Glazed Fruitcake Truffle Bars

 Fruitcake, if done right, is always such a dense and chewy bread that even one slice can get pretty overwhelming. This recipe takes all of the great flavors of fruit cake and turns it into little bite size truffle, slathered with a bourbon glaze!

 Ingredients:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

1 bag chopped fruitcake mix (candied cherries, etc)

1/4 cup minced crystallized ginger

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon butter, melted

4 teaspoons bourbon or brandy (plus 2 tsp. bourbon for glaze)

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs. milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8x8 baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, ground cloves and brown sugar together. Add in the walnuts, fruitcake mix, ginger, egg, butter and 4 tsp. bourbon and stir with a spatula until everything is combined well. Spread into your prepared pan and smooth out the top while pressing down.

Bake for 38-40 minutes until the edges are golden brown. It may still look or act gooey, but it is fully cooked and will firm up while cooling. Let cool in the pan for ten minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to continue cooling. 

When the fruitcake is fully cool, cut 1 inch strips in one direction as shown above. Then cut again in the opposite direction to make 1 inch cubes. Place in a candy paper baking cup or mini cupcake liner. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and 2 tsp. bourbon and stir. Slowly add the milk in until you have a pouring consistency yet still slightly firm. With a pastry brush, brush the tops of the fruitcake truffles and decorate with edible glitter.

Christmas Meringue Trees

 

Any edible Christmas tree? Come on....you can't pass these up! They are light and fluffy, as a meringue should be, with that great crunch on the outside. There is also a slight hint of almond from the extract that sends these trees over the edge!

Ingredients:

4 egg whites, room temperature
1 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
2 "dots" green food coloring
1/8 tsp. almond extract
Sprinkles (and stars for a tree topper)

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. With the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in an electric mixer for around 5 minutes until peaks start to form. Add the almond extract and green coloring and whip for another minute or so.

 Using a star tip, pipe the mini trees using a piping bag, about two inches high. Make sure they are an inch apart (they don't grow as they bake). Add your sprinkles and stars and bake for two hours. Turn the oven off and let them sit for another two hours with cracking the door just slightly. Serve or store in an airtight container.

Ginger Cookies

I love gingersnap cookies during the holiday seasons. The only part I do hate about them though is that they are really crunchy, and not chewy, unless you dunk them in something to drink. This ginger cookie recipes is chewy and soft on the inside with all of the great flavors of gingerbread cookies.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. vegetable shortening
1/4 c. molasses
1 c. sugar (plus more to roll in)
1 egg
2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
*Optional, candy coating or white chocolate

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In an electric mixer, beat the shortening, molasses and sugar together until a paste forms. Add in the eggs. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients until the dough starts to pull away from the mixing bowl slightly.

Roll the dough into one inch balls and place on a plate that has granulated sugar on it. Roll the dough in sugar and place on your prepared baking sheet around 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes, let sit for at least one minute on the baking sheet, and then let cool fully on a wire rack.

If your plan is to make these look  more colorful for a Christmas cookie plate, like mine is, you might decide to dip the cookies in some colorful melted chocolate! I melted yellow candy coating in a double boiler and dipped a small part of the cookie in it, and then sprinkled some yellow edible glitter on top!

This recipe makes around 5-5 1/2 dozen. 

Pistachio Cookies

Ingredients:

1 stick margarine, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 egg
3 tsp. grated lemon peel
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 drops green food coloring
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. finely chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In an electric mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar together until smooth. Add in the egg, lemon peel, vanilla and green food coloring. Slowly add in the dry ingredients until the dough starts coming away from the mixing bowl. Place saran wrap on a work surface and sprinkle with the shopped pistachios. Divide the dough in half. Roll the dough into log shapes covering in the pistachios. Cover in the wrap and freeze for at least a half an hour. Cut into 1/4 inch slices and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes until the bottom is golden brown. Cool for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully.

Rustic Andes Cookies

 

This cookie screams Christmas to me. They may be rustic in style, but they taste like a cross between flaky pie crust and a soft cookie, and filled with Andes mint pieces! And why not dip the sides of them in a melted candy cane chocolate coating?

Ingredients:

3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 box Andes Mints, wrappers removed, and roughly chopped
*Optional, Wilton, Candy Cane Candy Melts

Preheat the oven to 400 Degrees. In an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until a paste forms. Add in the egg and vanilla. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Add the chopped up Andes mints and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Take about a tablespoon of the dough into your hand and roll into a ball. Place on the parchment paper and then with the palm of your hand, flatten the dough out. The dough will remain in this shape after cooking, so go as rustic as you want, but remember that I will not spread or change shape at all. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottom is golden brown. Let sit on the cookie sheet for a minute before removing to a wire rack and letting cool fully.

*Optional: In a double boiler I melted the candy coating and just dipped one half of the cookies "edge" into it. I placed them back on the parchment lined baking sheet and froze until the chocolate was set. The candy cane coating has red glittery flakes in it which adds a nice touch of color for a Christmas cookie plate!

Cranberry Custard

Cranberry dessert recipes sometimes scare me because you aren't sure if it is going to end up really tart and sour or mellow out in the cooking process. I also added lemon zest on top of the cranberries, which made me even more nervous about the combination of this dessert. It turned out tart like a lemon bar and the cranberries ended up adding a sweet note to the custard. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. flour
2 eggs
2/3 c. heavy cream
1 c. sugar
2 c. chopped cranberries (or halved)
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 6 ramekins in the bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan. In a small bowl, mix the chopped cranberries, lemon zest and sugar together. Evenly spread out between the 6 ramekins. In a medium size bowl, whisk the flour, eggs and heavy cream together. Pour on top of the cranberry mixture. Very carefully (I use a Pyrex measuring cup with spout on the end) pour water half way up the sides of the ramekins in the baking pan (do NOT get the water into the custard! It will cook unevenly). Bake in the oven for 28-30 minutes until the custard is set. Let cool slightly before diving in!

