The group of potential leading men in Hallmark Channel series, “Finding Mr. Christmas” was a fun one this week! Not only did the guys become cowboys in a scene with Hallmark star Allison Sweeney, they also built gingerbread houses that were to reflect themselves and their lives. They were so cute and festive! These gingerbread muffins are for these studs!

Ingredients:

-2 1/4 cup flour

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-2 teaspoons baking powder

-pinch salt

-2 teaspoons cinnamon

-1 1/2 tablespoons ginger

-1/2 teaspoon cloves

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup milk

-1/2 cup molasses

-1 stick unsalted butter, melted

-1 teaspoon vanilla

-1/4 teaspoon orange extract

-2 eggs

-Orange zest

FOR GLAZE:

-2 tablespoons powdered sugar

-Desired amount of milk (start with one teaspoon until you reach the consistency you like)

-Orange zest

Directions:

In a bowl with electric mixer, mix eggs and brown sugar first.

Then mix in milk, molasses, melted butter, vanilla and orange extracts, eggs and orange zest. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves.

Slowly add your mixture of dry ingredients to your wet ingredients as the mixer is on low/medium. Stir until well combined.

Line your muffin tin with festive liners and fill will two scoops of batter in each muffin liner.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 23-25 minutes.

For the glaze, using a fork, mix the powdered sugar and milk until you get the desired consistency. Then stir in a bit of orange zest.

Spoon on your glaze so it seeps into the cracks of the muffins. Enjoy!

If you’ve been watching “Baked With Love- Holiday” on Hallmark Channel, then you know all the baking themes in which the contestants have been creating with. Week two of the competition included a cookie wreath, which was such a cute dessert idea for a holiday party! I’m going a little bit against the grain on this one, and making a savory baked wreath. It’s a pizza dough, shaped and decorated like a wreath, stuffed with seasoned eggplant, Italian cheeses and sun dried tomatoes. The top is basted with basil pesto to create the green “wreath” color and adorned with more sun dried tomatoes as ornaments. It is a fabulous appetizer at a holiday party your guests will love!

Ingredients:

-2 packages refrigerated pizza dough (rolls out into a rectangle)

-1 jar sun dried tomatoes

-1 jar basil pesto (or homemade if you prefer)

-Italian cheese blend (shredded)

-1 large eggplant

-Garlic powder

-Black pepper

-Sea salt

Directions:

Start by peeling and slicing the eggplant. Spread them out on paper towels and generously sprinkle with salt to draw out the moisture and bitterness. Cover with another paper towel and let sit for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, you will notice the moisture having been drawn out into the paper towels. Rinse in a colander under cold water and squeeze dry.

In a saute pan, use the oil from the can of sun dried tomatoes to cook the eggplant in.

Warm up the oil, add the eggplant. Sprinkle with garlic powder and black pepper. Saute until soft and translucent. Set aside.

Take one of the pizza dough’s and slice it in half, creating two long rectangles.

One a round pizza pan, use both pieces of dough rectangles to create a circle (the wreath).

Make sure it is wide enough to place eggplant on top of it.

Add cooked eggplant along the top all around the circle. Cover with Italian cheese blend and a few sun dried tomatoes.

Take the second package of pizza dough and slice that one in half the same with you did with the first.

Cover the top of the wreath along the same seams as the bottom dough to create a “sandwich”. Pinch the edges to seal all the goodness inside.

Using a basting brush, baste on the pesto all over the entire dough wreath. Place remaining sun dried tomatoes as ornaments along the top after that.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes until puffed up and golden. Enjoy!

“Merry Christmas Ted Cooper” on Hallmark Channel was FULL of love, laughter and cheesy jokes, and I couldn’t love it more! My favorite scene was at the Christmas costume party where he is bustin’ a move dressed as Frosty the Snowman! Between this scene and his “cheesy” personality, I was inspired to make a snowman cheeseball. It also happens to be perfect to serve at a Holiday party, just like the one in this scene!

Ingredients:

-2 bricks softened cream cheese

-2 cups shredded cheese mix of provolone and mozzarella

-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

-1/4 teaspoon onion powder

-1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped finely

-1 bunch fresh basil, chopped finely

-Container of grated Parmesan cheese (for rolling the cheeseballs)

-Bag of small pretzel sticks

-Peppercorns

-Baby carrots

-Variety of crackers

Directions:

Place the softened cream cheese into a large bowl.

