Oreo Cookie Bon Bons

Yum!!

I have been making these bon bons every year at Christmas time for almost 5 years now. They are really easy and everyone seems to love them. These are great to make for a cookie exchange or even to give to people as gifts.

The only thing you have to remember is to keep them in the refrigerator until you want to serve them. If they get to room temperature they will get mushy.

Ingredients:
1 package oreo cookies
1 package cream cheese
1-2 bags of your choice chocolate chips (Every year I use a different type of chocolate chip ~ sometimes it's semi-sweet, sometimes it's dark chocolate - sometimes it's a mixture of whatever I have in my pantry!)
1 package of white chocolate morsels

(you also need wax paper, a bit of paraffin wax & tooth picks)

Directions:

Process oreo cookies in a food processor until finely ground. You may have to do this in a few batches. Add cream cheese (wash your hands) and combine cream cheese with the oreo cookies with your hands. Yes it does get a bit messy.



Wash your hands again after the cream cheese is completely combined. Roll the mixture into balls then place in the freezer until frozen. I usually keep them in the freezer overnight. When rolling the balls make sure they are not too big - bite size work great as these are very rich.

After the bon bons have been frozen through melt your chocolate in a double boiler. I add a square of paraffin wax to the chocolate as it's melting. The wax helps the bon bons set nicely. You don't have to add this if you don't want to.

Once your chocolate has melted you can start dipping the bon bons. I normally use tooth picks for this but this year found that wooden skewers work great and make much less of a mess. Set up a cookie sheet (or some flat platter that will fit in your refrigerator) covered with a sheet of wax paper close to where you are dipping the bon bons.



Place the tooth pick or wooden skewer into one of the bon bons. Dip it into the chocolate until completely covered.



Tap the tooth pick on the side of the double boiler until there are no more "gobs" of chocolate on the bon bon.



I would say tap 10 times or so.



Place on the wax sheet and use another tooth pick to help get the bon bon off your skewer. There will be a hole in the top of the bon bon from where the skewer came out.



Place a white chocolate chip on top of that hole while the chocolate is still wet and viola! You have a perfect pretty little bon bon! If the chocolate has started to harden you can put a little bit of the melted chocolate on the bottom of the white morsel then place on the bon bon.



Repeat this process until your cookie tray/platter is full of bon bons. Place the tray in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set then you can place in a container of your choice but keep them in the refrigerator.

Side note - you may have to put the undipped bon bons back in the freezer for a bit if they start to soften. You'll notice they will start slipping off the tooth pick - that means they need to go back in the freezer.

Spaghetti Pie

I used to nanny for a family in North Raleigh when I was in college. They made a spaghetti pie that I thought was really good. I've lost the recipe that she gave me but I found one that seemed really similar to hers on allrecipes.com

I thought this turned out nicely and will definitely make this again. It's a neat spin on spaghetti. This seemed to be a bit easier for Saryn to eat than regular spaghetti, for those of you with little children.

Ingredients:

1 (6 ounce) package spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste (I used 6 ounces of spaghetti sauce)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Cook and drain spaghetti. Stir in margarine, parmesan cheese and eggs, while spaghetti is hot. Form spaghetti mixture into a crust in a buttered 10 inch pie plate. (I only had a 9" pie plate so that's what I used.)



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet cook the beef, onion, green pepper and garlic. Drain off the fat and stir in the undrained tomatoes, tomato paste or spaghetti sauce, sugar and oregano. Heat through.



Spread cottage cheese over the spaghetti crust then pour in the beef and tomato mixture.



Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of the pie then bake for 5 minutes longer, until cheese melts.



The only thing I thought it needed was a little bit of salt but I just added it to my piece of pie. Jordan didn't add any spices to his so you may just want to let people season themselves if they think it needs it!

Strawberry Cake

When I was a little girl my favorite cake was strawberry. I used to love playing with Strawberry Shortcake so I'm sure that had something to do with it. :) I of course I wanted Saryn to have strawberry cake for her birthday.

I found this recipe for Southern Style Strawberry cake at Joy the Baker's website. I really liked the cake in this recipe and would make it again. The frosting I didn't really care for, I thought it was much too sweet and over powered the flavor of the cake. Give the cake a try - just use a different frosting!

Ingredients:

1 box white cake mix (without pudding)
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello
1 Tablespoon flour
4 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the cake mix, Jello, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition Add the water and strawberries and mix well. Divide the batter evenly into 2 8-inch round baking pans that have been oiled and floured. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the layers pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the layers from the oven to wire racks. Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold each layer onto the racks to cool completely.

Use the frosting of your choice and frost!!

Party Pinwheels

These little appetizers are great for parties. You can make them ahead of time and just slice them before you are ready to serve. As for the toppings, you can really use whatever you like!

Ingredients:
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix (about 1-2 tablespoons, some of the larger packets are more than one ounce so be mindful of that)
2 green onions, minced
4 (12 inch) flour tortillas
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup diced celery
1 (2 ounce) can sliced black olives
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and green onions. Spread this mixture on each tortilla. Sprinkle red pepper, celery, black olives, and cheese over the cream cheese mixture.



Roll up the tortillas and then wrap in aluminum foil.



Chill 2 hours or overnight. I like to make these the day before if I can. Cut off ends of the rolls, and slice the chilled rolls into 1 inch slices.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I make this pumpkin bread every fall/winter. We love it and Saryn is a big fan too! It makes two loaves, we usually eat one right away and freeze the other one. I've also make mini loaves to give away in gift bags and they turned out nicely too.



Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 15 ounce pumpkin pack
3 cups flour
1 tsp cloves ground
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat sugar & oil. Add eggs & pumpkin. Mix dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture.



Bake 1 hour 10 minutes. I start checking the bread around 50-55 minutes. If it's not done cook an additional 5 minutes and check again.