9 pan and let cool.

Super easy.

fudge

Peanut Butter Fudge

2 Cups Sugar
2/3 Cups Milk
1 8oz jar marshmallow creme
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter (I use creamy because no one in my family likes chunks, use chunky if you want the little peanut pieces in your fudge)

1. Grease a 9×9 cake pan with unsalted butter. Set aside.

2. Combine sugar and milk in a pan on the stove. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture reaches 236 degrees F (soft ball stage). Stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat and stir in marshmallow creme, vanilla extract, and peanut butter until completely combined.

4. Pour into a greased 9X9 pan and let cool.

That was easy, wasn’t it? Actually, it’s the same recipe just with the chocolate and peanut butter swapped out.

Want something a little different? Feel free to add nuts or other non-melting mix-ins to your fudge. Or swap out that 1 cup of peanut butter for something else melty or creamy and see what happens.

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Graham Cracker Houses

Instead of gingerbread houses – which are way too much work with kids – we make graham cracker houses.

We invite a bunch of friends over and make graham cracker houses. I usually build a bunch of houses the morning before the party so they’re dry and ready for candy when the kids arrive.

Ingredients

Graham crackers
Powdered Sugar
Water
Candy or other toppings of your choice

Small candy’s are best. Red hots, mini pretzels, mini candy canes, grated coconut, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc.

For the icing/cement I mix two cups of powdered sugar, and 1 Tbsp of water. Add more powdered sugar or water as needed to get a thick spreading consistency. I like to put my icing in a plastic sandwich bag, cut a tiny hole in one corner, and then pipe the icing out. The kids prefer to mix it in a bowl and then use a spoon to spread the icing everywhere – including their houses.

Graham cracker houses are really easy, and a great holiday party idea if you have kids (or if you just like playing with candy and icing)

Here’s my house.

Side of my house

One of the kids houses. It looks like a tent to me. They made many other houses as well. The party is always so much fun. Just warn parents ahead of time that there will be lots and lots of sugar! I always make a couple crockpots of chili and meat balls so there is protein to balance out some of the sugar.

And, a melting house. This batch of icing was a tad thin and ended up slipping but I think it looks pretty cool!

And, as a plus, these houses are just as much fun to eat as they are to make!

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Corn Pudding Recipe

corn

One of my favorite holiday recipes is Corn Pudding. With eggs, butter, and whipping cream, how could it not be! This is a favorite among all my guests and I rarely have leftovers. People will return for seconds and thirds.

Corn Pudding
Cook time: 50 minutes  Oven Temp: 350  Servings: 8-10

1/3         cup sugar

3              Tbsp. flour

2              tsp. baking powder

2              tsp. salt

1              tsp. cumin

2              cups whipping cream

½             cup butter, melted

6              extra large eggs, beaten

2              pkg. frozen golden sweet corn

  1. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and cumin together. Combine the cream and butter in a bowl and stir until blended. Stir in the eggs. Add the sugar mixture gradually, stirring constantly until combined. Stir in the corn.
  2. Pour into a buttered 9 X 13 inch or 2qt baking dish.
  3. Bake at 350 for 60 to 90 minutes or until the center is firm and the top is golden brown. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. I find that if it’s alone in the oven it takes 60 minutes. If there’s other items in the oven (which is usually the case for holiday cooking) then it takes closer to 90 minutes to set. Make sure you cook until the center is set. Runny corn pudding is not good.
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Sweet Potato Casserole

Potato

This is one of my favorite holiday recipes. Something I make for my family year after year. And something they request year after year.

Even my kids who won’t normally eat sweet potatoes gobble this up as fast as I can serve it to them!

Sweet Potato Casserole

Oven temp:350   Cook time:45min

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 stick butter (softened)

1 tsp vanilla

1 large can sweet potatoes (you can also bake 4 medium sweet potatoes, remove the skins, and use them instead of the caned potatoes)

Topping

1/3 C melted butter

1/3 C flour

1 C brown sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

 

  1. Whip ingredients until fluffy.
  2. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top
  3. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
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Turkey Cupcakes

turkeys

Many thanks to Airheads and Smiley 360 for the awesome free box of Airhead candy to make some fun holiday snacks with!

This project was way easier than it looks! Even the kids made some.

With Thanksgiving coming up, my thoughts turn to turkeys. And even the best roasted turkey isn’t as sweet as these.

Turkey Cupcakes

Cupcakes of your choice. I just made a box mix.
Icing of your choice. I just used the pre-made icing
blue, orange, and red Airheads
1 bag of Airheads bites
1 bag of Airheads Xtremes

Bake, cool, and ice your cupcakes.

imgresHead: Open your bag of Airhead Bites.

Eyes: Open your blue airhead and cut off two tiny pieces. Roll them between your fingers into tiny balls and press them onto an Airhead bite for the eyes.

Beak: Open your orange airhead and cut of a small piece. Roll it into a ball and then make one end pointy for the beak, press this onto the airhead bite.

Gobbler: Open your red airhead and cut a small strip off the top edge. Fold it in half to make it a little thicker, press together, and then press onto the bottom of your airhead bite under your beak.

Set your turkey head in the middle of your cupcake.

imagesTail: Open your airhead Xtremes and cut off a piece about 1 1/2 inches long. Using a pair of clean kitchen scissors carefully cut between the colors. DO NOT cut all the way to the end of your Xtreme piece. Leave about 1/4 inch uncut at the end.

