Christmas came and went and now its time to ring in the new year with snazzy parties and fancy cocktails. I have been invited to a few of such events, but as I am mass amounts of excitement in the real world, I will probably just sit at home enjoying the evening with my own private stash of bubbly. After how much fun I had making Christmas dinner though, the idea of throwing a last minute hurrah at my house had been pinging around in my head. (Says the girl that had no dessert to offer.)

New Year’s Eve appetizer’s seem to be on everyone’s mind when I asked on Twitter what today’s post should feature – so here are some uber tasty little treats if you are having yourself a shindig this Saturday night.

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Congrats to Jenny @ Savour the Senses! She won my holiday swag giveaway!

 What are you doing this New Year’s Eve?

It’s hard to find a balance between what to post on Pass the Sushi and what not to. I don’t photograph everything I eat (trust me, you would be appalled) but I do try to photograph the good ones. There are a few that have never even made it to a ‘photo shoot’ because I simply can’t be bothered with making them look pretty before devouring them. I am trying to strike a harmony between my tummy and my food blogging self that maybe will someday share with you some of my favorite fall back meals.

As for December, there just wasn’t enough days. I wanted to post more and finally burnt myself out. My guests at Christmas dinner were shocked to find no dessert. That’s right. Nothing. I simply couldn’t pull it off. I know next year to post my Thanksgiving recipes in October and my holiday recipes from then on if I want to sneak in everything that I have for you guys without having to post two or three times a day. I’m sure that would burn even you out!

So, these post Christmas Eggnog pancakes will just have to do, better late than never. Sure, I could have tucked them into a folder for next year but, let’s be real, I have the memory of a goldfish and they would have been long forgotten. I hope you all have better organizational skills so that you can whip these up for next Christmas, or maybe just splurge of New Years day. Resolutions don’t start til the 2nd right?

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Holy post holiday madness, Batman. I am so glad I don’t work Mondays because I really need today to just recover. For anyone who has to work today, or yesterday, bless you. Christmas day was an awesome 12 hour marathon of presents, family, dinner, a visit from my favorite Rottweiler, and more presents.  I scored mass amounts of awesomeness, a shiny new Kindle and now I need to teach myself how to use it. These new fangled kids and their crazy technologies

I am looking for new books to read now more than ever and am wondering how magazine subscriptions work on them. If you have one let me know how magazine subscriptions work or any tips, apps or other things I may need for it!

I am now relaxing watching a spiffy blu-ray copy of Sucker Punch with an exhausted pup and two cats that may of had a little too much catnip today.

I hope your Christmas was filled with joy and minimal stress.

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Seriously, what’s a birthday without some cupcakes?

I hope everyone is prepped and ready for Christmas day and enjoying some quality time today. Or at least you are calming things down and will be able to relax by tonight. I have a bit of festive work, then some holiday party-ness and a long over due Christmas Eve dinner with my family. Then I will tuck myself in tight and await a visit from Santa.

Eggnog Cupcakes

Discovered on Annie’s Eats, from Baking Bites & Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teas. baking soda
• ½ teas baking powder
• ½ teas salt
• ¼ teas freshly ground nutmeg
• ¼ cup dark rum or bourbon (optional)
• 1 cup eggnog
• ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1 teas vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar

For the frosting:

• 2½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2½ cups confectioners’ sugar
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 2½ tbs eggnog
• 1 tbs dark rum (0ptional)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; whisk to combine, set side.

In the bowl of an stand mixer or with a handheld blender, combine the rum, eggnog, vegetable oil, vinegar, and sugar. Beat on medium-low speed until well blended, scraping the sides with a spatula as necessary to incorporate all ingredients. Add in the dry ingredients, in three additions and mix on low speed just until incorporated.

With a large ice cream scoop, divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling the cups 2/3 full. Bake 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, 20-30 seconds. Add in the powdered sugar, salt and nutmeg, and mix on medium-high speed until incorporated and smooth, about 1 minute. Add in the eggnog and whip on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4 minutes. With the mixer on medium-low speed, blend in the rum. Remove the frosting from the bowl and put into a piping bag. Place if refrigerator for a few minutes if the frosting has become too soft to pipe.

Frost cupcakes as desired.

Happy Holidays!

