Merinac is the quaint little town all the lovely folks live in on “The Chicken Sisters” on Hallmark Plus! I just finished up watching season one, and it was a great one! Mimi’s and Frannie’s Chicken restaurants were battling a family feud for generations. Who had the better chicken? Well, when these two forces combine, they made something even better, The Chicken Sisters Restaurant! This is my take on a classic fried chicken recipe, but with a little sweet and a little salty. Just like the personalities in the show! Best of all, I used the air fryer so you don’t feel as guilty indulging!

Ingredients:

-1 pound drumsticks

For wet batter:

-2 cups buttermilk

-1/4 cup Dijon mustard

-1 tablespoon chili powder

-Salt and pepper

For dry coating:

-2 cups honey nut Chex cereal (pounded into crumbs)

-2 cups flour

-1 tablespoon garlic powder

-1 tablespoon onion powder

-Salt and pepper

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together buttermilk, dijon, chili powder, salt and pepper. Whisk it well and submerge all chicken. Let it sit covered and refrigerated for an hour or overnight.

In a large gallon ziplock bag, pour Chex in and pound into crumbs. Double bag it now, and add flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Once the chicken has marinated for at least an hour, place a few pieces on the bag with the flour mixture and shake it up!

Place in air fryer for 20 minutes before turning. Then another 20 minutes. I like to finish mine off in the oven drizzled with a little oil to cook it through.

In “Scouting for Christmas” on Hallmark Channel, the adorable love story between Angela and William ( played by Tamera Mowry-Housley and Carlo Marks), revolves around two things.. a very important Girl Scout holiday event, and William’s bakery, “Sir Bakes a Bunch”! By the way how cute is that name? One of his most popular items at his bakery is their bear claws. Since it is a Christmas movie, I had to make a Christmas bear claw! I made a traditional recipe but added semi sweet chocolate and some Christmas sprinkles of course!

Ingredients:

-Frozen puff pastry dough

-1/2 stick butter (room temp)

-8 oz almond paste

-1 cup powdered sugar

-2 egg whites

-1/4 cup flour

-Semi sweet mini chocolate chips

-Christmas sprinkles

Directions:

Let frozen dough thaw out until easy to manage.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter first. Then add powdered sugar, almond paste (break up into pieces first), two egg whites and flour.

Mix on high speed until all the almond paste has dissolved and you have a thick mixture.

Roll our the pastry dough into more of a rectangle. Cut three wide strips. Fill a skinny line of the almond filling across the middle off each dough strip. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the filling. Fold over and crimp the edges.

This will make one long “log”. Cut the log into 4 smaller logs and slice about 5 fringes (the bear’s claws). Then spread it out to look like a smiley face so the claws spread out a bit.

Brush with melted butter and bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Once it has cooled a bit, melt more chocolate chips and drizzle on top, following with the sprinkles right away. Pop in the fridge to harden for 5 minutes and serve!

The holidays are FULL of parties, which means a lot of fun and festive drinks! In the Hallmark Channel movie, “Holiday Crashers”, besties, Toni and Bri decide to crash all the holiday parties to liven things up a bit! One thing all these parties had in common was the cocktails. At each party, there were appetizers and drinks, however, I decided to make a non alcoholic festive cocktail!

Ingredients:

-Cherry juice

-“Torani” amaretto syrup

-Orange seltzer water

-Holiday sprinkles

-White chocolate candy melts

-Glass of choice (I used a martini glass)

NOTE: I did not include measurements in this drink recipe, as I like to make them according to taste. So you can decide how much or how little of each flavor you would like.

Directions:

Start by melting the white chocolate in the microwave. Spread on a plate and roll the rim of the glass in the melted chocolate.

Pour sprinkles on a plate, and immediately roll from melted white chocolate into the sprinkles to create a decorated rim.

Start by pouring cherry juice on the bottom of glass. Stir in amaretto syrup. Then top off with orange seltzer water.

Optional festive ice cubes:

A day or two before you plan on serving the drinks, use any holiday themed small silicone molds to pour cherry juice in. Freeze overnight and use as festive ice cubes in your drink!

Hannah Swensen is at it again trying to solve a murder while running her bakery, “The Cookie Jar”! In this newest installment of A Hannah Swensen Mystery: “A Sprinkle of Deceit”, Hannah goes around town to all the people she is questioning, and butters them up with a large variety of delicious cookies! One that stood out to me was the butterscotch pretzel cookie. I just had to make my own!

Ingredients:

-1 box white cake mix

-2 eggs

-1/2 cup avocado oil

-1 package of instant butterscotch pudding

-2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

-2/3 cup butterscotch chips

-1 cup crushed pretzels

-Individual pretzels for the garnish

Directions:

Combine cake mix, avocado oil, and pudding mix until a thick dough turns out. Then fold in the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and crushed pretzels.

