Christmas is now four days away and that means that it is crunch time for planning those meals.
Many will probably go for the traditional turkey or ham, along with the staples such as mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and other vegetables.
This is all fine and good, I love a good, traditional meal.
However, what some people forget is the equally important after meal experience of dessert.
The majority of time is spent preparing the main course, as should be the case, but that doesn’t mean that the dessert has to suffer as a result.
I am a fan of simple desserts. The quicker to make, the better.
I don’t eat an awful lot of sweets normally, but this time of year, I make an exception. Calories don’t count during the holidays, right?
I love being able to make something delicious in as little time as possible.
That is what I bring to you this week. I offer up some easier Christmas desserts that won’t drain your time or energy.
The first is no bake peanut butter cookies.
You may recall I featured no bake chocolate cookies in a column earlier this year. These are essentially the same, but honestly, I like them better.
Peanut butter is among my favorite cookie flavors. These keep that trend alive.
They are not too dense, as cookies can often be. They also are plenty sweet.
The next dessert is chocolate covered graham crackers.
These allow for more creativity as far as decorating.
You can choose different decorations for your crackers to give them personality and presence on the dessert table.
I love these sweet little squares. They are close to s’mores without the marshmallow, however, if you drizzle marshmallow cream overtop, you can get pretty close.
The last dessert I will mention is chocolate and peanut butter Ritz cookies.
You combine Ritz crackers, chocolate and peanut butter for a delicious dessert that contrasts with sweet and salty flavors.
NO BAKE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
2 cups sugar
¼ cup margarine
½ cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups rolled oats (old fashioned)
■ In a large saucepan, mix sugar, margarine and milk; bring to a full rolling boil.
■ Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
■ Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until peanut butter melts.
■ Stir in oats.
■ Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.
■ Let cool completely.
CHOCOLATE COVERED GRAHAM CRACKERS
16 ounces semi sweet baking chocolate
Graham crackers
Sea salt (optional)
Various toppings (melted white chocolate, chopped peppermint candy, sprinkles, etc.)
■ Break chocolate into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water. Do not boil.
■ Slowly allow the chocolate to melt, stirring every once and a while, until it is completely melted and smooth.
■ Remove from heat.
■ Remove a sheet of graham crackers from the package and carefully break in half to make two squares.
■ Dip one square into the chocolate mixture and use a fork to gently flip and coat it.
■ Once the graham cracker looks fully coated, lift out of the bowl with a fork and softly jiggle it until smooth. Allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl.
■ Gently set the cracker down onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan and repeat until done.
■ Once all graham crackers are coated, decorate with chosen toppings and/or sea salt if desired.
■ Place the pan in the fridge until the chocolate is no longer wet to the touch, about 1 to 2 hours.
■ Once the chocolate is firm, remove from the fridge and allow to set completely at room temperature, overnight, before packing or storing.
■ Recipe courtesy of barefootinthepines.com
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER RITZ COOKIES
48 Ritz crackers
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
8 ounces chocolate almond bark
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Sea salt flakes (optional)
■ In a medium heat-proof bowl, melt the chocolate almond bark and chocolate chips in the microwave on a low setting.
■ While chocolates are melting, line a 15-by-10-inch rimmed pan with wax paper. Place 24 of the Ritz crackers on the wax paper, leaving an inch of space in between each one.
■ Place a generous tablespoon of peanut butter onto the center of each cracker. No need to spread.
■ Place another cracker on top of the peanut butter and gently press the cracker down a bit at the center. Repeat until all sandwich cookies are assembled.
■ After the chocolates have melted, drop a sandwich cookie into the chocolate. Using two forks to maneuver the cookie, quickly turn it to completely cover it with chocolate.
■ Lift the cookie out with one of the forks, tapping the fork handle lightly on the side of the bowl to drip excess chocolate back into the bowl.
■ Drag the bottom of the fork along the rim of the bowl on the way out to remove the rest of the excess chocolate.
■ Transfer chocolate dipped cookie onto the wax paper and repeat until all cookies are dipped.
■ Recipe courtesy of afarmgirldabbles.com
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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