:::{Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball}:::

I made this for my husband's Rotary Christmas party last night, and it was a HIT!  It is a very tasty flavor combination... But then again, it has bacon in it, so it has to be delicious, right?!?!  This recipe is definitely a keeper, and I will be making it again...

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product because we were in a rush to get out the door to the party, so I'm borrowing the picture from The Recipe Critic)

Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball

(adapted from The Recipe Critic)
makes one big ball or two smaller ones

Ingredients
2 (8 oz each) packages of cream cheese
1 (1 oz.) packet dry buttermilk ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
4 green onions, thinly sliced
5 pieces of bacon (fried and crumbled) or 1/2 cup "real bacon bits"
1/4 cup chopped black olives, optional
pecans or almonds, finely chopped for coating

Directions

1. Mix together the cream cheese and dry ranch packet.  I put mine in the mixer and used the paddle attachment, which made it so easy.  Otherwise, mix in a bowl until smooth.  
2. Add the grated cheese, green onions, and bacon.
3. Shape the cheese mixture into a ball, then roll it in the nuts to coat the outside. 
4. Keep the cheese ball stored in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
5. Enjoy! 

:::{Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments}:::

This year I was looking to have a classic look to my Christmas tree, and these ornaments fit the bill.  I remember making a version of these little ornaments when I was in elementary school...  I like this particular recipe because (1) it doesn't call for a bunch of Elmer's glue and (2) the drying process is sped up by baking them at low temp.  They were very easy to make and while they were baking my whole house smelled like cinnamon spice; and they continue to smell delicious even after they have dried.  Plus, they are pretty adorable, if I do say so myself!

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments 

(adapted from katy elliott)
Makes between 30-40 ornaments depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Ingredients
1 cup of applesauce
1 1/2 cups cinnamon (look for a big containers at the Dollar Store)
2 tablespoons ground cloves optional

You will also need: cookie cutters (I used mini-Christmas themed ones) and string for hanging (I used red embroidery thread)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 200ºF. 
2. Mix 1 cup of applesauce with 1 cup of cinnamon in a large bowl. This is the kinda recipe you’ll need to use your hands to really incorporate the spices. Make sure you don’t miss any wet spots. 
3. Add the additional 1/2 cup of cinnamon, cloves and continue to incorporate. If it’s too wet add more cinnamon, too dry add more applesauce; keeping in mind, it takes time to mix so don’t add cinnamon or applesauce till you’re absolutely sure it’s well mixed.
4. Scatter some cinnamon (like if you were rolling out cookies with flour) and roll out applesauce/cinnamon dough to ~1/4″ thick. If the dough is too wet it will make a huge mess and stick to your rolling pin.
5. Use your cookie cutters to cut out your shapes. If you have added enough cinnamon, the edges will be clean and even.
6. Place the hearts on a cookie sheet with parchment/wax paper. The hearts can be really close together but not touching; they won’t rise in the oven. 
7. Using a skewer carefully make a hole through each heart. Stick the ornaments in the oven for an hour or more. The juice from the applesauce needs to evaporate.  I had them in the oven for ~1.5 hours and then I turned the oven off and left them to set overnight. They should be rock hard. If they’re not, give them some more time in the oven.
8. The next day loop a string through each of the holes to hang on the tree, string together to make a garland or attach to a package.
9. Enjoy!

Dough should be about this consistency when ready to roll...

The dough should easily form an even ball; if it's crumbly, add more applesauce.

Ready to roll it out, with cinnamon on your rolling surface.

Keep rolling and cutting until you've used up all your dough.

Don't forget to makes holes so you can hang them!

After baking, they should be hard and dry all the way through.

:::{Rum Balls}:::

This is another of my momma's recipes... She has been making these every year around Christmas time for as long as I can remember!  When I was younger, my brother and I would snoop in the fridge to find the hidden container of these cookies to snitch a couple... Now that I'm of age, I understand that there is a minimal amount of acutal alchol, but they are still a holiday favorite! They are pretty quick and easy, as well as being very tasty and just a little rummy ;)  I'm warning you now, you'll probably want to go ahead and make a double batch...

