Holiday Treats!

Christmas season is in full swing -that means parties, and parties mean FOOD! We are in the heart of potlucks and parties with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, church groups, etc. If you need some quick ideas for holiday treats and desserts... or especially if you are invited to a cookie exchange... here are some quick ideas: 

The Sweet 'n Salty, Nutty 'n Chewy...

 Chocolate Caramel Turtles:

Nana's Peanut-Butter-Scotch Clusters:

Rich, Chewy Molasses Cookies:

Santa's request at our house every Christmas Eve...drumroll... 

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Delightfully addicting, Christmas snowy, MUDDY BUDDIES:

World's BEST Cinnamon-Sugary Snickerdoodles:

Nutty, Chocolately, Buttery, Coconut MAGIC COOKIE BARS: 

Perfect Lemon Squares: 

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Fresh Fruit Tart

Peter and I just got back from a trip to Seattle and I just fell in LOVE with the Pikes Place Market!!! All the beautiful, colorful, produce was almost too overwhelming for me- I just wished that we had a kitchen there so that I could have an excuse to carry bags of the gorgeous fresh groceries home with me.

Alas, I had no kitchen to cook in; instead, Peter graciously started each day by taking me for a morning stroll through the market so that I could gawk and soak in the market culture that I loved to feel a part of. 

They had these huge, super juicy, sweet yellow peaches that that all the produce vendors called 'OMG' peaches or 'Oh My Goodness' peaches. I had to go visit the peaches everyday just to make sure they were still as sweet as the day before :)

When we returned home, though I didn't have Pikes Place to go to for my fresh fruit, I did get a Farm-to-Home produce box delivery! What perfect timing! It even included peaches! With so much beautiful fruit in my box, I thought a fruit tart would be perfect to make! I had the fruit, the only problem was that I didn't have a tart pan to make it in. The fruit had already magically showed up for me on my doorstep... and guess what- 1 day later, SO DID THE TART DISH I NEEDED!!! Well, it didn't show up on my doorstep, but I showed up on it's doorstep.. at a garage sale right in my own neighborhood! This was too good to be true; this tart was meant to happen!

Along with the cute white fluted tart dish, I also found a couple other thrifty finds from this 91 year old woman's garage sale:

A gorgeous antique glass vanity box with aged metal edging and claw feet, AND a cool anniversary clock glass dome. 

I filled the glass vanity box with turquoise sand from an hour glass that had broke in my living room. Then I nested a pink sea shell from my personal collection inside. 

I placed the clock dome over a flat, round, mirrored pillar candle base and displayed a beautiful piece of white coral within. 

I love repurposing my treasures to create unique beach decor for our little Laguna Beach cottage :)

Okay, enough of the nonedibles. Down to the tart business! This fruit tart is beautifully impressive looking, but incredibly easy to make. It is almost a 'no-cook' recipe. It has a shortbread crust (only 3 ingredients -and the only baked component), a cheesecake-ish filling, fresh fruit, and a lemon glaze. 

This tart is awesome for all of summertime's bountiful fruit, but you can make it all year round with whatever fruit is in season. It could also be fun to try adding some slivered nuts into the design. 

Ingredients (makes a 12" tart): 

Shortbread Crust: 

• 1 1/2 cups AP Flour
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks Salted Butter, chilled and diced
• (optional: 1 teaspoon Almond Extract)

Cheesecake Filling: 

• 8 oz. Cream Cheese (Low fat optional)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Any Fresh Fruit you like (to give you an idea, the design pictured in my post here used 6 strawberries, 1/2 white peach, 1/2 yellow peach, a kiwi, and a handful of blueberries)

(Optional Glaze):

• 1/4 cup fresh Lemon Juice
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch

Place the crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until for about 1minute until it clumps together enough that when you squeeze it in your hand it will combine to become like playdough.

 

Press the dough into the tart pan. (You can do this way in advance and chill it covered with plastic wrap in the fridge until you're ready to bake it). 

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes, or until it just barely begins to golden. Be careful not to over bake.

*Note, make sure the crust is cooled before you fill it

Next, mix the filling ingredients. (again, this can be done way in advance as well -stored, covered, and in the fridge until ready for use)

Spread the filling evenly into the cooled shortbread crust.

