Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares

I'd like to start this post with an anecdote. Two years ago, around September, I was hanging out in my pajamas just like any other lazy evening. I was sitting on my couch, and I awkwardly reached over to grab something at the other end. I heard a strange noise. Was it my cat scratching something? No, he was sleeping on the back of the couch. I dismissed it. Then the next day as soon as I sit down, I hear the noise again. Alright this is just getting weird. Day after day I continue to hear the noise.

Then one day I'm walking around the apartment and "what is that noise?" turns into "what is that breeze?!". I turn around, look in the mirror, and immediately realize that the noise was the gradual ripping of the seam of the butt of my pajama pants. I had no idea, until it had ripped all the way from waistband to crotch. Thank goodness I live alone. I repeated this story to Jinelle (who cried a little it was so funny), and that Christmas she gave me a new pair of pajama pants.

Fast forward to this past September. I'm wearing the new pajama pants now, and I sit down on the couch. I HEAR THE SOUND. I jump off of the couch and sure enough, I've ripped the bum again. After laughing hysterically for a moment, I text Jinelle and tell her the situation.

Of course I was expecting another new pair this Christmas and she did not disappoint. She decided to go with a fleece pant, with a super durable stitch down the back. Not to mention they are pretty adorable.

Seen here with "Grinch" cookies, and shortbread cookies

On to the recipe! The theme is butter and the result is calories.


INGREDIENTS

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 cups butterscotch chips
1 bag of mini marshmallows (multi-colored)


DIRECTIONS

1) Put the butter, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips into a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until ingredients are combined and smooth.

Don't look directly at it, or your arteries will clog

2) Stir in the mini marshmallows and pour into a 9x9 parchment lined, baking dish. I actually used my silicone one, so I didn't need to line it.

3) Refrigerate for at least an hour, or until firm. Turn out of baking dish and cut into bite sized squares. Store the squares in the fridge until ready to serve to avoid them softening.

After sampling one and finding it to be incredibly rich and sweet, I wasn't sure if they were going to be a hit. Turns out they were probably the most popular treat out of all my Christmas baking. Who knew. 

Adapted from Sweetapolita

Panettone Bread Pudding

I totally stole this one from Giada. I love panettone as toast at Christmas but it's hard for me to justify buying one since I live by myself. They are just so big and though they do freeze well, I'm never in the mood for panetonne at any other time of the year. I found this recipe and thought it would be a great way to get in my panettone fix without all the waste!



INGREDIENTS

Pudding
1 pound panettone, top crust removed
8 eggs
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups of sugar

Sauce
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon


DIRECTIONS

1) Lightly butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Slice the panettone into one inch cubes and arrange in the baking dish.

Panettone, why you gotta be so awesome?

2) In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, whipping cream, milk and sugar. Pour the mixture over the bread cubes. Press down on the bread with a spatula, ensuring that all are well soaked. Let stand at least 30 minutes before baking but no more than 2 hours. Bake at 350F for at least an hour (mine took about an hour and fifteen minutes).

3) For the sauce, combine the water and brown sugar in a pot and boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the whipping cream and cinnamon. Either serve immediately over the pudding or refrigerate and reheat when ready to serve.

Key things I learned while making this recipe:

1) Bread pudding is not easily transported. Do not choose to make this if you are required to bring it to another location. I wrapped this with copious amounts of plastic wrap and a plastic bag and when I got to my mom's, half of the liquid was in the bag. We decided that no one was going to die if we just dumped the spilled liquid from the bag back into the dish. And no one did die.

2) Do not make a dessert that needs to be baked for over an hour post commencement of the meal. This is especially true when your guests have the attention span of my cat posing for a photo. You could have cut the tension with a knife over the fact that the dessert was taking so long. Might I add that it was approximately 6pm. Chill out people. Thank God this dessert was freaking marvelous, as the lengthy wait time was quickly forgotten.


Update 13/12/25: My brother thought this year's bread pudding was far superior to last year's. We contemplated why that would be, seeing as I did nothing differently. Then he figured it out, "it must be because this year, you omitted the drama".

Cranberry Steamed Pudding

This is a secret recipe that I am about to disclose. The first time I had this was at Christmas in Victoria at my Aunt and Uncle's. I just about died it was so good. Now it has become tradition that I host a Christmas Eve get together for my mom and brother, and this is the required dessert.