Rum Balls

Ingredients
1 (12 oz) box of Nilla Wafers
1 cup powdered sugar (plus ~ 1 cup for rolling)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4-1/2 cup rum
1 cup pecans (optional)

Directions

1. Smash, bash, or food process the Nilla Wafer cookies; it is fine if there are still small pieces of cookie in the mix.
2. Combine the ground Nilla Wafers, powdered sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and pecans (if desired) in a large bowel or mixer.
3. Add the corn syrup.  Add 1/4 cup of the rum and mix well.  At this point, check the consistency; the dough needs to be wet enough to be rolled into balls, but not too wet or it will be too sticky and gooey.  Slowly add the other 1/4 cup of rum, until desired consistency is reached.  Mine only took 1/2 the second 1/4 cup of rum (so, 1/4 + 1/8 cup = 3/8 cup rum in total).  The resulting dough should look about like the picture...
4. At this point, you can chill the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours or even over night, which allows the rum to really reach its full potential in the dough...
5. When ready to rolls your rum balls, use a spoon or cookie scoop and roll ~ 1 inch balls, then roll in powdered sugar.
6. Enjoy!

~Rachelle

:::{Christmas Decor Crafties}:::

This is Blake and I's first Christmas as a married couple, and my first year with my own home that I'm solely responsible for decorating...  So true to form, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration, and I was not disappointed!  Today, I made these little beauties:

I found fake pears and the little bird at the Dollar Tree.  I spray painted them gold, then used spray adhesive to cover them with gold glitter.  I love them so much I think I'm going to go back to the Dollar Tree to get a couple more pears!  They also had apples, which would probably look pretty sweet as well... Also, if it would go better with your Christmas decor, you could always do them silver instead.  I got the inspiration for this little project from this blog, which had ideas for several other fun Christmas crafts as well.

See, I went and got more pears!

Also at the Dollar Tree, I found the fixings to make a wreath... They had various sizes of twig wreaths as well as a variety of fake flowers and colored twiggy, bunches that I took a liking to.  So I cut the branches into individual little sprigs, and wove the wired stems into the wreath; a few took a small twist tie to secure. Then I took a length of wire-edged ribbon that I had picked up at Costco, tied a bow, and hung it on our front door.  All in all, I think it turned out quite festive!

On the inside of the door I hung a cranberry and popcorn garland...  I had never strung popcorn before; it was an adventure!  I used a light weight fishing line, which worked well, but I only had a very large needle on hand.  This did NOT work in my favor, as the popcorn kept breaking, but I think with a smaller needle it would work just fine, and be old-fashioned and quite pretty.  As it was, this was all the patience I had...

And I hung ornaments and ribbon around the window...

I also plan on making these ornaments.

Picture from katy elliot.

They are so adorable!  Plus they are made from a cinnamon/applesauce dough, so they smell like Christmas!  I have all the ingredients except for a heart shaped cookie cutter (I have looked all over Pocatello in vain!), so my gracious momma is sending me one... Inspiration from this blog.

Tonite, I will be rolling Rum Balls (recipe will be posted later this week...).
Yay Christmas!  I love it!

:::{Mock Almond Roca}:::

Last night I had a major sweet tooth (actually this is probably a nightly-post-dinner occurrence...), and I remembered a yummy little treat recipe that a friend had shared with me several years ago.  It has become one of the Christmas treats that my momma and I make every year because it is so tasty, and actually quite easy!  So, before hubby and I popped in a movie (side note, we watched "Lawless," and it was so good!  Pretty violent and plenty of foul language, but if you can get past that, it was a very well made and interesting movie!), I whipped up a mini-batch of the below recipe... I made about 1/4 of a batch because I didn't have very many Saltines and I knew hubby wouldn't help me eat it, and it was about perfect!  But if you are making Christmas goodies, and have people to share it with (this would be a great treat to bring to a Christmas party...), go ahead and make a full batch!

