Merry Christmas

Peanut Butter Balls

Need a last minute Christmas treat? These are a sure hit, very popular and no-bake. I always used to dread making them because they were so time consuming to dip in chocolate and tap off each ball to remove the excess chocolate. Now I just hold them and dip and let the chocolate run down the sides once they are on the waxed paper trays. They don't need to be perfect. Most people just pop them in their mouths, they don't stop to examine them. They are especially useful if you re-organize your kitchen cupboards and realize you have 11 sweetened condensed milks on hand. I usually double this recipe.

Peanut Butter Chip Balls
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together, shape into balls. Place on waxed paper. Chill to set.
Melt chocolate chips and 1 tsp. shortening either in small saucepan over low heat or in microwave.
Dip balls in chocolate and chill to set.

Grinch Pills

I saw the idea for Grinch pills floating around for a couple years now and I could never find the green TicTacs and they end up making the item too expensive to sell for a fundraiser so I came up with my own idea. I saw the Mike and Ikes in their green package and I knew they would be perfect. It took me a couple tries but I ended up with a match box design and typed out my own poem, found the Grinch heads on the Net and voila..... Grinch pills. They were very popular. I made a HUNDRED and I don't have any left so it went well.
Here's a peek..

And the poem inside..

Christmas Cutlery Holders

It's been a very busy season. I went through 10 kg of flour doing my Christmas baking and worked on a couple new ideas for my little fundraising sale that I hold every year at work. I think I could have saved myself some time and only made shortbread but that would get a little boring.

Saw this cute idea on Pinterest. I happen to have the Tim Holtz Pill Box die and like to get my money's worth so this was another good way to use it and they work up really quickly.

You just cut off the notched edges, make a black band and a square of gold glitter paper and a smaller square of black, add a couple of black Dewdrops and you're ready for Christmas dinner.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Here's a recipe to try for your Christmas entertaining. This is my GO TO meatball recipe. Forget the grape jelly and chili sauce. This recipe uses fresh ingredients and is much cheaper then buying a couple of bottles of ingredients.
Of course, homemade meatballs take it over the top. Forget those rubbery disks from the grocery store but if you're in a rush, like most of us this holiday season, this sauce will compliment those as well. The best part of all is you can throw them in the crockpot and forget about them until they are ready to serve piping hot. Give this recipe a shot. You won't be disappointed.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs
1 cup brown sugar
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup low salt soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp hot sauce (or to taste)
1 tsp garlic (fresh)
Mix and pour over meatballs in the crockpot. Meatballs can start off frozen. 5 hours on low heat.

Pumpkin Cake

I quite often get asked to bring my carrot cake to various functions but I was getting a little tired of making the same thing so I did a bit of browsing around the Internet and came up with this recipe for Pumpkin cake. They called it Cinderella cake. I was a little gun shy after making a few duds from Pinterest but I figured you can't go wrong with cream cheese frosting and I was right. This cake is delish, so moist and stays fresh for several days.
I had a little fight with my Bundt pan getting it out but nothing a little frosting wouldn't hide.
Hard to get a decent photo in these gloomy Fall Winter days but you get the idea.

Pumpkin Cake
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree (just over a half of the large can)
1 tsp vanilla

Blend sugar and eggs, add oil. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet. Pour into greased 9 in  Bundt pan. Bake at 350F for 55 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto platter.

Coachman's Icing ( Cream Cheese)
4 oz cream cheese (1/2 a brick)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Blend butter, cream cheese and vanilla. add sugar until desired consistency. Frost completely cooled cake and sprinkle with nuts if desired. This amount of frosting will not completely cover cake but is more then adequate for an excellent ratio of icing to cake.