25 Days of Christmas: Day 19

For day 19 of my 25 Days of Christmas I made a batch of eggnog cupcakes. Similar to holiday cookies, there are a million different options for holiday themed cupcakes. Last year I made these adorable Reindeer Cupcakes. This year, instead of picking a decorative cupcake, I decided to go for a holiday flavored cupcake. When I saw eggnog cupcakes on Pinterest, I just knew I had to give them a try.

Ingredients Needed:
1/4 cup dark rum or bourbon (I used Kraken Black Spiced Rum)
1 cup soy eggnog
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
scant 1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly ground
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350F.
Step 2: Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with liners. (get holiday ones if possible, more festive!)
Step 3: In a small bowl, mix together rum, eggnog, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla.
Step 4: In a large bowl, mix together nutmeg, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Step 5: Pour in rum mixture and whisk until just combined. Divide evenly into muffin tins (a 1/4 cup measure is a good tool for this).
Step 6: Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.
Step 7: Cool in the pan for 3-5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients Needed for Eggnog Frosting:
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp soy eggnog (or regular)
2 tbsp rum (I used Kraken Black Spiced Rum)
generous pinch of nutmeg, freshly ground
2+ cups confectioners’ sugar

Step 1: Cream together butter, eggnog, rum, nutmeg and 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar. Add in more confectioners' sugar if needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable.
Step 2: Spread on cupcakes and garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon.
Step 3: My holiday liners came with little decorative picks so I added these for a more festive look!

 

25 Days of Christmas: Day 17

For day 17 of my 25 Days of Christmas, I decided to make mistletoe jello shots. I am attending an Ugly Christmas Sweater party so I thought these would be the perfect treat to bring along.

Ingredients Needed:
2 cups of boiling water
1 cup of Apple Pucker Liquor
1 cup of vodka
1 box of lime jello (I bought a bigger box so this recipe is doubled, if you buy the regular box, use 1 cup of boiling water and 1/2 cup of each of the liquors)
Whipped cream or cool whip
Fresh mint leaves
Red hot candies

If you haven't made jello shots before, you follow the jello recipe on the box but replace the cold water with your alcohol. If you're using two different liquors like in this recipe, do half a cup of each or 1 cup of each for the bigger box. Then pour the jello into individual cups and put in the fridge for the recommended amount of time. Then when the jello is set, add a dollop of cool whip or squirt of whipped cream on top of each shot. Then decorate with two fresh mint leaves and two red hots on each one to look like mistletoe. These are super cute for a holiday get together and are quite tasty! It's definitely more fun to experiment with mixing flavored liquors with flavored jello instead of just using plain vodka in jello shots.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 16

For day 16 of my 25 Days of Christmas challenge, I decided to make a batch of sweet and salty treats. These are super simple and can be made year round for any occasion. See my Halloween Treats for a fall version.

Ingredients:
Small pretzels (you can use round, square or regular)
Hershey Kisses (for a fun twist try candy cane kisses)
Red and Green m&ms (you can use regular ones also but red & green are more festive for the holidays)


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and then line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Spread the pretzels out on the sheet and unwrap that many kisses. Then bake for about 3 minutes until the kisses are shiny. Once you take them out of the oven, quickly press the m&ms into each kiss. The mix of sweet and salty is the perfect snack for a party or you can put them in a pretty package and give them as a gift.

25 Days of Christmas: Day 10

For day 10 of my 25 Days of Christmas challenge, I made dark chocolate covered graham crackers topped with peppermint.

Ingredients:
Dark chocolate chips
Crushed candy canes
Graham crackers

All you need to do is melt the chocolate, dip the graham crackers, and sprinkle crushed candy canes on top. Then you let the chocolate harden and you have a delicious holiday snack! They look pretty and are quite tasty.