Allison's Recipe Book

Ingredients

1 box red velvet cake mix
8 oz (1 block) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1 bag white chocolate peppermint Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and beat. Add cake mix and beat until combined. Chill dough for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350. Scoop cookie dough with a 1 inch cookie scoop and roll in powdered sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 11 minutes. Remove from oven and press a Hershey Kiss in the center of each cookie. Remove cookies to wire rack to finish cooling.

Ingredients:

CHOCOLATE COOKIES
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon (133g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (32g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (I use 1 package Baker’s Semi Sweet chocolate)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 Tablespoons (75g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup (150g) light brown sugar
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 cup (180g) mini chocolate chips
CANDY CANE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2.5 – 3 cups (300-360g) confectioners sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy cream or milk
1/2 cup candy cane dust, sifted (about 8-10 candy canes pulverized in a food processor)
crushed candy canes for rolling, optional
Directions:

Begin with the cookies. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute. Stir. Continue to melt in 30 second increments until fully melted and smooth. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla. Set aside. With an electric or stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and creamy – about 1 minute. Beat in the sugars, scraping down the sides every 10 seconds or so. The mixture will be granular.

Mix in the beaten egg/vanilla until incorporated. Add the chocolate in a steady stream and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients on slow speed. Fold in the mini chocolate chips. Do not overmix at any point in this process.

Chill dough for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop about 1 Tablespoon of dough and roll into a slightly flattened ball. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies have just begun to set with the centers still appearing very soft. They will firm up as they cool.

As the cookies cool, make the buttercream. Beat the butter for 1 minute with the paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 2.5 cups of sifted powdered sugar and slowly mix on low speed. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 1 Tablespoon of cream/milk. Beat for about 1 minute. Manually stir in candy cane dust. If your buttercream needs to be thicker, add more powdered sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk/cream. If frosting is too sweet, add a pinch of salt.

Frost the bottom end of a cooled cookie and top with another to make a sandwich. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

A Pack or 2 of fresh strawberries

Dipping Chocolate

Empty Egg Carton

Directions:

Simply cut and hollow out as many strawberries as needed, fill with your favorite chocolate, and set in your empty egg carton and set in fridge overnight.

Ingredients:

9×13 pan of brownies, baked and cooled
1/4 cup salted butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 & 1/4 cups pretzel m&m’s

Directions:

1. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and peanut butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugars, and continue creaming until light and fluffy, about 1 minute more. Add the milk and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Add the flour, and continue to mix at low speed until fully combined. Stir in the m&m’s.

2. Spoon the cookie dough onto the cooled brownies and spread gently into an even layer. Slice into squares, and prepare for your life to change.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
2 1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
3/4 cup(s) packed brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon(s) baking soda
3/4 teaspoon(s) baking powder
3/4 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
1 1/2 cup(s) whole milk
3/4 cup(s) canola oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) peppermint extract
1 1/4 cup(s) boiling water
20 mini candy canes
3 package(s) (8 ounces each) cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup(s) (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 box(es) (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar
Peppermint Meringues, for decorating (optional)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat three 8- by 2-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Line the bottoms with parchment paper; spray the paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, granulated and brown sugars, baking soda and powder, and salt. In a bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, eggs, and peppermint extract. Mix the milk mixture into the flour mixture until fully incorporated. Mix in the boiling water (the batter will be thin).
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, crush the candy canes and make the icing. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Place one cake layer on a platter. Spread 1 1/4 cups icing over the top. Top with another layer and 1 1/4 cups icing. Top with the last cake layer. Frost sides and top with the remaining icing. Gently pat the crushed candy canes all over the sides of the cake. Top with meringues (if using)

Ingredients:
6 red and white peppermint candy canes or 24 red and white mini peppermint candy canes
2 cups of whipping cream

Directions:
Unwrap your candy canes and place them in a blender or food processor. I like to break them into pieces as I add them to the blender.
Process until the candy canes util they are a fairly fine powder.
In another bowl, whip cream until firm. No need to add sugar. The sweetness will come from the candy canes.
Fold in the candy cane powder in the cream. Use immediately to top you cocoa if you like little pieces of crunchy candy cane in it (This is the way I like it). Or place in the refrigerator for 2 hours and allow the candy canes to completely dissolve.

Ingredients:

2 dozen cupcakes (or brownies, as the original idea suggests)
1 can store-bought chocolate frosting (omit if using brownies)
orange icing sugar
72 pieces Hot Tamales candy
black royal icing (piping consistency)

Directions:

Bake cupcakes as normal. Lay Hot Tamales on top as seen in picture above. Apply icing.

Ingredients

1 stick Softened Butter
½ cups White Sugar
1 whole Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Flour
1 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
7 ounces, weight Container Of Marshmallow Creme
8 whole (1.55 Oz Bars) Hershey’s Chocolate Bars, Unwrapped
1 cup Marshmallows
¼ cups Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 9″ pie pan with baking spray. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and smooth. Add the Egg. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add in the flour. Pour in the graham cracker crumbs. Add the baking powder and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in half and press half of the dough into the prepared pie pan. Evenly spread the marshmallow cream over the bottom of the crust. Place the Hershey chocolate squares over the marshmallow creme. Place the mini marshmallows over the chocolate bars. Carefully pat the remaining dough over the marshmallows. Some of the marshmallows will peek through and that’s okay. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the pie. Bake the pie for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Ingredients for Pretzel Pumpkins

1 bag mini pretzels {you won’t use the whole bag, only about 1/4}
1 bag M&M’s candy, needing only the green ones {fun separating activity for kids!}
orange food coloring, I used about 1/8th tsp of Wilton’s gel colors
1 bag White Chocolate chips, melted slowly {directions below}
1 TBSP shortening, to thin out chocolate

Instructions for Pretzel Pumpkins

First step is to melt the chocolate. I used 10 oz of baking chocolate squares, but you can use a bag of white chocolate chips- the process is still the same. Before you even put it in the microwave, add about 1 TBSP shortening. You need to thin out the chocolate prior to dunking the pretzels or else the chocolate will be so thick you won’t even be able to tell it’s a pretzel under there! Shortening is the ONLY thing that will do this- don’t add water, butter, etc. Shortening! Go slowly! White chocolate seizes easily, and you don’t want to coat your pretzels with grainy chocolate, right? Go slowly and stir minimally. I put mine on for 1 minute, stirred gently, then put it in for an additional minute. When I took it out, the chocolate still looked solid. It wasn’t! Add your orange coloring and stir gently, until it’s nice and smooth. Once you’ve dunked your pretzel, adding a nice coating, lay it out on a piece of wax paper. While it’s still wet, take a green M&M and set it in the crook of the pretzel, on it’s side.