Add shredded cheeses, garlic powder, onion powder, chopped rosemary and chopped basil. Stir very well and place in plastic wrap in a ball for 30 minutes.

Once it has firmed up, separate the cheese ball into three balls, each different sizes ranging from smallest to largest. Remember, you are building a snowman!

Roll each cheese ball in a bowl full of grated Parmesan cheese to give it more of a “snowy” look.

Grab your serving platter!

Use a pretzel stick to use as support to attach one cheese ball to the next. Start with the largest ball on the bottom, and end with the smallest on top.

Use peppercorns to create eyes, a smile, and buttons.

Use two pretzel sticks to create arms

Take one of the carrots, and slice a small part off to create a small carrot nose. Push that in the center of your snowman’s face.

Once your snowman is done, refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

When ready to serve, add your crackers and carrots around the snowman on the platter for dipping. Enjoy!

“A Christmas Angel Match” on Hallmark Channel was full of heavenly delight! I loved Benjamin Ayres and Meghan Ory as the match making angels that they were. And what better way to end the movie than with the two matchmakers becoming a match themselves! The all white attire, and setting up in the clouds was done very well and really set the tone for these character’s roles. I wanted to make something light and fluffy just like the clouds these characters resided in. No better heavenly treat than angel food cake! With a Christmas twist of course!

Ingredients:

FOR CAKE

-1 cup flour

-1 cup sugar

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-10 egg whites

-1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

-1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR TOPPING

-1 cup heavy whipping cream

-3 tablespoons powdered sugar

-1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

-Crushed candy canes

-Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

Directions:

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, whisk together the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until a thick and frothy consistency occurs.

Slowly add sugar one tablespoon at a time until totally combined. Whisk on high a few more minutes until a meringue forms with slightly stiff peaks.

With a spatula, gently fold in the extracts and then slowly fold in the flour a little bit at a time. Being careful not to stir too much and release all the air in it.

Pour into an UNGREASED tube pan or bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. When you remove from oven, place upside down on a plate to cool.

In the meantime, prepare the topping.

In a cold bowl using an electric mixer, whisk the heavy whipping cream and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar on high until it becomes thick and ribbons. Gently stir in the peppermint extract. Place in fridge.

Once your cake has cooled in the pan upside down, use a butter knife to loosen the edges and gently shimmy it out of the pan.

Sprinkle the sides with powdered sugar. Then take your whipped topping out of the fridge and dollop that all along the top to look like clouds.

Crush the candy canes in a ziplock bag or food processor and sprinkle on top. Enjoy!

Let’s get ready for “Haul Out The Halloween” on Hallmark Channel! It’s a new installment of “Haul Out The Holly”, but a Halloween version, and we are here for it! The people on Evergreen Lane turn their neighborhood into “Everscream Lane” for the Halloween season, including having a neighborhood carnival! One of the most popular carnival staples is nachos of course, but since this is a Halloween carnival, I thought I’d give traditional nachos a sweet twist.

Ingredients:

-One package tortillas

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

-Bag of apple chips

-Chopped pecans

-1/2 stick salted butter (melted)

-Favorite caramel topping

TOOLS: You will need pumpkin shaped (or any Halloween shape) cookie cutter.

Directions:

Start by using the cookie cutter to cut out your shapes in the tortillas. I was able to get 3-4 shapes per tortilla.

In a small bowl, mix together sugar and pumpkin pie spice.

In another small bowl, melt butter.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the tortilla shapes. Baste the melted butter generously on each one and sprinkle with sugar mixture on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. Once they cool, they will be nice and crunchy.

After all your chips have cooled, spread on a serving platter. Drizzle on some caramel.

Chop the apple chips up and sprinkle those on top, followed by the chopped pecans.

Finish off with another drizzle of caramel. Serve right away. Enjoy!

This recipe is a touchdown in my playbook of recipes! You need to make this to share with your friends as you watch “Home Turf” on Hallmark Channel! Character Cassidy (played by Nikki DeLoach), is the president of a University who finds herself in an unexpected situation when the college football team gets benched and is forced to stay at her home!

This is a sweet charcuterie board with a football shaped dip in the center. Typically, you don’t use cream cheese in a cannoli, but I added it since this is a dip. If you don’t have a football shaped bowl, and want to shape the dip itself and turn it into a cannoli “ball”, you will need to use half the amount of ricotta in the recipe to make it shapable.

