Christmas dessert party

I had a little Christmas party at my house Friday for my mom, aunt and cousin, and we had a great time! They shopped (I have no money with which to shop), we opened presents and giggled a lot. Isn’t that what family is all about?

As I tend to do, I went a tad overboard with the after-lunch desserts. Here’s what I made if you’d like to know…

Christmas Potpourri
Ok, obviously we didn’t eat this, but it made my house smell like Christmas! Isn’t it funny how certain scents just mean something? This mix you can make once, leave it out and turn the stove on whenever you want; just add water when it needs it! Next year, I think I’ll use a little baby crock pot so I don’t have one eye out of commission on my stove.

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes (no pic)

Truthfully, I can’t tell if I bombed these or if I just didn’t like the recipe. Red Velvet is my favorite cake flavor, and I really wanted these to be the star of my little show. I have to admit I killed it on the frosting, but the cake part blew. My kitchen sink looked like someone tried to cover up a murder with all the blood-red batter everywhere. Next time I’m using this recipe. I might do that this week to try to redeem myself in my mind.

Mini Treasure Brownies

These are such an old stand-by recipe for me. I made them for a party a couple of years ago, and they were so easy and popular, I’ve made them many times since. The name is kind of stupid, so I’d love to change that if you can think of something good. This go-round, I used Reese’s cups and those peppermint Hershey’s Kisses. Festive!

Angel Food Cake Skewers

I pinned these a while ago, and wouldn’t you know, there’s not a recipe attached to the pin – just a picture. Oh well, not like a monkey couldn’t figure these out. But for your convenience, here’s what I did:

½ of a store-bought angel food cake

1 pint strawberries, washed and stems removed

Nutella (duh)

Short skewers (they were about 7-8”)

I cut 1-inch slices of the angel food cake and cut those slices in half. Then I “broke” the slices into cubes – that was much easier than trying to cut with a knife. On each skewer, I put 3 cubes of cake with a strawberry between each cube (that’s 2 if you’re counting). I laid out all the skewers on wax paper and heated some Nutella in a double boiler (Don’t even think about trying to heat it in the microwave. It’s a disaster, plus you just waste good Nutella – a crime punishable by death). When it had loosened up some, I poured the Nutella into a small Ziploc bag and cut a tiny corner off. I then piped/drizzled the melted Nutella over the skewers and put them in the fridge until I was ready to serve them.

We listened to my playlist for the season, and there you go! A Christmas dessert party in a nutshell! Can you believe Jesus’s birthday is Sunday? I don't want it to come because then it's over!