Scoop out dough on a non stick baking sheet. Take a full pretzel, and press down in the center of each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Enjoy!

If you have the Hallmark Plus app, you may have seen “Celebrations with Lacey Chabert”! This show is about celebrating people who have touched other’s lives in some way. Lacey Chabert is the ring leader in this amazing show and gets to help plan the events! In the first episode, the guest of honor is given a camp-themed party, with an epic s’mores table, which inspired this party favor dessert!

How to construct:

Get a food safe jar, and wash.

Mix sprinkles with marshmallow fluff and spread around the sides of the bottom half of the jar.

Start with a layer of chocolate cake of choice, or brownie.

Layer with marshmallow fluff. Follow with a layer of graham cracker crumbs.

Follow with another layer of chocolate cake/brownie. Sprinkle with another layer of graham cracker crumbs.

Top with a layer of marshmallow fluff, followed by a drizzle of chocolate syrup and sprinkles.

Close jar and decorate with ribbon of choice. Enjoy or give as party favors!

These delicious bran muffins full of Fall flavors are inspired by Hallmark Channel movie “Falling Together” starring Ashely Williams and Paul Campbell. Main character, Natalie (Ashley Williams), is new in town, and the people who live in her new building do not get along with each other. Natalie won’t have it! She tries everything she can to bring them together, including making muffins for everyone. She presented a variety of muffins to them, and so I melded some of them together and added my own touch to make the perfect Fall muffin!

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 cups wheat bran

-1 cup whole milk

-1/3 cup avocado oil

-2/3 cup brown sugar

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 egg

-1 cup flour

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 apple cubed

-1/2 cup dried cranberries

-2.25 oz package chopped walnuts

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together and soak the milk with the wheat bran. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes.

While that soaks, using an electric mixer, whisk together avocado oil, brown sugar, vanilla and egg.

Once that is all combined, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Next, use a spatula to stir in the cubed apple, cranberries and walnuts.

Scoop batter into muffin liners to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-18 minutes. Enjoy!

Hallmark Plus has a new series “The Chicken Sisters” based on a book! The two chicken shacks in town, Mimi’s and Frannie’s have been going head to head for many many years. In episode 2, there was a mention of Frannie’s famous biscuits, and I just had to give them a whirl! I took a guess as to what these biscuits might taste like, give that this takes place in Southern Kansas, and I made them a bit sweet and a bit salty to represent the different personalities within the main characters.

Ingredients:

-2 cups flour

-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

-4 teaspoons baking powder

-2 tablespoons sugar

-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 stick cold, salted butter

-1 egg

-2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cream of tartar and sugar. Cut the cold butter into cubes and using a fork or pastry blender, combine it into the flour mixture until it creates crumbles.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. Then slowly add to the flour mixture. Mix until well combined. It will be sticky. Sprinkle a bit of flour as you knead the dough.

Roll out the dough and fold it four or five times to create layers. Then roll out again. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits and place on a nonstick baking sheet or silicone baking mat. Bake at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes.

Any leftover dough needs to be refrigerated and only taken out when you are ready to bake. If the butter stays cold, you will get much fluffier biscuits!

I’d slather some cinnamon honey butter on these for some extra yumminess!

These two varieties of popcorn clusters are inspired by Hallmark Channel movie, “His an Hers” starring Lacey Chabert and Brennan Elliot. These two together are a fan favorite! I love the scenes where they have their cozy date nights on the couch with one big bowl of popcorn split in half. One side is one flavor for Lacey’s character “Dana”, and the other half is Brennan’s character “Mark’s” preference. So for this reason, I made two types of popcorn clusters, one sweet and the other savory!

Ingredients for Cherry-Almond popcorn clusters:

-freshly popped popcorn

-1 cup dried cherries

-2.25 oz package slivered almonds

-6 squares “almond bark” white chocolate

-2 drops red food coloring

-1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

Pop popcorn. Set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate squares 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until melted.

Toss dried cherries and almonds into bowl with popcorn.

Add food coloring and almond extract to melted white chocolate.

Stir well and pour mixture Into popcorn. Form clusters and place on nonstick surface or silicone baking mat. Place in refrigerator for 10 minutes to harden. Enjoy!

These can be stored in a gallon ziplock bag for up to 3 days.

Ingredients for Maple-Bacon-Cheddar popcorn balls:

-freshly popped popcorn

-garlic powder

-chili powder

-smoked paprika

-bacon flavored seasoning (got mine on Amazon)

-2 teaspoons maple syrup

-1/2 tablespoon butter

-3 oz cream cheese

-finely shredded cheddar

Directions:

Pop popcorn in a large bowl. Sprinkle the desired amount of garlic powder, chili powder, smoked paprika and bacon flavored seasoning.

