Friday, December 12, 2008

Holiday Treats

I have been busy baking up a storm this week for my friends Christmas party tomorrow night. I make these particular recipes every year around this time and I'm excited to share them with you.
The first recipe is my Peppermint Bark. I decided to try to come up with my own recipe (which I don't do very often) after having a sampling of Williams-Sonoma's. It is absolutely delicious and I recommend you go by there and try some. The downside is that it costs about $30 for a pound of it. So if you don't have $30 to blow on candy try my recipe below.

Laura's Peppermint Bark
36oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
36oz white chocolate chips
Peppermint extract to taste (I used about 3t it's best to taste as you go though)
Peppermint candy, crushed

Use a double boiler to melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Add in peppermint extract to the desired taste. Pour onto a large sheet pan lined with aluminum foil and spread into a fairly thin layer. Put in the fridge for about 10 minutes (you want it to still be a little sticky to the touch). Melt the white chocolate chips and spread onto of the chocolate layer. Crush peppermints in a zip lock bag using a hammer or a meat mallet and sprinkle on top. Put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Break into pieces when firm.

My next holiday treat is a tried and true family favorite. I got this recipe from my mom who also makes it every year. It's not sweet, but completely addicting.

Chex Mix
2 cups Snyder's butter pretzels (if you can't find these regular ones will work)
4 cups Cheerios
6oz. Bugles
5 cups Rice Chex
3 cups Wheat Chex
4.5oz Cashews
4.5 oz Pecans
3T Worchestershire sauce
2t garlic salt
1t seasoned salt
3 sticks butter, melted

Melt butter. Mix in Worchestershire sauce and salts. Pour the rest of the ingredients into a large roasting pan (I buy an aluminum one from the grocery store). Pour butter mixture over the cereals and mix. Bake in a 250 degree oven for 2 hours stirring every 20 minutes. Basically bake it until all of the buttery goodness is absorbed.

Hopefully you won't run into any trouble finding Bugles. The last 2 years I haven't been able to find them in the grocery stores and it is my absolute favorite part of this recipe. I searched everywhere and finally found a truck stop that carried small bags of them. Of course it cost me about $6 to get the amount I needed and I really think they were expired but it was well worth it. On the bright side, I have seen Bugles everywhere this year. Maybe I asked enough stores that they decided it was a product worth stocking.

And finally - what you have all been waiting for (or well at least Expat) my Tiramisu Toffee Trifle Pie. It is much different from her recipe that she posted here. Obviously I don't have access to a family owned Italian restaurant, but never fear I have Southern Living on my side. They never let me down. This recipe happened to be a Grand Prize winner in 2000. I have been making it several years for my dad's side Christmas Eve dinner. It's a light desert that is perfect after a heavy meal. The following recipe serves 8-10 people and is actually put in a pie dish. I always double the recipe though and put it in a regular sized trifle bowl. For the Christmas party I decided to put them into individual sized trifle dishes so they would be easier to just pick up and try.

Tiramisu Toffee Trifle Pie
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
3/4 cup warm water
1 (10.75-ounce) frozen pound cake, thawed
1 (8-ounce) package mascarpone or cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup chocolate syrup
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed and divided
2 (1.4-ounce) English toffee candy bars, coarsely chopped

Stir together coffee and 3/4 cup warm water until coffee is dissolved. Cool.
Cut cake into 14 slices. Cut each slice in half diagonally. Place triangles in bottom and up sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pieplate. Drizzle coffee mixture over cake.
Beat mascarpone cheese, sugar, and chocolate syrup at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add 2 1/2 cups whipped topping, and beat until light and fluffy.
Spread cheese mixture evenly over cake. Dollop remaining whipped topping around edges of pie. Sprinkle with candy. Chill 8 hours.


I will definitely have to try out Expat's true Tiramisu recipe in order to decide which is really the best! Although I think I will probably like them both in their own unique ways. Do you all have any holiday recipes you make every year? Please share!

3 comments :

  1. Your Peppermint Bark looks so good!! I might steal this recipe:)

    Btw, I did it finally.

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh okay I see ... yours is a tiramisuish dessert. Phew. I might have been dreading losing my title. But the way I see it, I still keep mine and you get a tiramisuish queen one.
    It does sound interesting and I might try it soon. Only without toffees (not a fan).

    ReplyDelete
  3. all of them looks delicious .. thanx for the recipes ..

    ReplyDelete

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