Gluhwein Gift

Merry Christmas Eve! If you are headed somewhere to celebrate and need to take a gift, this Gluhwein/mulled wine idea is great to take! Below is a gift idea I took to a close friend. Besides- you can't go wrong gifting someone alcohol around the holidays!

Gluhwein

- 1 bottle of red wine

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 1 orange, peels only

- 1 lemon, peeks only 

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 6 whole cloves

Heat all ingredients on a simmer for 30 minutes and serve hot. 

Gluhwein ingredients!

Recipe

Enjoy!

Brittney 

Make Gingerbread Pancakes

I am obsessed with the Christmas scent gingerbread has in my house. We made gingerbread cookies earlier this week and I thought I would find a good recipe for Gingerbread Pancakes, which happens to be kid-friendly. They turned out so well and do not taste super cake-like, but more like a regular pancake. They are delicious! It is ice raining out and there is snow on the ground, so staying inside eating pancakes and hot cocoa sounds good to me (and my kids)!

Gingerbread Pancakes

- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp. molasses
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp. butter, melted

1. In a medium bowl mix up your dry ingredients.
2. In another medium bowl whisk your wet ingredients together.
3. Add your dry ingredients to the wet and mix well together. Allow mixture to thicken for 5-10 minutes.
4. Heat up your griddle and use about 1/4 cup of batter to make your pancakes.

 Pancake batter on a hot griddle

 Gingerbread Pancakes

Pancakes are served!

Enjoy!

Brittney

Gingerbread Cookie Bars

ARMY WON!!! So excited to have witnessed an Army win this weekend against Navy! What a wonderful end to a great week. We went to a tailgate and I made these amazing, taste of Christmas in your mouth, Gingerbread Cookie Bars. They were a big hit! They are also easy to make and make a great addition to any holiday party. Here is the recipe as promised!

Gingerbread Cookie Bars

- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1/3 cup molassses
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

- 1 x 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8"x13" baking pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter, sugars, vanilla and molasses together.
3. Once incorporated thoroughly add your egg.
4. In a separate bowl mix your dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt.
5. Slowly add your dry mixture to the wet mixture. Mix well.
6. Pour your gingerbread mixture into your baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for 15-20 min. Allow to cool completely.
7. Cream your ingredients together for your cream cheese frosting and spread evenly on your gingerbread bars. Add sprinkles if desired.

 Baked gingerbread bars before adding cream cheese frosting

 Finished bars!

Gingerbread Cookie Bars

Enjoy!

Brittney

Spiced Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Happy Holidays! Wow! I can not believe how fast this year is flying by! I have been very busy with end of year events and hosting Mom's Night's Out and a kid Holiday Party. I have been making a lot of recipes out of the cookbook Run Fast Eat Slow by Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky. They are Olympic athletes and runners who made this amazing cookbook filled with nourishing recipes! You can purchase it here on Amazon, I strongly recommend it. *all opinions are my own*

I have started to make holiday cookies and tried a new one this year! Spiced Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are gooey and have a dash of cayenne pepper that add to it's festive flavor. I have been eying a Gingerbread Bar recipe that I hope to try out next week and share - so stay tuned!

Spiced Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 4 oz. baking chocolate
- 4 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup baking cocoa

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Melt your butter and baking chocolate on low heat. Set aside to cool.
3. In a mixing bowl mix your flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cayenne pepper.
4. In another bowl mix your eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla together. Add your chocolate mixture and mix well.
5. Add your flour mixture until fully incorporated.
6. Place dough in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up if needed (my dough turned out very sticky).
7. Form 1-2 inch balls of dough and roll in powdered sugar.
8. Bake cookies for 8 minutes.

 Snickers the Elf approves of these Spiced Chocolate Crinkle Cookies!

Happy Holidays!

Enjoy!

Brittney