INGREDIENTS

Pudding
3 cups fresh, whole cranberries (1 bag)

Brother - "it's like eating a hug!"

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cups boiling water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sauce
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch


DIRECTIONS

1) Beat the egg. Add the dry ingredients, then the molasses. I use cooking molasses which gives this a very strong flavor. Make sure to use fancy molasses if you want it more subtle. *Tip: spray the inside of the measuring cup with cooking spray before measuring your molasses in it. This really minimizes the sticky mess.*

2) Now add the boiling water and vanilla extract. Stir in the cranberries. If you think to yourself "this looks terrible, I must have screwed something up!" Chill, it means your nailing it. Compare yours to this picture to decrease your stress level.



Check out my pathetic spatula!

3) Spray the inside of a large can (I think the one I have is an old coffee can) with one end removed. Pour mixture in can and cover with foil.

4) Place the can in a large pot and fill it with water until it's halfway up the can. Cover the pot and steam for about an hour. What does "steam" mean? I have no idea, I just wing it. I basically keep the water at a really gentle boil. Check it often when you've almost reached the hour mark and stick a toothpick in it to test the doneness.

5) Now what I like to do is prep the sauce meaning combine all the ingredients in a pot and leave it on the stove for when it's time to get the dessert ready. This foresight is critical because when it's time to serve, I've already had one bottle of wine, and at least one rum and eggnog. There is no measuring going on in that state. Just turn the stove on and stir. Fight that urge to start dancing to "Holly Jolly Christmas", and watch the damn sauce. You will know when it's thick enough because it coats the back of the spoon.



Disclaimer: this picture is several years old but a gem none the less. 

To serve, remove from the can (seen above), cut the pudding in approximately one centimeter wide slices and place in a bowl. Drench with low calorie sauce from Jesus.

Grinch Cookies (Craisin, Chocolate Chip & Pistachio)

*Jinelle told me to call these "Grinch Cookies" so that is what I've done!*

Tonight was another epic baking night. It would appear that Penn West is much more into celebrating Christmas than Nexen was as I have received Christmas presents from colleagues left, right and center. At Nexen I was lucky if I got a $10 Tim card from the boss. Thus far at Penn West I have acquired a poinsettia, a box of chocolates, a Purdy's chocolate Santa and $30 worth of Starbucks gift cards. Feeling like a cheap ass, I thought I better bust out the skills and put together some baked goods as gifts.

Make sure to try out new recipes when the people doing the eating aren't critical, such as colleagues. Because guess what, even if it's underwhelming you're still going to have a job on Monday. Luckily though, this recipe which I put together by grabbing ideas from several sources, turned out beautifully. Which is hardly surprising.

The green color of these really gets the people going.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (3.4 ounces) pistachio flavoured instant pudding mix
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and sugar together in stand-up mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until well blended. Add the milk and vanilla extract.

2) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pudding mix in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to the mixer in three parts (simply to avoid covering the kitchen in the flour mixture).

3) Stir in craisins and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet (I sprayed mine with Pam just to be safe or you could use parchment). Bake 10-12 minutes or until just lightly browned on the bottom. Remove from the pan right away and cool on a wire rack.

Look at my cute little gifts. I also threw some shortbread cookies in there for good measure.

Marzipan Stuffed Dates

I fricken love dates. One year on Christmas Eve we had "dates three ways". This included the "original" date; simply stuffed with cream cheese, a "savory" date; stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in bacon and then baked, and these "dessert" dates; stuffed with marzipan and dipped in chocolate. That year my friend told me that after eating so many dates he felt "outdated"... Yeah, that happened.

I first had these delightful dates in Victoria at my Aunt and Uncle's. The recipe has been adapted from the Thrify Food's website.

INGREDIENTS

1 package of whole dates
1 package of marzipan
1/2 bag of either milk or dark chocolate chips
shelled, crushed pistachios


DIRECTIONS

1) Cut a slit lengthwise in each date. Mold the marzipan into a log shape and stuff each date. Squeeze the date shut but leave a bit of the marzipan showing.

