A Christmas Eve cooking frenzy

Somebody stop me!

C is for cookie...



In this case, it's Paula Deen's recipe, initially found at

Chrissy's

. However, I decided to experiment a little...as usual. Oh, I made chocolate, fer sure...Devil's Food, to be more accurate. But I used a Red Velvet cake mix for the red ones and a yellow mix...with a tablespoon of lemon extract...for the yellow ones.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies
1 8 oz. brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18 oz) box moist chocolate cake mix
Confectioner's sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in the powdered sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey. Cool completely and sprinkle with more powdered sugar, if desired.

I also snagged some pre-packaged cookie mixes at the store and made Peanut Butter-Pecan, Sugar with Mini-M&Ms and Sprinkles and Chocolate Chip...with extra chips! Now, that's about as easy as ya can get.



After all this dessert-type stuff, I needed a break. Soooo........



Another killer from Paula's kitchen. (Gawd, but I love her!)

Sweet Chicken/Bacon Wraps
3-4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb. package sliced bacon (Mmmmmm...bacon!)
2/3 C dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Pull out the whole slab of bacon and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Wrap each chicken cube in one piece of bacon and secure it with a toothpick. Stir together brown sugar and chili powder, roll each piece of bacon-wrapped chicken in mixture, place on wire rack on baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until brown sugar and bacon are all caramelized.

I know...it sounds kinda bizarre. But the chili powder and brown sugar just seem to have an affinity for each other. Oh, and this time, I cubed up my chicken, put it in a bowl, sprinkled a little "Liquid Smoke" in, mixed up the whole mess and let it marinate for a couple hours.

Aaaaand...



My very own recipe for Stuffed 'Shrooms

1 package Low Sodium Chicken Stove-Top Stuffing
1/4 C finely chopped onion
1 T dried celery flakes
2 T butter
2 packages of large, fresh button "stuffing" mushrooms

Preheat the oven to 350.

When you put the water on to boil for the stuffing mix, add the onion, celery flakes and butter. Then prepare the stuffing mix per the box's directions and let it cool. Pop out the stem from each mushroom and save for...something. Brush each 'shroom off with a damp paper towel and place on foil-covered baking sheet. Stuff each one with the cooled stuffing mixture, sprinkle the tops with Hungarian Paprika and bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the 'shrooms.

I also made a big batch of Dill Pickle Wraps

1 jar small dill pickles, drained
1 block cream cheese, softened
1 large package thin-sliced deli turkey

Let the pickles drain on some paper towels. Spread a little of the softened cream cheese on each slice of turkey...like butterin' yer bread...and wrap a pickle up in each slice. Put 'em back in the fridge to harden up again and then slice 'em in half. You can also use the long spears (drain and blot really well) and slice 'em into bite-sized pieces.

Now, poke a fork in me, honey...cause I'm done for the day.

Have a very Merry Christmas!