With Sprinkles on Top

I think Christmastime is the most nostalgic time of the year. The big snowflakes. The music. The cozy little lights. The food. The family get-togethers. It all just makes my heart ache, in a good way.

My grandma, who died a few years ago, used to have pretty high standards for food. With the exception of a few things. She loved Ho-Hos, marshmallow eggs at Easter, and made her to-die-for chili using Franco American spaghetti noodles. THE HORROR, right?! We all have our guilty pleasure foods. What are yours? I’m a sucker for cool ranch Doritos, Oreos, and Taco Bell. Stop judging me. ;)

I still love Ho-Hos to this day and they will always remind me of my grandma. Though it seems like they tasted better when I was a kid. Funny how your memory works like that. I saw this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and tried it — in an effort to once again jet back to my childhood.

Ho-Ho Cake
Recipe source: Modified from Taste of Home
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2 prepared 8-inch or 9-inch round cakes (I made mine from a box mix)
1 tub of whipped vanilla icing

For the glaze:
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/4 cup baking cocoa
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 to 4 Tablespoons milk

1. Cover one of the cakes with a generous layer of whipped vanilla icing. If you don’t want to use store-bought icing, feel free to make a homemade version. The original recipe called for cooked icing (you know, the kind that uses flour). Well, I am not a fan of cooked icing, so I went in another direction. Do whatever you’d like though!
2. Place the other chocolate cake on top of the iced cake.
3. For the glaze, melt butter and cocoa in a small saucepan. Whisk in powdered sugar and enough milk to achieve a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Note: I cut my cake into slices, then covered each slice with the glaze.

Okay, pistachio and cherry? This seems more spring-like than winter. But hey, it’s green and pink and kind of looks like Christmas. So I’m rolling with it. And, as you will find out in the coming days, cherries are one of my favorite fruits. This cake was great. It was incredible moist because a box mix was used. I know there’s a pretty big camp of bakers out there who despise using box mixes — but I am not one of those people. They serve a purpose and always give me great results. This cake is a delicious example!

PS: Sorry that the above photo is so dark. It’s challenging to take food photos in the winter, because the sun sets at 2pm. Or so it seems!

Pistachio Cherry Bundt Cake
Recipe source: Tablespoon
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1 box Betty Crocker pound cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) package pistachio flavored instant pudding mix
2/3 cup water
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
green food coloring
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan with shortening, then lightly flour. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat cake mix, pudding mix, water, butter, eggs, almond extract and about 8 drops green food coloring on low speed 30 seconds. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes.
3. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan (batter will be very thick). Spread batter evenly.
4. Bake 38 to 43 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake 10 minutes in pan, then remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.
5. Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a medium bowl, stir together powdered sugar, cherry juice, milk and butter until a glaze forms (add more milk or powdered sugar as needed to achieve proper consistency).
6. Pour glaze evenly over fully cooled cake. Let sit a few minutes to harden.

Ohhhhhhh, baby. These are phenomenal. If you like peanut butter, that is. The Reese’s peanut butter cup is one of man’s greatest creations. Right? A Reese’s peanut butter cup sitting on top of a big, warm cookie? Even better.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Recipe source: The Novice Chef
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1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) bag Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups
18 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla.
4. Gradually add in the flour mixture on low speed. Stir until dough forms. Then stir in Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups by hand.
5. Using your hands, form balls of dough with 2 heaping tablespoons of dough. Gently flatten cookie dough (to form a disk shape) and place on prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake for 8 minutes and remove from oven. Press a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup into the center of each cookie. Bake cookies for 3 minutes more. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 18 cookies.

You want to know what these cookies taught me? To bow down to the GREATNESS that is my double boiler. I was short on time and didn’t use my double boiler. As a result, these cookies are missing a chocolate ganache. The crushed Andes mints were supposed to be sitting in an ooey, gooey bed of melted chocolate. I took a shortcut and attempted to microwave the chocolate. Mistake. Ohhhhh, mistake. Never again! What I ended up with, even though I was SO careful, was burned and ugly chocolate.

Instead of throwing my hands up and pitching a fit, I just decided that this batch wasn’t going to have the ganache. They were delicious anyway and it’s a lesson you’ll learn again and again if you bake: shit will go wrong.

So if you, lovely reader, decide to make these… use a double-boiler!

Grasshopper Cookies
Recipe source: Your Cup of Cake
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Cookies:
1 Box Devil’s Food Cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 C. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. brown sugar

Mint Frosting:
3/4 C. butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
2-3 C. powdered sugar
milk, if needed
green food dye

Chocolate Glaze:
1 1/2 C. chocolate chips
4 Tbsp. butter
Andes Mint Candies, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, butter (make sure you let it cool a little so it doesn’t cook the eggs), vanilla and sugar.
3. Make dough balls a little large than a Tablespoon and place on cookie sheets to bake. (Pat each dough ball down a little bit because cake mix cookies tend to bake up tall.)
4. Bake for 7-9 minutes and let cool on cooling racks.

Mint Frosting:
1. Beat butter for 2 minutes.
2. Add peppermint extract and slowly add it powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.
3. Add 1-2 Tablespoons milk if it gets too thick.
4. Add green dye for color if you want.

Chocolate Glaze:
1. Melt chocolate chips and butter together in a microwave proof bowl. Zap for about 30 seconds, then stir, then microwave in 10 second increments and stir until smooth. (Annie’s note: USE A DOUBLE BOILER! Or don’t… whatever… I’m just sayin’…)
2. To assemble – pipe on frosting, smooth over with a knife, spoon on your glaze and top with peppermint candies.

Butterscotch chips are one of my favorite treats. They are one of those no-self-control-I’ll-eat-them-right-out-of-the-bag foods for me. These cookies were so good. Super sweet (duh, given that there’s butterscotch AND white chocolate chips in them!) and perfect for the holidays.

White Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies
Recipe source: I Heart Naptime
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1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 cups flour
1/2 bag white chocolate chips
1/2 bag butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in one egg at a time. Mix in oil, vanilla and almond extract.
3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly mix into wet ingredients. Once smooth, fold in chips.
4. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until lightly browned.