There is a mountain of presents in the middle of being wrapped, all the grocery shopping is done (I hope), and the stockings are all set to be hung. I’m taking a moment to unwind a minute and watch a little bit of The Santa Claus 3. I was expecting to be doing this with an additional 90 pounds of energy running about, but sadly, Gouda won’t be spending the holidays with us.

So let’s have a little holiday run down for everyone who may be interest, if not skip ahead to the recipe for the tasty sugar cookies below.

Pre-Christmas thoughts

• I still have two presents to buy… Crap
• Secretly, I want to see that Matt Damon film about owning  a zoo. Not sure why.
• I have no expectations for Christmas so I am really excited about what Santa may bring me. I know, I’m like 5. No matter what I get though, it’s going to be a surprise.
• Does all the holiday prep make you lazy when it comes to real food? I totally bought hot links for tomorrow nights supper. Classy, I know.
• Speaking of food – The menu for Christmas day is

• artichoke spinach dip
• Stuffed beef tenderloin
• Crock pot mashed potatoes
• Steamed green beans (though, I may add a little bacon – bought it just in case)
• Broccoli and cheese a la Green Giant. Go on judge me.
• Rolls.

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For anyone wondering, those are unicorns and gnomes in my batch of sugar cookies. If I have flying reindeer, I can have unicorns too.

And on that note, the cat has decided he fits between me and the laptop so I guess I’ll just sign off and get back to wrapping.

I may be in my twenties, but Christmas morning has never changed. I wake up early giddy with anticipation. I try to not wake anyone else. Finally, I drop one too many spoons or shut the pantry door a little too hard and everyone else wakes up. There is the childlike joy of unwrapping presents under the tree and the mess of paper that follows.

We never made Christmas breakfast. Ever. Chocolate chip cookies, candy and pure excitement was all we needed to fill our tummies. But if you did want your family to have something more than pure sugar for Christmas breakfast, these delicious cinnamon rolls come together quick enough that you could sneak off while someone struggles to unhinge that must have toy from its stressful packaging.

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Yeah, I know it looks long, but really its a quick recipe – and sooo tasty. I promise.

Seriously, Look at that awesomeness. ^.^

Christmas wouldn’t be the same (in this modern world of ours) without Christmas specials. I love finding the same classic movies on over and over again from Thanksgiving on. Nothing quite makes you smile like the distant hum of all the Whos down in Whoville or when Linus gives his Christmas monologue. That is the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.

So what do Christmas specials have to do with food? Not a whole lot. But, these Cornish hens reminded me of the humble dinner that Bob Cratchit served his family for Christmas. (Another Christmas classic my dad would always watch late at night after everyone was in bed and he stayed up making sure all the presents looked just so).

Game hens are the perfect portion for a small family/friends get together for the holidays and faster cooking than a turkey. The pomegranate-rice stuffing is an interesting take on traditional stuffing and really dressing thins up a bit.

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Exciting News! Today I bring the cookies to Katrina’s Kitchen! Please go check out my Grasshopper Pie Cookies on her site. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be featured on Katrina’s site and how much fun it was coming up with this cookie recipe for her cookie exchange. I would love for you to go over and check out my recipe and all the other wonderful cookie recipes my foodie friends have been sharing all month on Katrina’s site.

I’m pretty certain that I discussed on here and in the past how I believe in Christmas magic I’m still a fan of Santa and yeah I still send a letter to the North Pole every year. I realize this is probably uncommon in an adult, but as I passed an elderly woman the other night in the market who was humming Christmas carols out loud to herself, I couldn’t help but smile and believe in Christmas magic. Maybe it’s naive to believe that the month of December brings out the best in people, maybe it’s crazy to think that the holidays bring out a sparkle that is hidden the rest of the year are maybe it’s sad because we should have it all year long, but the moment that turkey was carved on Thanksgiving I could smell in the air.

It’s the way you can tell it’s going to snow day or two before and how the child inside you can’t help but remember the anticipation

of schools closing the adventures you are have as a white flurry filled the air. There’s just something

magical about it. It’s not the presents you’re going to wake up to, it’s the hunt for the surprises for everyone else. It’s bringing out the stockings embroidered with names long ago. It’s the memories that each and every ornament hung on the tree symbolizes the moment shared with loved ones in the past and more to come in the future.

