Still looking for some inspiration for your holiday menu? Check out these recipes from our Yummy Delicious bloggers and some special guests.
Pinata Cookies for Christmas
Recipe courtesy of Kelsey Banfield, of The Naptime Chef.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 to 3 dozen small candy pieces
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 to 5 teaspoons milk
Directions:
1. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the
egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat well. Add the flour slowly and mix until just
incorporated. Transfer dough to plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pinch a teaspoon worth of dough into your hand and wrap
around the candy to form a sealed ball. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for
15 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Cool on a wire rack.
3. For the frosting stir together the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and the milk. Dip
the tops of the cookies in the mixture and sprinkle with sanding sugar or holiday
candies.
Chocolate Bread Pudding
Recipe courtesy of Amy Spiro from Baking and Mistaking.
Ingredients:
4 cups milk, warmed (I used soy, any will do)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 loaf challah bread, cubed
1 cup chocolate chips
chocolate ganache (equal parts chocolate and milk or cream, melted together)
Directions:
Mix the milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together.
In a 9×13″ dish lay 2/3 of the challah cubes down and sprinkle with half the chocolate
chips. Top with remaining challah and chocolate chips.
Carefully pour the egg mixture over the challah, covering evenly.
Let stand 5 to 10 minutes, until most of the mixture is absorbed.
Wrap the dish tightly with foil and baked on 325 degrees F for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and
bake for an additional 10 minutes until browned. Remove and let cool.
Drizzle with chocolate ganache – I made mine out of soy milk and semi-sweet chocolate.
Gingerbread Cookies – Makes 10 cookies
Recipe courtesy of Jessi Walter, founder of Tastebuds
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Set aside two baking sheets lined with parchment
paper.
ginger, allspice, cloves, baking soda, salt and pepper; set aside.
shortening until combined.
mixture.
stiff dough.
plastic wrap.
hours.
thickness of 1/8 inch. For softer cookies, roll out slightly
thicker.
variety of shapes and sizes. You can decorate the cookies with raisins,
currants or white chocolate chips to make eyes, a nose, a mouth and/or buttons
before baking if.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet, about 1 inch
apart, and bake until firm, about 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for
1 minute on the baking sheet and then frost with Royal icing
(optional).
Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares
Recipe coutesy of Jenna Helwig of Rosaberry.com
My mom made these treats
around the holidays when I was growing up, just like her mom made them when she
was a kid. And I have to say: this candy is like a drug to me. There is
something about the crunch of the graham crackers mixed with the peanut butter
and offset by the chocolate that absolutely slays me. A word of warning: it is
extremely sweet. But then after the fifth, sixth, or seventh bite I’ve
forgotten about the sweetness. By the tenth I’m quickly strategizing about how
I’m going to get force myself to put the pan back in the fridge.
Ingredients:
2
sticks butter, melted
1
cup smooth peanut butter (like Jif or Skippy, not “natural” peanut butter)
1
cup graham cracker crumbs (approx. 14 squares/7 rectangles)
1
lb. powdered sugar
12
oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (melted)
- Butter a 9 X 13 inch baking pan. I use a glass
Pyrex dish. - In a large bowl stir together the butter, peanut
butter, graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar. Pat into prepared pan. - Pour melted chocolate into pan over peanut butter
mixture. With a spatula spread the chocolate in an even layer. - Refrigerate the candy for 40 minutes. Then cut
into squares (you want to do this before the chocolate hardens completely,
hence the 40 minutes). - Store in the refrigerator, and if possible, show
some restraint!
A
couple of tips:
- To produce the graham cracker crumbs, I put the
crackers in a large Ziploc bag then bang them with a meat mallet. A
rolling pin would also work. So would the back of a pan or possibly even
your fist. (You could probably forget the whole bag thing and just use a
food processor, although it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.) Or, of
course, if your grocery store sells graham cracker crumbs by the box you
could just buy one of those. - Instead of dirtying a bunch of pans constructing
a double boiler, I have had great success melting chocolate in the
microwave. The trick is to only use 50% power and to run the microwave in
short bursts. For 12 ounces of chocolate I usually start with two minutes
and then continue in one-minute blocks until the chocolate is just melted.
If there are still a couple of solid bits that’s okay. Just stir the whole
thing and the small chunks will melt.
Eggnog French Toast 
by Jill Valente, contributor to Yummy Delicious.
Although I am not a huge fan of eggnog, I like to
have some on hand during the holidays – especially since my husband learned how
to make eggnog martinis. The problem is (besides all the calories) we always
seem to have so much leftover. Put it to good use by making my recipe for Eggnog
French Toast!
Makes two servings.
egg
cup eggnog
tsp vanilla
tsp cinnamon
slices whole wheat bread
in a shallow bowl. Dip the bread into the egg mixture, letting it soak for 30
seconds on each side. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and melt some
butter. When the pan is hot, fry each slice of bread until both sides are nicely
browned. Serve hot with butter, maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar.
Austrian Pancakes
Submitted by Carla Sullivan, via Chef Daniel Angerer 
Here is a recipe from Chef Daniel Angerer of the eatery Klee Brasserie, that was featured on my site here.
Kaiserschmarren is a fancy word for a pancake – an Austrian pancake. It
makes one huge pancake, but you can scale it up or down depending on
how many little mouths you’re feeding. Enjoy making this cosmopolitan
treat at home with your
own Mini Munchers!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/3-cup sugar
a pinch salt
1 cup milk
5 yolks eggs
5 egg whites
1 tablespoon butter
powdered sugar for dusting the pancake
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit.
2. In a bowl mix flour and milk with a wire whisk then add egg yolks.
3. In a kitchen mixer bowl beat egg whites, sugar and salt until stiff peaks have formed.
4. With a pastry spatula fold 1/3 of the whipped egg whites into the
milk/egg yolk mixture then fold in remaining egg whites.
5. On medium heat setting melt butter in a skillet (9 to 11-inch
diameter) add batter and cook for four minutes, then transfer into hot
oven. Bake pancake (10-12 minutes or until cooked in the middle when
pierced with a toothpick)
6. On top of stove tear pancake randomly into mouth sized pieces.
7. Transfer torn pancake onto large plate, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve immediately.
Chef’s note: Fold whipped, sugared egg withes carefully with flour/egg
yolk mixture –this way lots of air will get trapped into batter and
result in a heavenly airy pancake.
Chef’s tip: serve with cranberry jelly.
Coconut Toffee Chew Bars
Recipe from Amy Spiro, blogger at BakingandMistaking.com 
With a rich, sweet,
chewy top and a crumbly cookie bottom, these bars are completely and
utterly addictive. I am physically incapable of just eating one.
Toasting the coconut before you use it serves two purposes: First, the
coconut gets nice and brown and crispy before it’s mixed in with the
other ingredients. Second, the smell in your kitchen is worth making
these a million times over. You’ll be drawing the entire family into the
kitchen before they’re even done cooking – so hopefully they’ll be
patient.
Ingredients:
Crust:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
Topping:
2 eggs
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
Directions:
Spread the coconut thinly and evenly on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake
at 350 F for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes, until
browned and crisp. Be careful it doesn’t burn. Let cool.
Beat the butter, sugar and salt for the crust together. Add the flour and mix to combine.
Sprinkle the dough into the bottom of a greased 9×13″ pan (I lined mine
with a foil sling), and press down evenly. Bake on 325 F for 15 minutes.
Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla together. Add the flour, baking powder
and salt, whisk to combine. Stir in the coconut. Spread the mixture
evenly over the crust. Bake until lightly browned around the edges,
about 20 to 25 minutes.
Let cool completely in the pan.
