Scrumptious Christmas creations

Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, the semester is finally over, so treat yourself. Shamelessly eat cookies, fudge and pie. Whatever your holiday cravings may be, indulge while you can, and be festive about it.

[toggle title=”Strawberry Santas”]

Ingredients:

• Necessary amount of strawberries
• Spray can of whipped cream

Directions:

1. Wash your strawberries and flip them upside down. The pointier the end. the better.
2. For each strawberry, cut off the stem to create a base.
3. Snip the tip off your strawberry and use a little whipped cream to stick it back down.
4. Add a tiny dot of whipped cream to the tip of the strawberry, and two little dots down the front.
5. Spray whipped cream around the base and a little dab at the top.

Photo and recipe from totallythebomb.com

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[toggle title=”Snow-covered Chocolate Pinecones “]

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Chex Choco­late cereal or com­pa­ra­ble
• 6 pret­zel sticks
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup Nutella (choco­late hazel­nut spread)
• 3 tbsp. but­ter, softened
• 1 cup pow­dered sugar

Directions:

1. Mix the peanut but­ter, Nutella, but­ter, and pow­dered sugar in a bowl.
2. Take a pret­zel stick and mold some of the peanut but­ter mix­ture around it, form­ing a slight cone shape.
3. Hold­ing it steady by using the tip of the pret­zel as a han­dle, start insert­ing pieces of cereal into the peanut but­ter mix­ture in a sym­met­ri­cal pat­tern around the stick. Add more cereal pieces, stag­ger­ing them as you move upward, until you get near the top.
4. Cut sev­eral cereal pieces into tri­an­gles and add those to the top (most pinecone scales get smaller toward the end).
5. If your pinecone is get­ting too tall, cut off the top of the pret­zel and add a dol­lop of peanut but­ter mix­ture to cover it. Insert a few more tri­an­gle pieces of cereal into the top of the pinecone.
6. For a snowy effect, dust the pinecone with pow­dered sugar.

Photo and recipe from handmadecharlotte.com

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[toggle title=”Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites“]

Ingredients:

• 1 (30 oz.) package Pillsbury Gingerbread Cookie Dough (refrigerated section)
• 4 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Roll 2 tsp. of cookie dough into a ball for each cookie.
2. Place balls of dough into paper liners in mini cupcake/muffin pan.
3. Make an indentation into each ball of dough with a flour dipped mini rolling pin or the back of a measurement teaspoon.
4. Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Stir in vanilla.
5. Place filling into a piping bag and snip an opening at the bottom. Place one teaspoon of filling into each. Don’t overfill the cookies, as they will rise when baked.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 10 minutes.
7. Let cool before removing from cupcake pan.
8. Optional: You can also bake the cookie cups empty and add the cheesecake filling when the cookie cups are cooled.

Photo and recipe from createdby-diane.com

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[toggle title=”Krispie Christmas Trees“]

Ingredients:

• 6 cup Rice Krispies Cereal
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 11 oz. of marshmallows
• Green food coloring
• 12 mini Reese’s Cups
• 1/3 cup M&M Minis
• 12 Candy Stars
• 3 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp. milk
• 3 tbsp. corn syrup

Directions:

Optional: Cut a cone-shaped mold out of construction paper or cardboard to help form the trees.

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium to large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
3. Add the marshmallows and stir until completely melted.
4. Add enough food coloring to turn the mixture dark green (it will lighten when cereal is added). Remove from heat.
5. Add the Rice Krispies and stir until cereal is well coated. Allow to set approx. 4 minutes.
6. Lightly grease your hands and form mixture into cone shapes. Place cones onto prepared pan. Allow to cool and firm (may take 3-4 hours).
7. Mix powdered sugar, milk and corn syrup in a bowl until smooth. Transfer to piping bag or zippered bag. Pipe garland onto cookies.
8. Space M&M minis like ornaments onto the garland.
9. Pipe a dab of icing on top of tree to act as glue and attach a star.
10. Place a Reese’s upside down on pan. Pipe icing on it and place tree on top.
11. Allow to set before serving.

Photo and recipe from raininghotcoupons.com

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