Chocolate mint thumb print cookies recipe

A small glass of Crème de menthe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

St. Patrick's Day is for meant for celebrating all things green. With all of this green comes the flavor of mint. These delicious cookies, inspired by Betty Crocker, do a great job of adding the green element to your holiday.

CHOCOLATE MINT THUMB PRINTS

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons creme de menthe extract (I use a bottle to a bottle and a half of LorAnn Oils Super Strength Creme de Menthe Flavoring 1 dram bottle )
• 2 egg yolks
• green food coloring to achieve desired shade of green
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup chocolate ganache
• 18 Andes Mints, unwrapped, cut in half diagonally

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add flavoring, yolks and coloring and beat until well combined. Add flour, baking powder and salt and beat on low speed until just combined. Using your hands or a small melon baller, shape dough into one inch balls and place two inches apart on lined baking sheet. Using your thumb, press deep indentation into each cookie. Bake 10-12 minutes, until set. Reshape the thumb prints by pressing your thumb back into them and allow to cool for a couple of minutes before removing them to a rack to cool completely. Once cooled, fill each thumb print with a teaspoon of chocolate ganache and top with a half a mint. 

Pub style corned beef and cabbage recipe

Corned Beef and Cabbage (Photo credit: bobjudge)

From the great folks at Knorr come this delicious sounding recipe for Pub Style Corned Beef and Cabbage. This recipe is perfect for your St. Patrick's Day celebrations!

PUB STYLE CORNED BEEF & CABBAGE

• 1 package Knorr Leek Recipe Soup
• 3-3 1/2 pound corned beef brisket
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 small head cabbage, shredded
• 4 medium potatoes, cubed
• 3 cups sliced carrots

Directions

Combine soup mix, brisket, water, cloves and bay leaves in a 6 quart Dutch oven. Cover and simmer until the beef is almost tender. about 2-2 1/2 hours. Stir in vegetables and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves before serving.

For more great recipes that utilize Knorr product mixes, please stop by their site and take a look around. 

Peppermint crunch cake balls recipe

The popular cake ball gets a festive and delicious makeover with the addition of a little crushed peppermint candy.

PEPPERMINT CRUNCH CAKE BALLS
Ingredients

• White cake mix and the ingredients needed to complete the cake as directed (usually vegetable oil, water and eggs)
• 1/2 can prepared vanilla or buttercream frosting
• 2 bags white or red candy coating wafers
• 6 candy canes or about 12 starlight mints, crushed

Directions
Bake the cake as directed, while still warm crumble completely and mix in the frosting. If the mixture is a little dry, and a small amount of additional frosting. When the mixture is completely combined and it holds its shape when rolled into a ball, set aside and allow to cool completely. Once the cake mixture has cooled, roll into 1 inch balls and place on waxed paper. Pour the candy wafers into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring well after each 30 seconds. When nearly melted, stir until smooth and creamy. Drop the balls into the melted coating and cover completely. Use a fork or candy dipping tool to retrieve the coated candies from the bowl, making sure to tap the utensil several times on the side of the bowl to remove excess coating. Gently roll onto waxed paper and sprinkle with crushed candy while still wet. Allow coating to set completely before storing or serving.

Cook's Notes

• If you want your candies to have a little more peppermint flavor, add 1/2-1 teaspoon (to taste) of peppermint extract to the filling mixture when you add the frosting. Add 1/2 teaspoon and mix well and taste BEFORE adding additional flavor. You can always add more to build the flavor. You can't take it out of the filling if you add too much.
• Kids love help making cake balls-let them roll the filling into balls and sprinkle them with the crushed candy while the coating is still wet.

Gingerbread souffle recipe

English: Chocolate soufflé (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you are searching for something new to grace your holiday dessert table, look no further than this delicious souffle. The cafe that I worked at last year during the holidays served this and it was a huge hit with our diners.