Mock Almond Roca
(recipe from Danika)

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
~40 saltine crackers
1-2 cups slivered/sliced/chopped almonds 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 12x17-inch cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
2.  Lay a flat layer of crackers out on the foil; if they don't perfectly go to the edge of the pan, break them in half or fourths to completely cover the bottom of the cookie sheet. 
3. Melt the sugar and butter until a boil is reached. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5-6 minutes or until mixture is thickened and sugar is completely dissolved. 
4. Pour this mixture over the crackers and spread to coat evenly. 
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the toffee becomes bubbly. 
6. After removing the pan from the oven, let it sit for 3-5 minutes, then sprinkle on the chocolate chips, let them soften and melt, and then spread them into an even layer with a spatula. 
7. Before the chocolate hardens, sprinkle the top with almonds.
8.  Stick the sheet in the refrigerator and let cool until hardened. 
9. Break into pieces the size of your choice. 
10. Enjoy!

:::{Two Pumkin Pies}::

Thanksgiving is tomorrow!  So today I baked my pies... They are in the oven as I type this, and I am very excited to see how they turn out; they smell amazing already!
Husband and I are going to Jerome, ID (don't worry if you haven't heard of it... it's a tiny, little dairy/farming town, much like most of southern Idaho), to spend the holiday with his parents.  Hubby is a fan of good ol' regular pumpkin pie, so I made one pie for him straight off the back of the can of Libby's pumpkin puree... It is a very easy, straightforward type recipe!  I like spiced up recipes much better; so for my second pie, I went with a streusel topped sweet pumpkin pie (this is the one I'm really excited about!).   For my crusts, I searched high and low for a recipe that excited me, and ended up adapting one from one of my all time favorite blogs, smitten kitchen; if you haven't checked her out before, you simply must!  Its an inspiration!  I've tried several of her recipes and they always turn out spectacularly.  Anywho, without further ado, here are my recipes...

Pie Dough
(adapted from smitten kitchen)
 Makes enough dough for one double-crust, or two single-crust pies.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, very cold
1/4 cup spiced rum, very cold
1/2-3/4 cup ice-cold water

Directions

1. In a large bowl (it helped to use a very wide one, so I could get my hands in) whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. 
2. Dice the two sticks of very cold butter into 1/2-inch pieces, then sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour mix and begin working them in with a pastry blender, working all parts evenly. 
3. When all of the butter pieces are the size of tiny peas stop. Even if it looks uneven, as this will make the crust flaky and delicious!
4. Start drizzling 1/4 cup of the rum (I store mine in the freezer) and 1/4 cup of the ice-cold water over the butter and flour mixture, while using a rubber or silicon spatula, gather the dough together. (You’ll probably need an additional 1/4 cup of cold water to bring it together, but add it a tablespoon as a time.)
5. Once the dough starts to form large clumps, get your hands in there (see how that big bowl comes in handy?). Gather all the damp clumps together into one mound, kneading them gently together.
6. Divide the dough in half, and place each half on a large piece of plastic wrap, using the sides to pull in the dough and shape it into a disk. 
7. Let the dough chill in the fridge for at least one hour, but preferably two, before rolling it out.
8. Place the chilled dough on a floured surface, and with a floured rolling pin, start slowly rolling out your crust.  I rolled mine into 10-12 inch circles, as my pie pans are 9.5 inch deep dish pans.  
9. Gently place the round in your pie pan, and form the sides as desired (I fluted mine).

If you don't have any liquor on hand, just using ice water would work fine too.  My mom likes to use vinegar in her pie dough (I don't really care for the flavor), and I've read several recipes that use vodka.  I had rum, so that was what I used...

Here they are right before going in the oven... With all the baking mess aftermath!  Pie on the left is the fancy streusel one (pre-streusel) and the pie on the right is regular pumpkin pie

Streusel Topped Chiffon Pumpkin Pie
(adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything)
Makes 1 (9.5-10 inch) deep dish pie

Ingredients

For the Filling:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 (9.5-10") deep dish unbaked pie shell

 For the Streusel Topping:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, very chilled
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, and egg yolks (reserving the egg whites for later).
3. Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.
4. In a large bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks form (I chose to hand whip mine with a whisk, which took longer than an electric mixer would, but was quite satisfying).  Gently fold whipped egg whites into the pumpkin mixture. Pour the filling into pie shell.
5. Bake for 15 minutes; and while the pie is baking, prepare the streusel topping.
6. For the Streusel Topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Blend in the cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the chopped nuts. Sprinkle the topping over the pie.
7. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. Bake an additional 40 minutes, or until set. You may want to cover the pie for the last 15 minutes of baking so that the topping does not burn (I didn't need to, so just keep an eye on your pie). 
8. Enjoy!

