These recipes go along with the post on hosting a Christmas tea party but of course can be enjoyed any time of the year!
Little Gingerbread Cheesecakes (no-bake & gluten free)
Ingredients:
1 package soft gingerbread cookies (I like Enjoy Life brand which is free of most allergens)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz whipped cream (you could used purchased or make your own like I did)
1 1/2 Tbs. molasses
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 cup powdered sugar or more to desired sweetness
whipped cream and sprinkles or cookie crumbs for garnishing
Directions:
Place the cream cheese, whipped cream, molasses, powdered sugar, and spices into the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate overnight. (Several hours might also work.) Before serving, place a cookie into the bottom of each small glass dish, ramekin, or teacup to be the cheesecake’s crust. Divide the filling evenly between them and smooth it out. Put some whipped cream on the top of each of your cheesecakes and then garnish with sprinkles or cookie crumbs. Enjoy!
Ginger Cookie Truffles
Ingredients:
3/4 package Newman’s Own Gingero’s cookies
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup dark chocolate chips (I like Enjoy Life)
Sprinkles for the top
Directions:
Place the cookies into a food processor and grind them up. Pour the crumbs into a bowl and mix in the cream cheese with your hands until well combined. Roll the mixture into balls and put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper and then into the freezer for 30 minutes. Carefully melt the chocolate in a double boiler (mine is just a small, stainless steel mixing bowl set over a small saucepan of simmering water :) ) and stir it frequently to facilitate melting and combine it all together. When the chocolate is melted, take the truffles out of the freezer and dip them one at a time into the chocolate to coat them, letting the excess drip off. Place them back on the sheet and sprinkle each one with sprinkles after you dip it, or the chocolate will harden. Store them in the refrigerator.
Cinnamon Roll Balls
Ingredients:
1 tube refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing (I used Trader Joe’s)
3oz cream cheese, softened
cinnamon
1 1/2 bags white chocolate chips
Directions:
Bake the cinnamon rolls according to the directions on the tube, reserving the icing. Let them cool and then tear them up and place them into the bowl of a food processor. (You might have to do this in two steps if they don’t all fit. Mine didn’t.) Grind them up into large crumb sized pieces and empty them out into a bowl. Add the cream cheese and the reserved icing to the bowl with the crumbs. Mix it up with your hands until it’s all combined and sticking together. Now make it into balls by rolling and compacting it. They might seem a little dry be if they hold together they should be fine. Place them onto a lined baking sheet and put them into the freezer for to harden. Melt the white chocolate and dip the balls into it swirling them around to cat them and then letting the excess drip off. Sprinkle each ball with some cinnamon right after you coat it. After you’ve coated all of the cinnamon roll balls, place them back into the refrigerator to harden before serving and store them in the fridge.
Berry Baked Brie
Ingredients:
1 6oz to 8oz wedge of French Brie
1 tube refregerated crescent roll (I used Trader Joe’s)
jam or jelly (I used some cranberry-strawberry jam that I had canned earlier this year, but cherry, strawberry, peach, fig, or raspberry would all work well too – use your imagination!)
egg, lightly beaten
granulated sugar
Directions:
Freeze the brie for about half an hour to make it easier to cut. Slice the rind off of the brie wedge and then slice it in half length-wise so that there is an identical top and bottom that sit flat on top of each other. Take the crescent roll dough out of the tube and lay it flat, pressing all the seams together so that it is one big piece. Now lay the bottom half of the brie wedge in the middle of the sheet of dough. Spoon the jam over it and place the other half of brie on top to make a sandwich. Wrap the crescent dough up around the cheese taking care to completely seal it so that the cheese and jam don’t leak out. Brush the outside of the dough with the egg and sprinkle it with sugar. Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dough is golden and the cheese inside is soft. Serve warm!
Mini Meatballs
For these, I just heated meatballs that I had previously made (or you could use storebought ones) in a sauce of half BBQ sauce and half currant fruit spread!