Our December book club gathering is always our best gathering of the year because of our book exchange, gift giving, and tasty dinner. (Do me a favor and comment on this post okay?)
Collette had the table all set up when we arrived.
Collette made a wonderful roast, Jana made a good spinach salad with pears, Amy made perfectly cooked, ginormous baked potatoes, I brought rolls from Shirley's bakery (I had to come straight from Whitney's band concert so they gave me an easy assignment), Michelle made a fantastic artichoke dip appetizer baked on bread, and Jenn made an amazing dessert (featured below).
We sat around the table for a long time hearing about Jenn's recent trip to Greece and Amy's recent trip to Hawaii, but my pictures are crappy so you'll just have to imagine what we looked like. We eventually moved into the comfy family room for more talking until it was time for the book exchange.
Collette gave me this book that I'm pretty excited about.
I gave her this book which was one of my favorite from this year.
Amy gave this one to Jana (pleasing cover no?).
Jana gave this to Michelle.
Jenn gave to Amy.
Michelle gave to Jenn (this is another favorite of mine from this year).
Here is the amazing dessert (recipe below) Jenn made, it is sugar cookie crust with raspberry pie filling. I'm not usually a fan of gooey fruit filling but this combination was amazingly good.
Collette gave us all a pair of these darling jammie pants and our favorite Cadbury Eggs.
Jenn looked like Santa as she unloaded the bounty o' gifts she brought.
She gave us packets of cider and hot chocolate with spoons covered in her glorious homemade caramel!
She also gave us each one of the world's softest blankets ever! She had to go to 4 stores (TJ Maxx) to find enough of them, this is the one she gave me. I cannot properly describe the softness of this blanket except to say that "the cozy" will never be the same again.
We all agree that book club Christmas gift giving is better than anything else we ever receive!
I really struggled with a gift idea for this year but ended up finding a couple really cute cloches at TJ Maxx last Saturday while out shopping with Lori. We ended up driving all over to visit 2 Home Goods stores and 2 TJ Maxx stores to find more but didn't succeed. I ended up finding 3 cloches of a different style at Hobby Lobby. I ended up putting a Clementine in them just so they weren't empty.
This is the stash of happiness I brought home with me. Michelle made us huge trays of fudge, Amy brought us shortbread cookies from Hawaii, Jana gave us a few of her favorite things (Hemp lotion, kick butt muffins, lip gloss, and laundry soap), so it was quite the variety of goodness.
Super Yummy Raspberry Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
1/2 cup firm butter
2 packages (8 oz each) softened cream cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 can (21 oz) Wilderness Premium Raspberry Pie Filling*
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray.
2.
Pour sugar cookie mix in a big bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is
crumbly and coarse. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of mix for later (topping) and
press the remaining crumbs in the bottom of the 13x9 pan.
Bake for 10
minutes; do not overbake.
3. Put cream cheese, sugar,
flour, vanilla, and egg in a large bowl. Beat together with an electric
mixer (medium speed) until smooth.
4. Spread cream
cheese mix evenly over crust. Spoon raspberry pie filling over the cream
cheese; spread evenly. Take remaining 1 1/2 cups of unbaked crumbs and
sprinkle over the top.
5. Bake 35-40 minutes or until crumbs on top are lightly golden brown. Cool 30 minutes, refrigerate about 2 hours to chill.
6. Cut into bars. Store covered in fridge. Makes 24 bars.
* Can easily substitute cherry or strawberry fillings.
