This year, for the first time in many years, we did not have our annual Christmas party...and I missed it terribly! No party meant no lavish Christmas spread of goodies, no kids running through the house, no friends dressed in costumes acting out Christmas stories! Not having anyone to bake for hardly seemed like Christmas to me! I could take it no more...I invited the girls I teach at church to come over for cookies and cocoa...they were happy to come...young girls, as it turned out, don't have big plans at night!
Chocolate-dipped peppermint sticks rolled in Christmas sprinkles for swirling in hot cocoa seemed necessary...and "Rein-Beer" was offered as an alternative to cocoa (thanks to the blog, Life of a Modern Mom found on Pinterest for that great idea! The girls loved drinking rootbeer with antlers!) I also dipped some spoons in chocolate and added marshmallows - you can never have too much chocolate, can you? Another idea I found on Pinterest (no link was given so I don't know who to credit for this fun idea), white-chocolate dipped strawberries, then dipped in green sprinkles...red, white and green, too cute, super good!
Mock-Turtles were served, along with devil's food cake balls (only because I had cake left from my Christmas trifle and some white chocolate on hand...and here's the thing...I detest cake pops/balls because the "original" recipe calls for the cake to be crumbled and mixed with store-bought frosting. I'd rather have a root canal! But if you use a very moist cake, like a devil's food cake, it will stick together by itself and you won't need to add in any fake frosting making it a gooey mess...OR you could under-cook your cake just a bit, which would allow for it to stick together long enough for you to dip it...so much better than adding in the fake frosting!) and we had Gingerbread Men cookies...no Christmas party is complete without Gingerbread men. Feel free to quote me on this. Those plates were empty at the end of the evening...young girls don't count calories...rather refreshing!
My Hot Chocolate recipe is fabulous...truly...I would not joke about something like this. It's thick...as you can see from the shot above...it's spoonable...decadent...perfect in every way...the girls lapped it up!
Pirouettes, more candy and nuts, Sugared Cranberries and "snowballs"...(little balls that taste something like Cheetos, my Achiles heel, found at World Market). The girls had a gift exchange and I think they were all happy with their gifts...and even though no one ran through the house, or spilled anything on the carpets, or yanked my cockoo clocks off the wall...it was all so civilized...and very fun and it took the sting out of not having little kids over at Christmas.
Off to the sales! 50% off seems about right...wish me happy hunting!
