When You Wish Upon A Star

I wish I may,
I wish I might,
Taste these yummy star cookies I crave tonight!



This weeks winner of our theme contest is Heaven Baked Sweets with her "Princess Wand Cookies"...

Check out all the other deliciously sweet treats at Heaven Baked Sweets!

Christmas Goodies

Just sharing a few of our favorite Christmas recipes with you.

Peppermint Bark Recipe

Ingredients
12 oz. of high-quality white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
5 regular sized candy canes, crushed up
1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract
Method
1 Break up peppermint candy into little pieces. Melt the chocolate according to the manufacturer's instructions. Once melted, add the peppermint extract and stir.
2 Pour the melted chocolate out onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and spread out with a spatula or wooden spoon. Sprinkle the peppermint candy chunks on to the chocolate and gently press them in with yours hands.
3 Place in the freezer for 5 minutes or until hardened. Break into pieces and serve or store in the fridge in an airtight container.

White Chocolate Covered Pretzels

INGREDIENTS
6 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate
1 (15 ounce) package mini twist pretzels
1/4 cup red and green candy sprinkles (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Melt white chocolate in the top of a double boiler, stirring constantly.
Dip pretzel halfway into the white chocolate, completely covering half of the pretzel. Roll in topping if desired, and lay on wax paper.
Continue the process until all of the white chocolate is finished. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes to harden. Store in airtight container.

Mini Cheesecakes

INGREDIENTS

1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line miniature muffin tins (tassie pans) with miniature paper liners.
Crush the vanilla wafers, and place 1/2 teaspoon of the crushed vanilla wafers into each paper cup.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top.
Bake for 15 minutes. Cool. Top with a teaspoonful of cherry pie filling.

Aunt Teen's Creamy Chocolate Fudge

INGREDIENTS
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Line an 8x8 inch pan with aluminum foil. Set aside.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine marshmallow cream, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt. Bring to a full boil, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and pour in semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Chill in refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.

Mom's Peanut Brittle

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup raw Spanish peanuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons water
DIRECTIONS
Generously butter a 12x18 inch cookie sheet. Set aside.
Mix sugar, water, and corn syrup in a heavy skillet. Stir well until it comes to a boil. Cover and boil 3 minutes. Continue to boil to hard ball stage (when a little bit dropped into a cupful of cold water forms a hard ball - hence the name!) 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
Stir in butter and peanuts. Continue cooking until mixture turns a light brown color. Remove from heat.
Mix together salt, vanilla, baking soda and water. Combine this with syrup and nuts mixture. Mix well, and fast.
Pour onto prepared cookie sheet. Use back of buttered spoon to spread thinly and evenly. Allow to cool, then break into pieces. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Balls

INGREDIENTS
1 cup peanut butter*
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 teaspoons shortening
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter and marshmallow creme; add cereal and stir until well coated. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and shortening. Microwave, uncovered, for 1-2 minutes or until chips are melted; stir until smooth.
Roll cereal mixture into 1-in. balls; dip in chocolate. Place on a waxed paper-lined pan. Refrigerate until set.

Easy Fudge

1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 cups chocolate chips
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts, any variety (optional)
Line square cake pan with parchment paper. Combine milk and chips in medium sized sauce pan, melt over low heat. Remove from heat and mix in vanilla. Mix in nuts if desired. Pour into cake pan and refridgerate for 2 to 3 hours. Once cooled, remove from pan by lifting parchment paper, cut and store in covered container in fridge.

Merry Santa Cupcakes

Reynolds® Color Seal-Tight Plastic Wrap
24
Reynolds® Baking Cups
1
package (14.5 oz.) white cake mix.
1
can (16 oz.) vanilla ready–to–spread frosting

Red sugar crystals

Mini candy coated chocolate pieces

Mini marshmallows
PLACE 24 Reynolds Baking Cups in a muffin pan; set aside.PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare cake mix following package directions for cupcakes. Fill baking cups 2/3 full with cake batter.BAKE 18 to 23 minutes, following package directions. Cool.FROST each cupcake with vanilla frosting. Decorate each cupcake to look like Santa: for hat, sprinkle top third and halfway down one side of cupcake with red sugar crystals. Place mini candy coated chocolate pieces on frosting for eyes and nose. Cut 2 mini marshmallows in half lengthwise, place at edge of red sugar for hat brim. Place one mini marshmallow at end of red sugar on side for the hat tassel. For beard, place about 10 mini marshmallows over bottom third of frosting.

Vanilla Rum Balls
Ingredients
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup confectioners' sugar (150g)
3 cups vanilla wafers, crushed (Crush vanilla biscuits and use if you dont get vanilla wafers, 300g)
4 tablespoons dark corn syrup or golden syrup
1/2 cup dark rum (more or less, depending on personal tastes)
extra cocoa or ground chocolate, to roll the rum balls in
Directions
In a large bowl, sift together the cocoa and confectioners' sugar.
In a food processor or blender crush/crumble the vanilla wafers.
Add the crushed vanilla wafers to the sugar mixture and combine.
Add the remaining ingredients
Form the mixture into 1 inch (2. 5 cm) balls with your hands
The balls should hold together easily and retain their shape.
If the mixture is too dry to hold together or too wet to form balls, you can easily adjust the consistency by adding rum/sugar accordingly.
Sprinkle the extra cocoa or ground chocolate on a flat surface and roll the balls in to coat
Have'em on your cookie tray this year and watch'em vanish before you know it!

Oreo Bon Bons (these are to die for!)

Ingredients:
1 pkg of Oreo cookies
1 8 oz pkg of Philadelphia Cream cheese
1 pkg of vanilla almond bark
Directions:
crush entire pkg of oreos until they are pretty much a powder. Put oreos in a large mixing bowl. Put pkg of cream cheese into oreos, mix together with hands. Keep mixing until all crushed oreos are mixed in with cream cheese. Roll mixture into a ball (about quarter height). Place onto wax papered cookie sheet. Put into refrigerator to chill for about 20 min. Melt almond bark per pkg instructions. Dip rolled balls into melted almond bark and place back onto waxed paper cookie sheet. They will harden quickly. Place finished Bon Bons into the refrigerator for just a little bit to allow almond bark to completely set. You're done

Cranberry Whip

~ 1 tub cool whip
~ 1 bag cranberries (crushed)
~ 1 1/2 cups Sugar
~ 1 cup crushed pineapple (drained)
~ 1 cup miniature marshmallows (or the whole bag!)
Crush cranberries in food processor or blender
Add sugar to cranberries- refrigerate overnight
Add remaining ingredients
Stir and refrigerate 1 hour before serving