Lemon Bars

Everyone loves Lemon Bars. This is the classic version - flaky shortbread crust topped with a tangy-sweet baked lemon curd.  Finished with a generous dusting of powdered sugar, these Lemon Bars look good, taste good, and they are simple to make.

Here’s a kicked up fast dessert:  plate a refrigerated lemon bar along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzle a teaspoon of limoncello onto the ice cream, sprinkle all with powdered sugar and garnish with a couple of mint leaves.  Your dinner guests will think you’re the best!

Snowballs

Pecan Bells. Mexican Wedding Cookies.  Butterballs.  Russian Tea Cakes.  Called many names but always yummy, these rich not-too-sweet nutty shortbread cookies are particularly popular around the winter holidays.  They look great on a cookie tray!

Tip:  when making several cookie doughs for your Christmas baking sessions , write the name of the cookie when wrapping up the dough to put in the fridge.  Egg nog can cause blurry vision and after awhile, cookie doughs start looking alike.

Sugar-Coated Spiced Pecans

When these nuts are baking in the oven, your house will be the best smelling place in your neighborhood.  The aromatic cinnamon and vanilla aromas take you to the European Christkindlmarkts where street vendors sell these warm sugar-coated nuts in cone-shaped bags to shoppers bundled to stay warm in the crisp wintery temperatures.

Thumbprints

What fun these are to eat!  Tender, bite-size morsels with jam centers that look festive on a holiday cookie tray.

Experiment with different fillings.  Apricot and raspberry jams were used in these.  Try mint jelly, hot pepper jelly, lemon or lime curd (fill after baking) or sweetened cream cheese.

Toffee Walnut Butter Crunch

Ooooh...this is the stuff that the gourmet food stores sell for mega bucks.  Crunchy, buttery walnut toffee coated in chocolate and dusted with walnuts.  It’s a food group all by itself! And, it's easier to make than it looks. 

Peppermint Bark

This peppermint bark has only two ingredients - peppermint candies and white chocolate.  That’s it?  Very easy to make and makes a nice hostess gift during the winter holidays.

Five-Minute Fudge

It's true.

You can really make this fudge in 5 minutes.  It's foolproof and the results are, well, this smooth and rich  fudge will satisfy anyone's wild chocolate craving no matter what time of day or for any reason, certifiable or not.