GINGERBREAD SOUFFLE
Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons rum or rum flavoring
• 1 pinch salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 6 egg whites

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 8 (8) ounce ramekins then coat evenly with sugar. Shake out excess and set aside. Over medium heat, melt butter in a sauce pan. Once melted, whisk in flour until the mixture is smooth and bubbly. Slowly whisk the milk into the mixture and continue to whisk constantly until the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, molasses, spices, extracts and salt. Let the mixture cool for about ten minutes. Whisk in egg yolks and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they are firm but not dry. Gently fold the egg whites into yolk mixture in small batches. Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins and place them on a large baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until the souffles are puffed and golden in color. If you want, dust with powdered sugar or serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Happy Groundhog Day!

It's February 2nd and that could mean only 1 thing-it's Groundhog's Day. Groundhog's Day is a Pennsylvania German tradition that is observed in the US and Canada. A groundhog emerging from his burrow and not seeing his shadow is said to signal the end of winter If the groundhog sees his shadow, he will retreat back into his burrow and winter will continue for 6 more weeks.
This year's groundhog predictions are in and these are the results:

• Jimmy the Groundhog of Sun Prairie WI predicted an early spring
• General Beauregard Lee of Snellville GA predicted an early spring
• Malverne Mel of Malverne NY predicted 6 more weeks of winter
• Staten Island Chuck of New York NY predicted early spring
• Woodstock Willie of Woodstock IL predicted early spring
• Wiarton Willie of Wiarton Ontario predicted 6 more weeks of winter
• Punxsutawney Phil of Punxsutawney PA predicted 6 more weeks of winter (he is the most famous of the groundhog meteorologists)
• Spanish Joe of Spanish Ontario predicted 6 more weeks of winter
• Dunkirk Dave of Dunkirk NY predicted early spring
• Buckeye Chuck of Marion OH predicted early spring
• Shubenacadie Sam of Shubenacadie Nova Scotia predicted 6 more weeks of winter

No matter where you live and what your prediction is (Ohio is predicted to have an early spring!), a fun way to celebrate is with these cute cupcakes.

GROUNDHOG CUPCAKES
Ingredients

• chocolate cake mix
• chocolate frosting
• blue or green M&Ms
• brown M&Ms
• mini marshmallows
• vanilla wafers

Directions
Bake cupcakes as directed on the box. Allow to cool then frost. Use 2 vanilla wafers to make the groundhog's ears, 2 blue or green M&Ms for his eyes (make sure the M's are facing into the frosting) and 1 brown for his nose. The 2 marshmallows are his teeth.

Photo Credit Aaron Silvers-Punxsutawney PA

Coca Cola meatballs recipe

English: Coca-Cola 375 mL cans - 24 pack (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you having an informal gathering this New Year's Eve and trying to keep your food options under budget? Here is a delicious and affordable recipe for BBQ meatballs that I have adapted from Allrecipes.com. You can easily double the sauce if you choose to make a large batch of meatballs (the original yield for this recipe is 36). This sauce also works well with kielbasa. Enjoy!

Coca Cola Meatballs
Ingredients

• bag of frozen meatballs
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup Coca Cola
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions
Mix all ingredients except the meatballs in crockpot and stir until well blended. Add meatballs and stir to coat. Cook on low 3-4 hours until ready to serve.

Toffee crunch recipe

English: Thorntons Special Toffee. Photo taken by Stratford490. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An old time buttery treat is made even more tempting with a chocolate layer.

TOFFEE CRUNCH
Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cup butter
• ½ teaspoon lecithin
• ½ cup nuts (cook's choice)
• 3 cups chocolate or chocolate coating

Directions
Combine everything except the nuts and chocolate in a heavy saucepan. Cook to 285 degrees F. Spread onto a buttered marble slab or silicon mat placed on a baking sheet. Cool completely. Melt chocolate and spread half onto cooled candy. Sprinkle with half of the nuts and allow to set. Flip over and spread with remaining chocolate and sprinkle with remaining nuts. When firm, break into pieces.