 Libby's Classic Pumpkin Pie
(from the back of a can of Libby's pumpkin puree)

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.)  Pure Puree
1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk
1 (9.5-10") deep dish unbaked pie shell

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. 
3. Beat eggs in large bowl. 
4. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. 
5. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
6. Pour into pie shell.
7. Bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. 
8. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. 
9. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
10. Enjoy! 

And there you have it!  I will let y'all know how they turned out!

Fresh out of the oven! Yum!

 ***Update*** 11/22/12
Both these pies were AMAZING! And my in-laws loved them! The streusel one was my personal favorite... 
  

:::{Pumpkin pie... GALLORE!}:::

So it is that time of year again: The Holidays.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner... This year, hubby and I will be spending this holiday with his family.  My husband is an only child (not counting the THREE schnauzers his parents currently have), and has a very small extended family.  This has been a bit of a shock to me, because besides my immediate family, consisting of my parents, younger brother, older sister, plus her husband and four kiddoes, we usually spend Thanksgiving with my mother's side of the family, which includes her four siblings along with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins you can shake a stick at!  In this slightly chaotic, but incredibly loving environment, who made what dish quickly gets lost in the shuffle and has always been fairly irrelevant to me.  Therefore, this past weekend when my mother-in-law and I started talking about food plans for the upcoming holiday and she specifically remembered the pecan pie I made last year, it came as a bit of a shock.  So when my husband piped up and said I should make a pumpkin pie this year, the wheels in my head began frantically turning.  There are so many options and variations of pumpkin pie!  Sure I enjoy a good slice of pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, but I can't think of a time where I thought, "Oh, now this pumpkin pie is fantastic!" and if I'm anything, I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my cooking; I want it to taste phenomenal every time.  So, I jumped on Pinterest and began searching through my desserts board to find the links to my favorite blogs and dredged through their recipe archives to find the perfect pumpkin pie.  Here are a few of the options that I came up with:

Pumpkin Cream Pie

This recipe comes from the Pioneer Woman, and she is an inspiration!  I LOVE her blog and her recipes are always amazing!

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Pumpkin chiffon just sounds divine, all the spicy goodness of pumpkin, made light (not calorie wise though), fluffy and creamy.. Yum!  This recipe was found on Oprah, by Cristina Ferrare

Easy Pumpkin Pie with Press-In Shortbread Crust

Martha Stewart made it, so it must be good, right?!?  Plus it says "easy," which is always a bonus when we're talking about a dessert as complicated as pumpkin pie

Pumpkin Chiffon Pies

Another Martha Stewart masterpiece; can be made as mini pies or regular sized ones...

Then we have our two different Martha Stewart Pumpkin Cream Pies...
Pumpkin Cream Pie

and...
Pumpkin Cream Pie

Caramel-Pumpkin Layered Pie

Look at all those layer of goodness... Pic crust, then caramel with dark rum, then pumpkin chiffon, all topped with whipped cream. Yikes! From Parents.com

Chiffon Pumpkin Pie

It looks so light and fluffy and delicious! Found at Parents.com

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

Gotta love cheesecake!  From "Annie's Eats"

Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie

This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs (smitten kitchen).   It sounds DELICIOUS but fairly work intensive...

Double-Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake Streusel Pie with Rum Whipped Topping

This recipe originally consists of a gluten-free crust, but I would modify that portion, since it is not a concern for me or my family.  I have plenty of non-GF pie crust options to choose from as well...

Pumpkin Rum Pie
Which comes from Paula Deen (LOVE her) and sounded delicious, but didn't have a picture...

See my dilemma?!?!?  So many tasty options, so little time! But I must decide... I will let y'all know what I decide/come up with and get back to you soon with my resulting cooking adventure.

Much love!
~Rachelle