Chocolate Cloud Cookie Recipe for the Holidays

Chocolate Cloud cookies have become one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. Really easy to make and super good....and if you enjoy both chocolate and marshmallows, this recipe may become one of your favorites as well.

Here's what you need.......{full recipe below}

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until blended.  Mix in the chocolate chips last.

Hold 3 or so Frozen mini-marshmallows in your hand and scoop the batter up and mold it around the frozen marshmallows, covering them completely.

Place balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees and you end up with these little gems!

Here is a link to some of my Top 10 favorite Christmas cookie recipes for your Christmas baking needs!

Chocolate Cloud Cookies

3 cups all purpose flour,

1/2 teaspoon baking soda,

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder,

1 cup soft butter,

1 cup granulated sugar,

1 cup packed brown sugar,

2 large eggs,

2 teaspoons vanilla extract,

2 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips,

5 oz mini marshmallows, frozen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper or use a Silpat mat.

Mix flour, baking soda and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until blended. Mix in the chocolate chips last.

Hold 3 frozen marshmallows in the palm of your hand. Scoop batter up by generously rounded tablespoonfuls and mold around marshmallows, covering marshmallows completely.

Place dough balls on cookie sheets, spacing about 2 ½ inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. They firm up as they cool.

Makes about 3 ½ dozen

Tip:  Make sure you freeze the marshmallows before using, otherwise they will melt

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Pistachio Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving and the holiday season is upon us already!  To help with your preparation, Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg of Spork Foods have created a delicious Pistachio Cranberry Sauce recipe that is easy to make and perfect for Thanksgiving and the upcoming holiday season! 

I'm a sucker for cranberry sauce and can't wait to have it on Thanksgiving and the day after, slathered on my turkey sandwich!

Pistachio Cranberry Sauce

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3/4 cups water

1/2 cup packed brown sugar*

1 large cinnamon stick

10 oz fresh or frozen cranberries (2 1/2 cups)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

Dash sea salt

1/4 cup Setton Farms roasted, shelled Pistachio Kernels (roughly chopped)*

2 tablespoons dried cranberries*

Directions:

Heat a 2 quart sauce pot and add water and brown sugar. Bring to  simmer over medium heat and add cinnamon stick, fresh or frozen cranberries, lemon juice and zest, and sea salt.  Stir to incorporate all ingredients.

Simmer covered until berries burst and sauce thickens, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick and add in diced pistachios and dried cranberries. Cook about 1-2 minutes uncovered and remove from heat. 

Serve warm or allow to cool, then refrigerate sauce over night.

Pistachio cranberry sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead.

*To make the dish faster, use 1/3 cup packed brown sugar and substitute pistachios and dried cranberries with four diced Setton Farms Pistachio Chewy Bites.

Recipe and photo courtesy (C) Spork Foods, 2014

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Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles of Joy

I can always count on my brother-in-law to serve bacon wrapped something for Christmas dinner and this year he AND my niece, Ami, did NOT disappoint.  

Christmas evening I tasted the BEST green beans I have probably EVER had in my life.  My niece wrapped green bean bundles in bacon, drizzled them with a butter, garlic and brown sugar mixture and baked.

Now THIS is my kind of baking, without a doubt.  I think I gobbled up about three bundles right at the start.........

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BOTW ~ Baked Brie with Pecans

It's Christmas party season!  We have five or six to go to in the next few weeks leading up to Christmas and for two of them I'll be bringing an appetizer to share.  My 'Best of the Web' feature for the week is this super easy and very tasty baked brie with toasted pecans by Martha Stewart will be coming with me to one of the parties.....can't EVER go wrong with baked brie.

I could make a meal out of this and a glass of old vine Zin.

Photo courtesy Martha Stewart

Toasted pecans and maple syrup complement the creamy Brie in this hors d'oeuvre. For the best texture, let the cheese cool before topping it with the syrup mixture. 