In a small pot, melt maple syrup and butter. Transfer to a bowl and cool a bit. Stir in cold cream cheese. This will act as the “glue”. Add to popcorn mixture and form clusters on a non stick surface or silicone baking mat. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Due to the cream cheese and cheddar, you’ll need to serve right away or chill for a bit before serving. Enjoy!

“Head Over Heels” on Hallmark Channel inspired these beauties! So many fabulous shoes in this movie, but only one shoe was Addi’s (played by Rebecca Dalton) Inspo to design shoes, and it was the OG ‘Delaney Diaz’ red pump! These cupcakes are so fun to make and great for a birthday party or bachelorette party/bridal shower!

What you need to construct these cupcakes:

-Cupcakes of choice

-Frosting of choice

-Food coloring

-Candy melts

-Pretzel rods

-Pepperidge Farm brand Milano cookies

-Black decorating gel

-Pull and Peell Twizzlers

-Edible sugar pearls

-Edible glitter

-Piping bag and tips

Directions:

Begin by making your cupcakes of choice. You can either make them without liners, or choose a fun liner if you don’t plan to dip your cupcake bottoms in the candy melts.

Once the cupcakes are cooled. Melt the candy melts in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Dip bottom half of cupcake into the candy melts. Let it harden.

Cut a small straight edge on one end of the cupcake top. Dip the Milano cookie in the candy melt to act as ‘glue’, and insert it on an angle into the small edge you cut off. Prop something up against it until it hardens.

Next, take a pretzel rod and measure the height against the Milano cookie to make the ‘stiletto heel’. Dip the shortened pretzel rod into candy melts and let harden.

Then, dip one end of the hardened pretzel rod and attach it to the Milano cookie to make the ‘heel’. It will start to look like a shoe now!

Using a piping bag and frosting of choice, pipe a fun design on top of the cupcake. Sprinkle with edible glitter or any decoration you like.

Use the black decorating gel to cover the top of the Milano cookie to look like the ‘insole’ of the shoe. Pipe a thin line of frosting around that, and then add edible sugar pearls along the border.

Pull apart a rope from the Pull and Peel Twizzler to make a bow and place on top of cupcake. Refrigerate to let harden. Enjoy!

“The Magic of Lemon Drops” on Hallmark Channel was in fact such a magical movie to watch! The delicious ‘lemon drop pie’ was a key component in this movie. Especially the lemon drops, which possessed the power to allow you to live one day in an alternate reality and given the choice to choose which reality you would like to make permanent! I especially loved the scene where the main character, Lolly, is baking a lemon drop pie with her mother, who had actually passed in reality. It was a very special scene. The three secret ingredients they stated in the pie was “Meyer lemons, European butter, and lemon balm”. And of course garnished with lemon drops. So that’s what I made!

Ingredients:

-Frozen pie crust dough

For filling:

-1 1/4 cup sugar

-1/3 cup cornstarch

-2 tablespoons flour

-1 1/2 cups water

-5 egg yolks

-1/4 cups European butter

-1/4 cups juice from 2-3 Meyer lemons

-About 5 leaves of fresh lemon balm (chopped)

For Meringue topping:

-3 egg whites

-1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter

-1/2 teaspoon vanilla

-1/4 cup sugar

-Lemon drop candies and lemon zest for garnish

Directions:

In a pie dish, take your thawed out pie dough and place in dish, crimping the edges. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let it cool.

In a small pot, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, flour, salt, and water. Stirring gently and every minute over low/medium heat. Once it comes to a boil, stir continuously for a minute and then remove from the heat.

In a separate bowl , whisk your egg yolks, then very slowly add a very small amount (around 1/4 cup) of the hot mixture into the eggs. Whisk briskly! Then slowly add THAT mixture into the pot with the rest of the hot sugar mixture and stir continuously over low/medium heat until it has thickened. Remove from heat, and add butter and lemon juice until fully incorporated.

Pour into the cooled pie crust and let it sit while making the meringue.

To make the meringue, in an electric mixer, beat egg whites, cream of tarter and vanilla until it’s frothy and starts to thicken up. With the mixer still on high, slowly add sugar a little bit at a time. You will see the meringue start to turn white, and thicken. Once you see stiff peaks form, its done!

Spread all over the top of cooled lemon filling and create small peaks with back of spoon.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes until the top of the meringue has browned peaks.

Let cool and then place in fridge overnight. Garnish with lemon drop candies and lemon zest. Enjoy!