Then have fun decorating with your sliced fruits, but don't put on the berries until after you've painted the glaze. It doesn't ruin the berries or anything, but the berries don't stay in place like the other fruit does while painting the glaze. Plus, the glaze works as somewhat of an adhesive to keep the berries in place when you set them around the top :)

You don't HAVE to use the glaze (though I highly recommend it) on your tart, but it is good for a few reasons: 1) it makes the fruit super glossy and appealing looking, 2) if you make your tart ahead of time, it can help to prevent the fruit from drying out or turning brown, and 3) IT TASTES GOOD too!

If using, you can mix all the glaze ingredients together with a fork or a whisk and bring it to a light boil in a saucepan until it thickens, or just microwave it in a pyrex measuring cup for about 30 seconds to thicken it. 

If it gets too thick to paint, just stir in a little water to thin it out a little bit. If it isn't thick enough, heat it a little longer until it thickens more.

Paint the glaze over the fruit, and then polka dot any berries on top.

See that beautiful glossy shine!

You can see the ring of alternating yellow and white peach slices, the strawberry border, the kiwi center, and the blueberry polka dots. 

And here my new tart dish even fits perfectly atop the cake stand I got from Aunt Peggy at my bridal shower 2 years ago!

Isn't it just lovely! I LOVE all the colors! 

It's so fun playing around with the natural shapes and colors to see what patterns and designs you can make with them!

Magic Cookie Bars

This is the golden oldie, the classic, the 'magic cookie bar'. It's the recipe that we all grew up with from the back of the sweetened condensed milk can. It has been years since I've had these, so I don't know what made me think of making them now, but they were even better than I remembered! Or maybe they were just so good because they fueled us for a full weekend of skiing. I took these snacks with us on our last ski trip of the season this year. Closing weekend was in April, and we were definitely there to say sayonara to ski season 2012.


Peter is a BIG snowboarder. His family took wintertime snow trips to the mountains, whereas my family was more of a summer beach vacation kind of fam. So when Peter and I started dating, I recognized that his snow sportiness was definitely one thing we did not share in common... yet. We loved playing soccer together in college, and volleyball and softball during our first summer dating, but snowboarding was something I was yet to learn. My time had come to learn when our first winter came around that we were dating. I so badly wanted to learn to snowboard because I knew he loved it so much. But learning to snowboard with Peter was like baptism by fire; I got thrown right into solid 4 day ski trips with him and his buddies. I pictured a few hours of learning each afternoon, but with this group it was first chair in the morning to last run of the evening. Like I said, baptism by fire. That first trip, I came home and had lost 5 lbs! Long hard days on the mountain burns some serious calories!


But Peter was such a patient teacher, and soon enough I had picked  up snowboarding and fallen in love... with snowboarding too :) Now, I have been snowboarding with him (and our friends) for 4 years already. Snowboarding has definitely become another fun activity that we share together. However, I also now know to pack some much needed calorie dense treats for our long days on the slopes. Most recently, I made these magic cookie bars and everyone in our group LOVED them. They made for a perfect mountain treat. I think they may become a new ski trip tradition for us :) 


Shopping List (makes a 9x13 casserole dish): 

• 1/2 cup Butter (1 stick)
• 1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (1 wrapped sleeve out of a box)
• 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 1/3 cups flaked Coconut
• 1 cup chopped Walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a microwavable bowl, melt your butter:

Once the butter is melted, add the graham cracker crumbs into the bowl and combine well with the melted butter:

Press this crumb mixture firmly into a 9x13 casserole dish to make the bottom layer of your magic bars:

Then pour the can sweetened condensed milk over the crumb layer: 

Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips, the coconut flakes, and the walnuts over the condensed milk layer. Press these top ingredients gently down into the condensed milk:

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the coconut flakes look golden and toasty on top:

Allow it to cool slightly before cutting into squares:

And box these bad boys up for a road trip to the slopes :)

But be sure to taste test one while it's still a little warm :)

Cranberry-White Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are such pretty cookies. The burgundy and the white just make them so fancy looking. Definitely a good change from the casual classic Chocolate chip cookie. They are great for special occassions in the office, Valentines day, and they are also great for the Holidays- baked goods and cranberries just scream 'Christmas time'! In fact, these are the cookies that Santa requested for Christmas eve at our house this year. Peter Santa LOVES these! 