Ingredients

• 1 small wheel of Brie or Camembert (about 9 ounces)
• 1/2 cup pecan pieces
• 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• crackers or sliced baguette, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cheese on a rimmed baking sheet; bake until softened, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate; cool about 20 minutes.
2. While cheese cools, place nuts on a clean baking sheet; bake until toasted and fragrant, 7 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle nuts over cheese.
3. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and maple syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat; simmer until foamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Drizzle warm sauce over slightly cooled cheese and nuts; serve with crackers or baguette.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment. I love to hear from you! Have a fantastic day!

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Super Easy, Festive Cranberry Relish & Cookie Decorating at Nonny's

Yesterday afternoon we had a cookie decorating party with all the cousins at Nonny's house.  I wanted to bring a little appetizer for us to munch on.  Festive Cranberry Relish is super easy to make, no baking or cooking required, just a food processor, simple ingredients and some fridge time and you're done.  I originally got this recipe from someone at my Healthy Cooking Group and it's a hit at every party I bring it to.  Perfect for the holidays.

Here's what you need {recipe below}......

Chop the cranberries in a food processor...

Chop the cilantro, green onions and jalapeno, grate the ginger, squeeze the lemon

Mix all together with the sugar and refrigerate for at least four hours.

Spoon over cream cheese, I used a low fat version, and enjoy.

Meanwhile, at Nonny's, high anticipation amongst the cousins, to begin the cookie decorating......

Ready, set, decorate!....eating, sprinkling, frosting, decorating, eating some more, you get the idea.......

Until we had a platter of very colorful, decorated sugar cookies.

Festive Cranberry Relish


3 cups cranberries (1 12 oz. bag), rinsed and drained
¼ cup green onions (about 4), minced
2 small jalapeno peppers (2 Tbsp.), seeded and minced
¼ cup cilantro, minced
½ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. ginger, finely grated
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Serve with:

1 8 oz. package cream cheese
Plain crackers

Place cranberries in food processor and chop fine, but not mushy. Transfer to bowl and add remaining relish ingredients and stir. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, overnight is best. Serve over cream cheese with crackers. Garnish with cilantro if desired. Makes enough for 2 packages of cream cheese. Pin It

Oh Christmas Tree & Cranberry Banana Bread

I think we've got this Christmas tree shopping thing down.  We had a super busy weekend; three nights in a row of parties or outings, tree shopping, more decorating, house cleaning and 4H Cooking meeting at my house, so we had to save time where we could.  Before arriving at the tree lot {no we don't go to a tree farm} I gave Bryce and Paige the run down of what to look for.........a tall, thin Christmas tree.

First row, second tree, we're done!  Back home to decorate some more.

Decorating went pretty smoothly as well.  Dominic did the lights, the kids put the balls and decorations on the tree and I followed behind them to spread out the clusters of 20 they hung on the bottom 1/4 of the tree.  Pretty soon we were completely finished.

I found these mini ceramic, holiday loaf pans at Michael's for $1 each.  Perfect for 4H cooking class that we had going on this weekend.  I found a recipe for a festive Cranberry Banana Bread online at Channel3000 that I thought would work for a group of 10. 

Everyone was really pleased with their creation and happy to be able to take home the ceramic loaf pan to bake something else in after their Cranberry Banana Bread was gone. {recipe below}

I received a Tasting Box from Foodzie in the mail and wanted to give you a peek of what was included.
Alfajores Cookies, Heirloom Cranberry Beans, Bacon Peanut Brittles, Parmesan Flatbreads and Fleur De Sel Caramel Popcorn.

How was your weekend?  Are you finished decorating and Christmas shopping yet?

Cranberry Banana Bread

Makes one 9 x 5-inch loaf

Ingredients:
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2-3 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup fresh or unthawed frozen cranberries, chopped*
• 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar; beat until light. Add egg and beat well. Add baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, bananas, milk, and flour; beat until well blended. Fold in cranberries and walnuts; stir until well mixed. Spoon batter into baking pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until lightly brown on top and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan; then remove from pan and cool on rack.

* Note: It works best to chop the fresh or unthawed frozen cranberries in a small food processor.

Happy Sunday!


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