Fan open your colorful tail feathers and place the 1/4 inch uncut edge right behind your turkey head on the cupcake.

And, you have an adorable, tasty, turkey cupcake.

As a side note, I put these in a cake holder overnight and the moisture from the icing “melted” the candy a little bit so if you make these the day before, you’re going to want to refrigerate them overnight or wait and put the turkeys on at the last minute.

I received this product free for purposes of my post, all opinions are my own.

 

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Meringue Ghosts

ghosts

For a fun and delicious Halloween treat, try these cute little ghost meringues.

I just love meringues! For starters, most people with any kind of food allergy can eat these. They’re remarkably popular items anywhere I serve them, for this very reason. There’s no nuts, gluten, or dairy. Unless someone has an egg allergy you’re probably safe serving these to anyone.

I also like to whip up a batch whenever I have egg whites left over from another baking project. If I make pudding, pudding only needs egg yokes so I’ll save the whites and make meringues next, for an easy treat.

Meringue Ghosts

3 egg whites – room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Heat oven to 250 F.

I prefer to use a stand mixer for these because beating up these egg whites takes a LOT of beating!

Beat egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.

Gradually add in sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pipe meringue batter onto the pan. I just put my batter in a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the end. Pipe out a bunch of ghosts. You can put them pretty close together because they do not expand while cooking so you can fit a lot on one pan.

Place cookies in preheated oven and cook for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let set in the oven for 2 more hours. (this is so you get crunchy meringues).

Use a food-safe marker to draw on eyes and a mouth.

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Monster Pretzels

pretzel

These are so easy to make. And so fun to make! My girls helped me with these and they opted not to put any of the halloween sprinkles on, but insisted on using hearts instead!

Any way you do it, have fun! They taste great too, so make a bunch, because if you don’t you’ll wish you had.

Pretzel Monsters

  • Bag (or two) of Chocolate covered pretzels – I just buy the cheapest chocolate covered pretzels I can find at the grocery store
  • Candy making chocolate in various colors – green and orange are great monster colors!
  • Assorted sprinkles

Spread parchment paper out on 2 cookie sheets.

Spread pretzels out on sheets in a single layer.

Melt the candy chocolate in a ziploc bag in the microwave. Microwave 15 to 30 seconds, mix and repeat until chocolate is smooth.

Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and pipe into the top two sections of the pretzel. Immediately, add a large sprinkles for the eyes. (this is a great part for the kids, you pipe, and they stick on the sprinkles)

Let cool, remove from the tray, and enjoy.

I like to just set out a bowl of these on the counter when guests come over. They’re fun and so tasty!

 

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Monster Cupcakes

I decided to do something fun and easy with the kids for Halloween. They had so much fun making these monster cupcakes, and even more fun eating them!

For something fun and different, I made ice cream cone cupcakes. It’s super easy. Just mix up any cake mix following the package directions and fill your ice cream cones about 1/2 full. Bake as directed on the cake mix box and let cool before icing.

IMG_1911

 

I whipped up some buttercream icing, dyed it green, and piped it on. I gave them mini-marshmallows for eyes and triangle sprinkles for teeth. They ended up just sprinkling everything on top instead of creating the monsters I had envisioned, but they still ended up looking like some pretty awesome monsters with eyes all over.

IMG_1915

 

We had so much fun making these, and they were tasty as well.

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Food Fridays – Doughnut Holes

I realize that doughnut holes are not my usual vegetable recipe, but I’m on vacation this week and in the spirit of goofing off, I’m sharing my favorite doughnut hole recipe.

doughnut

Doughnuts

  • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
  • 3/8 cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons shortening
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 quart oil for deep frying
  • 1 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

  1. Stir the vinegar into the milk, and let stand for a few minutes until thick.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture alternating with the vinegar and milk. Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/3 inch thickness. Cut into doughnuts using a doughnut cutter or other round cutter. Let stand for about 10 minutes.
  3. Heat the oil in a large deep skillet to 375 degrees F. Fry doughnuts in the hot oil until golden, turning over once. Drain on paper towels. Dust with powdered sugar while they are still warm, and serve immediately.

Topping Variations

  1. Mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp cocoa powder, and 1 to 3 Tbsp water (until you get the consistency you want). Ice your doughnuts with this and dip in sprinkles if desired – my 6yr old iced all her own doughnuts!
  2. Mix 1 Tbsp cocoa powder in 1 cup powdered sugar – stir this really well. Roll your fresh doughnut holes in this instead of the plain powdered sugar.
  3. Mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 3 Tbsp water (more if needed) to make a thin glaze. Dip or roll your fresh doughnut holes in this and set on a cooling rack to dry.

Just in case you were curious. Here’s what I used to cut out my doughnut holes!

 

IMG_1167

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Food Fridays – Spaghetti Squash

spaghettisquash

Making “pasta” with spaghetti squash is surprisingly easy!

Baked Spaghetti Squash

1 medium to large spaghetti squash
1 Tbsp oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Spaghetti sauce of your choice

Cut your squash in half. Using a spoon scrape out the seeds and center of your squash. Place squash inside up in a pan. Brush with oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Bake in a 450 oven for 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cook for a few minutes. Take a fork and shred your squash. It turns into “spaghetti”.

Top with your favorite sauce and toppings.