Christmas Day is almost here or if you are like us, Christmas is more than just one day. We celebrated Christmas with our MO son and his family last night (thus I didn't get this post written earlier). We will go to church with them on Christmas Eve, but last night we had dinner, gifts, and a win with the Kansas City Chiefs' football team. It was a perfect evening. Granddaughter Madison said it seemed like Christmas to her. Don't forget to read all the way to the end to see a picture of us with Madison and Tyler.
The recipe I am sharing with you this morning is one Friend Carol made for the Mexican Train group back in November. She said she made it by the recipe except for the onion because she knows I don't eat onion especially raw, but she didn't know why it turned out like it did. The recipe is actually called Million Dollar Dip. Hers was dry and didn't hold together very well. I decided I would make it myself before I shared it.
Well, mine turned out into a cheese ball. I also made it by the recipe except for the onion, but as I was mixing it together, it started forming into a ball so I decided to just serve it that way and changed the name of it to a "cheese ball" instead of a dip. Measuring grated cheese is tricky so that might have made the difference. I didn't ask Carol if she used full fat cream cheese as I didn't (I used 1/3 less fat Neufchatel cheese) but I don't think that should make a difference, but it might.
Let me know what your attempt turned out to be - a dip or a cheese ball. I would love to hear from you.
MILLION DOLLAR CHEESE BALL
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature. (I used 1/3 less fat)
3/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 cup freshly grated sharp Cheddar (I grated 4 ounces of cheese)
1 cup freshly grated Swiss (I grated 4 ounces of cheese)
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles or feta cheese crumbles
8 slices regular-cut bacon, fried crisp, and chopped fine
4 green onions, sliced, green and white parts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup slivered almonds or chopped pecans (optional)
Add the cream cheese and mayo or salad dressing to a large bowl and stir
until smooth.
Add the cheeses and stir again until well combined.
Add the bacon,
onions, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly combined.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours.
If you are covering with nuts, form into a ball and
press nuts
into sides.
Serve with chips or crackers.
Here is the picture I promised from last night.
It has taken me at least two weeks to make these absolutely "to-die-for" Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats. It has been a long two weeks trying to get our house to look like Christmas. I was determined to get that done before doing any holiday baking. (Even though these Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats aren't baked, you know what I mean.)
The recipe makes about 50 and let me tell you after eating just one, I could easily eat all 50 of them. They taste like a peanut butter cup sitting on a pretzel - a little bit of salt and a whole lot of sweet. I shall try to refrain as I hope to be able to treat several friends with some of these.
They are so easy and definitely shouldn't be restricted to just making for the holidays. I melted Ghirardelli dark chocolate wafers, but you could use almond bark, chocolate chips, or even Ghirardelli white chocolate melting wafers.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER TREATS
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened or at room temperature (1 stick)
3 cups powdered sugar
50 miniature pretzels
2 cups melted chocolate
In a mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together
until smooth.
Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the powdered sugar a little at time until
the mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Line a large cookie sheet with wax paper.
Place out some of the pretzels. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out a level tablespoon of the mixture. Place the scoop on top of the pretzel and lightly press down to adhere to the pretzel.
Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour to allow the peanut butter mixture sets up.
Melt the chocolate wafers/chips or whatever you are using by directions on the package.
Dip the peanut butter "ball" only in the chocolate.
Return to the wax-paper- lined cookie sheet and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Here is a picture of part of the living room where the tree is.
We have been hit with our first major winter storm. It started snowing during the night a little and then again just before we had to leave for Sunday school. People were driving fine on the the road behind our house so we didn't think it would be bad on the streets.
The road behind our house is straight but hilly. When we have winter storms, we spend lots of time looking out the back door watching the vehicles trying to get up the hill, some successful, some not. We go a different way to church and those streets weren't too bad either until we got on the road in front of the church. It was covered with snow and was difficult driving on. We stayed for Sunday school, but decided we should not stay for church but go back home.