Roasted Cranberries and Grapes

Who could eat Thanksgiving dinner without a classic cranberry sauce? Am I right? Actually....I could skip all of the cranberry sauces and eat an entire bowl of this! The berries are so juicy and tender, and adding grapes? Get out of here!

Ingredients:

12 oz. fresh cranberries
2 c. seedless red or black grapes
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 rosemary sprigs
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar

Preheat the oven on broil (yes, broil!). Line a baking sheet with tinfoil. In a large bowl, mix the berries, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, olive oil and red wine vinegar together, tossing to coat. Pour out onto the prepared pan and top with two sprigs of rosemary. Broil for 4 minutes until the grapes and cranberries start to pop and become tender. Let cool before serving. I liked the dish better cold and refrigerated overnight. 

Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookie Cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

Dark chocolate cake mix (along with the water, oil and eggs called for)
2 tsp. coffee extract
Mini chocolate chip cookies (24)
1 1/2 c. Sugar Cookie Crumble from the "Bark" recipe
1 container cream cheese frosting

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two 12 count muffin tins with paper liners. Mix the cake mix, water, oil, eggs and coffee extract in a large bowl with a whisk until fully combined. Divide among the 24 cups. Place a mini cookie in the center of the batter, and push down slightly. Bake for the 19+ minutes that are called for on your cake mix box. Let cool fully on a wire rack when they come out of the oven.

Meanwhile combine the frosting and 1 c. of the sugar cookie crumble. Place in a piping bag with a larger circle tip on top (in case some of the cookie crumble is still in larger chunks). Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle the remaining cookie crumble on top. 

Dark Chocolate Mint Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. dark chocolate cocoa powder
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. coffee extract
2 sticks butter, softened
2 eggs
Nestle mint and chocolate chips (entire bag)
Christmas sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In an electric mixer, combine the sugars, coffee extract and butter together. Add the eggs and continue to mix. Slowly add the dry ingredients until everything is combined well, turn down to low, and mix in the Nestle mint and chocolate chips. Place by tablespoon size on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with holiday sprinkles. Bake for 8-11 minutes until the inside is soft and fluffy, and fully cooked. Cool on a wire rack.

Sugar Cookie Bark

This recipe was adapted from the original recipe which can be found at the blog   Sprinkle Bakes. 

If you aren't following her blog, you should be. Her work is AMAZING and I hope to have the time some day to make cooking and baking more of a priority and focal point of my life. Since her recipe is fool proof, I am just leaving a link to her recipe instead of re-posting it on here.

Instead of the sprinkles, I used red and green coarse sugar. This recipe is very easy to make and they look so darn cute when you are done!

Candy Cane Pretzel Bark

 

This is one of the easiest ways to make a chocolate bark for the Holidays. So easy in fact, that most of the explanation on how to make it can be solved with one picture.....

You place a single layer of candy melts (in this case candy cane flavored) on the bottom of the Wilton candy mold. Microwave for two minutes at 50% power (30 second intervals at 50% if further melting is needed). Remove from the microwave and tap the mold onto the counter a few times to smooth out the top.

I added chopped candy cane Hershey's Kisses and pretzel pieces scattered on top. Place in the refrigerator to set for at least 20 minutes. Remove carefully from the mold and store in an airtight container or freeze.

Mini Cranberry-Date Pies

Ingredients:

1 pre-made pie crust (from 15 oz. pkg.)
1 c. chopped dates
3/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbs. water

In a small saucepan, combine the dates, cranberries and sugar and cook on medium heat until slightly thickened (2-3 minutes). Set aside to cool slightly. Unroll the pie crust and thin out with a rolling pin. Using a small round biscuit or cookie cutter ( about 2 inch diameter) cut out circles. Keep re-rolling the dough out until you don't have enough to work with anymore and roll out. Place 1 tsp. filling in the center of the pie dough circle and fold the dough over. Pinch the edges together and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Using a fork, press the edges again to make sure the dough is sealed. Spray the tops of the dough with non stick cooking spray, and sprinkle with coarse sugar or sprinkles. Bake for 11-13 minutes until the bottom is golden brown. Let cool before serving or storing.

Spritz Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
green food coloring

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer. Add the egg and extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients until everything is well combined. Add a few drops of green food coloring until it is the shade of green that you want. Place in a cookie press with a tree shaped  stencil and press onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Add sprinkles. Bake for 9-11 minutes until the edges are slightly golden brown.

Cravin' Craisin Pineapple Bread

Ingredients:

3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 eggs
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Craisins
1/2 c. sunflower seeds (I used chocolate covered)
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. canola oil
1 can crushed pineapple in juice (20 oz.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine the flour, salt and the next 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Beat eggs in an electric mixer until foamy. Add in the sugar, oil and vanilla beating until well combined. Stir into the flour mixture with a spatula. Add the pineapple, Craisins and sunflower seeds. Divide into 6 mini bread pans (or I used even smaller to make 12 very small, and 2 mini. Bake mini bread pans for 45 minutes (or 35 for the smaller ones) until the sides are golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool fully before storing.