Ingredient List:

1/2 cup Butter, softened

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 cup dried Cranberries

1 cup White Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars:

Then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Lastly, add the flour and baking soda and mix until just barely combined. (do not over mix here because you have to stir again when you add the chips and berries, and overmixing the flour will yield tough little cookies):

Fold in the dried cranberries and white choc chips:

Spoon dough balls onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart:

Bake at 375°F for 8 - 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly goldened.

This sounds silly, but whack the entire cookie sheet onto your countertop to release air from your cookies before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool. This will help to start the flattening process if you don't like fluffy, cakey cookies (like me). I love chewy cookies-Mmmmm..  No cakey cookies here! :)

Chocolate Caramel Turtles

These are such a HANDY DANDY little 'recipe' to know. It's not quite a real recipe, because you don't need any measurements to follow, and it doesn't even really require any cooking!


Typically, candy turtles have pecans, but you can use whatever you want- or whatever you have on hand: cashews, peanuts, peanut m&m's, etc.  My favorites are cashews and pecans, but I like to use the peanut m&m's because the pop of color is so fun. Also, m&m's allow you to use whichever colors you want for the occassion: colors of the holiday, school colors, team colors, etc.


These are the perfect treat for gifting, for a party finger-food, for a potluck dessert, or just for the non-baker :) They're quick, easy, decadent, and you can't mess them up!

Shopping List:

• Mini Pretzels
• Rolo candies
• Your choice of Peanut m&m's, Cashews, Pecans, or whatever else you like

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or use a microwave safe plate, if not using an oven).

On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, lay out as many mini pretzels as you wish. Top them each with a Rolo candy.

Place in 350 degree preheated oven for 3 1/2 minutes, or until soft and shiny but NOT melted.

(or microwave until softening and shiny but NOT melted)

Press the nut topping of choice into the soft oozey Rolo :)

Let cool completely. 5 minutes in the refrigerator works well.

I this picture, I used Christmas colored m&m's because I made this batch for Christmas. But you can change the colors to coordinate for any occassion. 

Nana's Peanut-Butterscotch Clusters

This is another one of Nana's recipes. She made them EVERY Christmas. I bet she made 10 batches at a time- there always seemed to be peanut butter clusters to go around for everyone at her Christmas party every year. Everybody loves these- they are a little sweet from the butterscotch, a little savory from the peanut butter and a whole 'lotta crunchy from the corn flakes and peanuts :)

These are also great because they freeze very well. You can make them ahead of time and store them in ziplock bags in the freezer so that you have more time for last minute preparations as your event gets closer. Nana always made these little guys ahead of time- she was such an organized hostess.

They couldn't be easier: 4 ingredients, 4 steps, and no oven required:

Recipe (makes about 21 cookie clusters):

• 2 packages Butterscotch Chips
• 1 cup Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchy; either is fine, but I would suggest crunchy especially if you are not going to add the optional peanuts)
• 5 cups or so of Corn Flakes Cereal (4 cups or so, if you are going to add the optional peanuts)
• *OPTIONAL: 1 cup Peanuts (Nana ALWAYS added peanuts)

Before you start anything else, prepare 2 baking sheets by covering with wax paper, and make room for them in your fridge (or at least room to refrigerate one at a time). The stacking cookie cooling racks maximize space in the fridge and allow you to chill 2 racks (or even more) at a time without having to clear out a ton of shelves :)

1. In a medium-large microwave safe bowl, dump 2 bags Butterscotch Chips, and 1 cup crunchy Peanut Butter. Microwave about 45 seconds- then stir, another 45 seconds- stir again, another 30 seconds if needed, until well melted together: 
2. Dump in 5 cups Corn Flakes and 1 cup peanuts, if using. Gently fold/stir together until all is well coated and combined. (gently as to not break down the corn flakes too much).
3. Using a spoon, or your two hands :) make little mounds of these on the cookie sheets. 
4. Refrigerate about 10 minutes.

(My refrigerator is going to thank me when I put this 4 tiered tower of Peanut-Butterscotch Clusters into its tummy!)

*Don't forget, THESE FREEZE WELL, so they are good ones to make ahead for parties and holidays before you get too busy with last minute prep and shopping :)