Candy Cane Blossoms

Too darn cute. I am the first to admit that I am a sucker for cute packaging and anything "Holiday themed" as evidenced in earlier posts. I saw these candy can kisses hit my local CVS right after Halloween. Normally I would have made some gripe about it being too early to put out Christmas Candy, but since they were so cute, I bought a bag and put it in my pantry to be saved until today. I made my own colored sugar which is much more affordable than buying it. UPDATE: I posted this recipe again with a few additional tips and sprinkle ideas. Candy Cane Blossoms 1 bag Hershey;s Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 egg 2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 tablespoons milk Red and Green colored sugar Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Shape dough into 1 inch balls.

Santa Hat Party Mix - Cookies and Cups This past weekend my husband and I got together with some friends and had a game night. Game nights are fun, aren’t they? Aren’t they? Well, they are supposed to be fun. Until… Men vs. Apparently as a married adult it gets all kindergarten on game nights. When you are in elementary school it’s always boys vs. girls. The sexes seem to come together in the mid teens through your twenties when you are wearing love goggles and you play “couples”. After you have been married for a while, you squeegee the steam off the goggles and it’s all boys vs. girls again. It all seems like good fun when the games start. Then, slowly but surely, the tide starts to turn. It would be remiss of me not to mention that I was on the losing side of the tide. Sometimes it happens like that. It would also be remiss of me not to tell you that this was a rematch. We have lost before. Losing is not so much fun. Especially when you were the ones that called for the rematch. We just knew that the first loss was a…fluke, if you will.

Picky Palate Glorious Treats » Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes This week my husband asked if I could make some Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes for him to bring into work. My husband’s co-workers are often the recipients of my baking trials and triumphs, and always seem more than happy to eat my “experiments”. My husband doesn’t often put in special requests, so I was glad to cater to him and sent him to work today with a dozen Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes. My husband’s work shift starts at 6am and he called me later in the morning to let me know the cupcake were gone by about 6:10am! The recipe is just a tiny variation of the Chocolate Cupcake and Cream Cheese Frosting recipes I’ve posted before, but I’ll add them here to save you a couple clicks. Perfect Chocolate Cupcakes (makes 24-27 standard sized cupcakes) ~ Directions ~ *Line muffin tin with paper liners. Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting ~ Directions ~ *Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Happy Baking!

Chocolate Chip Lava Cookies I am so in love with these darn chocolate lava cookies! What is it about a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie stuffed with decadent, rich, melted chocolate that makes it so irresistible?? Especially when topped with vanilla ice cream. All you really need for these fabulous cookies is your favorite cookie dough and a bag of chocolate chips. Since these cookies are absolutely gushing with delicious rich chocolate, my favorite chocolate chips for this recipe are the Hersey’s Milk Chocolate chips. Now let’s make some chocolate lava cookies! Place the flattened cookie dough in the bottom of a well-greased standard sized muffin tin. Now for our gooey, rich milk chocolate filling. Lay the Ziploc bag flat in the microwave, spreading out the chocolate chips in a single layer. Cut a small tip off the Ziploc bag and layer over the cookies. Heaven help me. Scoop and flatten the remaining dough, and place on top of your lava cookies. Now here’s how I like my cookies. Mama mia. 1. 2. 3.