Mocha cheese "truffles"

I stumbled up one this recipe on pinterest and tucked it away knowing exactly how I planned to "epicurize" this little dessert. I messed it up slightly because I used spreadable cream cheese instead of the block. This did not impact the taste of theses sinfully delicious little bites but rolling them into balls was a bit tricky because the cream cheese was not as stiff as it should have been. So..through trial and error I can say without a doubt, spreadable cream cheese is not the best choice. However, my hubby A, moaned and groaned (in a good way!) and swore up and down (in a good way!) that these little bites might just be the best things I've ever made. Ok, so personally, I feel it may have been a slight over exaggeration. They were pretty darn good though and ultra easy. A great idea for the approaching holiday season to add to your festive spread. I know they will be added to mine.

Ingredients

1 block of cream cheese

1 package of Oreo cookies

2 tbsp of Mocha Cheeseball Seasoning

1/2 cup of VE Dark Belgian Chocolate, melted



Directions

1. Crush up your Oreo cookies till it kind of looks like soil

2. Mix your cream cheese and mocha cheeseball seasoning, Into your crushed cookies

3. Form into balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or if you have one, VE silicone baking mat.

4. Melt your chocolate on low in a stainless steel bowl placed in some hot water. Dark chocolate is best done this way rather than the microwave.

5. Pour warm chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag like I used with the corner snipped. I have yet to purchase one myself but Epicure also carries this handy dandy chocolate decorating tool that would work well too!

6. Swirl with a generous amount of chocolate and chill in the fridge.

7. I dare you to try and eat just one!

Note: I just saw in the most recent Insiders Report for all the new Presidents Choice products for the holidays that they have candy cane crushed up in the middles "Oreos". How good would those be in this? I am SO going to try those next.

 

Cranberry Bran Muffins (using leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving)

A beautiful Thanksgiving was had by all, the table was set with glittery pumpkins and fall leaves the kids and I collected on our brisk afternoon walk. The Turkey was browned on the outside, moist on the inside. I made my first ever cranberry sauce from scratch. I seriously didn't realized how simple it was, and now that I know, there is no excuse for purchasing that canned gelatinous cranberry jelly stuff. Plus there's this really neat popping sound the cranberries make when the are simmering in the sugar and water, the kids got a kick out of listening to them pop. I made a big bowl of it and had lots leftover. After the big event I got to thinking...how can I repurpose this cranberry goodness? I came up with the idea to add it to muffins, tweaking an existing recipe from all-bran.ca for cranberry apple muffins.

For these muffins you'll need some All-Bran cereal

1 cup of leftover cranberry sauce

Mix All-Bran with the milk in a medium bowl, it will look like you are preparing breakfast for a giant, or my husband. Let it get good and soggy, just like you don't like your cereal to be in the morning. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix up your dry ingredients, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and spices. I used VE Poudre Douce ( one of my all time favorites) its a sweet and spicy blend that remind me of apple pie spice. I also used some VE Ground Cinnamon.

Mix your eggs into the soggy cereal, warning: this will look gross! Trust me that it all comes together beautifully.

Finally gently add your cereal sog to the dry ingredients, stir till just combined. Fold in your cranberries.

Portion out into lined muffin tins and bake till tops spring back when you touch them.

Enjoy with a cuppa tea or coffee for breakfast.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups All-Bran Original* cereal 1 cup milk (1%) 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp VE Ground Cinnamon 1/2 tsp each, VE Poudre Douce and salt 2 eggs 1/4 cup canola oil 1 cup cranberry sauce

Directions

1. In medium bowl, combine cereal and milk. Let stand for 2 minutes or until cereal softens.

2. In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, poudre douce and salt. Set aside.

3. Add eggs and oil to cereal mixture; beat well. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients, stirring only until just combined. Fold in cranberries. Portion batter evenly into 12 (2½”/6.5 cm) non-stick muffin pan cups, lightly coated with cooking spray or lined with paper cups.

4. Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched.