Italian Holiday Cookies

My daughter in love is part Italian, and I like to make things that is a part of my grandchildren’s heritage. Cookies are always popular with the kids and to be honest, adults too. Traditionally these are Easter cookies but they were so easy and so festive, I plan on making them again, perhaps July 4th, Halloween and definitely for Christmas. Just change the frosting colors and the sprinkles.

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, add eggs, sugar and butter. Mix well for 2-3 minutes. Gradually add in flour, baking powder and almond extract. Using a 1 inch scoop, scoop cookies and roll into balls. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies are not supposed to be brown. Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely before frosting/decorating with sprinkles.

Frosting Ingredients:

2 1/2 – 3 cups of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons of almond extract

1/4 cup milk

Food coloring/sprinkles if desired

Combine powdered sugar, extract and milk. Stir until combined. I like my icing to set firm so it may take 3 cups to stiffen if you like your icing like I do. Dip cookies in frosting and decorate with sprinkles immediately. I separated the frosting into separate bowls for different colors. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Cyndi’s Almond Raspberry Cake

---

We celebrated my daughter in love Danielle’s mother’s birthday last month. She wanted a yellow cake, raspberry filling with almond frosting. The cake was delicious and Cyndi loved it.

Cake Ingredients:

1 box of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix

1 small box of instant vanilla pudding

1 cup sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup water

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Spray two 9″ cake pans, three 8″ cakes or an 11 x 13″

rectangular pan with nonstick cooking spray that contains flour such as Baker’s Joy.

Whisk cake mix, flour,

pudding, sugar and salt in your mixing bowl. I use my whisk attachment on my stand mixer.

Add in water, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extracts and eggs. Beat on low speed for 4 minutes.

Pour cake batter into your desired size cake pan(s). Bake for 25-35 minutes. Check with cake tester and bake until it comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting cake.

Raspberry Filling:

1/2 – 3/4 cups of Raspberry Preserves, I used seedless

In a bowl, stir preserves until smooth. You do not need to add water to thin it out. Make a dam around the cake and add raspberry preserves in the center. Add top layer and continue to frost/decorate.

Almond Buttercream Frosting:

Ingredients*:

1 1/4 cups Crisco

3 sticks butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons almond extract

8-10 cups of powdered sugar

3-4 Tablespoons of milk (more if needed)

Cream Crisco and butter together. Add almond extract.

Gradually add powdered sugar, one cup at a time on low speed.

Add milk and blend well.

*I decorated this cake with a Wilton 1M decorating tip and edible glitter and sprinkles.

Making the roses takes a lot of frosting so if you are making the round cakes or rectangular cakes without roses, you can probably cut this frosting recipe in half. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Cyndi!

Mom’s Vintage Vegetable Dip

This dip recipe has been around for a long time. I grew up eating it. Make this low cab and keto friendly by dipping vegetables instead of chips. Carrot and celery sticks, bell pepper strips, broccoli and cauliflower pieces all make great dipper in this dip. When I made this recipe for New Year’s, I forgot who wonderful and delicious this dip was. It was a big hit with my family.

Ingredients:

1 package of Knorr’s Vegetable Recipe Mix (found in the soup isle)

16 ounces of sour cream

1 cup of mayonnaise

1 package of frozen spinach, cooked, and drained of all liquid

1 can of water chestnuts, drained and chopped

1 small splash of soy sauce

Dip without the water chestnuts

A must add, water chestnuts to this dip for delicious crunch

Mix and combine all ingredients. Best if made the day before. Refrigerate until serving. Stand back and watch it disappear. Enjoy!

Mini Cherry Almond Danish

Hot from the oven

I love Danish and I have never attempted to make them. I actually made this recipe for the first time Christmas morning. They are easy to make and a perfect bite size treat.

Ingredients:

1 can of Crescent rolls

4 ounces of room temp cream cheese

1 Tablespoon of powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

1 can of cherry pie filling

Slice the crescent dough into round circles

Make a well in the dough

Ready to fill

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove crescent rolls from package and keep dough intact. Do not roll out or separate. Slice the the crescent rolls in round circles. Lay on baking pan and make a well. Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and extract together. Place a teaspoon of cream cheese in the well of of the dough. Place a cherry or two (I used 2) on top of cream cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. While danish are baking, make glaze.

Glaze:

4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 Tablespoon of milk

Mix well. Add more milk if you need to but I purposely make the glaze thick and it melted nicely when I drizzled the danish with it. drizzle the danish with the glaze.

Depending how you slice the crescent rolls, this recipe will make 10-12 mini danishes. If you double the recipe, you will use 8 ounces of cream cheese and probably use the entire can of cherry pie filling. Can you swap out a different fruit for pie filling? Absolutely. I used cherry since it was red for Christmas but it would be perfect for Valentine’s Day too. Stand back and watch them disappear!Enjoy!

1

Ooey Gooey Almond Cookies

If you like Ooey Gooey Butter Cakes, you will love these delicious easy 6 ingredient cookies. That’s right 6 ingredients plus the sprinkles. I had a great time in the kitchen with my sous chef Princess Willow. She loved adding sprinkles to the cookie dough.

Sprinkle Station and powdered sugar

Willow likes the Frozen sprinkles with the snowflakes best

A fun cookie to bake with kids.

Ingredients:

1 yellow cake mix, I prefer Duncan Hines

1 stick room temperature butter

1 8 ounce block of cream cheese, room temperature

1 egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon almond extract or you can use vanilla

Sprinkles for decorations

Powdered sugar to roll cookies in

Mix room temperature butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add egg and extract. Add in cake mix and mix until combined. Place in refrigerator 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make your sprinkle station, we used several Christmas sprinkle colors and pour about a cup of powdered sugar in a separate bowl. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop cookies with a scoop and roll into balls. Roll in sprinkles and roll again in powdered sugar. Place on your baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly brown. Cool five minutes on your cookie sheet before moving them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Cranberry Brie Bread Bowl

Sorry, we dug in before I took a picture.

This recipe was inspired by Cook It Erica on Tik Tok. There is one minor adjustment I would make the next time I make it but other than that, it was perfect and absolutely delicious. This will be made for a Christmas appetizer this year. Yes, it was all that and then some.

Ingredients:

1 pound of Brie, I bought 2 wedges totaling a pound, room temperature, rinds removed

1 1/2-1 cup of cranberry sauce, jellied or whole berry*

1/4 cup of dried cranberries/Craisins *

2 Tablespoons melted butter

2 Tablespoons chopped pecans

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

4-6 Tablespoons melted butter

1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves, or more to taste

1 sourdough loaf, uncut

Brie in the bread bowl.

Brie topped with cranberry sauce.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.. Cut a large hole in the center of the sourdough bread, reserve what you cut out and tear or cut into pieces. Set aside and toast while Brie Bowl is baking in the oven. When I make this again, I would toss the tensing bread pieces in melted butter and thyme leaves and bake those with the Brie bowl. Cut down the sides of bread bowl to form petals of bread that you can pluck off and eat. In between the petals, pour or brush inside the bread with melted butter and thyme leaves.

Brie topped with craisins.

Brie topped with streusel.

Ready for the oven.

So yummy, we couldn’t stop eating it before a picture was taken.

Fill inside of bread bowl with room temperature Brie. Spread into the cavity in the bread bowl. Top with cranberry sauce. I did not measure the cranberry sauce but I used about half a can of jellied. I honestly believe the whole berry would be great as well. if you use whole berry cranberry sauce, I would skip the craisins. For the streusel, mix 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of chopped pecans. Stir to combine and place over the cranberry sauce. Bake for 20-25 minutes until Brie is nice and melty. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Mummy Dogs

3 Easy Ingredients

I love doing things in the kitchen with my grandchildren. Willow loves Halloween and loves to help prepare and cook food. These fun Mummy Dogs are easy to make and eat. Mommy, Willow and Nana really enjoyed them. Since my current situation is a broken left foot, it is hard to stand and cook for long periods of time. Working with Willow on this recipe was just as enjoyable as one that took me all day to make.

