Christmas Fun - part 1 - In the Kitchen

The holidays are all about traditions, starting them and keeping them.  My goal was to do as many fun Christmas-y things as I could manage.   And I have lots of fun in my kitchen, tiny as it is.


                         
I decided to emulate my aunt Thelma and make all kinds of sweets.  As long as I can remember, she has always fixed all kinds of candies and cookies and bars during the holidays.   It just seems to be the the thing to do to get in the spirit and make the house smell wonderful, and I really like making desserts.

My first sweets of the month of December were these cupcakes for a party that DH was attending.   I think this qualifies for a "Pin Win".  I saw this idea on Pinterest and tried to copy it.  All you need are cupcakes with chocolate icing as a start.  Then gather the following:
Vanilla Wafers
Red M&Ms
White Icing
Junior Mints
Chocolate-covered Flips

For the white icing, I would not recommend the cookie icing that you can buy pre-made.  It was too thin, and as you can see, some of my eyes ran.  I think a small amount of cream cheese icing would work just as well.
Use a dab of the white icing to stick the red M&M on the vanilla wafer.  Use a bit more for the eyes, and then add the junior mints.  Break one Flip in half and stick in the cupcake for antlers.  Ta da!
I recommend the assembly line method:  do all the vanilla wafers first, then the noses, then the eyes, then the antlers.

My next task was Peanut Butter Cup Bars.   I forgot to get a picture of them alone, so you can look at the link.  They are under the wrap on the round plate below.   

This is an assortment of goodies that I made for Thomas' Wednesday night Bible class.  He teaches the 7th and 8th graders, and what better gift is there for teens besides food, especially chocolate?

Clockwise from the bottom left: Coconut Balls, Orange Balls, Peanut Butter Cup Bars, Chocolate Cherry Dips, Nutella Fudge, and Oreo Balls

Coconut Balls and Oreo Balls look the same since they are both dipped in chocolate.  The recipe for the Oreo Balls can be found here .  The Coconut Balls were actually in a previous blog here.  Funny thing is that when I asked DH what he wanted me to make, he said "coconut balls".  I thought he meant the ones above.  Later, I find out he was actually talking about the next ones.

These are actually called "Orange Balls".  I had these at a Christmas party a few years ago and liked them so much, I googled until I found this recipe.  I am not a huge fan of chocolate (I know - what?!?!) so this is a great sweet for me.  Just be sure to measure out the orange juice concentrate; only 3/4 cup is needed.

Nutella Fudge was a new recipe for me this year.  Fudge is a Christmas must, and there seems to be a Nutella craze going on.  It is a non-peanut item and super easy, so it was an easy choice.  It is very rich and the recipe even recommends cutting into very small pieces. The sea salt is a nice touch.

 These Chocolate Cherry Dips were new also.   I wanted to do something that involved chocolate and cherries but that was not your usual chocolate-covered cherries.  These were quite easy as well, but I do recommend that you drain the cherries really well and pat them dry before chopping to keep the liquid out of the creamy filling.

And lastly, I saw this recipe for Monster Cookies and wanted to make them to give away to folks.  They have great presentation and don't fall apart like some other cookies.  I used the dark chocolate red and green m&ms instead of the milk chocolate.

I hope that you had Christmas fun in your kitchen - or someone's - this year! 
Happy Christmas Eve!