Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake

Ingredients:
(cake) 
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist butter recipe chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup chocolate milk
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 eggs
1 container (16 oz) sour cream
1 pkg. (4-serving size) chocolate fudge instant pudding and pie filling mix
1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)

(glaze)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 TBS butter or magarine
3 TBS light corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Generously grease 12-cup fluted tube cake pan with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Mix cake mix, chocolate milk, butter, eggs, sour cream, and pudding mix (dry) in large bowl with spoon until well blended (batter will be very thick). Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into pan.
3. Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn pan upside down onto wire rack or heatproof serving plate; remove pan. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Drizzle Rich Chocolate Glaze over cake. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Makes 16 servings


Submitted by: Jenie Rainey from Betty Crocker

Christmas tree cake toppers

Ingredients:

• 1 package Original Pocky Sticks
• Melting chocolate
• Chocolate Coloring
• Sprinkles
• Small round piping tip (I used Ateco #4) or just zip lock bag with corner cut.

Directions:

1. Prepare a piping bag with a small round tip and a piece of parchment paper lined with Pocky Sticks.
2. In a microwave bowl, melt chocolate in 30 second intervals. Use chocolate coloring to change the color of the chocolate to desired color.
3. Place chocolate in piping bag and pipe lines back and forth over pocky stick. Start small on the top and then get larger as you go down the stick.
4. Immediately add sprinkles.
5. Set trees aside to dry.

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey from Pinterest
Tip: place the warmed chocolate on a heating pad to keep it warm

Cranberry Orange Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour see note below for gluten-free alternative
• 12 oz fresh cranberries

(orange glaze)

•  2-3 TBS soft Butter
•  1/2 orange zest
•  1/2 orange juiced
•  1/8-1/4 cup powdered sugar.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until slightly thickened and light in color, about 5-7 minutes. The mixture should almost double in size. The eggs work as your leavening agent in this recipe, so do not skip this step. This mixture should form a ribbon when you lift the beaters out of the bowl. Add the butter and vanilla; mix two more minutes. Stir in the flour until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir to mix throughout.

• Spread in a buttered 9x13 pan.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until very lightly browned and a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into small slices. Or put them in these fun gift boxes

• (glaze) Mix all ingredients together until it is the thickness of the glaze you want. Pour over top of the bread.

Notes

Gluten Free Substitution: 1 1/4 cup brown rice flour + 1/2 cup potato starch + 1/4 cup tapioca starch + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum may be substituted for the amount of all-purpose flour listed in the ingredients above.

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey from Pinterest

Note - freeze the cranberries to prevent them from sinking to the bottom. 

Compound Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 5 tsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes, drained and blotted dry
• 5 tsp chopped fresh basil
• 2 tsp minced garlic

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together with a stand or hand mixer. Refrigerate.

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey from Pinterest
My change: olive mill sun-dried tomatoes tapenade with herbs for regular sun-dried tomatoes.

5 MINUTE RESTAURANT SALSA

Ingredients:

• 28 ounce can whole plum tomatoes including juice
• 1 small white onion peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 - 2 jalapeño peppers seeded and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin or to taste
• 1 teaspoons salt or to taste
• 1/4 - 1 teaspoon to 1 granulated sugar optional and to taste
• 1 - 2 handfuls cilantro I prefer 2
• About 3 tablespoons lime juice

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to food processor in the order listed. Pulse a few times to break up the large pieces, then process until texture is as smooth as desired.
2. Taste the salsa and based on personal preference, adjust as necessary.
3. Transfer to airtight container and let sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or 1 day for best flavor.
4. Serve with tortilla chips and enjoy!

RECIPE NOTES

** I remove the seeds from my jalapeno peppers to reduce the heat level. This way you'll get all the fresh jalapeno flavor and some heat, but not a crazy amount of heat.

** I also add the teaspoon of sugar to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes and I think it heightens the other flavors.

** If you'd like, you could stir in some corn kernels, black beans, or chopped tomatoes.

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey from Pinterest

Christmas Potpourri Gift Idea & Free Printable

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey from pinterest

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:
1 Cup Butter
1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups white sugar
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine butter, cocoa, sugar, and evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boi and boil for 7 minutes. remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Carefully pour hot mixture into a blender and blend for 2 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately. Store in refrigerator.

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey

White Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup uncooked Kernels
1 TBS oil
1lb bag vanilla melting wafers

Directions:
Pop popcorn and set aside. Melt vanilla wafers in the microwave on defrost. Stir until smooth. Coat popcorn with mixture and spread out on waxed paper to cool.

Submitted By: Jenie Rainey
Skip the popping your own corn and purchase it popped! Winco has large bags for 3 bucks. Look for the peppermint white chocolate melting chips at Micheals. 
Gift Tag: "We hope Santa "pops" over to your house this holiday season!"
 

Garlic Croutons

Ingredients:
1 loaf crusty bread - left out overnight
1 stick unsalted butter
1 to 2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic - minced

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut french bread into 1-inch squares and set aside.
In a large pot melt down butter, add salt and garlic.
Remove from heat and add in cut up bread.
Toss until butter is soaked into the bread and flavors are evenly distributed over bread.
Spread butter soaked bread onto a silpat (or parchment paper) lined sheet pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes until browned.
Toss once or twice during baking to ensure all sides are perfectly toasted.

Submitted by: Jenie Rainey 
I used rosemary bread from Costco and used 5 cloves of garlic that was in brine, so it wasn’t as strong. We baked 8 min. Then tossed then 8 more min.