Ingredients:

-8 oz cream cheese

-1 cup ricotta cheese

-Zest of half a lemon

-2 cups powdered sugar

-1/4 cup crushed pistachios

-1/4 tsp vanilla

-Mini semi sweet chocolate chips

-A variety of accoutrements such as strawberries, cookies, broken cannoli shells, graham crackers…

Directions:

In a mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, mix ricotta, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth.

Slowly add powdered sugar with the mixer on low until it is fully incorporated.

Use a spatula to fold in lemon zest and pistachios. If displaying as a dip, place chocolate chips on top, completely covering the top. If creating a cheese ball (in which case you would have only used half the amount of ricotta), roll in chocolate chips until covered on all sides. Set in the fridge.

On a board or large platter, arrange your accoutrements as you like. Add dip (or ball) in the center when you are ready to serve. Enjoy!

“Adventures in Love and Birding” on Hallmark Channel was the inspiration for these adorable sweet & salty clusters! Andrew Walker and Rachel Boston play characters in which they are to be partners in a birding competition. However, there’s a little miscommunication along the way, which I suspect will ultimately lead to them becoming love birds! Since it’s also Fall, I gave these little nests an Autumn twist!

Ingredients:

-Pretzel Sticks (about 2 cups)

-1 bag salted caramel chips

-1 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice

-Maple powder (or maple sugar)

-Peanut MnM’s

Directions:

Melt the salted caramel chips in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time. Stirring in between, until melted.

Stir in pumpkin pie spice. Then gently fold in the pretzel sticks, being very careful not to break.

Place clusters on a tray lined with parchment paper and form the shape of a little nest, leaving a small space in the middle.

Sprinkle with maple powder.

Add three peanut MnM’s in the center to look like bird’s eggs. Place tray in refrigerator until caramel chips have hardened. Enjoy!

You’ve heard of a grooms cake at weddings, but have you heard of grooms cupcakes? I wanted to make a more snack-sized treat that is easy to eat while you watch “The Groomsmen” trilogy on Hallmark Channel! Grab yourself a wedding date and watch all three of the Groomsmen movies while you eat these cupcakes! I chose red velvet because that was the flavor cake I had at my wedding, and I feel like it’s a universal romantic flavor. I also jazzed it up with a cherry pie filling surprise in the middle.

Ingredients:

-Red velvet cake mix (or make from scratch)

-Cherry pie filling

-Black fondant

-White Fondant

-Red fondant

-Vanilla frosting (store bought or homemade)

Directions:

Choose a plain cupcake liner like white, black, or silver. Make cake mix and bake cupcakes according to directions. About 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

While those are baking, create your “tuxedo” toppers.

Roll out the black fondant on a silicone baking mat (this will make it easy to remove). Use a round cookie cutter a smidge bigger than the diameter of the cupcake liner to make a circle.

Roll out the white fondant. Using a knife, carve out a long triangle to fit in the center of the black circle. wet your finger and dab it on the back of the white triangle, and stick it onto the black circle, point on the bottom.

Roll out a small portion of red fondant into a tiny rope. Roll it into a tiny rose. Dab a bit of water on the bottom of the flower and place on the side of the tux to look like a boutonniere.

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, slice off the top of the cupcake to make a flat surface. Create a small hole in the center of each cupcake, but not to the bottom. Fill each hole with cherry pie filling. Stuff the cake part you cut out right back on top.

Spread a small amount of frosting on top, in the center, and place your fondant “tux” right on top. Enjoy!

One of the most romantic movie trilogies I’ve ever seen deserves a romantic dinner to go with it! “Providence Falls” on Hallmark Channel does not disappoint in the romance department, and the scene that inspired this dish is no exception! Liam, whom is from another time, has never had spaghetti before. Cora, his true love, shows him what its like, and it gets steamy!

Ingredients:

-3/4 of a box of angel hair

-1 large yellow onion

-3 cloves garlic

-1 carton cherry tomatoes

-1 carton beef stock

-1/2 cup white cooking wine

-fresh basil

-Parmesan

-salt and peppr

Directions:

Chop up the onions and saute in olive oil until translucent. Mince garlic and add that in. Give it a quick stir and add tomatoes.

Pour in beef stock and cooking wine.

Add dry angel hair and fresh basil. Top with a bit of water until pasta is fully covered. Stir and cover with lid.

Cook on low/medium heat while stirring occasionally.

Once it is cooked, add salt, pepper and the juice of one lemon.

Sprinkle with more fresh basil and Parmesan. Enjoy!