A stand-by at my place. Any guests usually end up stealing the platter and a box of crackers to take into a corner ...

Crab Dip

1 12-inch flat platter
1 8oz. box of cream cheese, softened
1/2 jar chili sauce
8oz. package of imitation crab meat from seafood case
assorted crackers

Spread softened cream cheese all over platter.
Spread 1/2 jar of chili sauce over cream cheese.
Chop crab meat and sprinkle over chili sauce.
Serve with crackers. Use a spread knife if scraping with crackers isn't fancy enough.
Storage: cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge. Serve chilled.

Entirely simple and always works with the crowd.

Awesome idea for a thread!

I made this peppermint bark last year along with chocolate covered pretzels and packaged them up as gifts for family. We couldn't afford expensive gifts, but everyone loved it! It's really easy to make, which is the best part.


Ingredients

* Crushed candy canes, to yield 1 cup
* 2 pounds white chocolate
* Peppermint flavorings, optional

Directions

Place candy canes in a plastic bag and hammer into 1/4-inch chunks or smaller. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Combine candy cane chunks with chocolate (add peppermint flavoring at this point if desired.) Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet layered with parchment or waxed paper and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or until firm. Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces (like peanut brittle.)

We make Rum Cake every year for Christmas. It's rich and moist and decadent and super easy to make.


Rum Cake

1 Yello Cake Mix
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 3 to 4 oz pkg of vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup dark rum

Glaze:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark rum


Grease and flour a bundt pan. Sprinkle pecans bottom of pan. Mix the rest of the cake ingredients, careful not to overmix and pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour at 325 degrees. Cool completely and remove from pan. Prick with a fork or skewer all over so glaze will soak deeply into cake.

For glaze, melt butter and add sugar and water... boil for 5 minutes and remove from heat before adding rum. (hint: if you have children and would like to feed this to them... add the rum with the sugar and water and the alcohol should burn off while it boils)

Put cake on the plate you will serve it on and drizzle glaze slowly, giving it time to soak into the cake. It will pool on the plate, but slowly be absorbed from the bottom as well.

I make "Squares" with my family for the Hollidays. They are SOOO yummy if you have time you should try them out.

Squares:

2 Boxes of White Moist Deluxe Cake Mix
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans
1/2 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2 Sticks of Softened Margarine

Glaze:

1lb Confectioners Sugar
2 Eggs
8oz Soft Cream Cheese

First: Mix all the ingredients for the "Squares" and press into a cookie sheet (lightly greased). It's easier to press out if yu cover it with wax paper and use a small glass to press it out.

*The mixture will seem kinda dry it's ok, it needs to be in order for you to be able to mash it down in the pan. It is recomended that you hand mix it; for it will over heat a blender if you use it too long.

Second: Mix the glaze ingredients together and spread evenly over the top of the "Squares". (Remove the wax paper before doing so.) Now bake at 350 degees until lightly browned (About 30mins.). Allow it to cool completely before cutting.

That's it now your ready to enjoy. It will make more depending on how big of a pan you choose to use. (You will need more then one pan if you choose to use a small one .) Oh and if you want to add a little variety you can use a differant flavored cake mix. My mom loves to use Lemon. Just make sure that it is Moist Delux Cake Mix.

Chestnut and Apple Stuffing!


Ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, plus more at room temperature for pan and aluminum foil.
2 loaves Italian bread (about 10 ounces each), torn into bite-size pieces.
2 medium onions, chopped (2 cups)
2 stalks celery, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces.
Coarse salt and ground pepper.
2 large Gala or Fuji apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges, and cut crosswise into thin slices.
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh sage.
1 jar (7 ounces) dry-packed cooked chestnuts, coarsely crumbled
3 large eggs, lightly beaten.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish; set aside. Arrange bread in a single layer on two rimmed baking sheets. Bake until dried, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions and celery; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add apples; cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; reserve saucepan.
In same saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Remove from heat; set aside. To onion-apple mixture, add bread, sage, chestnuts, and eggs. Season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Add half the broth and toss to combine. Continue adding broth and tossing just until stuffing is moistened but not wet.
Place about 4 cups stuffing in turkey. Spoon remaining stuffing into prepared baking dish; cover with buttered aluminum foil and refrigerate. When turkey is removed from oven, place covered baking dish in oven, and bake until warmed through, 25 to 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden, about 15 minutes more.

Auntie P'Gell's Pear-Apple Pie

4-5 large tart apples, Gala, McIntosh, Granny Smith etc
2 large bosc or other ripe pears
lemon juice
3/4 cup of brown or white sugar, or mix them
1 TBS of cinnamon
1 tsp of powdered ginger or 1 TBS of fresh grated ginger
1/2 tsp of ground cloves (grind them yourself by using only the heads and crushing in a mortar and pestle)
1/2 tsp of fresh ground nutmeg (use store bough nutmegs and grind them on a nutmeg scraper, it looks like a little cheese grater)
1 tsp to 1 TBS of salt (I only use Kosher)
2-3 tsp of flour or corn starch
optional: a few TBS of raisins or dried cranberries

1 recipe for pate brisee pie crust

2 1/2 unbleached flour
1 TBS salt (kosher best)
1 stick of butter (8 TBS) cold
8 tbs of vegetable shortening (all veggie shortening, 2 cups, if you are vegan)
1/2 to 1 cup of ice and water mixed
a pinch of sugar

Giant recipe for Streusel
2 cups flour
8 TBS butter or shortening
6 TBS brown sugar
1-2 tsp of cinnamon (I add some of the other spices as well)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Make Pate Brisee Mix flour, salt, sugar and butter and shortening by hand with a pastry blender or better yet, in a food processor. Add ice water a little at a time. (I do it quickly in a food processor, using just enough ice water, a teaspoon or so at a time so it forms a ball easily) flatten into two discs, wrap and keep very cold.

Core peel and slice apples uniformly. Do the same with the pears, but slice thicker. Place in large bowl with lemon juice. After several minutes drain out excess juice (there will be more, too much juice ruins your pie, even with the flour to absorb it.)

Add the rest of the pie recipe ingredients.

Make streusel with cold butter or shortening, mixing with a pastry blender or two knives used like scissors (that's hard, just get a sharp edged pastry blender, the wire ones are mostly useless) until the pieces of butter are the size of large peas and are totally coated with flour and spices.

Roll ONE disc (half recipe) of Pate Brisee large enough to cover a 9 inch deep pie pan. Roll between pieces of parchment paper, floured to prevent sticking while keeping very cold. Roll around rolling pin or fold into fourths and place in pie pan. DO NOT stretch crust, make decorative edges around top. (Or use second recipe to make cut outs to cover edge and glue to edge with egg after adding filling)

Drain Pear-Apple mixture one more time, add to pie crust. Cover with streusel, pat streusel down so it sticks to pie with both hands. Get it all the way to the edges of crust to seal. Place on aluminum foil or parchment covered cookie sheet to prevent drips. Cover edges of crust of pie with crust protectors (you can get them at the dollar store or grocery store) or molded aluminum foil to prevent burning. Pie will probably bubble over, so make sure you put it on a covered cookie sheet. I spray crust protectors with Pam to prevent them from sticking to the pies.

Bake for about 15 minutes, turn oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for approx 45 minutes or fruit is softened and until bottom of crust is brown (I use a Pyrex pan to make sure I can see if its brown) taking pie shields or aluminum foil off of crust about 10 minutes before pie is done.

Cool to room temperature. EAT!

Keep second half of Pate Brisee for an other use. Freeze or keep in refrigerator.