2) Place parchment on a baking sheet. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Dip each date halfway into the melted chocolate and place marzipan side up on the baking sheet. Sprinkle chocolate with crushed pistachios. Continue until all dates have been coated and sprinkled.

3) Place in the fridge to set the chocolate and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Yield: A very large amount.

Keep these in the fridge and they will last a very long time. So, make them early and pull them out whenever you need to bring a Christmas treat somewhere!

Red Velvet Mini Cheesecakes

Today I got my annual raise and bonus! Merry Christmas to me indeed. What better way to celebrate than with a frozen pizza all alone on a Friday night. Shit I'm awesome. At least I had some baking to get done for my synchro teams. I decided to make a batch of shortbread cookies as a gift for the Pre-Novice Team whom I "mentor" once a week. Then I decided to try making these beauties for the Open Team Christmas party.

Terrible picture. Fear not, I'm getting a digital SLR for Christmas.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups Oreo cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 1/2 packages cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons red food coloring
3 eggs

whipped cream for garnish


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with baking cups. Combine the melted butter and the cookie crumbs. The original recipe called for "crushed thin chocolate wafer cookies". This is what I said:

So, I knew that I could get Oreo baking crumbs in the baking aisle and that is what I did. Press the crumb mixture into each baking cup with the back of a spoon. There was enough for precisely 17 cheesecakes lol.

2) On medium speed, mix the cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and the cocoa powder. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and red food coloring. Beat in the eggs one at a time until blended.

3) Fill each baking cup with the mixture until almost full. Get this, I used a soup ladle to fill the cups. I come up with some seriously genius ideas, hence the raise.

4) Bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops are firm. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving. Serve with whipped cream on top.

  

I always sample my baking before subjecting other people to it. This was my reaction after taking one bite of this cheesecake.



Whipped Shortbread Cookies

These shortbread cookies are the best ever and the recipe is from the Best of Bridge Volume 1. I wish I could say that I actually busted out the Best of Bridge in book form, but that would be lying. I googled it, because I'm 24 not 84.


INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 cups flour


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Cream the butter and sugar together in stand up mixer.

2) Add flour and beat for 10 minutes. The 10 minute beating is what makes these cookies so good. I really recommend you ask Santa for a Kitchenaid mixer.

3) Drop onto cookie sheet. Smaller cookies are best because then you can eat more and maybe not feel as shitty about it. Or feel free to use your cookies press if you have one, and using it doesn't cause a fit of rage. I have never had a good experience with my cookie press. Decorate each cookie however you see fit. Sprinkles or maraschino cherries are good options. Don't use both though, people will think you're trying too hard.

4) Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the bottoms are just lightly browned. It is always better to under bake these than over bake.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my synchronized skating team's Christmas party last year and they were a huge hit. I also brought some to a hot "study date". And by hot study date I really mean writing a business plan with Ryan. In my case, business and social life are synonymous.

To be honest, I found the coffee flavor in this "mocha" cupcake to be a bit underwhelming. But I'm also terrible at brewing coffee.

I still had some of these left over, and was told that I could successfully freeze them. Wow was that person wrong. I got my brother to try a thawed one and he eloquently told me it was terrible. Now that I've slandered this recipe I'm sure you're really excited to try it.


INGREDIENTS


This picture hurts my soul

Cupcakes

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee (room temperature)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg


Frosting

1 package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
5 cups confectioner's sugar


DIRECTIONS

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with muffin cups. As you can see from the picture, I used some red and white striped candy cane inspired cups that looked really cute before baking and like crap after baking.

2) Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

3) In a measuring cup, combine the milk and brewed coffee.

4) In standup mixer beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk and coffee, beating until just combined.

5) Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Move the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

6) For the frosting, mix the butter and cream cheese together until blended. Add the peppermint extract and the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time. If you want it less stiff, omit one cup of the confectioner's sugar. It was difficult to refrain from adding a tasteless comment on that.

I divided my frosting in half and added some red food coloring to one portion. Then in my pastry bag, I carefully put the red frosting in one half of the bag and the white in the other so that it would come out with a striped red and white effect. I recently saw this tip on Pinterest. Instead of painstakingly trying to put the two colors in manually, you simply put two pastry bags (one for each color) within one bag.

I must have been feeling extra festive because I even added some red sprinkles.