I often don’t like to decorate to soon in fear I may burn myself out or somehow spoil the Christmas magic and then I remember there’s only one month between Thanksgiving and the new year to enjoy the festivities. (*See my petition earlier this week to move the holiday’s back a month).  So it may sound crazy but next year I think I’m in bust out the holiday decorations on Black Friday and get the most out of this season as I can, because I believe in Christmas magic and it’s not just one month long.

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Peanut Butter Brownies

from Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:

For the brownies:

• 1¼ cups flour
• 1 teas salt
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• 11 oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 teas instant espresso powder
• 1½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 5 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teas vanilla extract

For the peanut butter:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1½ cups creamy peanut butter
• ½ teas salt
• 1 teas vanilla extract

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder; set aside.

Put the chocolate, butter and espresso powder in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 20 second intervals, until the chocolate is melted, stir to combine. Add the sugar and whisk until combine. Let the mixture rest until room temperature.

Once the chocolate has cooled, add the eggs and the vanilla and whisk until combined.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and fold to incorperate using a rubber spatula until the flour is no longer visable.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Combine peanut butter swirl ingredients. Using a spoon, place dollops onto the prepared brownie batter and swirl with a butter knife or wooden skewer.

Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes,  until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few crumbs hanging on. Don’t over bake – everyone loves a gooey brownie

 

I warned you and it happened the evil Olive Garden across the street is almost open for business. I am not to be trusted. The idea of unlimited bread sticks bowls of hearty soup and a premixed martini certainly all sound like a good thing, but in reality we know the guilt that comes with Olive Garden is not exactly the best thing for anyone.

Pasta dishes are not hard to make at home and heavy cream is something we should never have in copious amounts, not to mention the idea of waiting 45 minutes less than 20 feet from my front door for supper seems rather ironic to me. So, in order to curb my inner fat kid’s craving for a carbohydrate feast I set out to make my own Olive Garden specialty.

This is artichoke dip would make a perfect appetizer for your holiday meal, something you could throw down right before Thanksgiving, Christmas, or as I did with it the moment I was done snapping these pictures is using it for a great topping for pizza.

So as far as the classic Italian fare Olive Garden goes, I can wait until the local excitement dies down, the line gets a little shorter, and I run out of recipes in my reader before I go over and indulged. In the meantime enjoy this dip in less time than it would take to get a table.

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I remember mini cheesecakes from when I was little. They were a quick and easy dessert that could be topped with canned pie filling and made to order for a large amount of people with short notice.

Some things never change, and having a quick delicious dessert recipe on hand is always helpful in a pinch. When Lucky Leaf asked me to taste test some of their pie fillings, I knew I wanted to reconstruct my childhood memory into a recipe my readers could whip out when needed.

That’s where things started to go wrong. I wanted quick and easy. So while meandering around the market for supplies, I saw Philadelphia Cheesecake Filling. (Don’t judge. My thinking was that if I were in a pinch and were going to use canned pie fillings, why wouldn’t I also use other delicious shortcuts?) I picked it up, foil (yes, these are important) cupcake liners, and my vanilla wafers and set out to have dessert done in five minutes.

Not so much. The prepackaged cheesecake mix was a ‘spoon and serve’ disaster. It didn’t look right, had a texture somewhere between pudding a mousse and wasn’t making for a pretty or homemade looking dessert. So…. I tried baking it…. Well, my advice is if you are in need of a fat kid moment, keep it at that. Grab a spoon and enjoy the cheesecake mix as is because that’s as good as it’s getting with this one.

Then, I thought about those Jell-O No Bake Cheesecakes. But I was in a particularly cheap mood and the $2.35 just wasn’t jiving with me when I had 8 blocks of cream cheese at home in the fridge. It was on sale, I swear.

So here’s what I ended up with. A semi-homemade, super simple, but not the 5 minute flash kind of dessert that still looks classy when brought to the party.

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The apples from the jarred pie filling were good. Win. If you were an apple fan and in a sweets mood, you could eat these right out of the can. The texture of the apples was nice, and not at all ‘mushy’ like I had anticipated. I love how they streamlined this dessert and really dressed up the whole package.

Lucky Leaf is providing two of my readers with copies of their new recipe book packed with ideas and recipes that make use of their pie fillings. There were a lot of creative little desserts in this one that would certainly help me branch out my dessert options (more fruit!). Please leave a comment if you would like to be entered to win and winners will be drawn at random on December 19th 2011 and posted on December 21st.