Chocolate Cheesecake Cookies - total time 45 minutes

This is definitely a cookie to be enjoyed year round.  A sweet graham cracker cookie base topped with cheesecake.  You could make this cookie more of a mini cheesecake... but I made these for Christmas, so cookie it is!

Cookie
1 pack of graham crackers, crushed
1 cup flour
.5 cup butter
.5 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg white (keep yolk for cheesecake)
1 tbsp baking powder

Cheesecake
.5 cup cream cheese
.25 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 yolk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Crush graham crackers in mixer (I covered my mixer with a grocery bag to prevent any popping out and becoming doggy treats).
2.  Beat butter in mixer, add brown sugar, and continue to beat.  Add vanilla, egg white, and baking powder.  Mix graham cracker and flour together separately and then add flour mixture into wet mixture slowly until well combined.
3.  Combine cream cheese, sugar, yolk, and cocoa powder in a small mixing bowl.
4.  Form golf ball sized balls with the graham cracker dough.  Flatten and press spoon into dough to form cups.  Pour cheesecake mixture into cups and bake for 12 minutes.  Refrigerate after cooling.

Red Velvet Cookies - total time 2 hours

What could be a more perfect Christmas cookie than one that is red and green?  Okay, probably sugar cookies decorated by little kids... but red velvet with green M&Ms seemed pretty perfect to me!  Plus, I had a bottle full of green M&Ms that have been sitting in my cabinet for a couple months (from Pelotonia themed event at work).  These turned out delicious!  Great for cookie swaps and Christmas dessert tables.

1.5 cup flour

1 cup sugar

.5 cup butter

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 egg

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp red food coloring

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat butter in mixer, add sugar, and continue to beat.  Add vanilla, egg, vinegar, and food coloring and combine.
2.  Blend in salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Mix cocoa powder and flour together and add to wet ingredients a little bit at a time.  Hand mix green M&Ms (or chocolate chips) into dough, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
3.  Scoop onto pan in golf ball sized balls.  Add additional M&Ms or chocolate chips to the top for color contrast.  Bake for 12 minutes.

Apple Cider Caramel Cookies - total time 2 hours

A week of Christmas baking with several new cookies on tap!  The first one is perfectly seasonal too.  Our apple pile from the orchard is starting to dwindle and a couple were a little soft, so they were great to use in this recipe.  The cookie tastes like an apple cinnamon shortbread.  Warm the cookie up and the caramel is ooey goey.  If you won't be able to warm the cookies up where you are taking them, a better alternative may be to frost them with a caramel frosting instead of the caramel candy inside (I am definitely trying this soon!).

.5 cup apple juice
1-2 apples, chopped
1.5 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tsp all spice
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 dozen caramels

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a small pot, cook apple juice and apple chunks over low heat to create an 'apple reduction'.
2.  Whip butter in mixer, then add butter, and continue to whip.  Add eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice and blend together.
3.  Take apples off heat and allow to cool.  The reduction should make about 3 tablespoons of apple syrup.  Once cooled, add into batter.
4.  Add flour a small amount at a time until everything has combined.  Wrap dough in plastic and refridgerate for at least one hour.
5.  Shape dough into two inch disks fold caramel into each one.  Bake for 14 minutes.  Reheat in microwave for 10 seconds before serving to soften caramel.

Spinach Tortellini Soup - 5 hours (slow cooker)

Feeling a little under the weather and that calls for some soup (good thing we had a soup in this week's menu!).  Basically this recipe slow cooks a flavorful stock and then you add in the main ingredients toward the end so they don't get mushy.  I can't believe I used to only eat chicken noodle or tomato soup when there are so many options to try!

32 oz vegetable stock
1 package cheese tortellini
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups spinach, chopped
5 tbsp cream
.5 cup milk
basil, oregano, thyme
1 tsp chili pepper
shredded parm
salt and pepper

1.  Combine chopped onion, minced garlic, herbs, vegetable stock, salt, and pepper into slow cooker.  Cook on low for four hours.
2.  Add tortellini, cream, milk, and spinach cook for an additional hour on high.
3.  Sprinkle shredded parm on top before serving.

Stuffed Turkey Tenderloin - total time 1 hour

Apparently we didn't get enough turkey after Thanksgiving!  Turkey tenderloin is so much easier to cook than a full turkey though.  I need to remember this for next Thanksgiving...

1 turkey tenderloin (or two breasts)

.5 cup sliced gruyere

2 cups spinach

4 garlic cloves

1 small onion

2 tbsp butter, divided

salt and pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Saute onion and garlic in pan with one tablespoon of butter.  Add ripped spinach and cook until wilted down.  Cut a deep slice into the tenderloin to create a pocket to stuff.

2.  Stuff the tenderloins with the slices of cheese and hot spinach mixture.  Hold together with toothpicks or wrap with baking twine.  Melt another tablespoon of butter in pan and turn up heat to medium-high, season with salt and pepper, and sear turkey on both sides.  Transfer seared turkey into a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.

Weekly Menu

It has kind of been crazy in our house the past few weeks.  We have been putting in hardwood floors in our living room-dining room area, which meant all of that furniture was squished into the kitchen.  Which also meant a lot of eating out...  Well, the floor is almost done (stain is currently drying on the trim) and most of the furniture is back where it belongs, so it is time to get back to a menu.

pretzel chicken and green beans
stuffed tenderloin with mashed potatoes
mini taco pies
creamy tortellini and spinach soup
mexican chicken over rice

squished kitchen

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes - total time 1 hour

Mmm... salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks, so delish!  While we were on vacation in Colorado, we found their hot chocolate mix at the local grocery store which tasted even better after a long hike in the cold mountains.  I hope my grocery store starts carrying the mix too... the last thing you want to do when you are craving hot chocolate is go outside in the cold to go get it!  These yummy cupcakes are the result of my hot chocolate obsession.

Cupcake
2.5 cups flour
.75 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
.5 butter
.75 cup creme fraiche (bonus points if you find the vanilla bean kind)
1 cup dulce de leche
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
salt

Buttercream Frosting
1 cup butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar together in mixer.  Add vanilla and eggs, combine at a slower speed.  Add salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
2.  Add .75 cup of flour and .25 cup of cocoa powder into mixer.  Add .25 cup of creme fraiche and combine.  Repeat two more times.
3.  Spoon out batter into mini cupcake liners.  Bake for 14 minutes.
4.  Let cupcakes cool for at least ten minutes.  Take your smallest measuring spoon and scoop out the centers of each cupcake (reserve in a bowl).  Fill crevice with dulce de leche and sprinkle salt on top.
5.  Whip butter in clean mixer.  Add vanilla, salt, and cream.  Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time until frosting is formed.  Scoop frosting into piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes.  Top with a sprinkle of sugar and salt.

(Use the reserved cupcake pieces, left over dulce de leche, and some chocolate sauce, stir together in bowl, press down to compact and top with remaining frosting.  It may not be pretty, but it is oh so tasty!)