Midnight Bliss Cake

We make this delicious, rich, chocolate cake for Christmas Eve
 to celebrate the birth of Jesus every year.
 We put on a candle for each of us,
 to symbolize the light of Christ inside of us.
 I thought this an appropriate cake since It is believed that Jesus was born at midnight.

Midnight Bliss Cake

1 pkg chocolate cake mix, any variety (we picked chocolate fudge)

1 pkg (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding

4 eggs

1 container 8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup flavored coffee, prepared (I use International Foods French Vanilla)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 pkg 8 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, chopped.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease and flour a tube pan (bundt cake)

Beat all ingredients except chopped chocolate in large bowl with mixer, until well blended and smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate and pour into prepared pan.

Bake 50-60 minutes until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

 No need for frosting with this cake, it's rich and that good!

Candy Bar Pie!

This is our Christmas Pie!
 We make it every Christmas day to have for dessert!

The kids are great helpers as they love to help cut up the candy bars and nibble a little bit!

Candy Bar Pie

1 pkg Cream cheese

1 Tbsp milk

2 tubs cool whip

2 pkgs chocolate instant pudding

1 3/4 cup milk

1 pkg mini candy bars

(we usually use Snickers, but could use Milky Way or 3 Musketeers), chopped

Chocolate pie crust (we use the Oreo one)

Mix the cream cheese with 1 Tbsp milk until smooth. 

 Gently stir in 2 cups cool whip and the chopped candy bars. Set aside.

Pour 1 3/4 cups milk into another bowl and add pudding,

 beat wit wire whisk and then gently stir in 1/2 cup cool whip.

spread 1/2 the pudding mixture on the bottom of crust,

 spread cream cheese mixture over pudding mixture

 and top with remaining pudding mixture and then on the very top,

 cover the pie with cool whip.

 (place shaved chocolate on top for decoration)

Needs to refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

It's not good to forget this last part, as it's hard to wait for it to be set!

(Hey, the cool whip has hardly any calories!)

 

Dairy Bake Potatoes

OK, these are the most fattening potatoes in the world! (but also the best!) Which is why we only make these on Christmas day! I do always double this recipe and put into a little larger baking dish. My husband loves the leftovers of this! (me too!)

Dairy Bake Potatoes

1 bag hash brown potatoes, thawed

1/2 cup butter, melted

1tsp salt and dash of pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 8 oz carton sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups crushed corn flakes

1/4 cup melted butter

paprika

Stir together potatoes, 1/2 cup melted butter, salt, pepper, onion, soup, sour cream and cheese. Pour into a 9x13 buttered baking dish. Top with corn flake crumbs and 1/4 cup melted butter. Sprinkle with paprika for added color.

Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Scalloped Corn

This corn dish, I make every year on Christmas day. It is a favorite in our home.

Scalloped Corn

4 cans of corn, drained

4 eggs

2 cups milk

6 Tbsp butter

2Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp finely chopped onion

Salt and pepper

Put in blender (I do half and then the other half, otherwise it's too much) Put in 13x9 greased baking dish. Add 40 crushed saltine crackers and 2 cups cheddar cheese. Crush 20 more saltine crackers for the top.

Bake 1 hour 350-375 degrees until knife comes out clean.

Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments!

Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

1 cup applesauce

1 cup cinnamon

No baking and simple for kids! mix together to form a stiff dough. play around with it, if it's too wet and sticky, add more cinnamon, and if it's too dry, just add more applesauce. Roll out to 1/4 inch between plastic wrap. (because it's very, very messy otherwise, kind of a dry-sticky) cut with cookie cutters. Make a hole at the top with a straw for ribbon. Let air dry several days turning occasionally.

Makes about 12 great smelling ornaments!

**The first year we made these we painted them after they were dry with puffy paint and added eyes and glitter and beads, they turned out great!! But they are pretty enough to leave plain also.

***They make great Christmas gifts!

****These are NOT edible****

What Spice Are You?

Your result for What Spice Are You Test...

You are Garlic!

0% Habanero, 20% Sage, 10% Thyme, 20% Ginger, 30% Garlic, 0% Curry, 10% Cinnamon and 10% Oregano!

You can be both mellow and sweet.

You are very loved and tend to get along well with people. People remember you! You love to help people and want to feel useful.

You may sometimes have a tendancy to talk a bit too much, but you also don't mind listening to other people either. You hate it when you become engrossed in your own problems, and you can often feel guilty.

You don't have a desire to lead, normally, and you don't mind taking directions and lending a hand. You have a generous spirit and a kind heart.

You are more than likely very attractive, but you would never stop to admit it. You do notice the positive qualities in other people, though.

Take What Spice Are You Test<

Homemade Peanut Butter!

My daughter got to make this recipe today for her math. She is learning fractions and multiplying and counting by 2's (peanuts in shells). It was a fun lesson and the kids really liked this all natural peanut butter.

1 cup shelled peanuts

1 tsp canola oil

Mix in food processor or blender until smooth. It doesn't get smooth really, but you'll know when it is done. It's a little chunky, but not big chunks. We doubled the recipe and had some leftover for tomorrow's snack.

Cinnamon Sticks!

I have never used Cinnamon sticks until our last social co-op. I put them in the crock pot with apple cider and they smelled so good, I can smell them as I type this!! (and that was a couple weeks ago!) It was fun to see the sticks uncurl and look like this by the end of the day. We didn't know this would happen. It was kind of a kitchen experiment for us. I am a new lover of cinnamon sticks!! I can't wait until Tom's Christmas party this weekend (at our house!) I am making apple cider for sure!! Tom's party is at our house, it's all his employees and is on the feast of St Nicholas, which makes it exciting! I will post a real picture of our pumpkin cheesecake and cream cheese bars afterward!

Update: I was so busy with our 20 some guests that I forgot to take pictures of the cheesecake or bars!!! So sorry!