Ingredients:

I package of organic Applegate Farms Hot Dogs, or your favorite kind

1 package of crescent rolls, I used 4 for 5 hot dogs

Pieces of cheese for eyes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut crescent rolls into strips. Wrap strips of crescent rolls around the hot dogs, saving space for eyes. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until crescent rolls are nice and golden brown. Immediately add cheese pieces for eyes so they will melt and not fall off. Serve immediately and with your favorite dipping sauce. Willow always uses ketchup. Enjoy!

My 3 year old sous chef!

Before the eyes!

I see you!

Animal Cookies On My Cake

I purchased animal cookie flavoring because I wanted to make an Animal Cookie Cake for Willow. She loves to help in the kitchen. We had a great time making this cake. She put on very sprinkle and carefully placed every animal cookie around the bottom and on the top. I ordered this flavoring from Get Suckered Flavoring.

Princess Willow placed every sprinkle on her cake.

Cake Ingredients:

1 box of Duncan Hines White Cake Mix

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 small box of instant vanilla pudding

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup of water

1 cup of sour cream

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 dropper full of animal cookie flavoring

4 egg whites

10 Tablespoons sprinkles

Princess Willow also placed the animal cookies on her cake.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray two 9” pans with nonstick cooking spray that contains flour.

One proud little girl of her beautiful cake.

Whisk cake mix, flour, pudding, sugar and salt in your mixing bowl. Add water, sour cream, oil, egg whites, vanilla and animal cookie flavoring. Mix for 4 minutes on low speed. Pour into 9” cake pans.

Bake 25-35 minutes until cake tester comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting.

Animal Cookie Frosting:

1 1/4 cup Crisco

3 sticks room temperature butter

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 dropper full of animal cookie flavoring

8-10 cups of powdered sugar

3-4 teaspoons of milk

1 bag of frosted or iced animal cookies

Mix all ingredients together adding sugar one cup at a time. Decorate with sprinkles and animal cookies. Enjoy!

A very yummy ending!

This is the flavoring I used.

Maui Muffins

It’s been hot and I have been feeling like I am in the tropics. These are not your typical breakfast muffins. I created this recipe as a muffin recipe but both my daughter in love Danielle and I thought if they had cream cheese frosting on top, they could also double as a cupcake. Delicious no matter how you eat them, muffin or cupcake. You decide.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour, all purpose or gluten free

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup brown sugar

Whisk dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2 carrots grated

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 stick butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 small can crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Also add coconut.

Mix together and fill muffin liners 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven. Bake 16-18 minutes or till tester comes out clean. Serve warm and enjoy! Yield about 18 muffins.

This recipe was loved by daughter in love Danielle, Princess Willow and grand pup Hermione who cleaned up the bites Willow dropped off of her plate. 😉 🐶 👑

Paula’s Banana Pudding

This dessert screams summer and I will tell you it’s the best banana pudding I have ever had. My best Joanne made this recipe about 15 years ago and told me to make it. So in memory of her, I did and wished I had not waited so long. I do one thing different to the recipe that Paula did not do. I used Fruit Fresh on the bananas and they stayed perfectly yellow, even days later. No cooking or baking in this recipe so it’s perfect for our hot summer days.

Ingredients:

1 5 ounce box of instant vanilla or French vanilla pudding (I used vanilla since I could not find French Vanilla in that size)

3 packages of Pepperidge Farm Chessman Cookies

12 ounces Cool Whip, thawed

1 8 ounce block of cream cheese, room temperature

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups milk

6-8 large bananas, sliced

2 Tablespoons Fruit Fresh mixed with 3 Tablespoons of water (Fruit Fresh is found in the canning isle of your grocery store)

Line a 13 x 9 pan with Chessman cookies. Using a hand mixer, prepare pudding with the 2 cups of milk an set aside. In another bowl, combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Fold Cool Whip into cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Slice bananas and add to a bowl of Fruit Fresh and water. Toss bananas in the Fruit Fresh and layer on top of Chessman cookies. Fold sweetened condensed milk/cream cheese/cool whip into pudding and pour over bananas and cookies. Smooth the top of pudding and cover with another layer of Chessman cookies. Refrigerate and enjoy!