The New Recipes

I don't love cooking and baking, but every now and again (usually at Christmas time or when I'm hosting something) I get the inclination. For book club this week I ended up making a bundt cake recipe from Kelly, a cookie recipe from Jenn and a hot chocolate recipe I got online. They all turned out great, even though my 15 year old mixer died while I was making these.

Kelly's Peppermint Truffle Cake

Filling
1 (6-oz.) package (or 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips.
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk – you want the sweet, sticky stuff)
½ teaspoon peppermint extract

Cake
1 (18.25-oz.) pkg. devil’s food cake mix
1 (8-oz.) container nonfat sour cream (you can use the fat kind, too)
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs

Icing
¾ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ oz. cream cheese, softened
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
6 hard peppermint candies, finely crushed

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan (or bundt pan). (Pam with Flour makes this sooo easy.) In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine all filling ingredients. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth. If necessary, microwave an additional 10 to 20 seconds. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients; beat with electric mixer at low speed until combined. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Spoon into greased and floured pan. Drop spoonfuls of filling over batter, keeping filling away from sides of pan.

3. Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and edges begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. (Center of cake may sink slightly during cooling.)

4. In medium bowl, combine powdered sugar, cream cheese and 1 tablespoon of the milk; beat with wire whisk until smooth, adding additional milk until of desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cooled cake. Sprinkle with crushed candy. Store in refrigerator.

HIGH ALTITUDE (ABOVE 3500 FT): For cake, add 2 tablespoons flour to dry cake mix. Decrease oil to 2 tablespoons and increase eggs to 4. Bake at 375°F for 40 to 45 minutes.


Jenn's Honey Drop Cookies (These taste like ginger snaps)

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 eggs
4 cups flour
2-3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Add honey and eggs, beat until smooth. Mix dry ingredients together and add slowly to wet mixture.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar.
Place 2" apart on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Let sit for 2 minutes on cookie sheet and the remove to wire rack.


Creamy Hot Cocoa
(serves 4)

• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream

Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn't scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

**Have you made any of these recipes?
What are your holiday favorites?
What kind of mixer do you have?