Not-So-Secret Family Recipes
You know I love food. So, of course, this time of year is my favorite for testing out new recipes. I tried some good and some bad this year. I thought I'd share some of this year's best recipes!
1. CAKE BALLS. I shared these in a previous blog post (link to recipe). A few readers have told me that you made them too and they were a hit. For Christmas I found the BEST flavor combination yet. They were orange cake with vanilla icing with chocolate (chips) as the coating. I happen to love orange & chocolate together so for me they were amazing. For those of you making them, I did learn to freeze the cake/icing batter BEFORE forming it into balls and then it scoops much easier and with less mess.
(this is not a photo of MY cake balls, by the way. I wish mine looked that pretty):
2. PRETZEL HUGS. I make these only because with 2 small kids, my "real" baking days are over for awhile. These are just super easy and fun to make with Keegan; he does much of the work.
Take pretzels (I use the square ones with the grids but twists work too) and put them on a cookie sheet. Put one Hershey's HUG on top of each one (unwrapped, of course). Let them bake at 200 degrees for around 7 minutes. Remove them from the oven and then put 2 M&Ms on top of each one. They will take a long time to set. You can use holiday colored M&Ms to keep it festive for whatever holiday they are being made for. Voila! It's not life changing but it's a great recipe if you have small kids that want to help in the kitchen.
3. PUFF-PASTRY WRAPPED BRIE
Ding, ding, ding!! This recipe was a winner! I will most definitely be making this again. The original recipe is from Pepperidge Farm but we added the part about the preserves.
Unfold a defrosted puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Place an 8oz brie cheese round (with the white skin still on it) in the center. Spread apricot preserves all over the top (this was what we added to the original recipe- trust me on this). Bring the corners up around the brie and squeeze together to seal. In a separate bowl, beat an egg with 1 TBSP water. Brush the seams of the pastry with it. Then place it, seams-down, in a baking dish. Brush with the rest of the egg mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Then let it set for 20 min before serving. We served ours with Wheat Thins but you could use any kind of cracker you like. DELICIOUS.
4. CHEX MUDDY BUDDIES. This was the last thing I made. Like I said, cooking with small kids has really taken a toll on what I can make. No beautiful lace cookies or anything fancy like that until they are grown up and moved out! Most of you have already had this before, but here it is in case you haven't.
In a large bowl, put 9 cups of corn Chex cereal. In a saucepan, melt 1 cup chocolate chips with 1/2 cup peanut butter and a 1/4 cup butter or margarine (I'm sure this is super healthy too). Once melted, remove from heat & stir in 1 tsp vanilla. Pour the mixture over the Chex and gentle stir until the cereal is all covered with the chocolate mixture. Then pour it all into a big ziploc bag. Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and then shake it so that the cereal all gets coated in the sugar. Spread onto wax paper to cool. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
1. CAKE BALLS. I shared these in a previous blog post (link to recipe). A few readers have told me that you made them too and they were a hit. For Christmas I found the BEST flavor combination yet. They were orange cake with vanilla icing with chocolate (chips) as the coating. I happen to love orange & chocolate together so for me they were amazing. For those of you making them, I did learn to freeze the cake/icing batter BEFORE forming it into balls and then it scoops much easier and with less mess.
(this is not a photo of MY cake balls, by the way. I wish mine looked that pretty):
2. PRETZEL HUGS. I make these only because with 2 small kids, my "real" baking days are over for awhile. These are just super easy and fun to make with Keegan; he does much of the work.
Take pretzels (I use the square ones with the grids but twists work too) and put them on a cookie sheet. Put one Hershey's HUG on top of each one (unwrapped, of course). Let them bake at 200 degrees for around 7 minutes. Remove them from the oven and then put 2 M&Ms on top of each one. They will take a long time to set. You can use holiday colored M&Ms to keep it festive for whatever holiday they are being made for. Voila! It's not life changing but it's a great recipe if you have small kids that want to help in the kitchen.3. PUFF-PASTRY WRAPPED BRIE
Ding, ding, ding!! This recipe was a winner! I will most definitely be making this again. The original recipe is from Pepperidge Farm but we added the part about the preserves.
Unfold a defrosted puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Place an 8oz brie cheese round (with the white skin still on it) in the center. Spread apricot preserves all over the top (this was what we added to the original recipe- trust me on this). Bring the corners up around the brie and squeeze together to seal. In a separate bowl, beat an egg with 1 TBSP water. Brush the seams of the pastry with it. Then place it, seams-down, in a baking dish. Brush with the rest of the egg mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Then let it set for 20 min before serving. We served ours with Wheat Thins but you could use any kind of cracker you like. DELICIOUS.4. CHEX MUDDY BUDDIES. This was the last thing I made. Like I said, cooking with small kids has really taken a toll on what I can make. No beautiful lace cookies or anything fancy like that until they are grown up and moved out! Most of you have already had this before, but here it is in case you haven't.
In a large bowl, put 9 cups of corn Chex cereal. In a saucepan, melt 1 cup chocolate chips with 1/2 cup peanut butter and a 1/4 cup butter or margarine (I'm sure this is super healthy too). Once melted, remove from heat & stir in 1 tsp vanilla. Pour the mixture over the Chex and gentle stir until the cereal is all covered with the chocolate mixture. Then pour it all into a big ziploc bag. Add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and then shake it so that the cereal all gets coated in the sugar. Spread onto wax paper to cool. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge.I'd love to hear from you if you try any of these! Give them a whirl (and then call me because we will definitely have to hit the gym together afterward!). Happy cooking!
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