Once again the road in front of the church was still covered and very icy at the intersection with another street where there is a downward slope with a light at the bottom. Cars were trying to turn and come up the hill with their tires just spinning. They all finally managed to clear the intersection and we had the full intersection to make our turn to the left. Once we got home, we knew we were in for the rest of the day and probably Monday too.
We spent the afternoon watching the Chiefs play the Broncos in the snow and as soon as the game was over we heard our neighbor's snowblower...Jerry, our neighbor across the street, was having fun with his winter toy. Their drive is short - only long enough for two cars so he has been clearing our driveway for a number of years. I haven't always, but I try to often bake something and take to them as a thank you.
I was completing one of my sudoku puzzles, when we heard more noise outside and Wayne noticed our new neighbor Sally was out clearing the sidewalk with a snow shovel. They just moved in a few weeks ago and we haven't really seen them too much to do more than introduce ourselves. Wayne went out and thanked her and I decided I needed to go to the kitchen and make something for both neighbors.
I picked up a cookbook I recently got at the thrift shop to see if I could find something in it that sounded good. Lisa Lillien's Hungry Girl Just Desserts has 200 recipes that are under 200 calories. I looked in the section of brownies and found this PB Banana Brownies recipe. I had four very ripe bananas that I needed to use up so the recipe sounded perfect. It was made in a 9 x 13 - inch pan so I could cut it in half for each of them. It was supposed to cool for 1-1/2 hours but I couldn't wait quite that long because it was getting dark. They weren't completely cooled, but close. They were both quite surprised and appreciative.
PB BANANA BROWNIES
1 box moist-style devil's food cake mix
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup creamy reduced-fat peanut butter (I used natural peanut butter)
2 tablespoons light vanilla soymilk (I used fat free milk)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pumpkin, and banana.
Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth and uniform.
Spread batter in pan and smooth out the top.
In a small bowl, stir the peanut butter with milk until
smooth and uniform.
Spoon the peanut butter mixture over the batter, and
use a knife to swirl it in.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes until they test done.
Let cool completely in pan on wire rack,
about 1-1/2 hours.
Cut in serving pieces.
Well, I finally got around to making that Chocolate Applesauce Cake I mentioned to you a few posts back. I had planned to make it for the Tuesday volunteers at the thrift shop, but when I realized the recipe said it was better served warm, I changed my mind. I usually make whatever I take on Monday afternoon or evening and knew it wouldn't be warm the next morning. Wayne told me I could just get up earlier on Tuesday morning and make it before I went so Sunday evening when I had not made anything, I decided I would just get up Monday morning and make it.
One of the main reasons Mrs. Dorothy Stutzman from MO said it was best while still warm is that the chocolate chips get back hard when they cool. The cake part might taste better warm, but it tasted great cold. (I didn't get to eat my piece until I got home after my shift and it was cold.) The recipe was in one of my newer Amish cookbooks called Art of Amish Cooking which is a collection of recipes from Alma Hershberger's family. I would like to try it and just dust it with powdered sugar for my friends who can't eat nuts and/or extra calories.
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
CHOCOLATE APPLESAUCE CAKE
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cocoa
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray or grease a 9 x 13 - inch baking pan. Set aside.
Mix on slow in a mixing bowl, the shortening, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat
til well blended.
Sift together the flour, soda, salt, and cocoa.
Add alternately to the egg mixture with the applesauce, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
Pour mixture and spread evenly in the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar over the batter.
Then sprinkle the nuts and finally
the chocolate chips over top. (I used dark chocolate chips.)
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cool until ready to serve on wire rack.
Best while still warm. Volunteer Terry wanted a corner piece so he didn't get as much of the topping. He said he likes the crunchy "edge".
Add the cream cheese and mayo or salad dressing to a large bowl and stir 
until smooth.
Add the cheeses and stir again until well combined.
Add the bacon,
onions, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Stir together with a rubber spatula until evenly combined.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours. 
If you are covering with nuts, form into a ball and
press nuts
into sides.
Serve with chips or crackers.
