Cranberry Blue-Cheese Ball

4 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces crumbled blue cheese
6 ounce bag sweetened dried cranberries

Roughly chop dried cranberries.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl. With clean hands, mix and shape into a ball (or 2 smaller balls).

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Double Chocolate Espresso Bars

Base:

1 pound, 1.5-ounce double chocolate chunk dry cookie mix

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons water

1 egg

Filling:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cookie-base ingredients until soft dough forms. Spread in ungreased 13x9 pan. Bake 12-15 minutes or just until set. Cool 30 minutes.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup chocolate chips on medium low heat, stirring. Set aside to cool.

Beat cream cheese and remaining 6 tablespoons of melted butter with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. On low speed, beat in powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat in cooled chocolate on medium speed until well blended. Spread filling on cooled base. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

Heat whipping cream, 2 cups chocolate chips, 1/4 cup butter and espresso powder on medium low heat, stirring. Cool until lukewarm.

Pour chocolate toping over filling, spread to cover. Refrigerate until set, 2 hours or overnight. Cut with wet knife into small bars.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

I got this recipe from my friend Karen. It is fantastic!

graham crackers (regular or chocolate)
vanilla instant pudding mix
9 oz Cool Whip
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 can evaporated milk
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla

Line a "Pammed" 9x13 pan with whole graham crackers.
Mix vanilla instant pudding according to directions. Fold in all the Cool Whip.
Layer pudding mixture with graham crackers (3 cracker layers & 2 pudding layers) Begin and end with graham crackers.

Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa and almost the whole can of evaporated milk. Heat on medium, stir constantly bring to a boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat and add 1 stick butter and 2 tsp vanilla. Stir until combined. Pour over cake and refrigerate overnight.

Peanut Butter Pie

2/3 cup peanut butter (smooth)
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8-oz carton cool whip
1 graham cracker crust

Beat first 4 ingredients together until smooth.
Fold in cool whip.
Pour into a graham cracker crust and refrigerate for several hours.

If you want to get fancy, right before serving, drizzle some chocolate syrup over the top.

Soda Cracker Candy

1 cup real butter (2 sticks)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 (12 oz) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips (Nestles melts the best)
Finely chopped nuts
Saltine Crackers

Preheat oven to 350°

Line a cookie sheet with "Quick Release" aluminum foil. Place a single layer of saltine crackers to fill the cookie sheet, do not overlap.

Boil the real butter and brown sugar on medium heat to reach the "crack" stage (about 5 min.).

Pour and spread mixture over saltines.

Bake (not on bottom shelf) in oven for 10 minutes. Remove carefully.

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and wait about 3 minutes for chips to melt. Spread chocolate over crackers. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Refrigerate until hard and cut or break into pieces. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Mince-Meat Recipe

Sadiebaby - Thank you for this wonderful Blog. I'm stuck in California this week, pretending to be a rocket scientist. You know that I love Mince-meat. The only bad thing about it is that other people like it too, which means that you have to share :>(

Ingredients:
1 Apple
1 mess of raisins
Some Brandy
Some Rum
2 Pillsbury ready-made pie crusts
1 small cow

Recipe
Butcher the small cow, give or throw away all the good parts. Collect the left-over scrapings.
Combine the rum, brandy, apples and raisins and meat scrapins' in a jar. Leave for a month.
Spoon combined and aged ingredients into the pie-crust. Cover with another pie crust (ask Auntie Lien how to seal the top crust, cause I don't do a good job with this part).
Bake at 425 degrees until golden brown.
Hide pie behind brownies until pie night is over.
Hide in the top of the fridge. This dish is best served alone at 2:00 AM, when everyone else is asleep.

Freaky Fritos

• 10 1/2 ounces corn chips
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 12 ounces milk chocolate chips

1. In a greased 10 x 15 inch pan*, place the corn chips.
2. In a saucepan, bring the sugar and corn syrup to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Pour this over the chip and smooth level.
3. Place the chocolate chips in a single layer over the hot mixture and wait a few minutes until the heat melts them and then smooth the chocolate out to form a thin layer. Allow to cool in the fridge and then cut or break into pieces.

*I use the no-stick Reynolds wrap to line the pan

Magic Peanut Butter Middle Cookies

Every year, the school where my mother teaches has a cookie exchange. Let me tell you, I looked forward to this annual event as a child maybe even more than staying up all night on Christmas Eve, hoping to catch Santa mid-milk gulp after carefully placing each gift under our eclectic tree. And call me biased, but I always thought the cookies she made were the best. This one is especially delicious because it combines two of my favorite things: peanut butter and chocolate! I like this recipe so much, I will be using it as part of this year's Christmas dessert!

Cookie Dough:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

½ tsp baking soda

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

Filling:

¾ cup peanut butter

¾ cup confectioner’s sugar

Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda; blend well. In large bowl beat sugar, brown sugar, butter and ¼ cup peanut butter until light and fluffy.

Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Stir in flour mixture until blended; set aside. In small bowl combine filling ingredients; blend well. Roll into 1 inch balls (a little smaller works better).

For each cookie, with floured hands, shape about 1 tablespoon of dough around peanut butter ball, covering completely. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar.

Bake at 375° for 7 to 9 minutes or until set and slightly cracked.

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Ball

Tell me-- is there anything out there that doesn't taste delicious with bacon? Just the word makes me want to drop everything and eat. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I went home to Florida for Thanksgiving this year to find a beautiful sphere of cheeses and bacon, accompanied with miniature toasty bites of bagel chips. This recipe is the perfect substitute for boring slabs of cheese and takes just a little longer to make than slicing squares of white and yellow from a ziplock plastic package. Trust me, this will be the new party favorite!

16 ounces cream cheese - softened

½ pound grated sharp cheddar cheese

½ cup chopped green onions

8 slices bacon – cooked and crumbled

½ tsp garlic powder or 1 clove garlic minced

3 tablespoons pimiento – minced

3 tablespoons parsley - minced

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend well. The best tool for blending is clean hands.

Form into 1 or 2 balls and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or even better, overnight.

Serve with crackers, pita bread wedges or bagel slices.