Cream Cheese, Cheese Ball

Around the holidays it is always fun to buy a cheese ball. For your New Years Eve party why not make your own!
    This is a simple and delicious recipe given to me by my mother-in-law that she got from her mother.
Cheese balls are a delicious snack for any occasion so I hope you will enjoy this scrumptious recipe!

What you'll need:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 to 5 ounces Bleu or Roquefort cheese
2 8 ounce packages of cream cheese (leave on counter for a little while to soften)
1/8 tsp garlic salt (or garlic powder and salt)
1 T finely chopped green pepper
1 T chopped pimiento

Step 1 -
    Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread your chopped walnuts in a shallow pan and toast in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. You can stir the nuts occasionally to get them evenly toasted.

Step 2 -
    Blend your cheeses together until creamy. I like to use a hand mixer but you can also stir by hand. Then mix in your pimiento, green pepper and garlic salt. (I am not a very big fan of garlic salt so I used half garlic powder and half regular table salt.)

Step 3 -
    Place your mixture in the fridge and let it sit for a good 2 hours until it is firm.

Step 4 -
    After your cheese ball mixture is firm shape it into balls. You can make 1 large ball, 2 medium, 3 small or a cheese log instead. Roll your ball or log in your toasted walnuts and chill in the refrigerator till serving time.

    You can also make some holly to garnish the top with green pepper as the leaves and pimientos as the berries.

Serve with your favorite crackers or even use as a spread on croissant sandwiches.
Cheese balls are so delicious and are an easy treat at any party!

Happy New Year!

Easy Fudge

Who says fudge is just for the holidays? Here is a fudge recipe that will taste great no matter if you make it in December or July. This is also an easy fudge recipe, no candy thermometer required, so roll up your sleeves and let's start!

What you'll need:
4 cups sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
11 oz mini marshmallows
4 Hershey's milk chocolate candy bars
1 16oz bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
Desired topping: nuts or candy canes

Preparation step:
    If you want nuts or crushed candy canes in your fudge chop all of this beforehand. You won't have time during the cooking process to stop and chop nuts so do this first!
    Also prepare either a 9x13 inch casserole dish lined with wax paper on the bottom and sides, or a cookie sheet lined with wax paper so you'll have a place to pour your fudge out when you're done.

Step 1 -
   In a pot, no smaller than 3 quarts, put your sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Stir together and cook to a boil while stirring constantly with a heat resistant spoon or spatula.
   Let it boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Put a timer on, you don't want to burn your fudge.

Step 2 -
    After it boils for 10 minutes turn the burner to low and add your vanilla, chocolate bars, marshmallows and chocolate chips. Stir until melted.

Step 4 -
    Take the fudge off the heat and stir in half of your desired topping such as chopped nuts or crushed candy canes.

Step 5 -
    Poor your fudge either into a 9x13 casserole dish or onto a cookie sheet. I like the cookie sheet because the fudge cools faster and isn't as thick so you get more pieces.
     You could also lay out wax paper on your counter top instead of in a cookie sheet. But if you don't have a lot of counter space a cookie sheet or glass dish is better.
    Once your fudge is all poured out you can cover the top with the other half of your toppings!

    If you want your fudge to cool faster you can put it in the fridge, other wise let it sit till it hardens.
    Once it hardens cut it into pieces of your desired size.

I hope you love this simple recipe as much as I do!

Have a Happy New year and may all your cooking be right. ;-)

Christmas cupcakes

Here are some cute designs to stick on your cupcakes or cookies this holiday season.

First you'll want to frost your cupcake or cookie with a nice basic color. I chose white. You can make it easier by piping a swirl and the spreading it out. You want your basic color in a piping bag anyway, so it comes in handy.

Christmas tree:
Pipe a frosting cone on your cupcake. For this you start with your round tip almost touching the cupcake. I used a #10 tip, you want a big tip, nothing below #7.

Then squeeze out frosting and slowly raise your tip away from the cupcake. You want the tip of the tip to stay in the frosting cone your making while piping.

Be sure to gradually make your cone smaller as you move up until you reach your desired height. End it with a point.

Next you'll want to put green frosting in a piping bag with a star tip. You can use a #24 or #27 tip. (You can also use a leaf tip if you like that look better but I think the star tip makes it look more like a pine tree.)

To make the bows of your pine tree just start squeezing with the star tip at the base of your frosting cone and pull out making it as long as you desire. Then as you work your way up the frosting cone make your tree limbs shorter.

Then you can decorate your tree any way you want with round sprinkles, piping dots, or piping garlands.

Wreath:
Use a star tip and you could either pipe a squished shell boarder or make a continuous squiggly line. Then finish it off with a bow.

These look festive are super fun to make and are even more fun to eat!
Have a Merry Christmas!